Valon: What Once Was (Volkov Bratva Novella)(27)

Gotten her hurt. Disfigured.

And undoubtedly, she would suffer more the longer she remained with him because this was only a warning. Fatos was capable of much worse and could have done much worse.

Once, he had considered helping her but banished the idea.

Now?

Now he had no choice.





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13





“Elena…Elena.”

Valon woke her up gently, his hand on her shoulder, his body hovering over hers. She came awake violently, lurching away from him until she realized that it wasn’t Fatos above her. But even as she calmed, she still didn’t look particularly happy that she was there with him, not like she used to.

In the span of a couple of days, Fatos had managed to take away the only real friend Valon had made. He had ruined her in a way that no matter if she looked in the mirror, or if she even looked at Valon, she would always think of Fatos.

But as Valon lay awake over the course of the night, consumed by guilt, he refused to let this be the end for her.

She had asked him to kill her, to end the pain that she was going to live with if she remained here…he would give her something better.

“We have to go.”

“Valon…what are you talking about?”

Her eyes were closing again, probably from the drugs he had given her last night, but if he was going to get her out of this place, they needed to go. Now.

“Elena!”

But she was too groggy to do anything more than nod her head.

Sliding out of the bed, Valon slipped an arm beneath her legs and another around her shoulders, lifting her as best he could. She groaned with the moving, blinking her eyes open as she squinted at him.

“What are you doing, Valon?”

“Do you want to leave this place?”

That seemed to finally get through to her. “Are we leaving?”

No, Valon probably could never leave this place. “Yes,” he lied because he didn’t think she would go if he said only her. “Can you walk? Do you need my help?”

He set her down as he asked, checking her bandages as he did so.

“I’m fine. Let’s just go. Where’s Loki? Are we bringing him?”

He almost smiled. She cared as much about him as she did their own safety, but Valon needed Loki to stay there and guard the door. It would buy them more time.

Luckily for them, there wasn’t much for them to take since she usually wore his clothes, and it wasn’t like he was leaving anyway.

Outside his bedroom door, he crouched down so that he was eye level with Loki, making sure he got his command across. “No one goes in, understand.”

He didn’t have to tell him twice. Loki made a little circle then sat in front of the door.

Grabbing hold of Elena’s hand, he led her through the hallways, out through the back where the least amount of guards were stationed. Valon had learned the layout of this place, and the woods that made up the backyard were second nature to him. As they crossed through, however, he did make a stop beneath a giant oak tree, digging his hands into the dirt until he uncovered the little sack he had buried so many years ago. He didn’t have time to go through it; he just stuffed it in his pocket and kept going.

From his old apartment, the train station was about a thirty-minute walk, but adding in the distance from Bastian’s compound, it was much further.

Valon didn’t complain, and when it grew to be too much for Elena, he carried her on his back until they reached the station. Because of the sheer amount of times he had won in the Pit, Bastian had begun to give him small stipends. Since he lived in the compound, there was very little that he bought himself.

At the counter, Valon looked the frightened old woman in the face. “Ticket to anywhere, and I’ll give you two hundred euros if you make no record of it.”

He might have looked dangerous, but most people cared more about money than looks.

When the ticket and boarding pass was printed, Valon walked with Elena over to a vending machine, getting her a soda and a bag of chips, and then he handed over the jacket from when he was thirteen that no longer fit him, but probably would fit her. When she had it on and zipped, he pressed all the money he had to his name into her hand.

She looked from it to him, and he saw the very moment when she realized that he wouldn’t be coming with her. “Valon, they’ll kill you.”

“Maybe.”

“Why won’t you come with me?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes. “We can start over somewhere.”

“They’ll look for me first, and that’ll give you more time to get away from here. Otherwise we both die and what good would that do us?” He pushed a strand of hair out of her face. It didn’t matter what Fatos had done to her, she was still beautiful to him. “Be free for the both of us.”

A train horn blared in the distance, growing ever closer.

When she still looked reluctant to walk away from him, he said, “When this is all over and every single one of them is dead, I’ll find you.”

He drew her into his arms, kissing the top of her head as the train came slowly into the station, the doors opening as others stepped off and more stepped on. It was time for her to go.

“I love you, Valon.”

He smiled brokenly, accepting her words, even when he knew she didn’t mean them. It was his fault she had gotten hurt. And it was his fault that her face would never look the same again.