forbidden { michael gray } ON TEMPORARY HOLD

n i n e

But the nightmare she was living didn't stop, it just got worse.

A hand gripped Talya's hair with such tightness, her eyes instantly watered. She didn't have a chance to try and escape from the grip of whoever had ahold of her before they lifted her head and smashed it against the sink.

When Talya's eyes opened again, a few seconds after she blacked out, she looked up to see the distorted image of a man stood before her. Her head was spinning too much for her to try and identify him. It wasn't until he spoke that she knew who it was and that she knew she was in real trouble.

"What... what did you say to father?" Alexei was so drunk that he could barely get his words out. His eyes had narrowed to a squint as he tried to concentrate on his sister. He had drunk almost an entire bottle of whiskey and couldn't see straight.

Talya looked up at her brother and shakily brought her hand to her temple, right where her head had collided with the marble sink. Her fingers were instantly slick with blood. "Alexei, don't do this."

"Do what?" He asked quizzically as he steadied himself from falling over. "I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"You're making this worse."

"Making what worse?" He asked, but before he let her answer, he drove his foot into her stomach. The air was knocked from Talya's body. Wheezing, she tried to push her way across the kitchen tiles, but Alexei dropped to his knees and grabbed her collar. "Where do you think you're going? Tell me what you told father!"

Talya wondered how loud she would have to scream to make her father hear her on the second floor. "I haven't told him anything-"

Another punch in her stomach interrupted her. He waited until she had gotten her breath back before asking again, his voice sweet and polite. "Talyaaaa," he sang as he caressed her chin with the back of his hand. "Tell me what you told him!"

"I told him nothing!" She said, her voice cracking as tears threatened to spill.

He grabbed her with both hands and dragged her with ease up to his face. "I said tell me! Tell me or I'll blow your brains across this floor!"

Talya's tearful eyes narrowed to slits and her lip curled as she stared at him in disgust. For some reason, the fear he struck into her dissolved into a short burst of bravery. "I told him what a meek little fucker you are. I told him you attack the vulnerable and the weak. I told him you will never be anything more than a henchman. You are a stupid, violent brute who will never be a leader. The only time you've ever planned something without father, I figured it out in a matter of seconds and stopped you. I told him-"

Alexei roared as he swung Talya across the kitchen floor. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she watched him rise from the floor and storm over to where she was crumpled. He began kicking her again, he spat on her, he punched her. Talya wasn't sure that this time around he would stop, that maybe this time he would beat her until she stopped breathing until suddenly, it stopped. She looked up in awe to see her father had flung Alexei away from her and had begun hammering his son with such heavy punches, his face was disfigured in a matter of moments. They weren't half-hearted punches or punches meant just to hurt his opponent. They were wild punches with the intent to murder and the intent to maim. Talya was transfixed at first as she watched her father attack her brother. She couldn't take her eyes off it. She didn't want to take her eyes off it. Each punch made her feel a stab of satisfaction. But then she snapped out of her trance and stumbled to her feet and over to her father. She yanked his arm backwards and in doing so, ended his furious attack on Alexei.

Mikhail looked at his daughter and let out a small weep. She was covered in blood, all of it her own. "My sweet Talya..."

"Get off," Talya said as she pushed her father's approaching hand away from her. The last thing she wanted to do was to be touched by him. As she had watched him beat Alexei, she realised how similar the two of them were. Mikhail was a fighting man, a violent man, an intimidating man. He always had been and he always would be. Only now he hid it behind his expensive suits and his lavishly decorated offices. And he had passed those traits onto his son. Those traits had been bred and allowed to fester in the violent, cut-throat environment he had raised them in, and Alexei had been the product of it. And who faced the consequences of it? Talya. "Either you get him out of this house or I'm leaving. Actually, I'd rather just leave."

As she turned and limped away, Mikhail caught her wrist. Once she turned back around, he shook his head violently. "I will never let this scum stay in my home. I'll have my men take him and dump him somewhere. But you, Talya, you must never leave. I didn't believe he was truly beating you, but now I see my mistake. And I will never fail you again."

Talya rolled her eyes before nodding. "Just get him out before he wakes up."

Her father couldn't get another word out before Talya ran upstairs and straight to her bed. She didn't even bother trying to clean the fresh cuts on her face, she just passed out and kept hoping it was all a bad dream.

-

When Talya woke up, she could only open one eye. The other had swollen completely shut. Her face was stiff with the blood that had dried on it and as she yawned it flaked onto her pillow. Muttering under her breath, she rose from her bed and stood up, but let out a yelp as she saw her mother was stood by her door. "Mama! I didn't see you."

"So it's true what your father said."

The girl frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"That your brother beat you." The woman walked forward until she was stood in front of Talya, taking her chin in her hand so she could examine her face. "I wasn't sure."

Talya jerked backwards before shoving past her mother and walking over to the sink she had in her room. "It's good of you to check on me. Especially last night when I fell asleep with my face bleeding and probably concussed."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm here now. You'll be pleased to know you've gotten your brother kicked out of the family."

"He got himself kicked out fo the family by beating the shit out of me." Talya hissed as she poured some rubbing alcohol on a cotton wool pad and began to dab at the cuts on her face. "Did you come in here for something other than to try and make me blame myself for your son's barbarity?"

The woman sighed before walking over to the sink and taking the cotton wool from Talya's hands. "You need to get the blood off first. Allow me."

For a few painstaking minutes, the mother and daughter stood in silence as they tried to endure the most physical contact they had had in years. The feeling of her mother's hands on her body was alien to Talya, but she tried to hide her dislike over the situation. Before long, Helga was done and she sighed again as she examined Talya's face. "They'll heal."

"I should hope so." Talya bitterly muttered. "Thank you."

Helga nodded curtly and went to leave, but she hesitated as she reached the door. Her face looked pained, as though she was upset. "Natalya, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Talya asked, but Helga had already shut the door before she could finish her question. She stayed staring at the door as she tried to figure out what her mother had meant until the door opened again to reveal her cousin.

"Oh, Talya!" Anechka cried as she ran over to Talya and took her face in her hands so she could examine the damage done. "He really got you, didn't he?"

Again, Talya snatched her face back from prying hands. "He did. Have you heard any news?"

"Yeah. The meeting between our family and the Blinders will be in four days, in a field that is in neither of our territories."

Talya swallowed. The fact it was in a field, where it was unlikely there would be anyone else around didn't fill her with much joy. No witnesses, no interference - just two warring families. To say she was dreading it would be an understatement.