“He will have you, Kisa. You saw his soul, yet you didn’t recognize his face. And he knew you, even when his memories were not there. You are his light, his guide back to this life.”

“He showed me his eyes,” I whispered and Serge’s eyebrows furrowed. Taking a deep breath, I explained, “Since the day I met him, I’ve noticed that he keeps his eyes down, his hood pulled over his face as if somewhere in his subconscious he knew that his distinctive eyes could be recognizable. But he let me see them. He showed me those eyes almost immediately. And as soon as I saw them, I saw my Luka.”

Serge’s gray eyes glistened and he dipped his head, only to raise them again. “Then he knew you too. Even if he didn’t remember you, his soul did. That boy was always besotted with you. I’d never seen anything like you two kids. A love so fierce it was like you’d been together for a millennium.”

My heart swelled at Serge’s words. I leaned forward to kiss him on his cheek, but just as I did, the passenger door flew open and Alik climbed inside, his eyes red raw with rage, and he placed a gun at Serge’s head.

“Drive,” he ordered in a terrifyingly guttural voice, and I instinctively started trembling. Fear seized my voice and any movement my mind willed me to make.

“Alik… baby,” I whispered, trying to sound natural, unafraid. Alik’s back stiffened.

“Shut the fuck up!” he snapped, his tone deadly, his eyes bloodshot and red. He pushed the barrel of the gun harder against Serge’s temple.

“Take us to my dockside apartment,” Alik ordered, and Serge risked a glance back in the mirror. Alik drew back his gun and butted Serge with the barrel, leaning forward. “I said take us to my fucking dockside apartment!”

I cried out when blood trickled down Serge’s face, but he put the car in drive and we rolled off down the streets, sticking to the shadows.

“Alik, please? What dockside apartment?” I whispered, watching his jaw twitch and redness run up his neck. I could physically see his anger engulf his pale skin.

“I got a dockside apartment, Kisa. Had it for years. I do what the fuck I want there.”

I gasped when I guessed what that could be. “And what’s that?” I asked fearfully.

He turned and smirked at me, but his eyes were on fire. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “Whatever the fuck I choose to do to keep me from ripping people apart.”

Alik watched my expression, which I knew was betraying my abject fear. My blood ran cold. He leaned forward as the car built up speed.

“You’ve fucked up, Myshka. I know what’s been going on, and with who.”

I sucked in a stuttered terrified breath. “Alik—”

Alik’s foot kicked out and smashed against the dashboard on an incensed roar. “I said shut your fucking mouth!”

As I cowered back in my seat, Alik panted, his chest rising and falling. I watched him like a hawk, his head twitching and his feet tapping with impatience. I couldn’t cry, couldn’t show any reaction.

I was so terrified.

I’d never been on the receiving end of this Alik before. I’d never defied him or hurt him… until now.

He knew about Raze and me.

And I wasn’t sure I was going to come out of this alive.

*****

The docks came into view not too far from The Dungeon, but far enough away that nobody would know Alik came here. It wasn’t an apartment as such, more like a fisherman’s shack that had been refurbished.

Serge stopped the car, and for a moment, we all sat there in strained silence. Lowering the gun, Alik turned to Serge.

“Stay the fuck here.”

Serge looked at me in the backseat and sadly shook his head. “I can’t do that, Mr. Alik.”

Alik laughed and held up his Beretta, rolling the gun in his hand. “You’ll do whatever the fuck I say, old man.”

Serge straightened in his seat, and I saw Alik smile. I knew that smile. That sadistic smile. And I hated that it was directed at Serge. My kind old Serge.

“No, Serge, please just do what he says,” I begged.

Serge’s eyes set with resolve. “I can’t, Miss Kisa. I could never live with myself if I let anything happen to you. You’re… you’re like the daughter I never had.”

A tear trickled down my cheek as I began to plead with him, but Alik didn’t give me a chance as he aimed his gun at Serge’s temple. I opened my mouth to shout out, but Serge met my eyes in the mirror and he shook his head no. He was saying goodbye.

A second later, Alik pulled the trigger. Serge slumped forward, dead, and this time I did scream.

In no time at all, Alik jumped out of the car and opened the back door. “Get the fuck out,” he ordered, and heart struggling to beat despite the shock of Serge’s violent death, I moved to the door, but Alik groaned, leaned in to grab my arm, and wrenched me forward. “Fucking move!”

Crying out once more, Alik dragged me toward the apartment, unlocked the door, and pushed me inside.

I blinked and blinked, trying to take in the room. It was sparse, only minimal furniture—a ragged couch, a small kitchenette, and a bed. My stomach rolled when I saw the sheets were messed up, used condoms on the bedside table… but that wasn’t what had me recoiling in shock. No. That honor was bestowed upon a clearing at the left side of the open space. A clearing covered in plastic sheets… plastic sheets stained with blood.

“Alik,” I hushed out. “What is this place?”