Chapter 4 #2
There’s a collective inhale of breath before the beer belly man huffs. “Bullshit. No one has ever seen Dimitri’s sister. This isn’t her. You’re just messing with us.”
Alek’s eyes darken but this time, it has nothing to do with desire. No, this time it’s anger. “When have I ever messed with you, John? This is Katya Ivanov herself. Look at her face. Tell me she doesn’t look like her brother.”
The ten guests – eight men and two women – all look me over like I’m an animal instead of a human being.
John’s eyes widen when he takes in my face fully. “Holy shit. She really does look a lot like Dimitri.”
“Because she’s his sister. I wouldn’t lie about that. You can just ask Dimitri. I’m sure he’s fucking panicking right about now, knowing I have his sister.”
“She’s pretty,” one of the woman says. Young with bright blonde hair, she looks more like an alien princess than a human. I feel frumpy in my dress next to her elegant silver gown. I’ll never be elegant like her. Never be a woman like I want to be.
“She is,” a man agrees, eyeing me over with a hunger I don’t like. For some reason, I find myself sinking in closer to Alek.
He places his hand on my low back, startling me.
“Let’s go into the living room. I have drinks ready for us.
” Alek practically nudges me to walk forward.
The other people all begin to converse, clearly all having known each other before tonight.
I’m the odd one out. It only makes my panic rise more.
It’s too many people. Too fast. I was just in my room this morning and now I’m in a stranger’s home surrounded by people who are looking at me with scary expressions. I just want to go back to my room. I need the safety of it.
My body turns stiff. Alek gives me a questioning look but he turns back to his friends and talks to them like I’m not even here. Why is he even doing this? Why can’t he just put me back in the cage? I’m safe in there. No one can get to me in there.
“Hi,” a man says, approaching my side. “I’m Travis.”
I can’t get my mouth to move. My tongue is like cement.
“Alek lucked out in finding you. The elusive sister of Dimitri Ivanov. You’re going to be a hot commodity. Everyone is going to want you.”
“Want me?” I whisper, fighting back tears.
“Travis, are you scaring Katya?” Alek asks, finally giving me more of his attention.
“I’m just stating the truth. It’s a fact that this will get out. People everywhere are going to want to see her.”
“Then let them see. But she’s mine.” He pulls me in closer to him. I can feel the strength and heat from his body. The moment his body touches mine, I can’t hold my panic back anymore.
I rip away from him and stumble in my heels. I’ve never worn high heels before. In fact, I haven’t worn shoes in a very long time. I never needed them in my room or around the house.
“I am not yours,” I snap. “I can’t do this. Too many people. Too many people.” I fall to my knees and press my head to the ground, trying to breathe but it’s impossible. Maybe I can make myself small enough. Sink into the hardwood floor and disappear forever.
But then Alek touches my back and I know I’m exactly in the same place I was. There’s no escaping it. No escaping him. I’m stuck here.
“What’s wrong with her?” a woman asks.
“She’s never been out of her room before,” Alek explains. “A lot of this is new for her.”
“Freak,” a man mumbles.
“What did you say?” Alek asks in a cold voice.
“She’s a freak. I mean, who freaks out in a situation like this? No one was attacking her. We were all just talking. I don’t see what her problem is.”
“Please,” I sob into the floor, pressing my forehead harder into it. “Please just take me back to the cage.”
“What cage?” a woman asks.
“Never mind that,” Alek says. “Katya is not a freak and I don’t appreciate any one of you calling her that.”
“Then why is she panicking right now?” Travis asks. “She looks like she might die.”
“I am going to die,” I sob. “I am. I am. I am.” I push myself up and look around the room, staring at all the people staring back at me like I’m… a freak. Maybe I am a freak. I am surely not normal. I know enough from the internet to know that how I’m acting is not ok.
But I can’t stop it.
I grab Alek’s hand. “Please. Please, I can’t do this. Please!”
Alek’s expression is filled with shock. He can’t believe I’m acting like this either. Did he really think I’d just accept him in my life? That this was my new life altogether?
“Get her to calm down,” Travis says, taking a drink of his wine. “Jesus. She’s giving me a fucking headache.”
Alek flashes an annoyed look at Travis before turning back to me. “Katya, you have to calm down. No one is hurting you right now. We’re just having a nice get together. It’s just people.”
“It’s too much. I don’t like people. I haven’t been around people.”
He studies my face before understanding fills his eyes. “You haven’t been around many people in years, have you?”
“Yes,” I sniffle.
“Well, your behavior will just not do. I have to get you under control I’m afraid. Come here.” He helps me back to my feet and walks me over to the back of the couch where he pushes me over it, so my stomach is laying on the top of it.
“What are you doing?” I ask right before he slams his hand against my backside. The sudden shock of it makes me stop crying.
The room stares at us in shock but Alek ignores them all and brings his hand back down onto my ass. It’s then that I notice the pain and begin to cry for that reason. Alek continues to spank me over and over and over again. No one stops him.
