Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
ANYA
I can feel the heat from his body as he stands behind me.
I stare at the bed and wonder how I’m going to do this. Erik is going to truly show me his monstrous side for the first time, and I don’t think I’m ready.
“Take off your clothes.”
I tense. I’m doing this for Nadia, I remind myself. Only she matters. I just hope she won’t hear my screams and expose herself.
With trembling fingers, I take off my shirt slowly. My pants are harder to take off, but the worst is my bra and underwear. Right now, I still have some protection from Erik, but once I’m naked, there’ll be nothing saving me from him.
“Do you need me to do it for you?” he asks.
“No,” I grit out. I won’t show him my fear.
I take off the rest of my clothes and turn around to face him, staring him down. Erik’s eyes don’t even flick down to look at my naked body. At this moment, my body doesn’t mean anything to him.
I mean nothing to him.
“Get on the bed, Anya, and lie down and spread your legs.”
“Are you going to mutilate me?”
“You’ll just have to see, won’t you?”
With a gulp, I back up toward the bed. My legs hit the bedframe and buckle, making me fall onto the bed. Erik stands before me in all his dominant glory.
“I told you to spread your legs.”
My body doesn’t move.
“Anya.”
“I can’t,” I gasp out. I don’t want to be so afraid. If I’m being honest, I want to like Erik. I want to feel safe with him.
But how can I when he’s a monster?
“Spread your legs for me. We’ll stay here all day and night until you do.”
“Good. That just gives my sister a better chance of escape.”
His lips quirk. “Even now, you’re still full of so much fire. I’ll spank you again if you don’t do as I say. Do you want that?”
When I don’t reply, he leans over me, resting his hands on either side of my body. So close to touching me. So close to giving me pain.
Or pleasure.
“Or maybe you really do want me to spank you again. Did you enjoy it last time, Anya? I know I did.”
“I hate you.”
“Then this makes it easier. Open your legs.”
I could resist him for hours, but I’m not sure how much time Nadia has. Maybe if I can survive Erik’s torture session, I can figure out a way to get her out of the house without him knowing.
Slowly, I open my legs for him.
“That’s much better.” He stands back up and places his hands on both of my knees, staring at my body. “My, you have a pretty pussy. I know how it felt to touch your clit. How it felt to give you pleasure. You loved it. Now, I get to torture your pretty pussy.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
He doesn’t say a word as he walks into the closet. He comes out a moment later with a small box. I don’t even want to know what’s inside. A knife to cut me? A spear to stab me?
Erik opens the box and pulls out a …
Vibrator.
I frown and push myself up on my elbows. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes. What did you think was going to be in here?”
“I thought a torture device. You made it sound like you were going to cut me into tiny pieces.”
“I have no desire to harm you, Anya. I think I’ve made myself clear in that regard. But this”—he holds up the vibrator— “can be used for torture. I’m going to show you so much pleasure, you’re going to lose your mind. And when I’m done with you, you’ll be so spent you’ll give up the location of your sister. And we can call it a day.”
“I’m not afraid of a vibrator.”
“Oh? Have you used one before?”
When I hesitate, Erik’s smile deepens. “You don’t know the full extent of its power. Trust me, Anya. You’ll be begging for me to stop soon enough. Not all torture has to be painful. Now, you’re going to lie there and take it.”
I settle onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. How bad can this be? I can handle a lot. I’ve handled my dad beating me for years. This will be nothing.
When Erik turns it on, the loud sound makes me jump. Ok, so maybe I’m more afraid than I want to admit.
He presses it to my inner thigh. I gasp and try to move away, but he grabs my waist. “Don’t make me get the rope. I will tie you up if I have to.”
“But it tickles.”
“It tickles, huh? Let’s see what else it can do.” He glides the vibrator across my thigh to the inner crease of my hip and over my stomach to my other thigh. The sensation has me sucking in my stomach.
“It tickles too much,” I whisper.
“Tickling is a form of torture, isn’t it?”
“You would know.”
“Alas, I haven’t tickled anyone to death. Shall we see if you’ll be the first today?” He continues to move it back and forth, from one thigh to the other, completely avoiding the space between my legs.
The longer he does it, the more breathless I become, and I begin to squirm.
Erik immediately turns the vibrator off. The sudden silence shocks me. “I’m going to tie you up. You can’t hold still.”
He goes back into his closet and comes out with silk ties. I hold still as he ties each of my hands to the headboard, but he leaves my ankles untouched.
“I could kick you,” I threaten.
“You could, but then this would just become worse for you.” He turns the vibrator back on. “Let’s continue.”
