The Enemy in My Bed by L.K. Shaw

Chapter 31

Mila

Pierce hasn’t comeby for two days, and I miss him. He’s been patient with all the time I’m spending with Anya. Last night was the first that she’s slept for longer than three hours straight since he rescued her. Theresa came by earlier today for another session. She’s been wonderful for my sister to talk to.

Dr. Marino is supposed to be back tomorrow to draw Anya’s blood, but in the meantime, it’s just her and me. I’m exhausted, and there are times I want to cry, both from fatigue as well as the pain my sister is going through. I want to take it all away, and I can’t. All I can do is help her move forward with her life.

I’ve been sitting out on the deck for the last hour, enjoying the unseasonably cool weather. I shiver as the breeze blows across the back of my neck.

“Why don’t you have a blanket out here?”

I jump at the unexpected voice, and whip around with my hand on my chest.

“Sorry, I thought you heard me come in,” Pierce apologizes. He crosses the patio and brushes a kiss over my forehead.

“I was just thinking.” I shiver again.

“Let’s get you inside.” He pulls me up from the chair and leads me into the living room, closing the doors behind him.

I curl up on the couch and tug the throw over my shoulders. Normally, Pierce heads straight for his chair, but he remains standing. I take a closer look at him. Dark circles are under his bloodshot eyes. Exhaustion is in every line of his body. What has he been doing while he’s been gone?

“Is everything okay?” I ask, hesitantly.

He blows out a breath and rubs his hand down his face then massages the back of his neck. I don’t like the way he’s acting. He turns his head and stares straight at me with an unreadable expression. The heavy lead feeling settles in the pit of my stomach.

“I found Maksim,” Pierce says.

It takes my brain several seconds to process.

“What do you mean, you found him?” I ask, stupidly.

“He’s a current guest inside our warehouse room.”

Memories flash through my mind. The chains. The sink. The bleach. Oh, god.

“Mila, look at me,” Pierce demands.

My fuzzy brain focuses and my gaze homes in on his. Everything had gone blurry for a moment. “When? How?”

“The night we rescued Anya. The Polish were willing to sell us his location. We’ve been waiting for the right time, to confirm their intel was accurate. Two nights ago, we raided the place and found him upstairs.”

I think I’m going to be sick. My hands cradle my stomach, and I will the nausea away. Pierce has had Maksim in that room for two days. My eyes meet his.

“Is he still alive?” I whisper.

“For the moment.”

I swallow the boulder taking up residence in my throat. For over four years, I’ve wished for his death. That somehow he paid for what he did to me. And Pierce has managed to find him in only a few days.

Pure hatred fills me. More than I ever thought possible. “I hope you’ve made him suffer,” I say with so much anger it nearly frightens me.

“He told me some things,” Pierce says a little too quietly.

My whole body freezes, and then I begin to shake. I barely make it to the bathroom before I lose all the contents of my stomach. I vomit more times than I can count, until the only thing I bring up is bile. It’s bitter acid flavor lingers on my tongue. A cup of water appears in front of me and a cool rag is placed over the back of my neck.

I take the water and wash my mouth out. My stomach still churns as I rest my forehead on the rim of the toilet.

“Mila?” Anya asks tentatively from outside the bathroom. “Are you okay?”

I raise my head. “I’m fine, Anyusha. Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you,” I somehow manage to croak out.

Her footsteps fade, and I turn to face Pierce. His expression is one of concern. I expected disgust. Even hatred. But the only thing in his eyes is worry.

“So, he told you everything?” I ask.

He nods. “At least his version of it. I’d like to hear yours. If you’re willing to tell me.”

I shift until I’m sitting. My back hits the cabinets, and I pull my knees to my chest. “What is there to tell? That the whole time he held me captive—that every time he raped me—he made me believe that I was Mikhail’s daughter, too? That every time he came inside me, he laughed, joking about what kind of baby we might have with a brother and sister as its parents?”

Just the memory of it makes me want to vomit again.

“That’s why you reacted the way you did when I forgot to use a condom,” he says, his voice flat.

“Yes,” I answer even though it wasn’t a question.

“How did you discover he’d been lying the whole time?”

“My mother was a terrible mother. I think the only good thing she ever did in her life was swear to me that there wasn’t a chance that Mikhail was my father. She showed me my birth certificate. I’d been born in a small town in New Mexico.” I’d cried for days when I’d learned the truth, both from relief, but also for the innocence that Maksim had destroyed and I’d never get back.

“Jesus,” Pierce whispers.

“Now you know all my secrets.”