And I cry so loud, my voice fills the entire house.
“You will get yourself under control, is that understood?” He spanks me again. Merciless. Unrelenting. “This is just a get together. Nothing is going wrong. You will stop panicking. Stop crying. You wanted to be a woman. So act like it.”
How ironic. He tells me to act like a woman while he’s spanking me in front of a room filled with people.
“I’m sorry,” I cry out, squeezing my eyes shut. I can’t bear to look at the other people. See their hunger at my getting spanked. Or see their pity. I am pathetic. I don’t need anyone reminding me of that.
“I’m sure you are. Get control of yourself, Katya. You need this.” He lands one more hard spank to my backside then steps away. I can tell he’s breathing heavy but I still don’t dare look at him.
I slump to my knees, my backside stinging, and all the energy taken out of me. The room is deadly quiet. “Please,” I whisper. “Please.”
Alek kneels down beside me and cups my face. “I know I was harsh on you. But I see potential in you, Katya. You fascinate me. You intrigue me. But if you continue to panic like this, it’s going to get old fast. And it’s not good for you.”
I wrench my face away from his hand. “Like you care what’s good for me. You’re not my husband or boyfriend. You have no claim to me. You kidnapped me.”
“I know I did. And now I’ve decided to make you mine. It’s as simple as that. So we’re going to continue this party and you’re going to not panic this time. You wanted a night to feel like a woman. So take it.” He pulls me to my feet and turns me to face the room.
No one can look me in the eye. Either they’re embarrassed or embarrassed for me.
“Katya is ready to behave now,” Alek announces. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I say because I know it’s what Alek wants to hear. But I can’t help but resent him while at the same time feeling drawn to him. He just spanked me like a naughty child and yet… I feel more calm than I have in a long time. Like he took some of my anxiety away from me.
“Good. Now, let us have a nice evening.”
Except the evening doesn’t turn out nice.
After sitting on the couch, my backside burning and keeping my composure, the doorbell rings again.
Alek frowns. “I wasn’t expecting another guest. Travis, answer the door for me, why don’t you?”
“Sure thing, Alek.”
I hear Travis go to front door and open it and that’s when the sound of a loud bang happens. Everyone tenses. Alek runs toward the foyer to see what happens and curiosity gets the best of me and I follow too even as fear is coursing through me.
Travis is laying on the ground and a man stands in the doorway with a gun drawn. When he sees Alek, he points his gun at him.
“This is from Dimitri.” He fires and Alek jumps out of the way, just barely avoiding getting hit. He grabs my arm and throws us both into the hallway. Screams fill the air and then gunshots until everything goes quiet.
Alek peeks out from around the wall and tenses. “Stay here.” He pulls out a gun from his jacket pocket and begins to fire at someone on the other side of the wall. That’s when I hear a grunt and everything goes silent.
“It’s safe now,” Alek says. But he’s the one I need saving from.
When I walk back into the foyer, I see that the man with the gun is lying dead on the ground. A couple of Alek’s other guests are dead. A few are hiding in the living room.
“Dimitri knows where I am,” Alek says. “How the fuck did he find this place?”
Travis, who managed to survive, sits up with a groan. “I might have mentioned this gathering to a friend. But I didn’t know that word would get back to Dimitri. I didn’t know you were still at war with Dimitri. And I definitely didn’t know that you had kidnapped his sister until I showed up here.”
Alek gives him a withering look. “You made it possible for Dimitri to find this place. I’m going to have to move Katya somewhere else. Dimitri will not stop coming after her. Or me.”
“Then why did you steal his sister if you didn’t want him coming after you?”
“Travis, you’re a fucking idiot. I stole Katya to drive Dimitri insane. He was never supposed to find this place. You and your big fucking mouth.” And right before my very eyes, Alek turns his gun onto Travis and pulls the trigger… killing him instantly.
I scream and stumble back in my heels, which only ends up making me fall right onto my back, knocking all the air out of me.
Alek stands over me, looking like a demon. “We have to leave. I cannot let Dimitri find you here. I have to make you mine for good.”
“You killed that man,” I gasp out. “Just… shot him.”
“Trust me. I’m not the only one who has committed murder. Your brother has many times.”
“No. Not Dimitri.”
“Yes, Dimitri. He’s tried to kill me many times just for being in the same business as him. He’s not a good man, Katya, and neither am I.”
“No.” I squeeze my eyes shut but all I can see is my father stabbing my mother to death right before my very eyes. “No!”
He kneels down beside me and cups my face. “You’re panicking again. Death is common in my life. You’re already used to it.”
“No,” I whisper.
“Yes. We both know it. Dimitri will not stop coming for you. I have to do something drastic. Something that will make him go so fucking insane, he won’t know what to do with himself.”
“What? Please, don’t.”
“Your pleas won’t work on me, Katya. No. I know what I’m going to do with you. I’m going to marry you.”