Page 37 of Until Death or Defeat

“You have your hands full, Artem,” he chuckles as he enters the kitchen. Artem puts his hand on my lower back and greets his father. “And good morning to you,” his father says to me.

His father is intimidating, and it takes me a moment to muster a greeting back to him. I’ve never talked to him before, and I’m confused how a man this scary-looking has such a sweet, bubbly wife.

“I’m glad to see you two getting along.”

Getting along? Is he joking?

“I hope my son isn’t being too strict with you, I know his mother reminded him to be careful how he treats his wife,” he jokes, with a soft chuckle before he continues. “Don’t be too hard on him, he means well.”

I can’t tell if this guy is being genuine or threatening. It’s terrifying. I nod slowly, and he turns back to Artem.

“Your mother and I are going to pay a visit to Andrei and the girls today before we leave tomorrow,” Artem nods, and they continue their conversation in Russian to leave me out, so I let myself out of the room.

I decide to let myself wander around the mansion, trying to figure out where exactly everything is. I peek inside a door I find, and a hand comes to quickly shut it over mine.

“Nosy today, little G?” Maxim says as he releases my hand.

“I can’t open this door?”

“Not unless you’d like to see some blood, are you into that?”

I furrow my brows, turning back to the door and back to him. “You guys just have some freaky torture chamber casually behind an unlocked door?”

He laughs, and then adjusts his lip piercing with his tongue. Is he joking? Or is there seriously something like that here?

“If you think you want to see, I’ll show you, but I did warn you.”

I look at him with a curious look. “I’m not afraid of blood, you know,” I remind him, and he laughs.

“Yeah, I guess you’ve sent my brother away bleeding a few times.”

He passes me, and opens the door for me, gesturing for me to enter. We walk down cement steps, the lights turn on as we walk down, and I put my arm to my nose immediately.

He was unfortunately not fucking joking.

There’s a metal table and chair chained to the floor in the middle of the large room, and dried blood covers different spots of the concrete floor. I turn to face him, my arm still covering my nose to shield myself from the smell of blood.

“Maxim, must you bring women down here?” We both turn and see Roman trudging down the steps.

“What? I’m just giving our new sister a tour of her home.”

Roman sighs and puts his hand out to bring me up the steps, and I take it as he helps me up with Maxim following behind. “You know Artem told you not to mess with her,” Roman scolds.

“Mess with her? I’m just being welcoming. Right, sis?”

Maxim puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me tight.

Okay, maybe Maxim is crazier than Artem and I was underestimating him before.

The demented look in his eyes when they meet mine are something I’d never seen before, and I move myself out of his hold. Roman sighs again, as we all walk over toward the large den area.

This room looks comfortable, but definitely a room in a man’s house. It has a larger-than-life television, along with a bar and a large, L-shaped couch.

“Is this where you guys hide?” I ask, as my hand tests the couch cushion.

“It’s usually where we do business when we have company.”

“Business? Here?” I ask and Maxim laughs.