This time, he doesn’t touch my inner thighs at all.
He goes straight for my clit.
A shocked scream escapes my lips as he presses the vibrator against my nub. The intense pressure of the vibrator is nothing I’m used to. It’s uncomfortable, but at least it doesn’t hurt. It’s all I can think about, but it’s something I can handle.
I hope it is, anyway.
Erik smirks like he knows what he’s doing to me.
He runs the vibrator around my clit, pressing and easing off. My hips buck up uncontrollably.
“I thought you said this was supposed to feel good,” I taunt. “You’re not doing a very good job.”
His eyes narrow. After clicking a button on the side of the vibrator, the sensation increases on my clit. It’s too much. It almost burns. It feels like my core will not stop constricting.
And then Erik shifts the vibrator down just slightly and right … there . He hits that perfect spot. A moan escapes my lips before I can stop it.
Erik notices. Of course, he notices.
He keeps the vibrator in that perfect position and just holds it. I can feel the pleasure building inside my body. It’s so much like when he touched me yet much more intense. Except this time, it’s not as personal. This time, it’s cold and clinical.
This is Erik trying to torture me.
My hips roll around, seeking to press down for more pressure, but Erik keeps the vibrator just so it gives me body pleasure without giving me the release I seek.
“Please,” I whimper. I hate myself for it.
“Tell me where Nadia is, and I’ll give you what you want.”
“No.”
“Then, so be it.” He switches the vibrator to the next setting, which is somehow even more intense.
The second it touches my clit, I’m done for.
My orgasm rips through my body with such an intense heat, I can barely breathe. My hips buck up like a wild woman. I can’t stop the moans from coming out of me.
All the while, Erik watches me with a little smirk. This doesn’t faze him one bit.
And then, my orgasm is over.
I slump to the bed as I catch my breath. I try to move my hands, but they’re tied to the bed and not going anywhere.
He turns the vibrator off. “I’m going to give you one chance to tell me where Nadia is.”
“No.”
“Ok, then.” He turns it back on and presses it to my clit once more. This time, my body is much more sensitive. It almost hurts, yet it feels so good.
Erik holds the vibrator in that perfect spot for me and watches me go crazy. My head whips back and forth as my hips thrust up and down. I can’t escape this.
“It’s too much,” I whisper.
“Then just tell me where Nadia is.”
“No!”
“Ok, then.”
My body goes wild once more as another orgasm hits me. It’s just as intense as the last one. My inner walls clench down on nothing. I need something to touch me. I need Erik’s touch, not this stupid toy.
Somehow, he’s giving me pleasure, but I feel completely alone in this room. Tears prick at my eyes, but I hold them back. I won’t give Erik the satisfaction of watching me cry.
He’s relentless with my body.
The moment my second orgasm is done, he presses down harder with the vibrator, and within minutes, another orgasm washes over me.
“Stop,” I beg, my body fully spent. My hips barely move anymore. All I can think about is the sensation in my core. I’m both full and empty.
“Not until you tell me where Nadia is.”
“No.” This time, though, my response is weaker. I’m quickly losing energy. I never would’ve thought three orgasms in a short amount of time would hurt, but Erik has just proven to me anything can be torture.
He’s the master of it, after all.
“I can keep doing this all night. Can you?”
I’m not sure I can. It’s the first time I think this. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out for Nadia, but the thought of giving up my sister is soul crushing.
Finally, tears escape my eyes and run down my face. I sob and moan as Erik continues to hold the vibrator to my body.
“Please.”
“You’re in charge of this, Anya. If you just tell me what I want to know, I’ll stop.”
“No,” I whimper.
“Then I’m not going to stop.”
“You could. You could be on my side. You could help my sister.”
“I could. But I’m not the kind of selfless man you want me to be. I’ll never be that way.”
I meet his eyes and stare back even through my tears. “Look at me, Erik. Look at what you’re doing to me.”
His eyes soften. “I am looking at you, Anya. But you’re too stubborn to stop.” He puts the vibrator to the next setting ( How many settings does this thing have? ) and rests it on my clit.
My body reacts on instinct, and another orgasms runs through me. It’s not any less intense than the others, though my body is too weak to respond much.
I don’t have anything more inside me as I slump onto the bed. I don’t have any more fight left within me.
Erik turns the vibrator off. “Do you want to tell me now?”
“I can’t,” I sob. “I can’t give my sister up.”
“This will only hurt more. Just tell me, Anya.”
“If it were your sister, would you do it?”
“I don’t have any.”
“Fine. If there was someone you loved, would you just give them up to people who want to hurt them?”
He wavers. “I would kill anyone who went after the people I loved. But I don’t love anyone.”
