I groaned, rolling over to my side. My head pounded, a constant thump, thump, thump behind my eyes that made me completely disoriented.
What-how—
“Nikolai.”
I struggled to open my eyes, the grogginess in my mind making it impossible for me to get my bearings. The last thing I remembered was being in the elevator, heading up to the top floor. The doors opened and—
My eyes snapped open. Dominik.
Oh, no.
I blinked rapidly and my surroundings gradually came into view. The first thing I saw were the metal bars.
No. No, no, no.
I fought against the haze that kept trying to pull me back under and groaned as I slowly sat up, my limbs feeling like jello.
Yep. I was down in the dungeon below the Arena. I released a defeated sigh. Fuck. This isn’t good. I looked around, seeing my father in the cell to my left and, to my right—
“Aleksandr?”
My big brother was leaning against the concrete wall at the back of his cell, his head tilted up towards the ceiling and arms crossed over his chest. When he heard me say his name, his head rolled my way and he gave me a sad smile.
“I’m here too.” In the cell next to Aleksandr’s, Lukyan waved a hand.
“Me too.” Illayana poked her head around Lukyan’s body from the cell next to his, which had been blocking her from view.
They are all here?
“No,” I groaned, burying my head in my hands. “You idiots tried to rescue us when you didn’t hear from me?” It would have been a complete suicide mission. They didn’t have any of the information necessary to pull something like that off. No wonder they got caught too. They should have waited—
“No,” Aleksandr grunted and I frowned.
“You didn’t?” I looked around the room. “Then what the fuck are you all doing here?”
“I got jumped,” Aleksandr answered, his voice laced with anger.
Lukyan raised a hand. “Same.”
“Ditto,” Illayana cut in.
“Wait, you all got kidnapped? At the same time?”
“No,” Illayana said, shaking her head. “Lukyan was first. Aleksandr second. Then me. I think that’s the timeline we worked out, hey?”
“Sounds right,” Lukyan nodded. “I was balls deep in this cute little blonde when a bunch of guys in masks came busting in and shot me with a dart.” He gave me a deadpanned look. “A fucking dart.”
“I was getting in my car after visiting a client when this van pulled up beside me.” Aleksandr gripped the bars with his hands, the metal groaning as he squeezed hard. “Fucker’s darted me too. I managed to kill a few of them before I passed out, though.”
“You did?” Lukyan frowned in confusion. “I didn’t.” I swear to God, he fucking pouted. “Whatever was in those things knocked me flat on my ass. I didn’t even have time to pull my damn pants up.”
“I got jumped while I was out for a jog.” Illayana’s face was a mask of furious anger. “They almost hit me with the van and I had to dive out of the way. Then four guys just picked me up and shoved me inside it.”
I stiffened at her words, my gaze snapping to her. “You were with Tatiana.” I didn’t phrase it like a question, because it wasn’t one. My sister didn’t jog. She kept in shape, yes. But jogging wasn’t her outlet. It was Tatiana’s.
Illayana avoided my eyes and I knew I was right. I jumped to my feet, frantically trying to look into the other cells.
Please, God. No. Don’t do this to me. It was hard enough trying to deal with the fact that my entire fucking family was there. If Tatiana was too—
“She’s not here,” Illayana said, but her words didn’t put me at ease. “They only wanted me.”
“You don’t know that.” All the other cells I could see were empty. The only people in this room were us. Talon must have moved all the other prisoners out when he’d taken us down there.
“I do. She was banging on the van trying to get me out when we took off. They left her there. Trust me, it was only me they wanted.”
“Trust you?” I hissed, moving to the right to grab the set of bars between Aleksandr and I, glaring at her. “You think I don’t know that it was your idea to go for a jog? She wouldn’t have done it unless you convinced her to do it. She promised me—”
“Are you seriously coming at me right now?” Illayana screeched incredulously. “Look around, you idiot. She isn’t here. She’s fine. Get off my fucking back.”
I growled, shaking the bars. “You’re so lucky you’re over there, otherwise I’d fucking throttle you.”
“Okay, everyone, let’s all just calm down—”
“Shut up, Lukyan!” Illayana and I yelled.
Lukyan gasped, then scowled angrily. “No! You guys shut up! I’m sick of all of you always telling me to shut up.”
Illayana kicked the bars that separated her and Lukyan. “It’s because no one wants to hear what you have to say!”
Lukyan lunged, his hands reaching for her neck through the bars. Illayana managed to jump back just in time. “Come over here and say that to my face!”
