Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
SOFIYA
I stare into the sea of male faces. They range from older men with white hair and wrinkles to younger men with slicked-back hair and easy smiles. It brings me right back to my parents' funeral. Mostly, the people there were men. There were a few other women attending the funeral, but none of them made any effort to comfort us. We were on our own.
And we’re on our own again.
All of the men look up at us with expectant, eager expressions. I hate it. Why can’t we just be left alone? Why do we always have to be at the mercy of men?
Mila grabs my hand. “I’m scared,” she whispers.
“Mikhail is hosting this party. He wouldn’t let us get hurt.” At least he wouldn’t let me get hurt—I don’t think so anyway. I’m not so sure about my sisters. He was in no hurry to bring them to Moscow. I just have to hope that, because he cares about me, he’ll make sure they’re taken care of, too.
Mikhail is a hard man to read, though. I feel somewhat safe with him in the fact I don’t think he’d let any other man hurt me. But Mikhail can also be demanding and intimidating. It’s a strange combination to both fear my husband and know he’s the only one who can keep me safe.
Vik flips her hair over her shoulder. “Well, I guess we should go down. Be polite.”
“Are you not afraid?” Mila asks her.
“No.” She keeps her head held high. Vik is always good at doing that. It might even be her best quality. “I see this as an opportunity. You and I need to make good marriage matches, Mila. This is our chance.” She looks at me. “Tell me these men are just as powerful as Mikhail is.”
I shrug. “I’ve never seen any of these men before.”
Vik pouts and sets her eyes back on the men. “That’s fine, I guess. I’ll just have to go talk to them. See who’s worthy of me. Let’s go.” She starts walking down the stairs.
Mila and I hurry to catch up.
Once we reach the bottom of the stairs, I feel even more intimidated. There has to be at least forty of them in the apartment. Even though Mikhail’s penthouse suite is large, it feels cramped. I’m not sure I can breathe.
The sea of men part, and Mikhail walks through, coming to stand before me. “You look beautiful.”
His words make me blush. “Thank you.” I think back to what we did the other night. How he touched me with my underwear and almost made me orgasm. My body is still wired from that, having never gotten my release. Standing next to Mikhail only makes me more aware of my body. How does he have this effect on me?
He links my hand through his arm as he walks me over to some men clustered together. I look back for Mila and Vik, but they’ve been sucked into the crowd. My heart beats faster when I can’t find them.
“Gentlemen,” Mikhail says. “This is my wife, Sofiya.”
“Beautiful,” one man says, taking a sip of champagne as he rakes his gaze over me. Mikhail’s arm tenses.
“Does she talk?” another one asks. That makes all of them laugh, including Mikhail. The betrayal slaps me in the face.
“She talks.” Mikhail looks down at me. “Say hello, Sofiya.”
“Hello,” I whisper, feeling my face on fire.
For some reason, my response makes the men smirk like I just said something funny.
One man turns to Mikhail and starts speaking in Russian. Mikhail responds in Russian, and they continue to speak while I don’t understand a word they say. The other men in the group join in, and I’m left out.
I look around, searching for Vik and Mila, and I quickly spy Vik talking with Andrei. I don’t trust Andrei, and I definitely don’t like him talking to my sister.
I want to go over there and make sure Vik is ok, but out of us three, Vik is the strongest. She can handle herself. I just hope Mila is ok because I know my baby sister will be eaten alive by these men.
VIKTORIYA
I gaze around this party, bored. Where are all the cute, rich, and powerful men? Half of them are old, which is just … ugh. And the other half are ignoring me and speaking in Russian.
I’ve lost sight of Mila. She wandered down the hallway, but the room is crowded with men, and I can’t see her. Sofiya is fine with Mikhail. I’m jealous. I’ll admit it. Why can’t I have a husband like Mikhail?
A man approaches me—he’s sort of cute in a lanky way.
“Andrei,” he says, extending his hand.
I stare down at his hand and then look back up at him. I don’t shake hands. “Viktoriya.”
“I know. You’re one of Sofiya’s sisters.”
Sofiya again. It’s always Sofiya. “Yes. I’m the older one. The better one.”
That makes Andrei laugh. “I’m sure you are.” He gazes around the room. “These parties can be so boring, can’t they?”
“They can.”
He leans in closer to me, and I lean back. “How about you and me get out of here?”
I almost laugh. He can’t be serious. Why would I, Viktoriya Morozova, go off with a man alone? I would ruin my stellar reputation. Besides, I can’t walk for long with my ankle still in its cast.
“How about not?” I respond, and Andrei frowns. “Who are you? You work for Mikhail?”
“I do. I’m his second in command.”
Only? That’s disappointing. I need a husband who’s more powerful than Mikhail. Not one who works for him. “Well, good for you, but I’m not interested. So, you can keep walking.” I waggle my fingers at him.