He scoots across the floor and pulls me into the cradle of his body, hugging me tightly to him. I sag against him and breathe in his comforting scent. We remain on the floor until his phone beeps. He pulls it from the back of his pants and sends a text before pocketing it again. He holds my face between his hands.

“Maksim won’t be leaving that room alive,” Pierce says. “I know you lost your chance with Mikhail, but he wasn’t yours to kill. Because it wasn’t him that sold your sister to the Polish. It’s entirely your choice, but I’m offering you the opportunity for closure—revenge—whatever you want to call it.”

I stare into his eyes and understand what it is he’s saying. This is my chance to kill Maksim. To make him pay for all the suffering he caused me. Caused Anya. I only have to take it. Can I really do it, though?

I nod. He studies me a moment longer and then releases his hold.

“I’ll call Theresa and see if she can stay with Anya for a little bit.”

Pierce pulls me up from the floor, and we head out to the living room to wait.    

I stareat the closed door in front of me. The cool air skates across my skin, and I shiver. Pierce’s clean fragrance mingles with the almost moldy scent of the tunnel. My feet are frozen to the floor, unable to take a single step in any direction.

A part of me wants to run up the path, jump into the back of the town car, and never come back here again. Another part of me wants to open it and confront the monster who’s haunted my dreams even more than Death did. I want to put my past to rest. I just can’t make myself move.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Pierce says, his finger pushing back a few strands of hair that have managed to fall over my face.

I nod absently, not taking my eyes off the door. All this time I thought Mikhail had been the one to sell Anya to the Polish, but it had been Maksim. I want to know why. I’d missed my opportunity to kill the father. Am I capable of killing the son?

My palm shakes, but I hold it out for the key. Pierce drops it into my hand. The weight of it is heavy. I inhale a deep breath, and insert the metal into the lock. The metallic click pierces my eardrums. Before I question myself any further, I push the door open and stare inside the room.

It’s just as I remember it, only this time, the chains aren’t empty and it’s blood dripping down the drain as opposed to my own waste. I step into the room, Pierce on my heels. The door closes behind us, and I try not to flinch as the latch catches.

Maksim looks different than I remember. It’s not even his blood-soaked body or his mangled face. He just seems…smaller. Lesser. I suppose torture will do that to someone. A groan comes from him, but he manages to raise his drooping head. He stares out at me from a single eye socket, and smiles at me through a blood-smeared mouth.

“Sister,” he greets me with a choked cough and the same arrogant smile that is distorted with pain.

“I’m not your sister,” I snap, finding my voice.

He seems to pout, but it turns into cruel laughter. “So you found me out, then.”

I stare at him…and feel nothing. Nothing but anger. There’s no fear. No shame. Just rage.

“Why did you sell my sister? She didn’t do anything to you.” That is the only thing I care about. What Maksim did to me in the past doesn’t matter. My future—Pierce—does.

Despite the pain he must be in, he manages to sneer. “Nothing?” he lashes out. “That little bitch was going to destroy everything I worked for.”

“How?” I cry. “She’s an eighteen-year-old girl who loves clothes. How was she going to do anything?”

“My father was going to let her have it all. He planned on grooming her to take his place as the head of our organization.” Maksim laughs maniacally. “Mikhail was a dirty old man who lusted after his precious daughter. He planned on keeping her for himself. He thought if he gave her everything she’d never had before, he could make her love him. It was pathetic.”

I cover my mouth in horror. Mikhail had wanted Anya, his own daughter, like…that? Father and son were both sick.

“So you sold her,” Pierce says.

“She deserved it,” Maksim spits. “Just like you did.”

I fly into a rage and run across the room, pounding on his chest, face, any place I can reach. “She was just a girl,” I scream, continuing to slap and punch until I can barely catch my breath, and my arms fall to my sides in exhaustion.

Maksim’s breathing is raspy and wheezing, and his chest and face are smeared with blood. I glance down and it covers my hands. I should be horrified, but I can’t muster the energy to care. The only thing I want is for this to be over. I want to move on with my life—with Pierce.

Numb, I make my way to the sink, washing the dark red liquid from my hands and stare as it circles the drain, first turning pink, then clear. Pierce appears at my side and shuts the water off. I look up at him and nod. Then, I turn and walk out the door, closing it behind me. I collapse against it, inhaling deep breaths, and letting the cool air wash through me. Seconds pass, and a gunshot sounds inside the room. I don’t even flinch.

A sense of peace surrounds me, and I rise and take a few steps back to wait for Pierce. I’m ready to go home. It doesn’t take long before the door opens and he exits the room, locking up behind him.

“I’ll have one of our men take care of the body,” he says.

It’s finally over. My old life no longer exists. It’s time to begin a new one.