Page 66 of Romi

She’d stopped fighting him and was clutching his jacket, sobbing and murmuring, “Please, stop them. Please, stop them,” to him.

“Ooof!” I clutched my stomach as another hard kick from Miki winded me. He stepped away, clutching his head in his hands.

They all knew that I was no coward and that I could match each of them, if not best them, in a fight any day. So, I knew they’d understand that I was allowing this.

“Fuck!” Ash cried, stepping in with a final kick to my thigh.

Miki pulled him away, and they took a few steps back, panting hard and staring at me with a mixture of rage and disappointment, and it was that which hit me harder than any of their blows.

They remained still, breathing harshly but no longer attacking me. It appeared that they were finally calming down. Thank goodness because I couldn’t take much more without passing out.

When no more attacks came, I slowly pushed myself up to my knees. Swaying slightly, I somehow managed to stand up, clutching onto the wall for support.

My vision swam as a wave of nausea washed over me like a tsunami, and I gulped down the bile that threatened to bring my omelette back up.

Geez, I didn’t remember ever feeling such pain. Both physical and psychological. Everywhere hurt. I wiped my hand across my face, and it came back smeared in blood. My lip was cut, and my jaw throbbed. Breathing was difficult. My ribs screamed in agony, and my thighs ached, but at least I was alive.

Strangely enough, despite how sore I was, I didn’t actually think anything was broken except my left pinkie finger, which was sitting at an unusual angle. I guessed I should definitely be thankful for small mercies.

“Bastards!” Sonia shouted, pulling out of Marko’s hold and running to me.

I pulled her to me and held her close, uncaring of my pain. Having her in my arms soothed all the hurt.

Miki and Ash stared at us, and slowly, I saw realisation dawning on Ash’s face. He could see how much Sonia cared for me.

“Shit!” he cursed, turning away, seeming unable to look at us.

“Fuck!” Miki shouted, pacing about the room, his hands clenching and unclenching. He stopped facing away from us, breathing deeply. After a minute, he pulled himself together enough to speak.

“Everyone in the kitchen now!” he said, and we all hurried to obey.

“Sit!” he pointed to the stools at the breakfast bar.

Sonia and I sat, but I kept a hold of her hand.

Ash remained outside in the hall, cursing.

Miki shook his head at me in disgust. He was still so fucking angry with me that I could almost taste it.

“What the fuck, Romi? You not only broke the Bro code, but you are our fucking cousin!” he growled.

“He’s not our real cousin!” Sonia shouted.

She seemed like she was about to say something else, but he silenced her with a look.

“Also, you have gone against me as Pakhan and jeopardised our alliance with Glowacki. Damn it! I can’t let that go,” Miki shouted.

Marko stood beside Miki, watching me. He hadn’t hit me, but he hadn’t said anything either. I wasn’t sure exactly how he was taking all of this.

“I’m not marrying Dariusz,” Sonia screamed at him, “I love Romi!”

Miki ignored her, his eyes burrowing into me, searching mine as Ash entered the kitchen.

“We trusted you to take care of her, and you bloody seduced her instead!” he cried.

“I love her!” I shouted at them, my eyes going from one to the other.

“We love each other,” Sonia stated again, clutching tightly onto my hand.