Andrei huffs. “I wouldn’t act so high and mighty. You’re not a princess.”
“No. I’m a queen.” I turn away from him. After a moment, I glance back and see him walking away in a huff. Good. That’s what he gets for thinking he can seduce me.
Another man approaches me. I’ll be honest—this one is a lot more handsome than Andrei. Wavy dark hair. Bright blue eyes. Broad shoulders. I’m not normally impressed by any man’s physique because most men can’t live up to me, but this man, well, he is the definition of tall, dark, and handsome .
“You have an ego on you, don’t you?” the man asks.
“I do.”
“You should watch it around these men. Before one of them tries hurting you.”
I try to keep my expression neutral, but his words shock me. “Why would they try to hurt me?”
He shakes his head with a small smile. “You’re naive. But if you want to survive in this world, don’t make the men angry.”
I stand up straighter. “I’ll get as angry as I want.”
“Then you won’t like the consequences.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No. It’s a warning. Be careful. Some of these men have anger issues. I’d hate to see a pretty face go to waste.” With those words, he walks away.
I look after him, my mouth gaping open. I turn to the closest man next to me. “Who’s he? That man?” I point after him.
“That’s Aleksander.”
Aleksander. Who does he think he is that he can speak to me that way? I bet he’s just a worker bee to Mikhail. Not worth my time.
Though, I find myself sneaking another glance at him before I look away.
The man next to me eyes me up and down. “What to get out of here?”
I gasp and hurry away. These men. I could slap them.
I just need to find Mila and get out of this penthouse.
SOFIYA
Mikhail is practically ignoring me as he speaks to his men in Russian. I thought this party was supposed to be a celebration of our marriage, but Mikhail is treating it more like a business meeting.
“I’m going to get a drink,” I tell him, nodding toward the kitchen.
He nods, barely glancing at me.
I sigh and walk off. Mary is in the kitchen when I enter, busy making enough food to feed all these people. “It’s crowded out there,” I say, leaning on the counter.
“So? You shouldn’t be in here. I’m cooking. You’ll get in my way.” She shoos me away.
“Can’t I stay in here? I mean, I’m married to Mikhail. Don’t I have free rein of the house?”
Mary stares at me for a moment before she starts laughing hysterically. I cross my arms. “You are the wife. You do not have free rein.”
“Did Natasha have free rein?”
“Natasha was different. Mr. Ivanov was young. They both were.”
“So, you were nicer to them back then?”
“Yes,” she states bluntly. Leave it to Mary to not sugarcoat anything.
“You can just say you don’t like me.”
“Fine.” She sets the bowl in her hands down on the counter. “I don’t like you. Happy? Now, get out of my kitchen.”
Without a word, I leave. When I enter the living room again, I don’t see Mikhail anywhere. He left me alone in a room full of men I don’t know other than Andrei, and frankly, Andrei weirds me out.
I sit on the couch, thinking I won’t get in the way of anyone that way, when Andrei approaches me.
“Stand up,” he barks, making me so startled that I do as he says. The other men in the vicinity look over at us with curious expressions. “You shouldn’t be sitting. Good submissive girls don’t sit down.”
“What are you talking about? Where’s Mikhail?”
“A sub doesn’t question her dom.”
I jerk back. “Andrei, stop this. Stop talking to me like this.”
There’s a darkness in his eyes that reminds me of Boris. “Get on your hands and knees.” A few men laugh. A few others whoop and holler. My face burns with heat.
“I’m not going to do that,” I say.
Andrei steps right up to me so we’re nose to nose. I stare up at him and try to step back, but I’m trapped between him and the couch. “You’re being naughty. I might have to spank you for that.” He grabs my shoulders and pushes me to the ground. I cry out, but he covers my mouth. Where is Mikhail? Surely, he wouldn’t approve of this?
Andrei forces me to my hands and knees. “Stay there, or I’ll give you a spanking.”
“Give her a spanking anyway,” a man says.
I look up, but all I see is a sea of male faces I don’t know. I’m all alone. I’m all alone.
Andrei sits down on the couch and places his feet on my back, using my body as a footstool. “There. That’s better. Now, don’t move. Or I will spank you for it.”
I stay incredibly still. This position—this humiliating position—is the last one I want to be in, but I don’t dare argue with Andrei. I don’t have the power here. He does.
But where is Mikhail? I’ve never wanted him more.
Tears begin to streak down my face. They fall onto the carpet beneath me.
“What’s going on?” It’s not the voice I want to rescue me. It’s not Mikhail.
It’s Vik.
She storms into the living room. “What are you doing to my sister?”
Andrei laughs in a wicked way, sending shivers down my spine. “I needed to teach you girls a lesson. You should get on your hands and knees, too, for how you spoke to me.”
