Page 78 of Broken

Liam

The days began to float by as they tended to do. We tried to return to some semblance of normal but what exactly had normal been for either Nova or I? Or even for Valentin?

With the warehouse blown up, we had been looking for a new location to set up shop. When it came time, not to many questions had been asked and it seemed as though we hadn't heard the last of my uncle Viktor as no bodies had been discovered.

"He has a million lives, I suppose," Valentin said from behind me as we watched his prisoner walk around my back yard.

"Which means, he will turn up eventually," I replied.

I was drinking vodka, and it was just after breakfast. Something about it soothed me when I was feeling quite agitated. Valentin himself was sporting a five o'clock shadow and there were slight bags under his eyes.

"What exactly are you planning to do with her," I asked him.

He had never taken his eyes off Katia, as she walked around. She stopped abruptly and reached down to pick a flower that had been growing nearby. She very much resembled my mother but I couldn't bring myself to think that my mother had ever in her life been as callous as Katia. She was calculating and cruel, something we had in common I supposed.

"I'm not exactly sure."

"Well, you had better figure it out."

"I'll get around to it, I have a few other things on my plate."

I smirked then and let the rest of the vodka hit the back of my throat in one full gulp. Sitting the glass aside I clapped him on the shoulder. "You're not becoming obsessed with my aunt, are you?"

Valentin's green eyes, that looked much like my own took me in.

He began to smile and for just a moment, it caught me off gaurd.

"Of course not. But you know that there must be punishment from stealing from the Bravta."

"And what kind of punishment are you planning?"

"Don't worry about it. And where is Nova, by the way. Feel like I haven't seen her in days," Valentin switched the question and his gaze returned back to his stepmother.

I let the subject drop, "I've been trying to give her space. Let her family heal from all the things that happened to them. She’s had Yara in with a therapist I recommended."

"It's for the best. She got caught up in our world and she shouldn't have been. Nova's a good woman...she deserves better," Valentin glanced at his watch. "Time to take the prisoner back to her cell."

I nodded and watched him go out to grab Katia from the yard. She gave him the briefest of smiles which he didn't return and hustled her to the other side of the house through another door. Glancing at the vodka bottle, I ignored the need to drink again.

The only reason I was itching to do it was because I was slightly nervous. I had planned on visiting Nova tonight. My cousin's words began to pound in my head. Maybe Nova did deserve better. Better than someone who would kill without a second thought.

I wasn't a good guy but I wanted her.

My intentions in the beginning had been to break her.

To make her submit.

I hadn't counted on being the one to break.

I hadn't talked to her in days it seemed and I wanted to know what she was doing. Who was she with. It was different than when I had asked her to leave that time. She hadn't actually seen what I could do with a gun at that point. Had she been aware?

Of course.

But she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes.

Bracing myself, I starred at the bottle of alcohol. My mind began to work as it always did and a plan formed.

I wouldn't let Nova get away from me ever again.