Page 32 of Darkest Sin

“You had your dad to protect them. You didn’t have to do that.”

I roll my eyes. “Fine. But I have to protect them now since my dad is dead.”

He gently grabs my chin and makes me look at him. “Never roll your eyes at me. You’re an adult, Natalya. Not some little girl.”

“Then treat me like your equal. Don’t treat me like I’m a little girl.”

He smirks before he lets me go. “I told you last night. I’m a dominant man and you’re naturally a submissive woman. You like it when I’m in control. I’m in control now. And I’m saying to not worry for your family. Take the stress away. Focus on us.”

He makes it sound so easy and in a dream world, I would do as he says. I would stop worrying because it would make my life much more comfortable.

But I don’t live in a dream world. I live in a world I was forced to choose between two men in order to save my family. One a rapist and the other… a mystery. Despite seeing more sides to Mikhail, he’s still a mystery in so many ways.

Maybe if I had married Antoni, I could have saved my sisters from the inside. But my marrying Mikhail, I’m on the outside of my family. I can’t fully reach them any longer.

“I can’t,” I answer him honestly. It would be easier to lie but I’m not comfortable with that. Lying to my husband is not a good way to start our relationship.

“I am telling you, Natalya, to stop worrying.”

“You make it sound like I can just flip my emotions off. I can’t. You may be good at telling people what to do and I may be good at following but right now, I can’t do as you say, Mikhail. I can’tstop worrying. And you were the one who said you wanted me to have agency still. So, I’m telling you how I feel.”

“I understand. Then wallow in your worry. I have business to attend to. I’ll see you later tonight.” He leaves the room with a frown. He’s angry with me, I realize. It stings more than it should.

But I don’t dwell on it for long. Instead, I call Irina to see how she’s doing.

“Natalya?” she whispers.

“Why are you whispering?”

“Because I can’t let Uncle Denis know I’m talking to you. He’ll probably take my phone away otherwise. He found out about your marriage to Mikhail Novikoff and he’s angry. He’s so angry, it’s scary. Mom has to keep pulling her gun on him. It got to be too much and he took it from her. Now she has no way to defend us. He’s already telling Sasha that he’s going to find a husband for her to marry soon. Someone who can find Mikhail and kill him and get you back.”

I shiver. None of this is good and all my fears are proven true. I thought Mikhail would help the situation. He made me believe he would.

But so far, he’s shown that he only wanted to get me and now that he’s gotten me, he doesn’t care about saving the rest of my family. I feel tricked. Betrayed. I thought I could trust him but now I see that I was wrong.

“I need to get all of you out of there. You can come live with me.” That’s the solution and Mikhail will just have to deal with it. If he wants me, he’ll accept that my family is important to me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Can you escape?”

“No. Uncle Denis has the house on lockdown. We’re not allowed out of it.”

Damn it. But maybe there’s a way…

“I could come to you. He would let me in and then I could…” Could what? Shoot him? I don’t even have a gun.

“What?” Irina’s soft voice breaks my heart. She sounds so scared.

“I can get you out of there. I’ll find a way. I’ll come over now.” Rationally, I should stay put. Going back to my uncle when he’s so angry is not a good idea.

But I’m not thinking rationally right now. I’m thinking I want to save my family.

I need a gun for that.

Surely Mikhail has one around the house. He’s a Bratva man. He must have ones hidden in case of an emergency.

My eyes land on the closet. I hurry inside and start opening drawer after drawer. Near the back, I find it. A gun stashed into the back of one of the drawers.