Chapter 12 #2
“Yes.” It’s still a marvel that he cares so much but he truly does. My kidnapper. Now my savior.
“Good. I need to call Maria and make sure Nina and Susanna are all right. I don’t believe Sasha when he said he didn’t hurt them.”
“Of course.”
Alek calls Maria and they talk on the phone for a while. I don’t listen in. It’s not for me to know.
Once he’s done, he tells me that Nina and Susanna are coming over.
“Why?” I ask. It comes out a lot more blunt and rude than I mean for it to.
“Because they want to make sure I’m doing all right. They missed me while I was in Paris. I should talk to them.”
“Do I have to talk to them?”
“You’re my wife now. They need to learn to accept you. The only way that’s going to happen is if you’re present. So, yes. I need you there.”
“All right.” I know I’m not getting out of this one.
I change into new clothes before Nina and Susanna arrive. The doorbell rings while I’m in the bedroom. When I head downstairs, I can hear Nina and Susanna talking to Alek.
“Is the whore not here?” Susanna asks. Clearly, she means me. I stop on the stairs so I can listen in without being seen.
“She is here,” Alek says in a tone much more patient than I could muster. “She’s just changing. We had a long flight back from France. She wanted to freshen up.”
“Because she’s so stinky?” Susanna asks and then laughs like what she said was the funniest thing. Nina joins in.
“Girls,” Alek scolds. “Katya is my wife. Do not call her a whore. No other insulting names. No longer. She’s been through a lot. Mostly because of me. She doesn’t need you two being rude to her.”
“We’re not being rude,” Nina says.
“Yeah,” Susanna agrees. “We’re just being honest.”
After everything I went through, between Alek kidnapping me to Rocko kidnapping me to Jack trying to put his hands on me and finally to those men trying to whip me, I have had enough.
I storm into the living room. “You are rude,” I say to Susanna and Nina. “You ruined my wedding dress. I was nothing but kind to you. And you’ve been nothing but rude.”
Nina, to her credit, looks a little bashful. But Susanna only digs her heels in more.
“I don’t like you,” she says point blank. “So because of that, I don’t have to be nice to you.”
“Yes, you do,” Alek says. “Katya is a part of our family now. Be nice to her.”
Susanna huffs and crosses her arms with so much attitude that only a sixteen year old girl can muster. “No. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“You are rude,” I say again. “I have been through hell. You don’t even know the half of it.”
She snorts. “Sure.”
The pure dismissiveness of her statement pisses me off so much that I storm over to her and slap her across the face.
The room goes silent.
Right before Susanna starts screaming at me. “This bitch just hit me!”
“She did,” Nina says aghast. “See, Alek? We told you she was a bad person.”
Alek flashes me a dark look. “Katya, you don’t get to slap people.”
“Oh?” I ask. “Yet, you get to spank me like it’s nothing?”
He opens his mouth and closes it, realizing that I am completely right.
“You know what I’ve been through,” I say to him. “She’s being rude. She is not my responsibility to get in line. She’s yours.”
Susanna looks between me and Alek with her mouth agape. “You’re just going to let her talk to me like this?”
Alek sighs and turns to Susanna. “Katya is right. You’ve been too spoiled. If you don’t start showing Katya some respect, I am going to lock you both up.”
“You can’t!” Susanna cries.
“I will.”
“That’s abuse,” Nina says.
Alek only shrugs. “Do I look like I care? You two need to get yourselves in line. Stop acting like spoiled, little brats. Katya is my wife now. Accept it or you’re never going to come back to my house again.
I want you two in my life. But I will choose Katya over both of you if it comes down to it. ”
I suck in a breath. Does Alek really mean that? He helped raised Nina and Susanna from my understanding. Would he really just choose me over them?
Susanna breaks down into tears but I don’t have any sympathy for her. Not after how she’s treated me.
“Be nice to her,” Nina says. “She’s sensitive.”
“Then she needs to learn to be nice to others,” Alek scolds. “Both of you do. Now, go home. You both can see that I’m all right. That I returned to New York unharmed. So, go back home. Katya needs to rest.”
“Why does she need to?” Susanna asks through her tears. “I’m the one who got slapped.”
“Because of you two, Katya was almost killed today.”
Nina’s eyes widen. “What?”
“You told Sasha and my other men that Katya killed Jack.”
“That’s what she told us!” Susanna says, pointing at me.
“It was a lie. I killed Jack. And because of you two, she was almost killed. So think about things before you speak them. Do you want to be responsible for someone else’s death?”
“I don’t care if she dies or not,” Susanna snaps.
“Do you?” Alek asks Nina who hesitates before she nods.
“I don’t want death on my hands,” Nina says to her sister. “Let’s just go. I don’t want to be around the bitch that slapped you anyway.”
They both storm past me and Alek and leave the house, slamming the door behind them.
“That didn’t go well,” Alek grumbles, slumping onto the couch.
I remain standing, twisting my hands together. “Did you really mean that?”
“Mean what?”
“That you would choose me over them? The girls you helped raise?”
He stands back up and cups my face – it’s something he loves to do I’ve noticed. “You’re my wife now, Katya. I made a vow when I married you. I will always choose you. You’re not going anywhere. You are mine.”
I can’t help but feel happy at his words while at the same time feeling like I’m in over my head.