Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 157450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
“And you. You bring her back to me covered in bruises?”
“You know how spirited she is, Jak. She needs to be broken.”
“Broken? Like this?” Baba points to her neck.
Anatoli shrugs. “She’s a woman.” His tone implies that she’s of no consequence.
As the words are translated for Maxim, his jaw tightens and his fists clench. He bristles with tension and anger.
“No,” Alessia murmurs, reaching out and touching Maxim’s arm to calm him.
“Quiet, you!” her father snaps, whirling around to face her. “You brought this shame on us. You run. And you return a whore. Spreading your legs for this Englishman.”
Alessia hangs her head, her cheeks ashen.
“Babë, Anatoli will kill me,” she whispers. “And if you want me dead, I’d rather you shot me with that gun you’re holding, so I might die at the hands of someone who is supposed to love me.”
She glances at Baba, who blanches at her words while Thanas quietly translates them.
“No,” Maxim says, with such heartfelt conviction that all eyes turn to him. He moves quickly, ushering Alessia behind him. “Don’t touch her. Either of you.”
Baba stares at him, but Alessia doesn’t know whether her father is outraged or impressed.
“Your daughter is soiled goods, Demachi,” Anatoli says. “Why would I want another man’s leftovers and her bastard? You can keep her, and kiss good-bye to the loan I promised you.”
Baba scowls at him. “You would do this to me?”
“Your word is worthless,” Anatoli growls.
The translator quietly relays the words in English. “Loan?” Maxim says. He turns his head slightly and speaks so that only Alessia can hear him. “This arsehole paid for you?”
Alessia flushes.
Maxim faces her father. “I will match any loan,” he says.
“No!” Alessia exclaims.
Her father glares at Maxim, furious.
“You dishonor him,” Alessia whispers.
“Carissima,” Anatoli declares from the doorway. “I should have fucked you when I had the chance.” He uses English so that Maxim can understand.
Maxim lurches at him, bristling with anger once more, but Anatoli is ready this time. From his coat pocket, he whisks out his pistol and takes aim at Maxim’s face.
“No!” Alessia shrieks, and she darts quickly in front of Maxim, shielding him.
“I don’t know whether to shoot you or him,” Anatoli snarls at her in his mother tongue, and he looks to her father for permission.
Baba stares back at Anatoli and then at Alessia.
Everyone quiets. The tension is a thick blanket over the whole room. Alessia leans forward. “What are you going to do, Anatoli?” She jabs her index finger at him. “Shoot him or me?” Thanas translates.
Maxim grabs her arms, but she shakes him off.
“Who hides behind a woman?” Anatoli sneers in English. “I have enough bullets for both of you.” His look of triumph makes her nauseated.
“No, you don’t,” Alessia retorts.
Anatoli frowns. “What?” And he measures the weight of the gun in his hand.
“This morning in Zagreb, I took the bullets out while you were sleeping.”
Aiming the gun at Alessia, Anatoli tightens his finger on the trigger.
“No!” roars her father, and he rams Anatoli with the butt of the shotgun so hard that he falls to the floor. Seething, Anatoli takes aim again, this time at her father, and pulls the trigger.
“No!” Alessia and her mother shout in unison. But nothing happens. The hammer clicks and echoes against an empty chamber.
“Fuck!” Anatoli shouts, and he glares up at Alessia, a bizarre combination of admiration and contempt on his face. “You are one fucking annoying woman,” he mutters, and he staggers to his feet.
“Go!” Baba bellows. “Go now, Anatoli, before I shoot you myself. You want to start a blood feud?”
“Over your whore?”
“She is my daughter, and these people are guests in my house. Go. Now. You are no longer welcome here.”
Anatoli gazes at her father, his fury and impotence written in every tense muscle on his face. “You’ve not heard the last of this,” he snarls at Baba and Maxim. Turning on his heel, he pushes past Tom and heads out of the room. Moments later they hear a loud bang as he slams the front door.
* * *
When Demachi slowly turns to face Alessia, his eyes are blazing. Ignoring me, he concentrates his menacing look on his daughter. “You have dishonored me,” Thanas translates. “Your family. Your town. And you return here in this state?” Her father waves a hand up and down her body. “You have dishonored yourself.”
And I watch Alessia hang her head with shame, and a tear slides down her cheek. “Look at me,” he growls. When she looks up, he pulls back his arm to backhand her face, but I grab her and tug her out of his reach. She’s shaking.
“Don’t you dare touch a hair on her head,” I snarl, towering over him. “This woman has been through hell. And all because of you and your shit choice of a husband for her. She’s been kidnapped by sex traffickers. She’s escaped. She’s gone without food. She’s walked for days with nothing. And after all that, she was resilient enough to get herself a job and hold body and soul together with barely any help. How can you treat her this way? What kind of father are you? Where is your honor?”