“What if Tatiana is lying on the side of the road, injured? How could you be so fucking stupid—”
“Don’t call me, stupid!” Illayana snapped.
“Why not?” Lukyan cut in. “You are.”
We all started screaming at each other. Me at Illayana. Illayana at Lukyan. Lukyan at Illayana and me. All three of us yelled over one another, not letting anyone get a word in. We switched between English and Russian as the fight started to mutate, issues from the past rushing to the surface that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were arguing about, but just added fuel to the fire.
“I know it was you who ate that last brownie!” Lukyan screamed at Illayana.
“You know what? I did! And it was fucking delicious!” Illayana screamed back. Her gaze snapped to me. “And you! Are there any other friends of mine who you’d like to fuck?!”
I threw my hands up in the air. “What friends?! You only have one, because people can’t stand you,” I hissed.
Illayana gasped in outrage. “You—” She looked at Aleksandr. “You just gonna stand there and let him talk to me like that?”
“This doesn’t involve me,” he grunted.
“Oh, don’t go running to Aleksandr to save you,” I said, shaking my head. “Fight your own battles.”
“You wait until I get out of here,” she growled. “I’m going to fuck you up—”
“Right. Because that worked out so well the last time, huh? Tell me, how’s your arm?”
Lukyan laughed, pointing at Illayana. “Ha, ha, he kicked your ass.”
“I’m gonna kick your ass!”
“TIKHIY!” QUIET! my father roared.
All of us snapped our mouths shut at his command, that one word so powerful that we could do nothing but listen. I turned around to face him. It was the first time I heard him say anything since I woke up. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten that he was in the room. My fear and anger over Tatiana had consumed me so entirely, I lashed out without thinking.
The silence that followed after so much yelling and screaming was totally jarring.
Autumn coughed awkwardly, the sound ringing out through the room. “Well—”
Father spun on her and pointed a finger. “Not one word out of you.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “Aye-aye, Mr Grouchy.”
Lukyan snickered, his hand flying to his mouth to try and cover the laugh.
Just like that, the tension in the air disappeared and everything went back to normal. Illayana and I looked at each other.
“Sorry,” we both grumbled at the same time.
“Ahem,” Lukyan pointed at his chest. “Where’s my sorry?”
Illayana and I rolled our eyes but both offered him an apology as well.
“Alright,” Father began, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now, we need to come up with a plan—”
The huge metal door at the end of the room swung open and we all snapped to attention as Dominik walked in. Whatever differences we had a moment ago were gone. We presented a united front, each of us moving to the front of the bars and glaring at the man responsible for putting us in there. I gripped the bars so tight that my knuckles turned white, imagining they where his fucking neck.
He looked exactly like Father, but he didn’t at the same time. They were identical twins, so they had the same facial features. But where Father looked strong, tough and in shape, Dominik looked weak, slightly pudgy and pasty. He didn’t have the same terrifying aura that my father exuded, the instant respect people felt a man like Dimitri deserved.
I think that had always been one of the contributing factors to the hatred Dominik felt towards my father. He hated that he could never measure up to him.
“My family.” Dominik smiled, his arms spread wide as if he was preparing to embrace us in a hug. “It is so nice to see you all again. It’s been so long since we’ve all been together like this.”
“You mean since you blew up my wedding?” Illayana snarked, arching an eyebrow.
Dominik waved that off. “Oh, that little thing? That was just a little fun.”
Illayana smiled, a truly dark and evil kind of smile that made Dominik stiffen despite being separated by thick, metal bars. “So was disembowelling your daughter.”
His eyes narrowed but then he just shrugged. That was one of the big differences between my father and Dominik. Father loved all of his children with every cell in his body. He’d die to protect us. Dominik, however, couldn’t care less. He used Rayna as his pawn to accomplish whatever plan he had and then just tossed her aside when she was no longer of any use to him.
“If she wasn’t such a fucking disappointment, I might actually care,” Dominik chuckled. He let loose a self-satisfied sigh, walking up and down our row of cells with admiring eyes, like he was so happy to be seeing what he was seeing. He stopped in front of Aleksandr’s cell and tilted his head. “You remember our last conversation, don’t you? I bet you’re wishing right now that you took my offer.”
Aleksandr leant forward menacingly. Dominik slanted back on autopilot, an unconscious movement he couldn’t stop that showed he was afraid of my brother. Aleksandr said nothing, letting his murderous gaze do all the talking.
Dominik swallowed nervously and licked his lips. He moved away from his cell and stopped in front of mine. If it wasn’t for the situation we were in, I would have enjoyed watching that.
“Hi, nephew. Sorry about the dart.”
