Page 29 of Sweet Deception

I squeezed Matteo’s hand, a silent promise. I would fix this. I would save them.

But then Gleb moved.

Not with anger. Not with haste. But with the slow, measured steps of a predator that knew its prey had nowhere to run.

He didn’t have to say anything.

The air around us shifted, thick with a silent threat.

Matteo knew it too. His jaw clenched, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. The defiance in his eyes warred with something else. Something that made my stomach twist.

Fear.

I had never seen Matteo afraid before.

Gleb stopped beside me and reached for my wrist, his fingers cold as steel. “Enough.”

I turned to face him, my body tensed. “Let them go.”

He studied me, his face impassive. “No.”

Frustration burned through my veins. “They don’t belong here. They’re not soldiers, they’re...”

“They’re men of your bloodline,” he cut in smoothly. “That makes them a liability.”

I bit back a scream. He was toying with me. He knew damn well they weren’t a threat to him, but he kept them caged like animals just to prove a point.

“They’re my family,” I whispered, my voice raw.

Gleb tilted his head slightly, his gaze never wavering. “Everyone related to your family, to your mother, deserves worse than this.”

A slow, unbearable silence settled between us.

Matteo’s grip on my hand tightened again. “He’s not a man, Anna,” he said in Italian, voice shaking with restrained rage. “He’s a monster.”

Gleb let out a quiet, almost amused hum. “That’s true.”

I jerked my arm free from his grasp, my breath ragged. “I will get them out,” I said again, my voice firmer this time. “One way or another.”

Gleb held my stare for a long moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver key.

For a split second, hope flared in my chest.

But then he tossed it to the floor, just outside the cell.

Matteo’s eyes narrowed. He took a step back, shoulders squared, refusing to scramble for it like a beaten dog.

But Vincenzo moved. He crouched down, fingers curling around the key. His hands trembled as he straightened, eyes flicking between me and Gleb.

And then, without a word, he walked to the cell door and slid the key into the lock.

A sick feeling twisted in my gut.

Something was wrong.

The lock clicked, and the cell door creaked open.

Matteo stiffened. “What are you doing?”