No sound echoed through the small room we stood in. There was no thud of a bullet and no cry of pain. It was just a horrible silence that sent a trace of fear up my spine. Slowly, I opened my eyes praying it was over. It most definitely wasn't. Alexei still stood with the gun in his hand while Ivan's father lay on the ground. He was still very much alive. A sardonic smile appeared on his cruel face as he stood up and brushed himself off. Alexei slowly lowered the point of his gun to his side once more once he realized he'd done no damage. There had only been one bullet.

We should have known that Ivan's father wouldn't take unnecessary chances. He'd been playing this game far longer than we had.

"I thought you were the intelligent one but then again, I should have known better. You refused to escape with Ivan and the other one and when I offered you revenge, you didn't take that either. Then you had the nerve to actually shoot me. Do you think I'm a fool to provide you with a fully loaded gun." I couldn't care less whether the gun had one bullet or sixteen. My mind was still reeling from the first part of his statement. Alexei had refused to escape when he could have. He could have been out of here, safe, free but he didn't go. I wanted to scream at him for not leaving. A whole life awaited him.

But he'd always been so self sacrificial. I should have known it would destroy him as much as it made up who he was. Why couldn't he have put himself first just this one? He didn't want to kill Ivan's father for his own revenge. Those thought had ebbed away long ago. He'd forgiven and forgotten. He'd said as much in those woods near Violet's log cabin.

However, to prevent Ivan's father from laying a hand on his son, Mikhail or even me ever again, he'd forsake his own life. He took it all on his head. Ivan and Mikhail's need for revenge, Ivan's problems with taking over the gang, the pain Ivan's father had caused Mikhail, Ivan and even me. He'd end it all even if he lost his life in process. Did he not think for a second what his death would do to any of us? It would kill me, far more slowly and painfully than the wound in my side. Why couldn't he have gone with Ivan when he was supposed to? Why couldn't he see that he meant the world to three people and he owed it to them to put his life first?

"I don't run away from my problems." Alexei's voice was ice cold as he replied to Ivan's father. For a second I feared losing him to that coldness he'd wrapped himself in. The scars that covered his skin showed the extent they'd driven him to after they'd presumably caught him when Ivan had tried to help him escape. He still hadn't broken. How could someone break a person so full of light?

It must have killed Ivan to leave him in here. Ivan who was overprotective to a fault, had left the one person he'd thought he'd let down all those years ago.  What had he been thinking? Just like that, I knew he'd come back. There was no way he'd leave Alexei to fend for himself. The real battle would go down then. But for now, I couldn't lose Alexei to the cold exterior he'd wrapped himself in. I stepped forward and took his hand in mine. An instant sense of relief went through me but it was clouded by poisonous thoughts. I was touching his hand with the very one that had held the lighter, a murderer's hand.

I quickly tore it away. If he was surprised, he didn't let it show.

"Bring the rest of them in." I couldn't say I was completely surprised when the rest of Ivan's father's gang poured into the small room that suddenly seemed 10 times smaller. The real battle had come sooner than I'd anticipated and this time my anxiety overruled any of my thoughts as I took Alexei's hand in my own. He held it tight, solid and steady.

At gunpoint, they dragged in Ivan and Mikhail. Ivan's face contorted with rage and disbelief as he took in the wound on my skin and the scars on Alexei's skin. That anger could've burned the room to cinders. Ivan's father took the brunt of that hatred and even he, the man who played sadistic games, stepped back in slight shock at the extent of rage in those green eyes. Ivan began to struggle in the hold of the two men that had him. He knew the gun wouldn't go of at the back of his head.

Ivan's father would try one last time to use blackmail to bring him to his side. It was why were all here. Ivan began to struggle in earnest in an effort to reach us but Mikhail reached out and placed a hand on Ivan's shoulder in an effort to calm him down. Panic and fighting was just a waste of breath. There were too many of Ivan's father's men in the room for us to even think of fighting our way out.

We needed some rational thought, something to bargain to get out of here. We had nothing at our disposal though. I expected Mikhail to have some semblance of calm now to think of some solution.

But he was barely hanging on by a thread. Raw emotion roiled in those beautiful eyes as he took in our horrible state. His pain-stricken eyes met mine and they widened in shock. It was like he saw straight into my soul and I wanted to look away. I didn't want him to see how much of a pitiful wreck I was now. He saw straight through me though like he always had. He mouthed a few words in my directions.

Just hold on. It'll be okay.

I knew he wasn't talking about the wound in my side or even the fact that the chance of us ever getting out of this room was very slim. He was referring to the haunted look in my eyes that made my heart feel so much heavier than it should have been. I'd never been pushed like this. I'd never been involved in a world like this.

But all of a sudden I was exposed to some of the most horrible things this strange world could offer and it was getting harder and harder to stop myself from giving up. Mikhail was trying to keep me from shutting down. He was fighting for me when I couldn't for myself and if I didn't love him the way I did, I would have hated him from keeping me from taking the easier way out. I suppose he thought they'd done something to hurt me.

