Yuri Death

Aria POV 

I flinched every time my uncle’s stifled cries rang out as Alexei and Viktor broke each of his fingers.

 My eyes weren’t on my uncle, though, but instead on my husband’s face. His expression was unreadable as he watched my uncle like he was conducting some sort of experiment.

Soon, they began cutting his clothes off from his body then they began slicing his skin over and over in the process.

 I jerked to my feet because there was no I would watch this and move importantly I don't want to see him naked and his screems were now getting to me. Viktor looked over to me and stopped his brother from removing my uncle’s underpants.

 He walked toward me. “Do you want to hear what he has to say before you go?”

I wasn’t sure what I wanted at this point but I gave a very small nod.

He went back and pulled the cloth out of my uncle’s mouth. “I’m sorry,” he shouted. “Please forgive me.” His eyes begged me.

Viktor looked at back at me, whatever I say now would determine his fate. “Do you forgive him?” He asked me.

Could I forgive him? Can you forgive having your childhood destroyed? Having your innocence ripped from you? Losing that childlike trust in your family in the worst way possible? “No,” I said.

Viktor stuffed the clothes back into Yuri mouth and I had leave the room when he brought the knife down onto my uncle’s chest.

 I closed the door and took a shuddering breath then stiffened when I noticed Ivan heading my way and carrying transfusion bags. 

I moved to the side so he could enter, but he returned a moment later with empty arms. “I’m going to take you to Alexei room and your husband will join you later.”

I didn’t say anything, just watched the tall broad chest man. 

We walked in silence, and when I stepped into Alexei room, he disappeared and I was alone. I walked over to the bed then crept under the blankets, staring into the darkness. 

The bed brought back memories of the past, even if it wasn’t the same bed where it had happened.

Slipping out of the bed, I curled up in one of the armchairs, not bothering with a blanket. 

Much later, the door creaked open and as the light spilled in from the corridor, I could see Viktor dressed in his wedding suit then he closed the door, bathing us in darkness. 

He stopped halfway to the bed. “You can sleep in the bed. Alexei won't be coming here tonight, so It’s ours.”

I swallowed. “I haven’t slept in a bed in years.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because that’s where it happened,” I choked.

“He begged for death in the end if it’s any consolation.”

I sucked in my breath. Was it? It shouldn’t have been, but part of me felt consoled. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“You have to set yourself free from the hold he has on you and only you can do that.”

I stood then slowly walked toward the bed. In the dim light I could only make out Viktor tall form, but I had a feeling he was watching me. I lay down and covered myself with the blanket.

He shadow shifted and I could hear clothes rustling. 

He was getting out of his wedding suit. Would he try again? I was his wife after all, I shouldn't panic because he hasn't hurt me ever since we met but I couldn't help it 

“You should sleep,” he said in that calm rough voice as he slipped under the covers.

 He didn’t come close enough so we would touch. “I can’t.”

“The nightmares won’t stop because he’s dead,” he said, and I knew he was right, but it was unsettling that he knew. 

They’d called him a genius, as twisted and dangerous as he was intelligent and I realized he was all that and more. 

I remember how he twisted that knife in Uncle Yuri leg and how he kept punching him, that was something he's been doing for a long time. 

"He begged for death in the end." He suddenly said when I was silence.

“He won’t ever hurt you again, and nobody else will either,” he said as if him speaking the words as if he wants me to screw it in my brain.

 “What about you?” Silence. “Will you hurt me?”

He shifted and the bed moved under his weight and I sucked in a breath before I could stop myself and even in the dark, I could see him turn to face me. “I won’t hurt you either.”

“But you will abuse me mentally?” I asked. “No.” He paused. “But I don’t feel.”

“Feel what?”

"Emotions for lack of words."

I tried to understand what he meant. “You don’t feel emotions?”

“Haven’t since I was a child.” He paused. “Not like people usually do, It’s just difficult to explain.”

A sociopath, that was what people like him were called.

“I recognize them and I can simulate them in a satisfying manner if I want, but I don’t feel them.”

I wasn’t sure what to say maybe his admittance should have scared me. “So what does that mean for us?”

“That means that I will never act on anger or fear or sadness, but …”

“But never on love or affection either,” I finished and I wondered why he had slaughtered my uncle if it wasn’t for anger. 

Was it habit? Because that was how things were handled in their group? Even here any members of the crew would have killed the man who’d dishonored his bride. “Yeah.”

I didn’t need love as long as I knew I was safe from him. Besides, I had gone without real affection for years now so I could live through more. “What about desire?”

“I do and to be sincere with you I desire your body.”

"But I won’t act on it.”

“You won’t?"

 "if that’s what you prefer, I will use other women for my pleasure.?”

God, I love the way this conversation was going. “Yes,” I said, relieved that he’d suggested it. Now I could sleep because what I was scared of is now resolved.