Gavriil (Stepanov Mafia)

“You can’t be trusted,” he said simply.

“I can’t be trusted?” I scoffed. “You’re the one who abducted me. You’re the one who blindfolded and gagged your own sister. You are threatening your own niece or nephew because of some ridiculous feud that I took care of for you. It seems to me like you are the untrustworthy one, brother.”

There was a moment of stillness, the rope was no longer working around my wrists, and I couldn’t hear or feel Devin moving, and I wondered whether I hadn’t broken through whatever haze of anger and delusion Devin had been operating under. Perhaps, I had cracked through his monstrous shell and found the tiny bit of my brother that remained inside. But then, Devin’s hands wrapped around my wrists and the arms of the chair, and he tipped me back until the chair was balanced on the two back legs. His breath was hot against my face.

“You have more loyalty for a man who threatened me, beat me, and embarrassed me. You want to be with the man who ruined my reputation, and it’s all because he doesn’t know how to work a condom. Because he got you pregnant, and now you feel this sick bond with him. You should feel a bond with me. I’m your family. I’m your blood. And if you can’t see that, then you are even more gone than I thought.”

Me, me, me. That’s all I could hear while Devin was talking. He didn’t care about me. He kept saying that I was brainwashed, and he wanted to save me, but it wasn’t true. Devin wanted me to be at home taking care of Mom and wondering where he was. He was the one who got to have a life outside of the house, he was the one who made the money – usually by illegal means – and took care of everyone. Devin wanted to be the hero, and he could not stand the fact that I had found someone else who could care for me, least of all Gavril Stepanov. This had nothing to do with me and had everything to do with Devin’s own pride.

He let the chair fall back to the ground, wobbling for a moment before it stabilized on all four legs. Then, in an uncharacteristic silence, he finished tying me up and left the room, slamming the door closed behind him.

I don’t know how long I sat in the room by myself. Without my sight, my other senses began to pick up the slack. I heard faint footsteps outside the door and the occasional mumble of a one-sided conversation – likely Devin on the phone. My sense of smell didn’t help me much beyond reaffirming that I was in an office. The room smelled like cleaning products and linoleum, and the air felt cool and artificial.

The ties around my wrists and ankles were too tight to even think about breaking free, and I knew screaming was useless. Devin wasn’t stupid enough to leave me alone in a place where I’d be able to call for help, and my screams would probably just bring him into the room so he could berate me more for choosing Gavril over him, and I could do without that at the moment.

The only thought I had was for my child. Devin thought he was somehow curing me of caring about Gavril or my child, undoing whatever brainwashing Gavril had done. When really, sitting alone in the room only made me think about both of them more.

I’d been making the case for Gavril that he was the right choice for me because he took care of me, because he made my life easier. And while that was true, I realized it wasn’t the only reason. Sure, he took care of my mom and made sure I had the best food, clothes, and doctors. But more than that, I liked him. I liked that I’d had to work to tear down his walls and that once I had, I could see the loving man that lived behind them.

And despite how serious and cold he could be, I had seen Gavril be excited about the idea of becoming a dad. As much as his money made life easier, the things I liked about Gavril had nothing to do with his money, and everything to do with who he was. The realization brought tears to my eyes. I tried to hold them in because I didn’t have hands to wipe them away, and I didn’t want the blindfold to get wet.

The door to the room opened, and I sat up straight in my chair, my body on high alert. I had no means to defend myself from any attacks, but I still wanted to be ready, to brace myself. Because no matter what happened, I didn’t want Devin and whatever goon squad he had assembled to win. I wouldn’t let them see me cower in fear or beg for my life.