63. Viviana

It only takes a second after the door opens for all of my naive hopes to die.

"Fuck off, Lukyan," Iakov Novikov barks. "Leave the woman alone. She's been through enough."

The guard—Lukyan, apparently; I won't forget that name—gives me one last look before he slouches out of the room like a puppy who just got a good swat on the nose.

Iakov saved me from whatever vile things Lukyan had planned. The trouble is, whatever Iakov has in store might be worse. Actually, I'm positive it is.

I scoot away from him until my back is against the farthest wall. He watches me with dark eyes, his face unreadable. "This cell is horrendous," he remarks after a long, pained silence.

I blink at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for him to grin and tell me he's thrilled I'm finally in hell where I belong.

Iakov Novikov leans through the door to my cell and looks in each corner like he's physically repulsed. "Honestly, this is deplorable. Inhumane."

I know better than to get my hopes up at this point, but it's hard to keep the human spirit down. I can't stop myself from asking, "Are you going to let me go?"

He laughs. "Of course not. You're a murderer. But that doesn't mean we should treat you like an animal." He angles around to talk to someone in the hallway. "Get her a mattress or something. She'll be here for a while; we might as well make her comfortable."

"How long will I be here?" I blurt. "What are you planning to do with me?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" he muses as he turns back, drumming his fingers together in thought. "If you'd stayed in the mansion, Mikhail probably would have overseen the whole thing. He wouldn't have let me have too much fun. He would've forced me to make it quick. But now…" He grins and I'm forced, for the first time, to see how much Iakov looks like Anatoly. They have the exact same smile. My heart breaks for my friend. "Now, I get to do with you as I please. I plan to take my time making sure your punishment is just right."

I force down a shiver. I don't want him to see one single shred of my fear. "Did you even care about Trofim? You don't seem to care about Mikhail. You don't seem broken up about the fact that Pyotr killed Anatoly while kidnapping me." I shrug. "I don't understand how you could look at your three children and decide Trofim is the one to fight for."

"Trofim was my true heir!" he roars, launching himself into my room.

I fly back against the wall so hard I see stars.

Iakov blows out a breath and seems to steady himself, stopping a few feet short of me. "Mikhail is a strong leader, but he has never been able to manage that soft heart of his. He isn't a monster the way his brother was."

"You want your son to be a monster?"

"I want my family to survive in this world," he corrects testily. "I want my children to build empires and rule them. If they have to be monsters to do that, then so be it. Heroes get themselves killed. Heroes bleed out on a garage floor because they tried to help their brother's killer escape. Heroes are useless to me."

"Anatoly was a better man than you'll ever be!"

"Perhaps." He shrugs. "That doesn't count for much now, does it? He's dead and I'm still here."

Without thinking, I lunge at him. I throw all of my energy into reaching for his neck so I can squeeze the life out of his fat throat the way he deserves.

But, once again, the chains jerk me back.

Iakov looks startled, at least, as he backs towards the door. "Careful, Viviana. You'd hate to scare the boy."

I don't know what he means…

Until Dante appears behind him.

His head is down, chin to chest, golden brown hair covering his eyes. His shoulders are shaking. My heart drops into my stomach as I plummet to my knees. "Dante?"

He glances up at me quickly and then looks away. I watch a tear roll down his nose.

"What did you do to him?" I growl.

If Iakov thought I wanted to kill him a second ago, he has no idea what I'm thinking now. If he so much as hurt a hair on Dante's head, I'll skin him alive. I'll shred the meat from his bones and feed it back to him.

My hands shake with rage.

"What did I do to him?" Iakov repeats like the idea is absurd. Like he didn't just abduct Dante from his bed and shoot his favorite uncle in front of him. "I didn't do anything to him. I would never hurt my grandson."

I snort in disgust. "Too late for that. He's traumatized."

Iakov looks down at him, assessing. "So it appears. But unfortunately, that is what it takes. If he wants to make it in this world, he has to be prepared to see things he doesn't like. To do things he doesn't like. Mikhail never would have trained him up properly."

"He'll kill you," I warn. "As soon as he realizes Dante is gone, he'll kill you."

There's no need to specify who I'm talking about. Iakov already knows. Mikhail may hate me, but he loves our son. That's the only thing I know anymore.

"He'd have to find us first." Iakov smirks. "Besides, I'm sure he's busy planning the funeral for his bastard brother."

Iakov starts to leave and I panic. Right now, I can see Dante. He's safe and alive in front of me. That's better than the unknown.

"Please!" I rasp. "Let Dante stay with me. I'll take care of him."

"I'm not sure you're in the best position for that right now," Iakov demurs. He pulls Dante close, forcing my son to hug his side. "I'll take the boy under my wing. Don't you worry."

That's exactly what I'm afraid of.

I ignore Iakov and focus on Dante. I give him a smile—my best approximation of one, anyway. "I'm okay, bud," I tell him. "I'm okay and I'll see you soon, alright?"

Dante nods, but he still won't look at me. It's probably hard for him to see me chained up like this.

I fold my hands behind my back to hide the shackles and blow him a kiss. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too, Mama," he mumbles through another sob.

My heart splits wide open, spilling out on the floor in front of me.

Then Iakov shuts the door and he's gone.

The room feels even smaller than it did before. The silence is painful. I may never get out of this room—I've made my peace with that. But the only thing I can cling to as I curl into a ball in the corner of the cell is that Mikhail won't abandon our son.

No matter what has happened between us, I have to believe he'll do what's best for Dante.

It's the only hope I have left.