No matter how much I try not to be affected by his cold behavior, knowing that he can erase me so easily hurts more than I’m willing to admit.
A shadow hovers over me, and when I look up, I find Anna standing there with a tray of food. She pushes it in my direction while still wearing the same stern expression she always has for me. “You need to eat before you pass out.”
My spine straightens. “Did…Boss ask you to bring me this?”
“No. I just don’t like seeing people starving to death.”
Oh.
My shoulders hunch.
I thought that since Anna only follows Kirill’s orders, the fact that she brought me food had to be because he told her to.
The small hope that blossomed in my chest turns to ashes in a fraction of a second.
I shake my head. “I’m not eating. Besides, didn’t you hear what Boss ordered? No one is allowed to give me food.”
“Listen, young man. I don’t care what he says. No starvation will happen under my watch.”
I vehemently shake my head again. If Kirill is stubborn, then I’m ten times worse.
“If you don’t pick up the spoon and eat, so help me God, I will force you,” she threatens. “You’re too starved to stop me.”
“I can still fight you, Anna.” I sigh, finding it hard to even speak due to sheer lack of energy. “Seriously, I’m thankful for the effort, but I refuse to eat or move unless I can go back to my previous post.”
Anna is about to say something, probably to scold me, but stops herself when Konstantin strolls out of the house. He approaches us, and Anna places the tray by my side, nods, and leaves.
Kirill’s brother stares down at me with eyes way warmer than his brother’s, probably because they’re not as hauntingly icy. Besides, ever since he was kidnapped and tortured, I’ve started to see him through new eyes.
He’s actually more classically handsome than Kirill. Sharp jawline and cheekbones, sandy blond hair, and a more clean-cut aura. Where Kirill has a nefarious edge, Konstantin has a protector feel. Which is weird since when I first met him, I thought he was a cliché of an evil brother who only cared about power. It was only over the last few months that I learned he has a completely different personality when Kirill is around—antagonistic, foolish, and repellent. Almost as if he was doing it on purpose.
“This whole thing is beyond idiotic,” he informs me matter-of-factly. “If you think he’ll change his mind just because you’re doing this, you don’t know Kirill.”
“I refuse to be buried in the weapon vault for the rest of my life, so if this is what I have to do to be able to escape that place, I don’t mind.”
He crouches and tilts his head to meet my gaze. “You could always become my senior guard. That would piss off Kirill more than this futile plan.”
I thought about that the last time he asked me this, and he’s right. Considering how mad Kirill was when I helped Konstantin all those months ago, this tactic might get his attention, but it could also backfire. Besides, I’m trying to prove that I’m loyal to him, and I can’t do that if I go to the brother he considers an enemy.
“I can’t do that. I’m Kirill’s guard.”
“You’re awfully loyal to someone who doesn’t give a f*ck about you.” Konstantin rises to his full height. “Take it from me, Sasha. That man only cares about himself. No one else matters.”
I shake my head but don’t say anything. I’ve gotten to a stage where I need to preserve my energy.
“My offer still stands,” he says, then climbs into the car that’s waiting for him. I’m guessing Yulia will join him and probably glare at me as if I’m a pest.
I wait for a few moments, but the car leaves without her.
It’s rare for Konstantin to go to any meetings without his mother glued to his side. Could there be something more to this? Are they colluding against Kirill again?
Not that they’ve ever stopped, but they really couldn’t do him any damage when his aunts and uncles—on Yulia’s side of the family—actually prefer doing business with Kirill rather than Konstantin. Yulia has been fighting it tooth and nail, but it’s safe to say that she’s losing.
It may be weird that I’m thinking about Kirill’s well-being when he’s indirectly starving me, but I really meant it about being loyal to him.
Because that’s the only way I’ll get to be by his side. If I’m not here…where would I go?
I can’t go back to my family. And I don’t want to. Not when Kirill thinks I betrayed him and they might try to get me to kill him the next time I see him.
Besides, I need to prove that he had nothing to do with my family’s massacre. He’s just not that type of person.
Before he woke up, I got the chance to snoop in the office after they temporarily paused the security. I even managed to check the safe, but there were no files that Roman may have left about my family.
The only thing I found were a few contracts, valuables, and paperwork about some shady deals that he kept as evidence against the people involved—mostly politicians and celebrities.
The scent of food, soup, fish, and some type of salad fills my nostrils, and my stomach growls the loudest I’ve ever heard it. I grab the plate Anna brought me and it takes everything in me to push it away instead of bringing it closer.
