Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Alek
Katya is an enigma to say the least. The last thing I expected was for her to seem more comfortable inside a cage than out of it. Who is this woman exactly?
“I’ve heard the rumors,” I say, looking down at her.
She’s wrapped around herself as if that will protect her from me.
Nothing will protect her from me. Katya is mine now.
Mine to do with as I please. Dimitri thought he could win with me and I’m going to show him otherwise.
“That Dimitri held you captive all your life. Is that why you’re comfortable inside this cage? ”
Something flashes in her eyes. “Dimitri never held me captive.”
“No? Then why do you like this cage so much?”
“I…” She shakes her head and looks down at her lap. It’s like she’s hoping I’ll magically disappear and she’ll get out of this situation.
“You intrigue me,” I admit. “Most women don’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Are the rumors true? You said Dimitri never held you captive. So where were you all these years? No one has seen you.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I just need to stay in here where I’ll be safe.” She grips the bars of the cage so tightly her hands turn white.
I kneel down so I’m eye level with her through the bars. “You’re not safe, Katya. Not from me. I took you to hurt Dimitri. You’re going to help me with that.”
“No. I won’t hurt my brother.”
“You don’t really get a choice. Answer my questions.”
“No.”
She’s a lot more defiant than I thought she would be.
Truthfully, I didn’t know anything about her to even know what to expect but I can say that I definitely didn’t expect the woman right in front of me.
Both beautiful and yet defiant. There’s an innocence in her eyes but also pain.
Trauma like she’s lived through something no one should ever have to live through.
“You said you weren’t a captive. So where were you all these years?”
“Inside. In my room.”
“In your room? So your brother did hold you captive.”
She shakes her head roughly. “No. I chose to be in there. I didn’t want to leave. My brother is not an evil man.”
I give her a slow, drawn out smirk. “You truly believe that? Then why has he tried to kill me on multiple occasions? Why have I heard stories of the way he treats his wife? Locking her up in a cage. Your brother is not a good man.”
“Then neither are you. You put me in here.”
“Yes, but I kidnapped you. I never claimed to be a good man. Whereas, your brother pretends with you if you think he’s good. He is not good. He’s the opposite of it.”
“You’re just trying to get in my head and it won’t work. I won’t turn on my brother.”
“In time you will. I know it.”
She pulls her hands away from the cage and sits back, staring at me, studying me.
It’s unnerving a little bit. Katya doesn’t act like most people, I can tell that right away.
What exactly has she been through in life?
And why do I care so much? Already, I can tell that Katya is a woman I want to study. Want to get to the bottom of.
Women for me have been fun distractions. Good for a fun time and then I move on. A lot of the dancers at my nightclub I’ve brought home to my bed but I’ve never met a woman I wanted to marry. No woman I wanted to burrow deep inside of her brain and get to know.
But with Katya, I want to burrow into her brain. I want to know all her secrets. The more secrets I know, the more I can use her against her brother.
“I know my brother is not perfect,” Katya says. “But he’s always been good to me. You won’t make me think otherwise.”
“Just tell me if the rumors are true.”
“Then you’ll leave me alone?”
I tilt my head to the side. “So you can remain alone in this cage? Is that what you want?”
“I feel safe in it,” she whispers.
“Really? I… didn’t see that coming. Most people would not feel safe inside the cage I put them in. Most would be clamoring to get out.”
“It’s just who I am.”
“And who are you?”
“You kidnaped me. Don’t you know?”
“I’ve heard the stories,” I say. “About how much your brother loves you. How much he has strived to protect you. I figured if he loves you that much, he’ll go to the ends of this earth to save you.
I want to drive him fucking insane trying to get you back.
Call it a punishment for all the times he tried to kill me over these past few months.
So, I know your brother must care for you. But I want to know more.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Mmm. I guess not. But are you willing to risk defying me? You already know I’m capable of kidnapping an innocent woman. What else am I capable of?”
Her eyes darken and she shivers. Got her. “My brother never held me captive.”
“So you’ve already said.”
“I like being in my room. It’s safe there. So I stayed in there and Dimitri let me. He made me a hidden room so no one could find me. That’s what I wanted. What I needed.”
Interesting. “Why?”
She looks at me with a frown.
“Why did you want to stay in your room? Why dd you need it?”
