Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Katya
Our plane lands back in New York after hours of being in the air. It’s a surreal feeling. Knowing I’m physically in the same place as Dimitri but also knowing I’m so far away from him hurts.
But every time I look at Alek, I feel a tingling sensation inside of me. One of excitement and arousal.
He motions me ahead of him as we walk out of the plane. I stop dead in my tracks when I see five men in the private hanger. They’re all wearing suits and look like mafia men, judging from the guns in their hands.
“What is this?” Alek asks, stepping in front of me. It’s then that I realize I recognize the men. They were at the wedding. They’re coworkers of Alek’s.
“We’re here for the girl,” one of them says, nodding at me.
Alek scoffs. “What the fuck do you mean by that, Sasha? I’m not giving my wife up for anything. And why do you want her in the first place?”
“Because she killed Jack.”
An icy chill goes over my spine. How do they know about that?
“I killed Jack,” Alek says without hesitation. “So if you have a problem, take it up with me. Not my wife.”
“You killed Jack?” Sasha scoffs. “That isn’t what I heard.”
“Ask Sam. He’ll tell you.”
“I did ask Sam. After I found out he got rid of Jack’s body. He told me that you told him you killed him.”
“There. So what’s the problem?”
“He also said he overheard your wife admitting to killing Jack. So which is it?”
Alek steps even more in front of me, practically shielding me from view. “I killed him. I’m not sure what Sam was talking about.”
“You see, Sam told me that you were talking to those two girls you helped raise: Nina and Susanna. So I paid them a visit and they explained that Katya, your wife, said she had killed Jack. Why would they lie about that?”
“You spoke to Nina and Susanna? Did you hurt them?”
I’ve never seen Alek look so distressed before. He clearly loves those girls like his own daughters.
Sasha huffs. “No. I didn’t hurt them. I respect Maria too much to hurt her girls. But I could tell they weren’t lying. So why are you lying right now, Alek? Your wife killed Jack. She needs to be punished for it.”
“I killed him. So punish me. Not her.”
It shocks me to my core that Alek is taking the blame for me. He’s my kidnapper and yet… he’s treating me like his actual wife. Protecting me like a husband would.
“No. She’s the one who did it. So why did she do it?”
“I killed Jack,” Alek says, keeping their attention on him, “because he was getting too handsy with my wife. I needed to teach him a lesson. And that goes for all of you. If you try to hurt my wife, I’m not going to hesitate to murder every single one of you.”
“We’re your coworkers, Alek,” another man says.
“I know that, Erik. I don’t want to lose my relationship with any of you. So let’s call this a day, shall we? We all know Jack was annoying. He’s gone now. Let’s move on from this situation.”
“I can’t do that,” Sasha says. “She needs to die, Alek. For killing Jack.”
“You are not killing my wife,” he grits out.
“I figured you would say that. So I’m willing to offer an alternative. We punish her for Jack’s death and then we can all move on. We’ll even let her live so you can spend your life with her. Though, when we’re through with her, you might not want her anymore.”
“Motherfucker,” Alek growls. “Don’t do this, Sasha. Katya is innocent. I swear I killed Jack. I swear.”
Sasha walks right up to Alek and stares him down. “You see, I just don’t believe you. Your wife killed him and she needs to pay the price. Get her on her knees.”
The other four men come at me. Alek tries protecting me but Sasha shoves Alek to the ground, though Alek easily gets a punch into Sasha’s face, making him jerk back.
But the other men force me to my knees and rip open the back of my summer dress, exposing my bare back.
“Don’t fucking hurt her,” Alek says, drawing his gun and pointing it at Sasha’s head.
“Here.” Without a care in the world, Sasha picks up a whip that I hadn’t noticed on the ground earlier and hands it to Alek. “Use this on her. Whip her back. And then we’ll call it a day. No more issues. She’ll be forgiven for what she did to Jack.”
I begin to cry and my tears coat the cement floor. My bare back is chilly in the cool early morning air.
Alek takes the whip from Sasha. “I am not going to hurt my wife.”
“Then we’ll do worse to her if you don’t. We’ll fuck her until she’s bloody. All of us men are in agreement that you have a pretty wife that we’d all like to fuck. This is our chance. Or you can whip her back and we’ll call it a day. I promise.”
“I don’t trust your fucking word.”
“And I don’t trust your word!” Sasha shouts. “You’re choosing a woman over one of your men.”
“Jack was an asshole. We all thought it. Do any of you really miss him?” Alek asks, looking around at all the men. None of them can look him in the eye because they know he’s right.
