Page 59 of Maxim

“Can I ask you something?” he asks.

“Anything,” I tell him honestly.

We are way past me keeping secrets from him.

“Who is this madam you speak of?” he asks.

“Oh, she’s a woman that Father has had me see since I started my period. At first she taught me about being a woman. Then as I got older, she started showing me things about how to please a man. She taught me lessons. We need to get Daryna out of there before she is of age. I don’t want her to see the things I have had to see.”

His fists clench on his thighs. “We will get her out.”

We fall silent, and he gets sucked into our TV show. I hear him laughing, but I can’t focus. I can’t look away from him as my mind drifts back to my sister. My brother too, but I know Daryna is going to have it worse. Alek has some sort of protection being my father’s heir.

“Are you going to spit out whatever’s on your mind or not?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He looks over at me and raises a brow. “Your mind is turning something over. I can tell. What is it?”

Biting my lip, I look away. It can’t be that simple, right? It has to be a trick. My father always punished me for speaking my mind. I have never had anyone who truly wanted to help me work through things.

Maxim is doing just that. Wanting to work through my thoughts with me like I offered to do for him. It’s a push and pull, but it feels equal.

For once, I actually feel like I have an equal.

All I have to do is take a bit of a leap of faith.

Here goes nothing.

She’s been fidgeting for ten minutes. She keeps glancing over at me as she works through whatever is going on in her pretty little head.

I can’t handle it anymore.

“Are you going to spit out whatever’s on your mind or not?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I focus on her, raising my brow. “Your mind is turning something over. I can tell. What is it?”

I’m patient as she mulls through her options. I know it’s hard for her to trust me. Thea might be helping her cope with her trauma, but she really needs professional help. Not that she will take it. I have a feeling she is the type to work through it on her own.

I have no doubts she will be okay if I can get her siblings here.

Not if. When.

“It sounds bad, but I worry more for Daryna than Alek. Alek is being shown my father’s business, and that is terrible, but he is my father’s heir. The male who will take over once my father is gone. I know that while he will go through horrific things to become the man my father wants him to be, he will live. My father will ensure it. Daryna isn’t safe in that way. If she becomes too much, he will sell her. That is his only use for her now that I am gone. That is unless Alek shows his own care for her. He has always tried to act disinterested in her around my father. He is a caring boy, but he tries to do what he can to protect himself. I’m afraid that if Daryna becomes too wild with her free spirit, he will snuff it out. He never let anyone touch me. Not until he sold me, but will he do the same for her? He sells children. I’ve seen it. I don’t want him to sell her.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her into my arms.

“Hey, let’s try to remain positive. Daryna knows you are gone by now. I know we want her to be happy normally, but maybe she has been too sad to cause issues,” I tell her.

“Maybe.”

“What would she normally do if you were there?”

A small smile fills her face. “She likes to push limits. She runs around the house and hides in places she shouldn’t. Father never caught her, but I always worried he would.”

“So she’s good at hide-and-seek. Does she know how your father is?” I ask.