“No, you’re not,” I scoffed.
“I really am.” He almost sounded…sincere. “You’ve always been my favourite, you know. I would have liked to keep you out of this but when I saw you here at the first round of the games, I knew I couldn’t.”
I frowned. “You saw me?”
“I’ve been waiting to witness Dimitri’s downfall since I was ten years old. Did you really think I wouldn’t be here to watch him die?” He shook his head. “I was up in one of the box seats watching the fights when I saw you as one of the security guards. Smart, sneaking in as one of the workers. Talon couldn’t believe it when I told him.”
They’d known I was here since the first round? Why didn’t they capture me straight away then? They still let me roam around there until—
“You waited until I watched Father fight before capturing me.”
Dominik shrugged lazily, his lips curled up into a smirk. “Talon and I thought it might be fun for you to watch your father in the games.” He moved to Father’s cell next and the two men stared at each other, years of hatred and anger brewing between them.
“How does it feel, Dimitri? To finally be beaten by me.”
Father snorted. “You haven’t beaten me, Dominik. And you never will. If you thought you could beat me on your own, you would have challenged me. But instead you hid behind Talon and resorted to subterfuge. That just shows how weak you really are. No wonder Father never gave you a position worth any substance.”
Dominik’s jaw clenched. “There’s different forms of strength, baby brother. There’s the physical, and then there’s the mind.” He tapped his temple twice. “Who cares how I did it. I outsmarted you. And once you and your children die, the role of Pakhan will fall to me. Where it should have rightfully been all along.”
Talon walked in, six A-team guards at his back. He was wearing another expensive tux, his red bowtie slightly askew. A minor detail to notice but it was irritating the fuck out of me.
Dominik smiled and gave us all a pretentious wave. “I look forward to seeing you all very soon. For the last time.” He nodded to Talon and then walked out without looking back.
Talon came to a stop in the centre of the room, his gaze moving from Illayana all the way around to my father. “Hello, Volkovs.” He smiled, and it held nothing but arrogance and triumph.
None of us responded.
“Not a very chatty bunch, I see. Understandable, given your circumstances.” He walked down the line of cells, starting at Illayana’s and going all the way around to my father’s, looking intently at each of us as he strolled past. He stopped when he reached my father’s cell and rocked back on the balls of his feet, hands behind his back. “Ah, Dimitri,” he exhaled. “Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri. You know I didn’t want it to come to this. Truly, I didn’t.”
“Really?” Father drawled, sounding bored.
The irritation flickering through Talon’s eyes said that he didn’t like that. “I would have been happy with just you, but then you had to go and send your little herd after me.” He waved through the air at my siblings and I. “Now you all get to be a part of my games.”
“You’re even more deluded than I thought if you think for one second that I’m fighting my children.”
“Oh, come on, give me a little credit,” Talon smirked. “Even I know what a pointless task that would be. After all, the love you have for your family is famous, Butcher.” The jealousy and hatred in that one word spoke volumes.
“You don’t like the fact that the crowd cheered louder for my father than they did you, do you?” I asked, the pieces suddenly clicking together. I noticed it the night Father fought, but thought perhaps it was just because the crowd was eager to get the fight going. But that wasn’t it.
Before the first round of the games had begun, Talon appeared on the jumbotron to introduce himself and the games he’d created. He’d received a mild applause. Nothing more than one might receive after delivering a boring speech that put half the room to sleep.
But when my father was announced? The whole arena shook with the roar of the crowd. Some of that could also be attributed to his partner, The Crimson Death, but I highly doubted such a detail would matter to Talon.
“That’s what all this is about, isn’t it?” I cocked my head. “You’re jealous of my father. And what better way to bring him down than to make him fight in your little games.”
Talon kept his composure quite well but the slight tick in his jaw told me my words had bothered him. “It’s ridiculous, you know? I’m the one that created all of this.” He spread his arms out wide. “I created the games. I made this island and the Arena. I created a safe place for the rich and powerful to come and let loose all of those nasty little demons they keep locked up in the world. And yet, you’re the one they cheer for?” he sneered. “Why? Because you killed a bunch of people? What the fuck makes you so special, Dimitri?”
My father smirked. “Sounds like you’re projecting what happened all of those years ago into the present. So your father told you he wished I was his son. So what?”
That was news to me. Mikhail hadn’t mentioned that either. But then again, perhaps he didn’t know.
