“When I apologized, I grabbed his arm,” I said. “I wasn’t ever allowed to touch any of the men unless they told me to or gave me some sign. I knew that, but I was scared and in pain and I wasn’t thinking.” I reached up to touch the burn scar on my neck. “He hit me and I fell. Then he grabbed my hair and forced me to my knees. He nodded to one of his men and the guy, he just knew what Father wanted. It made me wonder how, you know?”
Vaughn’s arm tightened around me, but he didn’t say anything.
“The man left the room. He was back within a minute. He had something black in his hand, but I didn’t know what it was until he handed it to Father.” I drew in a breath as a huge shudder ran throughout my entire body. I could still remember the terror that had gone through me when I’d identified the object.
“Fire poker,” I breathed.
I heard someone gasp, but I wasn’t sure who it was. “I wasn’t wearing a shirt because they’d taken it off when they’d put the collar on. I again made the mistake of begging Father not to hurt me. I told him I’d be good and I’d never defy him again. He didn’t even let me finish before he hit me on the back with the poker.”
“Aleks,” Vaughn whispered into my ear. I could hear the emotion in his voice. It sounded really thick.
But I couldn’t stop now.
Not even for him.
“I thought each blow would be the one that killed me. I couldn’t even go into my head because it hurt so bad. I almost passed out after the first few hits, but one of the men kept throwing cold water in my face to make sure I didn’t. I could feel the blood running down my back but then after a while I didn’t feel anything. I remember the fire poker hitting the ground and then I was pulled to my feet and bent over the desk. I was afraid Father would let his men take turns with me after he was done, but they didn’t. Father just left me there, my pants around my ankles, and told his men to clean me up and put me in my room. I think… I think he was sorry he scarred his pet because he used to tell his friends that he regretted not using something lighter to teach me that first lesson.”
I reached for the jewelry box and pulled it closer. “I never defied him after that. Not once… not until the night Dante showed up and Father bent me over that same desk and showed Dante what I’d been turned into.”
“You’re so fucking strong, Aleks,” Vaughn said into my ear. “That’s who you are and who you’ve always been.”
“Unbroken,” I murmured.
Vaughn kissed the back of my neck. “Yes,” he said in a barely there whisper.
I nodded because I was finally starting to believe it for myself. But every step forward would be about that… about reminding myself that none of those men had done what they’d set out to do.
Break me.
So I reached for the small gold collar.
“No,” a voice said, then a large hand was moving the box out of my reach.
Not Vaughn’s hand, though.
Luca’s.
I hadn’t even noticed how close he’d moved to the desk. It was a testament to the fact that I really was coming to trust all the men as much as I trusted Vaughn.
“No,” Luca said. “You’re not doing this.”
I knew it wasn’t really an order because I could hear his voice breaking.
He was upset.
And I knew why.
“What was his name, Luca?” I asked.
Luca actually paled. “What?”
“The boy… the one you met when you were looking for Gio. The one you had to forget.”
Luca looked at Vaughn briefly. “He told you?” he asked me. There was a little bit of hurt in his voice.
“No,” I quickly said. “He didn’t tell me anything. You did. That night on the porch at the house in Nevada… you said you had to forget a boy to find your son. You’ve never really forgotten him though, have you?”
The man hesitated, then shook his head. “No,” he said. “They called him Billy, but I don’t know if that was his real name or not.”
“Probably not,” I said. “They changed any names that sounded too unique. They let me keep my name but they always spelled it wrong. They said the name Alex was really common here in the U.S. But my name is spelled with an ‘s’ – I was named after my father’s father who was Polish.”
I didn’t say it out loud but my guess was that Gio likely had been given a new name as well.
“We’ll find another way, Aleks,” Luca said as he snapped the jewelry box shut. He kept his big hand on it, but when I leaned across the desk and reached for it, he released it.