“I can’t give her up, Erik. Please. Just stop. This is pointless. You’re only going to make me hate you more.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Don’t you care about anything?”
He looks taken aback by the question. “I’m not sure.”
“Do you not care for me at all?”
“Anya …”
“Don’t put me through this. Please, Erik. Just stop.”
“Just tell me where Nadia is.”
I look him straight in the eye and answer. “No.”
He grabs the vibrator again. “Then I’m sorry.”
That’s when we hear it. Footsteps in the hallway. Erik freezes, then slowly sets the vibrator back down.
He looks down at me and smirks. He knows.
“I see what you did there, Anya. It all makes sense. You didn’t have any money to take Nadia anywhere, so why not take her here? The last place I’d think to look.”
“Nadia, run!” I shout.
But Erik is already running out the door. I struggle against my binds, but they’re too tight. I’m stuck.
I hear Nadia scream, then Erik is bringing her into the room. Her eyes widen when she sees me strapped to the bed, naked.
Erik undoes my binds, and I quickly wrap the blanket around myself.
“What were you thinking?” I ask her.
“I heard you screaming. I had to know you were ok.”
Erik chuckles. “Isn’t this rich. Both sisters trying to protect each other. Oh, Nadia. If you had just stayed hidden, I probably never would’ve found you in my home. Your sister was doing a good job of withstanding my torture.”
“I’ll return home,” she says. “Just leave Anya alone. Please. Don’t hurt her anymore.”
“I won’t. But you might want to talk to your sister about that. If you two keep trying to save each other, it’s only going to lead to more heartbreak between you two.”
Nadia bows her head. “I know. Just take me back to my father’s house. I’ll face the consequences.”
“No!” I shout. “He will beat you, Nadia. You know Father will. Please, Erik. Let her stay with us. At least I know you won’t hit her. Please.”
“She belongs with your father. She’s only seventeen. I can’t keep her here. Come on, Nadia. I’ll take you home. Say goodbye to your sister.”
Nadia doesn’t even look at me as she whispers, “Goodbye.”
“Erik, please!” I sob. But he’s done listening.
I run after them as they head downstairs. I trip on the blanket and stumble down the steps. Erik catches me before I face plant on the ground.
He holds me for a beat longer than necessary before letting me go. “Stay here, Anya. I’m taking Nadia home now.”
“Please,” I whisper. “Please.”
Something flashes in his eyes—something like guilt—before he turns to Nadia. “Let’s get you home.”
Nadia follows him obediently, even though she looks like her heart is breaking. If her heart is breaking, then what do I look like?
ERIK
Nadia is quiet on the drive to her father’s house. She looks so sad and dejected. With Anya, it’s fun to play. Anya has the power to withstand it, but Nadia doesn’t. She looks like a kicked, abandoned puppy, and for some reason, that makes me feel like a piece of shit.
Now, I don’t normally feel like a piece of shit. Normally, I love hurting people, both physically and psychologically.
But as I glance at Nadia beside me, all I can think is that this girl doesn’t deserve to have a piece of shit father like Sergei.
Anya doesn’t deserve it either.
If Nadia were eighteen, I’d let her stay with us. Maybe when I first met Anya, I would’ve said no just on principle. But now, I’ve seen how much these two sisters fight for each other. It’s admirable.
And if I’m being honest, I don’t want Anya to hate me. If taking care of her sister made her happy, I’d give it to her.
But Nadia isn’t mine to keep. She isn’t Anya’s to keep either. She belongs with Sergei, and he will demand to have her back. I cannot risk losing my alliance with him over a couple of girls.
Even if one of those girls is my wife, who I’m starting to have strange, complicated feelings for.
“Why did you not stay hidden?” I ask Nadia.
She startles, then slowly gives me a response. “Because I needed to make sure Anya was ok. You hurt her.”
“I did, and I didn’t.”
Nadia’s face scrunches up in a cute way. “What do you mean?”
“You’re so young and innocent. Ask your sister. She can explain.” I clench the steering wheel tightly. “Will your father really hit you when I bring you back to him?”
“Normally, he would just hit Anya. But now …”
“Now, he’ll hurt you.”
She bows her head in response.
“I rarely say this, Nadia, but I’m going to say it to you. I am sorry.”
She inhales sharply and looks at me with suspicion. I don’t blame her. She just saw me torturing her sister.
“I am,” I say. “If you were eighteen, I wouldn’t bring you back to your father. But we live within the Bratva, and you belong to him.”
“I know. I’m willing to go home if it means Anya stays safe.”
“Even at the expense of yourself?”