I know firsthand how much Jack was a bad man. From the way he cornered me in the bathroom to how he pushed me against the counter. There was a darkness inside of him that’s also in these men. It’s also in Alek. It’s also in my brother.
It’s the mafia way.
My mine goes back to my room like it always does whenever I’m stressed and upset. But it’s not my room I want right now. It’s Alek.
I want him to get me out of here. I want him to protect me. I want him to touch me again. I want to be desired by him. Consumed by him. Made into a woman because of his guidance.
“That doesn’t matter,” Sasha says. “Jack was an annoying fucker, yes. But he still died unfairly when your wife killed him.”
“I killed him,” Alek repeats. “For trying to put his hands on her. You can understand that. Sasha, you have a wife. Do you really want some motherfucker putting his hands on her? You’d kill him for it.”
“Sure I would. But I would never kill one of my own.”
“Not even if he was raping your wife?”
Sasha’s face turns into an ugly sneer. “I still wouldn’t kill one of my own over that. My wife knows that. She knows I’m loyal to my men.”
“I feel sorry for your wife then.”
“You kidnapped your wife to get back at Dimitri Ivanov. He’s been tearing up this city over the past few days you’ve been gone. Pay the price, Alek, and then we can work together again. We can move on from this. Just whip her back. Punish her.”
“You’re not going to back down, are you?” Alek asks.
“No.” Sasha’s tone speaks to no disagreements.
That’s when Alek turns to me and the expression in his eyes turns cold. Deadly. No emotion. Is he really going to hurt me?
He has spanked me but spanking someone is completely different from whipping someone. A spanking isn’t going to leave marks behind. A whip will.
On instinct, I try running away but the other man grab me and force me back to my knees. Alek’s expression wavers.
“Don’t do this,” I say. “Please. I’ll never forgive you for it.”
“You were able to forgive me for kidnapping you. You’ll be able to forgive me for this.”
“No,” I sob.
“Shut up,” Erik mumbles.
“Shut the fuck up, Erik,” Alek snaps back. “Don’t talk to my wife that way.”
“Just get the job done,” Sasha says. “Now, Alek. Do it now.”
Alek walks up behind me. I can’t see him but I can feel his presence. He’s really going to hurt me like this.
He’s just like all the other mafia men in the room: selfish and cold and dangerous. I was foolish to ever let myself like him, even for a moment.
“Whip her,” Sasha commands.
Yet, Alek still doesn’t move. I bow my head low as if that will somehow protect me. I wait and wait and wait. It’s torture.
Alek still doesn’t do anything.
“Alek,” Sasha snaps. “Do it. Now.”
That’s when I can sense Alek raising his hand high, the whip with him. And that’s when he uses the whip against Sasha, whipping the other man right in the face. Sasha screams and bends over.
The other four men let me go and I slump to the ground. Looking over my shoulder, I watch as Alek uses the whip on Erik, which forces Erik to the ground. Alek then withdraws his gun and quickly shoots the four men who held me down.
That’s when he turns to Sasha.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sasha asks, cupping his bleeding face.
“I’m protecting my wife.” That’s when Alek raises his gun and shoots Sasha right in the head.
All five men are dead.
As if he hadn’t just killed five people, Alek pulls his phone out and calls someone.
“Sam. I’m going to need help again. And you better not fuck me over this time.
Because if you fuck me over again, it’s not you I’m going to be calling when I need help cleaning up.
You’re the person who I’ll be calling about to clean up. Got it?”
I can’t hear Sam’s reply but the fact that Alek looks satisfied with his answer tells me Sam is on board.
Alek puts his phone away and turns to me. “Katya?”
Without hesitating, I let out a sob and run into his arms. He holds me close.
“You didn’t hurt me,” I whisper against his chest.
“No. I didn’t hurt you. I was never going to whip you. These fucking men.”
“You just killed them. Aren’t you going to be in trouble now?”
“I’m already in trouble. What’s new? They were never going to not be a problem. I had to handle them. I’m just glad that you’re unhurt. We’re going to have to wait here until Sam arrives but once he does, we can leave.”
“So much blood.”
“I know. Just close your eyes. I’ll protect you.”
And I wholeheartedly believe him.
After Sam arrives, Alek brings me to a new house. A new mansion, I should say,
“What about your previous house?” I ask as we get out of the car.
“Dimitri found out about my old house. I needed to get a new one. I bought this one when we were in Paris.”
I shake my head in disbelief. Dimitri always had a lot of money but since I was in my room, I never saw much of it. But seeing Alek’s money now is making me realize there’s a whole world out there and I want to be a part of it.
Alek hovers over me as I sit down on the couch. “You’re all right?”