Oh, no. What did Vik say to Andrei?
“All I said was that I didn’t want to leave with you,” Vik says. “How does that make me the bad guy?”
“You rejected me,” Andrei hisses, sounding more and more like Boris.
“So, you decided to hurt my sister?” Vik scoffs. “You’re crazy. Delusional.”
“I say force her to her hands and knees,” a man says. “And stuff a cock in her mouth while you’re at it. Shut her up.”
Vik gasps. “You are all pigs.” She walks over to Andrei and smacks his feet. “Get your filthy feet off my sister.”
There’s a challenge in his eyes. “No. I will not.”
I clench my teeth together to keep from crying out as Andrei grinds his feet against my back. My arms tremble, trying to keep me upright. Andrei is placing a lot of his weight onto me, even just with his feet.
Vik sniffs and raises her head higher. “Fine. I’ll just do this.” She screams.
A blood-curdling, horrifying scream.
Some of the men jerk away in confusion. One man runs toward Vik and slaps her across the face. She stumbles back, clutching her cheek. “How dare you?” she seethes.
“I wanted you to stop screaming,” the man replies.
“What’s going on in here?” Finally, it’s Mikhail. “Andrei, get your feet off my wife.”
Andrei quickly stands up and straightens his jacket and tie. “I was just …”
I slump to the floor and curl into a ball, unable to look at the men around me. I feel hands on my arms, helping me to stand back up.
Mikhail pulls me into a hug as he glares at Andrei. “What were you doing?”
“I was teaching her a lesson. She’s a sub, after all. I have that right.”
“She’s not yours,” Mikhail grows, tightening his arms around me. I bury my face into his neck, breathing in his masculine, strong scent. “You had no right to do that. Sofiya is mine and mine alone. No other man will touch her.”
“I understand.” Andrei ducks his gaze. “But what about her sister? She was rude to me.”
“I was not,” Vik objects.
“Is that why you went after my wife? Because her sister rejected you?”
Andrei’s mouth drops open. “She did not reject me.”
“I did,” Vik says, dropping her hand from her face. “And I got slapped in the face for it.”
“This is getting out of hand,” Mikhail says. “Viktoriya, go get your other sister, and go upstairs.”
Vik meets my gaze. For once, there’s concern there. “All right,” she says after a moment. “I’ll go get Mila. And no one better fucking touch me.” She leaves the room.
Mikhail turns his heated gaze onto me. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
Do I tell Mikhail the truth? That Andrei purposefully dug his feet into my back? “No,” I whisper. I don’t want to cause even more tension than there already is.
“Andrei,” Mikhail says, “I want you to stand in that corner.” He nods toward the far wall of the living room. “And think about what you did.”
“I’m not a child,” Andrei says hotly.
“You were acting like it when you tried to humiliate my wife. Only I have the right to do that.”
I quickly look up at Mikhail. What does he mean by that?
I notice Vik and Mila heading for the stairs. Good. Vik found her. Mila meets my eyes across the room, silently asking me if I’m all right. I give her a nod. I don’t want her down here.
Vik tugs on her arm, and then they head upstairs, eventually moving out of sight. It only reminds me of how alone I am. I’m safe in my husband’s arms, but now, I’m not even sure that’s the case.
Andrei grumbles under his breath and heads for the corner of the room. I would find it funny if I weren’t so scared.
“Now, I don’t agree with what Andrei did,” Mikhail says, speaking to the room. “But I liked his idea. My wife is a true submissive. She wants to make me happy.” He gently grips my chin. “Don’t you?”
I gulp. I know I do, and that’s what scares me. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, I want you to get back on your hands and knees for me.”
I really don’t want to again, but I have to choose to trust Mikhail. I submitted to him the other night to let my sisters come stay with us. I can’t go back on that now.
My body trembles as I get back into position. Mikhail doesn’t put his feet on me like Andrei did. Instead, he remains standing by my head, acting like a protector, keeping the other men away.
A man says something in Russian and makes the other men laugh, but Mikhail snaps at them. “Quiet!”
The room falls silent.
I don’t cry this time, but I’m still terrified. What is Mikhail doing? Why put on this show?
Mikhail drags the moment out for a long time. I’m not sure how long because I’m too afraid to lift my head and look at the clock, but I can tell it’s a while. The room is getting tenser and tenser as time goes on.
“That’s enough, Sofiya,” Mikhail says gently. He helps me stand back up. “Now, I need to make it clear to all the men in this room that my wife is my wife. Mine. None of you will ever touch her.”
He sits down on the couch and pulls me onto his lap. I gasp. I’ve never been this close to him before. Not in this way.
“I am going to touch you, Sofiya,” he says into my ear. “I am going to make you come.”
I jerk. “What?”
“Are you questioning me?”
