Chapter 30 Zoe
ZOE
Thankfully, Nikolai has left me alone over the past couple of days.
He hasn’t visited my room since that first night.
I keep my eyes on the beautiful garden and turquoise ocean, willing the picturesque scenery to take me away from what’s happening.
I hate that Nikolai touched me again. I hate that it felt like I’d betrayed Mateo and Tomas.
Once Nikolai left the room, I spent hours in the shower, washing myself raw, trying to get the feeling of his touch off my skin, then collapsed into my king-size bed and cried myself to sleep.
Tonight, I see the jewels for the first time since arriving.
We have been rounded up and brought into a luxurious dressing room.
I know what this means, I have been through this exact scenario many times before.
Tonight, we will be paraded in front of Nikolai’s business associates and offered up as a nice little bonus or incentive to them.
I must protect Gracie tonight no matter what.
I must save her from being touched by those men.
“Get dressed, whores,” Dmitri snarls, slamming the door to the dressing room closed.
He stands in the corner watching over us, his eyes looking appreciatively at the beautiful women in front of him.
The group of ten girls jump to attention and quickly start searching through the clothing hanging on the racks. We all knew the drill except Gracie.
“You have to be quick otherwise they will beat you,” I whisper to my sister as I search for a blue dress to change into. Blue is the color I must wear when I am entertaining as Sapphire. Gracie nods but seems dazed as she looks at the cocktail dresses.
Dmitri notices Gracie’s hesitation. “Diamond,” he calls out to my sister, but she ignores him. She’s not used to acknowledging her new name.
Dmitri’s irritation surfaces, and he grabs Gracie by the throat and slams her into the wall.
The room goes quiet.
“Diamond, get dressed. I’m not going to ask you again.” His fingers tighten around her neck, and the color drains from her face.
“Stop!” I scream, and I can hear the collective gasp of the girls in the room. No one talks back to Dmitri.
He turns his head, and I see the evil gleam in his eyes. “You want me to stop?” He squeezes Gracie’s throat even tighter, and she struggles as he cuts off her airflow.
“Please.”
“What will you do for me if I stop?”
I know exactly what he’s asking. “You know what I will do,” I answer.
Gracie’s eyes widen as Dmitri’s fingers loosen and she slumps on the ground, gasping. No girl dares move to help her.
Dmitri stalks toward me, but I stand my ground; this is a game we have played many times before. His large paw softly skates across my cheek, and his hand snakes around to the back of my neck, then slowly squeezes.
I calm my breaths because I know that he won’t hurt me, not before a dinner, I’m too important.
His other hand slithers between my legs, cupping me. I’m dressed in a skimpy dressing gown that doesn’t really cover anything.
“Later, Sapphire, you will owe me for that little outburst.”
I nod as he lets go of my neck and moves away from me.
His focus returns to my sister. “Strip, Gracie,” Dmitri orders.
Gracie doesn’t move. I try to communicate to my sister that she has pushed Dmitri too far tonight and she needs to start obeying his orders otherwise he’s going to make her life a living hell. She looks around the room filled with naked or semi-naked women all getting dressed.
“Do you need me to help you undress like the other night?” His hand slides down her silky dressing gown, making her flinch. “You know how much I like undressing you, Gracie.”
Fuck, he’s already touched her. I try to push the bile down. I can’t believe I’ve failed at protecting my sister. A single tear falls down my cheek and Gracie notices. She straightens her back and looks up at Dmitri.
“Thank you for your kind offer, but I think I’m okay with undressing myself.” Moving away from him, she takes a white dress and starts undressing as if she hasn’t a care in the world. She gives me a weak smile, letting me know she is okay.
I don’t want to tell her it gets easier because no woman should ever have to get used to being forced to sexually satisfy a man. But we need to bide our time here until we can escape.
I quickly strip off and put on the sapphire minidress hanging there for me. My mind starts to return to my Sapphire personality, the one that lets me get through nights like this.
Dmitri eventually leaves the room, satisfied that we are behaving.
As soon as the door is closed, the girls come alive.
“Sapphire!” The girls all smile and give me hugs.
“We thought you were dead,” Jet, a beautiful Japanese woman, states.
“We thought Nikolai had killed you. He told us he killed you,” Amber, a statuesque brunette from Sweden, adds.
“He almost did. I was so close till—” I stop myself. I can’t think of Mateo and Tomas.
“Because of that man.” Ruby comes through the crowd and hugs me, which makes her sob.
“Ruby, what’s the matter?” I ask her.
“I couldn’t stop him from telling Nikolai. He was so happy—he wouldn’t listen.”
I wrap my arms around her, trying to comfort her. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”
“Why didn’t you run? Was it because of that man you were with?”
I smile. “Yes, it was, plus there is another man.”
The girls gasp and huddle around, like girlfriends do, getting ready to go out on the town.
“I fell in love with two men. They thought they could protect me, but …”
The room falls silent; they understand.
“They’ve tightened up security since you escaped. They watch us girls closely,” Jade tells me with her Southern American twang. Her beautiful, bright green eyes sparkle under the lights.
“I’m sorry.” Because I am, my escaping probably didn’t make their lives any easier. “This is Gracie, she’s my sister. I must get her out, it’s not fair that they get us both.”
The girls all nod.
“I told you I’m not leaving without you,” Gracie says defiantly.
“But I can’t let you stay here, not when … not when Dmitri is …” I can’t finish the sentence.
Gracie grabs my hand. “It’s not like I haven’t slept with him before.”
“But you shouldn’t be here. None of us should be here.”
“Sapphire, they will kill you if you try again,” Jet says, concerned.
There’s a knock at the door, and we all scatter like cockroaches.
Nikolai sticks his head in.
“Sapphire,” he calls, using my work name.
This isn’t good. I steel myself and approach him. I will not show him any weakness.
He walks off down a corridor, and I follow, my heels click-clacking against the marble. He opens the door to what looks to be a library and shows me in, then closes the door and sits down behind a desk. He pushes a manila folder in front of me. “Open it,” he commands.
I hesitantly open it. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. How the? When? I keep flicking.
“I told you I was watching you. And I also know that your two little rainbow lovers are firmly in the closet. Mateo the onscreen heartthrob, the man so many women desire but who, in reality, would rather suck cock.”
I flinch at his tone. I’m talking to the devil tonight.
“And the other one, Tomas. Well, well, well. Papa runs the National Family Party. He comes from a strict Catholic family. Papa dearest likes to preach that homosexuality is a sin, no sex before marriage, and all the stuff his son likes to do. I bet that would be a huge scandal, don’t you think?”
The photos are of Tomas and Mateo together, by the pool, kissing, cuddling, and sunbaking naked. Just seeing their photos again rips my heart open, the tiny stitches that I thought I had put there have been torn wide apart.
“What—what do you want?”
“You catch on quick. I want you to be on your best behavior tonight. Service those men as if it is your lifelong dream to suck their dicks and I will keep your dirty little secrets. But if you don’t play then I will make sure the world knows.”
I can’t let him destroy everything Tomas and Mateo have built together. Neither is ready to come out of the closet yet. And they shouldn’t have to do it like this either.
“Why? Why are you doing this? They’ve done nothing to you. Why can’t you leave them alone?”
Nikolai just smiles. “I couldn’t give a shit about two rainbow lovers, but I know they mean something to you and that is what’s important to me.”
He has me and he knows he has me. Not only does he have my sister to threaten me with, but he also has Mateo and Tomas.
My shoulders slump, the fight I thought I could continue, leaves me. I turn around and walk to the door as his evil laugh reaches my ears.
“You win, Nikolai.”