Talon’s face reddened with anger. “I brought you here so I could get a front row seat to your death and, not only do I get to watch you die, but I get to watch your whole family die along with you.” An evil, diabolical smile graced his lips. “What I have planned will make you beg for your life and the lives of your children.” He turned his attention to Autumn. “You, Miss Devalos, have a choice. You are not involved in this, so I will give you the opportunity to switch fighting partners. Jessica Clifford, the female winner of the first round has…unexpectedly passed away. Samuel is in need of a partner or he risks continuing on in the games alone. Because I am such a gracious host, I will allow you to untangle yourself from this situation and leave the Volkovs to suffer on their own.”
Autumn said nothing at first, her eyes moving over us one by one until they finally landed on my father. He didn’t speak, but they shared some sort of moment the rest of us were not privy to. Something that was only happening between the two of them.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to have to pass.” Autumn leaned against the side of the cell, arms crossed over her chest. “I’ve seen what Samuel can do, and no offence, but I think I have better odds with this lot,” she finished, hiking her thumb at us.
Talon smiled evilly. “It’s your funeral.” He walked back down the line of cells and stopped in front Aleksandr, admiring him. “You killed three of my men, even after they darted you.”
Aleksandr just grunted.
“I assume I couldn’t convince you to fight for me in a different competition? Could make you a lot of money.”
“I have a lot of money.”
“More money.”
“Not interested.”
Talon hummed. “Disappointing.” He strolled past Lukyan, who was death staring him, his eyes following the man as he continued on and stopped in front of Illayana’s cell. “You lot have proven to be very resourceful, so I think a few extra precautions are necessary to ensure you don’t try to pull off some sort of ridiculous escape plan.” He looked to one of the guards. “Open the cell.”
Panic curled down my spine. My father, Aleksandr, Lukyan and I all slinked forward, watching in dread as Illayana’s cell was opened and four of the guards strolled in, surrounding her. Two of them grabbed her by the arms while the other two slapped a pair of thick, metal handcuffs around her wrists. Then they escorted her out to stand next to Talon.
Illayana didn’t say a word. Didn’t fight. She just stared Talon down with an angry glare that would put my father to shame.
Father growled, and his cage rattled. “You touch her, Talon, and I swear to God, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Talon smirked, moving behind her. He pressed up against her, burying his face into her hair and smelling her. Illayana took a deep breath and stayed completely still, head up, face strong, like what he was doing wasn’t affecting her. But I knew it had to. She was putting on a strong front for our father, for us.
“There’s nothing you can do, Dimitri. I’m the one in control here. You can spend the next few days thinking about all the nasty ways I’m defiling your pretty little daughter here.”
My brain exploded with fury and I rammed into the bars with my body at the same time Father and Aleksandr did. The cells shook. We all kept ramming while Lukyan opted to kick furiously instead, each of us screaming and cursing at Talon to let her go, not to touch her.
But the man just smiled, seeming happy with the reaction his words and actions brought forth. “That’s it,” he encouraged, egging us on. “Let that anger build! It will make for a more entertaining fight.” He gripped Illayana’s chin and ran his tongue up her cheek. She shivered in repulsion and it made Father roar in fury, his body slamming into the bars over and over again.
My shoulder hurt. I could already feel the bruises forming on my skin but I didn’t stop trying to break down the cell. Neither did Aleksandr or Lukyan. We kicked, rammed and pounded our fists. All while Talon laughed.
‘Ostanavlivat’sya.“ Stop, Illayana whispered.
I didn’t want to. I knew it was physically impossible to break down the bars but I didn’t want to stop trying. How could I? She was my baby sister. It was a big brother’s job to protect their baby sister. I couldn’t stop.
“Ostanavlivat’sya.’ Stop, Illayana said again, pleading, begging.
The look on her face and the suffering layered in that one word was what did it for me. Watching us hurt ourselves trying to get to her was hurting her.
One by one, we all stopped. First Lukyan. Then me. Then Aleksandr. Father was the only one who didn’t. His fists bled. His body was covered in bright red marks that would turn into painful bruises. Indents from the bars showed on his shoulders. And still he kept trying, refusing to give up.
‘Otets. Ostanavlivat’sya. Pozhaluysta.’ Father. Stop. Please. Illayana whispered sadly.
Father tried a few more times before finally doing as she asked, releasing a defeated sigh. Illayana looked at him and gave him a small smile.
‘Vse normal’no.“ It’s okay, she said, voice strong. “I’ll be okay.”
“Aww,” Talon cooed condescendingly. “How sweet.” His following chuckle made me clench my fists, my teeth grinding. “You all should try and get some rest. Trust me when I say that you will need it.”
Agony assaulted me as he led Illayana out of the room, the door slamming shut behind them.
