Chapter 3 - Kolya #2
When I saw her for the first time, I should have known that such a young woman couldn’t possibly be so skilled. Panic started crawling up my back. What have I done? How the fuck am I going to fix this? It needs to be done quickly and quietly.
Shoving the chair back, I rose sharply. It scraped loudly against the floor as I rose, hitting the wall with great impact. Storming down the hall, I was ready to apologize and give her a divorce. This was a mess that I wasn’t ready to deal with. I had to clear it up.
Reaching her door, I noticed it was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, I scanned the room. Did she really pick the lock? Of course she did! What was I thinking? She’s a resilient one. Checking the bathroom, I just confirmed my suspicions. Sophia has escaped.
Rushing, I moved through the house, checking every room. As I headed downstairs, I noticed the glass doors leading to the back open. There was only one place she could go through that door.
Stepping out, I saw her. She was quickly moving across the grounds to the back gate. Was she truly going to try to climb the fucking gate? This woman is seriously bonkers. She was insane if she believed she could get over that gate.
Taking longer strides than normal, I closed the distance between us in seconds. Just as I thought I was within reach, that I could grab her, she made a sharp turn. Sophia started screaming at the top of her lungs. “Help! Someone, please, help me!”
There weren’t a lot of neighbors, but someone might hear her and attract attention I didn’t need right now. “Stop that! Stop running!” I demanded. My voice filled with more aggression than I intended.
“No! You are a monster!” she yelled back over her shoulder.
Stopping, I eyed her for a second as I took off one shoe. Predicting her next move, I tossed the shoe at her. It fell to the ground just before her and sent her flying as she tripped over it. This wasn’t my original intention, but it worked for me.
As she went down, she blocked her fall with her arms. She rolled over as I approached her. The closer I got, the more she backed away. I couldn’t help the smile forming on my lips as she looked like a crab moving back on her hands and feet.
She moved back until she was against the garden wall. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked back at me, a worried expression on her face.
“Nowhere else to go,” I teased.
She swallowed hard as I bent forward. Sophia flinched and pulled her arms up, blocking her face with her hands. Looking at her, I wondered if she truly thought I would hit her. But then I noticed the scrapes on her hands and forearms. I didn’t intend for her to get hurt.
Taking her around the wrists, I pulled her to her feet. “Look what you’ve done now,” I said in a soft tone. “If you had just stopped instead of running from me, this could have been prevented.”
“Please, let me go,” she begged, pulling lightly as she tried moving back.
Her voice was barely a whisper, and looking at her, I almost felt sorry for her.
My heart felt heavy. This wasn’t her fault after all.
I made such a mess of things. I sighed and smiled softly at her. How was I going to tell her the truth?
Looking over my shoulder, I saw my shoe still lying on the lawn. Letting go of her wrists, I turned and went to collect it. As I bent down to pick it up, she came sprinting past me. “Sophia!” I called out. Rushing, I put my shoe back on and ran after her again.
She had a lot more energy than I would have liked.
But maybe that is a good thing. Once again, I was able to close the gap reasonably well.
As she reached out for the gate, I grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face me.
My eyes flicked up at the towering gate.
“That won’t be an easy feat,” I spat as she ripped her arm out of my grip.
Stepping back, she glared at me, her lovely brown eyes ablaze with anger. Gone was the scared, intimidated young woman I saw all week. “You drugged me, assaulted me with a form of chemical weapon, and kidnapped me from my workplace,” Sophia huffed. “That’s aggravated assault, punishable by life.”
Stepping closer, she shoved a finger into my chest as she continued. “You threatened to kill my niece unless I signed a marriage contract. That makes it not only void but criminal. Forced marriage under distress, coercion, my friend. Thirty years, minimum.”
Her hand lifted into the air, but I caught it before she could slap me. “Now you’ve locked me in a room for a week. That’s false imprisonment! You’ve committed more than several felonies already. You want me to continue?” she breathed out hard.
I blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sudden shift.
She’s fierce, smart, sharp-tongued, and has no idea who I am.
Clearly, I have the wrong person. She didn’t even know what was going on.
Does she know what Bratva is, and who I am within it?
I had to approach this from another angle.
I had to get to the bottom of it all. Letting her go was no longer an option.
“What’s your name?” Sophia demanded for the hundredth time. She pulled and struggled, trying to get her wrist out of my grip. There was a fierceness in her I had not seen until now.
“Kolya,” I huffed, locking eyes with hers. There was no reaction, no widening of her eyes, no flicker of recognition. She had no idea who I was. How could this be? Did she not know what Melody had done to her? Wasn’t she part of the conspiracy?
I felt her pulling free, but before she could try to run again, I grabbed her. Picking her up, I gently placed her over my shoulder. Turning, I headed back to the mansion. Her tiny fists pounded at my back as she protested.
Nearing the door, I lowered her to the ground. Taking her arm, I continued inward. “What do you think the neighbors will think if my wife goes climbing over gates?” I asked as I pulled her inside.