“Always. She would do the same for me.”
We arrive at her father’s house, and I stop the car in the driveway. Sergei comes storming out of the house, glaring in our direction. I honestly hate the man, but I made a deal with him, and I can’t break it.
Nadia opens the door.
“Nadia, I meant what I said. I’m sorry.”
“Maybe you should tell Anya that.” Then she slams the door behind her and walks up to her father. He puts his arm around her and walks her inside the house.
I sit there for a moment, contemplating her words. For the first time in a long time, I feel true guilt.
And I fucking hate it.
ANYA
Erik returns within the hour.
By then, I’ve gotten showered and dressed and have been waiting for him the foyer, pacing for the past thirty minutes. I had to wash Erik’s touch off me, even though he technically didn’t touch me. That torture session will haunt me in many ways, and yet … it shows how complicated things are between us.
Erik gave me pleasure and pain mixed together. If that’s not confusing, I don’t know what is.
“How is she?” I ask.
“She was sad. Understandably.”
“How did my father seem? Like he wanted to hurt her?”
“I don’t know. He took her inside, and I drove away.” He takes his jacket off and hangs it by the door, acting completely nonchalant.
“What’s wrong with you?”
He pauses and stares me down in that intense way of his. “What’s wrong with me? Care to elaborate?”
“You know how my father is, and you still brought her back to him!”
“As I’ve explained, Anya, she’s only seventeen. I can’t legally keep her here with us.”
“Bullshit. You’re the Bratva. You do illegal things every day. You kill people. I’ve heard the stories. If you wanted to, you could’ve let her stay here. You could have said “fuck you” to my dad and gone about your day. But you don’t want to piss off my father because you made a deal with him. My sister means nothing to you.”
“You’re right. She doesn’t mean anything to me. And neither do you. As we’ve established, I don’t have a heart. So, get over it, Anya. I’m not a good man. It’s better you learn that now.” He walks right past me, but I just follow.
“I don’t believe you’re incapable of caring about someone. You don’t like when my father hits me. If you truly didn’t give a damn about me, you’d let him beat the life out of me. But you don’t want that.”
He keeps his back to me. “Because I married you, and it would be inconvenient to have to get a new wife.”
“No.” I storm around to face him and shove my finger into his face. “No, I don’t believe a word you say. I saw your face when I told you about my mom. You looked like you cared. I think you’re more than capable of it, Erik, but you choose not to. Why?”
“Why? Because life is easier that way. Haven’t you learned that by now? If you didn’t care so much for your sister, you wouldn’t be so worried and anxious all the time. You’d be happier if you just didn’t care about her. If you didn’t care about anyone.”
“But you can’t live life like that.”
He shrugs. “It’s worked well for me my entire life. Why change a good thing now?” His eyes narrow as he stares me. “You’re awfully bold for someone I just tortured. I could so easily do it again, and you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”
“No.” I force myself to stand up straighter. “You won’t torture me again because you have no reason to do it. From what I’ve gathered about you, Erik, you only torture people you think deserve it. I deserved it in your mind because I had taken Nadia away. But she’s returned home to my father now. So, there’s no reason to hurt me again.”
“Did I hurt you? Because I seem to recall you having orgasm after orgasm. Didn’t seem that painful.”
Anger courses through me, and before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face.
Erik only laughs.
“You know it was painful,” I hiss. “That’s why you did it. Don’t get in my head.”
“I’m in your head? Good. That’s where I want to be.” He grabs my face between his hands. It doesn’t hurt, but it is a reminder that he’s stronger than I am. That he could easily hurt me if he wanted to. “I want to be the only thing you think about. I want you to be consumed by me.”
“Why? If you don’t care for me, it shouldn’t matter what I think about you.”
“Possessing you is not the same thing as caring about you. I want you to be fully mine because you’re my wife, and I’ve claimed you as mine. It’s not about love, Anya.”
“It never is with you, is it?”
Slowly, he lets me go and backs away. “Nadia is where she belongs, and if you want to be happy in this household, you need to learn to let her go.”
“No.”
He raises one perfect eyebrow. “No?”
“No. Because if you want me to let my sister go, then you need to learn to let me go. You don’t get to consume me if you don’t care about me. I will never give you my heart and mind and body if you’re nothing but a cold shell of a man.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“I don’t care how it’s worked for you in the past. You think you’re in charge of me, Erik, but I think you know deep down you were never going to get control of me. If you want me to actually respect you, then show me some respect in return.”
He stands there, looking stunned. It’s a damn good feeling after what he did to me.
I walk away from him with my head held high, feeling so fucking proud of myself.