I fall silent.
Mikhail leans me back against him and lifts my legs up into my chest. My face is so hot; it’s distracting. He draws the end of my dress up around my waist. All the men’s eyes zero in on my underwear. My pink, lacy, innocent-looking underwear.
I want to yell at Mikhail to stop. He shouldn’t be doing this in front of his men. I don’t want this.
And I know I could say stop, and he would stop.
But then he’d be disappointed in me, and for some strange reason, I want to make him proud of me.
Mikhail looks around the room, daring the men to speak or come closer as he slides his hand down to cup my vulva. I gasp, my hips arching into his hand on instinct. A few men chuckle. Mikhail glares at them harder, and they all fall silent.
Then he touches the edge of my underwear and pulls it down to my knees. I can hear my own breath in the quiet of the room. My heart is going a mile a minute. I’m not sure I’ll survive this.
Mikhail slides his fingers against my folds and begins rubbing me. I gasp louder as my legs clamp down around his hand. He gently pushes my legs open wider. My underwear around my knees helps to block my most intimate area from the other men. At least, I hope so.
Mikhail rests his cheek against mine, still keeping his eyes on the men before us, as he rubs me harder. His palm cups my entire vulva, grinding down. My hips have a mind of their own as they arch forward, trying to seek more friction.
I can’t believe I’m aroused right now. The sight of all these men looking at me is terrifying, not arousing. But the way Mikhail is touching me and the way he’s holding me and claiming me before these men turns me on. Strangely, I feel protected.
My head drops back against his shoulder as my eyes flutter shut. Mikhail presses his palm firmer against my folds, his fingers brushing my bundle of nerves. His thumb flicks against my nub, and I almost scream from the sensation. My lips part, and my breath comes out faster.
Mikhail is relentless with his touch. He doesn’t stop. I can’t think. I can’t think. I can’t think.
And then, finally, I’m hit with a pleasurable sensation that leaves me breathless and trembling. A loud gasp escapes me. And I realize I just came. I just had my first orgasm in front of a group of men.
I slump against Mikhail’s body. He continues to touch me, sending smaller shockwaves of pleasure through me until he pulls my underwear back up and pushes my dress back down.
Mikhail lifts me into his arms as he stands up. “Andrei, you and I are going to talk when I come back down.” He carries me upstairs and into our bedroom, laying me down gently on the bed. “How do you feel?”
“Like I just woke up,” I admit.
He smiles, pleased. “I have to go back downstairs. Stay up here for the rest of the night.” He kisses my forehead and then leaves.
Without waiting, I head down the hallway to Mila’s door. She answers after I knock.
“Are you ok?” I ask her.
“Are you ok?”
“Where were you?”
A bashful smile crosses her face. “I went into the library. I was reading. I had to get away from everyone. It was overwhelming.”
“You were in the library? Reading?” The image it conjures is so sweet and innocent it makes me cry. “Oh, Mila.” I hug her tightly. She lets me cry into her shoulder.
“What happened tonight?” she asks. “Vik just said that some guy hit her. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Some guy did hit me,” Vik says, stepping out of her room. “You know, neither of you are being quiet, and I’m trying to get my beauty sleep.” She’s dressed in a simple brown shirt and pants, looking casually effortless. That makes me cry even harder.
Vik’s eyes widen. “Sofiya? What happened? Other than what I saw.”
How can I tell my sisters about what Mikhail just did to me? He made me feel amazing and protected but also vulnerable and on display. It was a show of strength to his men, but he used my body to do it. I honestly don’t know how to feel.
Vik tentatively places her hand on my back. My tears refuse to stop. My two sisters comfort me while I cry. Eventually, my tears stop, and I pull away from Mila.
“Thank you,” I tell them.
“You don’t have to thank us,” Mila says. “We’re sisters. It’s our job to make sure each of us is ok.”
“Speak for yourself,” Vik mutters.
I stare at her.
She smiles and shakes her head. “I was joking.”
“Bad time to make a joke,” I remind her.
“Fine. Sorry. We both had a rough evening. You were used as a human coffee table, and I was slapped in the face. I mean, I was slapped in the face , but whatever.”
“Vik, are you trying to say you had it worse than me?” I ask.
“No! I was just stating the facts. Tonight was a disaster. I never want to repeat it again. You know, now I’m glad I’m not married to Mikhail. I can’t imagine having a husband who would allow me to be in that position in the first place.”
I bristle. “Mikhail didn’t allow that to happen. He saved me from Andrei.”
“Sure.”
I know what Vik is doing. She didn’t get Mikhail, so she’s trying to turn me against my husband.
I pat her arm. “I love you, you know. But sometimes, you’re the worst.”
Her mouth drops open.
I leave my two sisters standing in the hallway and head back into my bedroom. The bedroom I share with my husband.