Little did he know that ultimately, they hadn't hurt me. I'd done it all on my own and the pieces that were still there were barely holding together.

The realization that we'd been defeated completely was almost like the last nail in the coffin. It was over. I'd expected it to end this way but seeing it play out had sudden tears welling in my eyes. All the adrenaline I'd run on slowly began to fade and I sagged heavily against Alexei. He wrapped an arm around me to hold me up against him.

"Hold on darling. We'll get you out," he whispered with evident worry as he held me tightly in his arms like he could prevent me from slipping away. My body was slowly shutting down. My immunity was horrible as it is. I needed a hospital now. The sight of me almost giving up must have snapped whatever thread Mikhail was holding on to. Ivan was hanging his head in defeat.

"Just get her out of here. She isn't involved in any of this. Please, please help her. I'll do anything. You have us. You don't need her anymore." Mikhail's voice came out high and airy with desperation as he pleaded in front of the man that ruined his life. It was all for me. Ivan's father didn't bat a lid. I was surprised he didn't smile and savor the pain in Mikhail's voice. Mikhail glanced to me in desperation. His eyes were begging me to fight, to stay alive.

I didn't want to see him snap so I held on just for him. He kept me from sinking, not my mother, not Alexei, not Ivan. It was the boy who could understand me in a way no one else really did.

And he would understand when my fight became too much, and he'd understand then if I let go. But now, he believed I could survive and so I held on.

"Shut up wh***." The man behind Mikhail kicked him down to his knees, which landed with a thud. The anger that inspired was enough for me to keep my eyes open just a bit longer. They'd forced him to be helpless once again. Hatred, raw pure hatred coursed through my veins. Ivan snarled at the man holding Mikhail and the full-grown man had the sense to look afraid.

Unleashing Ivan now would have been as dangerous as unleashing a bloodthirsty animal. He needed to calm down. Ivan's father's patience was wearing thin. I could see it in the tightening of his jaw and the evident displeasure in his eyes as he came to stand before me.

His hand gripped my chin in a vicious hold before Alexei could move me behind him. Alexei still kept his hold on me but knew he couldn't lash out when the boys were held at gunpoint. Ivan's father raised an eyebrow as he scrutinized my face before glancing down to the wound at my side.

"I suppose he is right though. I definitely don't need the girl. The boys I have some use for but she's already weak with the wound in her side. The fight's over after all unless my son still hasn't realized the extent to which he has been defeated." The cruel face turned to Ivan who was on his knees with his head bowed to the ground. Defeat was written all over the gesture. This vile man had brought his own son to his knees.

I knew then that we couldn't let him in no matter the cost.

"No." Ivan's father whipped around in surprise. Alexei's arm around my waist tightened just a bit as I spoke.

"No. We won't give in to you. I'd rather you kill all of us then have Ivan under your leash." It was the truth. It would hurt a million times worse if I had to live each day knowing what I'd done to my boys and how much damage Ivan's father was causing because I couldn't make the right choice.

Maybe it was the pain in my side, in my heart that was suddenly making me suicidal. I didn't even fear death anymore. It was better to die than to be responsible for another death.

"Roe I can't let you die. I promised you I would protect you." Ivan's green eyes clashed with mine in desperation. I didn't want to hurt him but he'd have to throw away that promise. I would probably not get out of here unless another miracle happened now.

"It doesn't seem like you have much of a choice son." Ivan's father was about to press a gun right to my temple but Alexei pulled me behind his back with a snarl like I'd never heard before. His whole body was trembling with rage, exhaustion, pain and agony. Ivan's father shook his head in disapproval.

"Well if you aren't going to cooperate I guess I'll have to convince you in a different way." What could he possibly mean by that? What more did her have up his sleeve? He turned and beckoned to one of his men who went running off. The man returned a few minutes later with something in his arms. A female. Oh god they had Ivan's mother. She hadn't gotten away like I'd thought.

But when the man finally stepped into the light I realized that it wasn't Ivan's mother.

No, it was mine. 

Roe's mother entering the picture!! How did he even get his hands on her? Things are definitely heating up now. Do you think they still have a chance to make it out? Comment down below! 

I know a lot of you, if you had to pick between the boys, would pick either Ivan or Alexei. I wanted to use this chapter to really convey that Mikhail is just as incredible. He gets her in a way no one else really does. He notices and realizes that Roe's losing her fight and he fights to keep her not just alive, but mentally sound as everything falls apart. He's just as incredible as Ivan and Alexei and I just wanted to say that because the boy deserves all the love in the world. 

With that being said #MIRA forever in the end. They're their best when they are all together anyway <3

Happy Valentine's Day btw lovelies! Hope you're having a wonderful day. If you liked this chapter, go ahead and click that little star to show your love and support. 

Until the next chapter...

Love

-ASH