“I don’t want to say,” she whispers, biting her lip. I can’t help but notice how soft her lips look. She’s a beautiful woman to say the least, if odd. Maybe that makes her more pretty in some ways.
“Well, I want you to say. You’re going to give in to me, Katya. Even if I have to beat you down to make it happen.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“You like being in this cage, I take it? You feel safe in it?”
Slowly, she nods.
“Fine. Then I’m not going to keep you in this cage.” I open the door and pull her from the cage.
“What are you doing?” she gasps, struggling against me.
“I’m going to bring you outside. If it’s an enclosed space that makes you feel good, then how do you feel when you’re out in the wide open?”
“Please, no,” she sobs, surprising me. “No!”
I throw her over my shoulder and carry her outside, setting her on her feet carefully so she doesn’t get hurt. I don’t need Katya to get hurt to achieve my plan. That’s not why I need her.
“Please, let me back inside,” she continues to cry. Tears run down her face. Her moods are a shock. I don’t understand them. Who exactly is this girl and what has she been through in life to make her act this way?
“Just tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you back into the cage.” I shake my head. “You know, you are a strange, little creature. Most people would be happy to be let out of my cage.”
“Please.”
“Just do what I want, Katya. Tell me why you needed to stay in your hidden room? Why a hidden room? Why not just any room?”
She falls to her knees and sobs so hard, her entire body shakes. I have no sympathy for her. She’s the sister of my enemy. The last thing I need to do is care for her. So I harden my feelings and look down at her with no pity.
“Katya, just tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you back into the cage.”
“My mom… was murdered.”
That pulls me up short. I’ve heard the stories of Dimitri’s parents.
How his father murdered her mother and how he died of a heart attack.
Of course, rumors spread that Dimitri was the one who killed his father afterwards but no one could prove anything.
Katya was never included in any of the stories that I heard.
“By my dad,” she continues, practically pressing her face into the cement as if that will make the world disappear.
“And? Is that why you wanted to stay hidden?”
“I was there. He killed her right in front of me.” Her crying picks up its intensity.
“So, you hid yourself away, is that it? You wanted to stay safe, I’m assuming.”
She nods but doesn’t look me in the eye. Tears continue to stream down her pretty face.
“So that’s why you prefer an enclosed room to the outdoors. How long have you stayed hidden away? No one has seen you in years.”
“Since I was eight.”
All the air leaves my body. Katya isn’t just Dimitri’s baby sister but she’s an innocent, trauma ridden woman who has stayed inside for the past thirteen years.
“Can I go back inside the cage now?” she asks, sounding younger than Nina and Susanna and they’re seventeen and sixteen. It makes me feel like a dirty old man for a moment. But Katya is twenty-one. She’s an adult. She may act younger but she’s still a woman. One with more depths I want to explore.
But first, this is the perfect opportunity to hurt Dimitri.
I pull out my phone and turn the camera on, filming Katya.
“What are you doing?” she asks as she continues to cry.
“Showing Dimitri that I have you. That I’m willing to do whatever I want with you just to hurt him. Say hi, Katya.”
“No.”
“Say hi.”
She ducks her chin and sucks in a breath before saying, “Hi.”
“That’s a good girl. Are you going to be my good girl?”
“I’m not yours.”
“Not yet anyway. Dimitri, when you watch this video, listen to my words: I have your sister and you’re not going to find her.
You’re not going to find me this time. It will drive you insane and I will love every minute of it.
” I kneel down before Katya, still filming her, and swipe my thumb along her cheek, wiping her tears away.
“Your sister is pretty when she cries.” Then I turn the video off.
I send the video to one of my men – Josh – a hacker I work with from time to time. He’ll be able to send it to Dimitri without Dimitri finding out where I took the video. My thumb hovers over the delete button on the video. Now that I’ve sent it to Josh, I don’t need to keep it any longer.
But one look at Katya’s pretty crying face in the video and I know I need to keep it. I want to keep all of her. Just from my first look at her, I knew she had to be mine. And I will make her mine. All of mine.
“Can I go back into the cage now?” she asks.
I put my phone away and look her in the eye. I can tell how much she’s struggling to keep eye contact. “Yes. You can. You’ve given me what I needed.”
“And what’s that?”
“I know how to beat you down. And in turn, it will beat Dimitri down. I’ve already won this war and he doesn’t even seem to realize it yet.”