Chapter Five
Sofiya
My kidnappers bring me to a beautiful building. Intricate carvings frame the outside of it. There’s a sense of elegance about the place.
I’m brought in through a back door and led down a hallway until we reach what looks like the back of a stage. A curtain is in place, hiding my view from what’s on the other side.
But it doesn’t save my view of what’s right in front of me: multiple women, all with collars around their necks, chained to the floor. There’s five of them.
“What is this?” I whisper but my kidnappers don’t give me any answer. The scarred man forces me to my knees next to one of the women and wraps a collar around my throat. I try to pull away but pain rips right through my body. Since the chain is embedded on the floor, I’m not going anywhere.
“It’s pointless,” the woman next to me says in a low voice. “I tried to escape but it’s pointless.” She holds up her hands and I catch a glimpse of her fingernails: all torn and bloody. She must have tried to claw at the collar.
I slump forward. It’s obvious what is going on here. Me and all these women are going to be sold. Human trafficking.
A man walks onto the stage. He’s different from my kidnappers. A suit and tie make him look distinguished. But his expression tells me that he’s not a gentleman as he sneers down at me and the other women.
“So, you’re the ones who are going to make me rich today. Pathetic little pigs.”
One of the women lets out a screech and tries running at him but the collar around her neck yanks her back and she lands on the ground with a loud thud. I wince. I know better than to fight back.
Maybe if I just act nice and polite, then everything will work out for me.
But I’ve been acting nice and polite my entire life and look where it’s gotten me. Married to a man who wants to break me down. Kidnapped by human traffickers. About to be sold off to who knows who.
Maybe I should try to fight.
“Smile, ladies,” the man in the suit says. “You need to show these men what you have to offer.”
The curtain rises and I’m confronted with the view of a dark room.
It takes my eyes time to adjust but when they do, I can tell it’s a theater.
An old, grand theater. And men are in the audience.
I can’t tell how many but I can feel their presence.
Feel their power. Feel how much they want to hurt me and the other women.
“Let’s start the bidding,” the man in the suit announces. “Why don’t we start with our newest?” He sets his eyes right onto me. “Let us start at five hundred thousand dollars.”
I almost vomit when I hear the amount. I’m really being sold off to someone. This is happening.
I’ll never see my parents again. I’ll never see Dimitri again. Why does that thought sadden me? Dimitri scares me and yet he also excites me. Ever since our wedding, I have found myself unable to think of anyone else but him. He has, over the course of just a few days, become my everything.
And now I have nothing.
Men start to bid on me. The price quickly goes up to a million dollars and then more. It shocks me how much money these men have to spare. If they’re so rich, why don’t they get a woman the old fashioned way? Why do they need to buy me?
A man in the audience stands up – it’s too dark to make out his features – and shouts, “Ten million dollars.”
That makes a hush settle around the room. I guess no one expected anyone to spend that much on one particular person.
The man in the suit brings a gavel down on a small podium and says, “Sold!”
The man who bought me walks closer to the stage.
And that’s when I see that it’s Dimitri.
What is going on? Is he saving me? How did he know I was here?
Dimitri walks right up to where I’m chained to the floor. “Let her go. I’m taking her with me now.”
“Of course.” Suit man motions for someone to unlock my collar. A man scurries onto the stage with the keys. Dimitri rips the keys out of the other man’s hands and unlocks my collar myself.
He pulls me to my feet and I sag against him. The feeling of Dimitri’s arms around me are a comfort that I never thought I needed before but now, I’m not sure I ever want to be parted from him again.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he murmurs into my air.
“The other women.” I nod at them still chained to the floor.
“I can’t help them. Only you. I had to save you.” He picks me up and carries me off the stage and out of the theater. The last thing I see is the woman with the bloody fingernails, crying her eyes out, as the bidding begins on her.
All I feel is numbness and a sense of shock as Dimitri brings me back to the villa. He lays me onto the bed.
“Shower,” I mumble. “I need a shower.” I have to wash the night away.
“Of course.” He picks me back up and carries me into the bathroom. My hands are shaky as I turn on the water. I’m not sure how I’ll even be able to undress.
“Let me,” Dimitri murmurs, helping me take my crop-top off. Since it’s my sleepwear, I didn’t bother putting a bra on. Dimitri’s eyes run over my breasts but he doesn’t touch them. Doesn’t make this moment sexual.
He pushes my pants and underwear down. “There. Take your shower now. We can talk when you’re done. I’m sure you have questions.”
A lot of them but all I feel is a bone tired numbness.
I don’t even feel self-conscious being fully naked in front of Dimitri.
He lingers until I get into the shower, then leaves the room.
I’m grateful for the privacy. He’s being an actual, kind supporting husband.
For some reason, the thought makes me slide down to my backside and curl my knees into my chest and cry.
From all the fear and anxiety and now relief I feel from having been saved. Dimitri found me. He did that.
I’m powerless to stop how I feel for him. He’s cemented himself inside of me and that’s that.
I stay inside the shower until the water turns cold and I start to shiver. A simple summer dress is waiting on the bed for me but Dimitri is nowhere in sight. He wants to care for me. Protect me.
After slipping into the dress, I wrap a small blanket around my shoulders and find Dimitri waiting for me in the living room.
He stands up and we stare at each other for a moment before he opens his arms and I go running into them. I never thought I would find comfort in his arms but now, all I want is to feel him hold me forever. Keep me safe.
But I do have questions and he has answers.
“What happened?” I ask. “After I was kidnapped. Where were you? I thought maybe you were…”
He releases me. “Dead?”
“Yes,” I admit, lowering my gaze.
“And that would have bothered you? If I were dead?”
“Yes. You’re my husband. I don’t want you to die.”
“The men who took you, they knocked me out. I was asleep when they invaded. They caught me off guard.” There’s an anger to his face that tells me he’s pissed at being caught unaware like that. A man who likes to always be in control.
Slowly, I sit down on the couch but Dimitri remains standing. He goes over to the fireplace and rests his arm on the mantle.
“How did you find me?” I ask.
“I recognized one of the men before I was knocked out. I knew he was a human trafficker. I knew where they would be taking you. But I also knew that I couldn’t fight them all off on my own.
I didn’t bring any guards with me on our honeymoon.
So, I needed to be smart about it. I knew if I bought you, I would save you. ”
I shiver and wrap the blanket tighter around me. Even though Dimitri saved my life, there’s something so chilling knowing he technically bought me.
But I guess he already bought me when he made a deal with my father for my hand in marriage.
“You really paid ten million dollars for me?”
“Yes. But I don’t intend to give them any of my money. I got you out of there. That was the key.”
“But won’t they come back for the money?”
“Probably but we’ll be gone by then. I think it’s time we return to New York. This honeymoon is over. I doubt you want to stay here after what happened.”
“Yes. I want to go home. I want to see my parents again.”
Dimitri’s expression stills for just a moment before he inclines his head. “Of course.”
“You’re being nice to me.”
“I haven’t been nice to you?”
“Well… not really.”
“I could have lost you today,” he says. “I know none of this was your fault. My goal as your husband is to keep you safe.”
But am I save from you? I can’t help but wonder it. Dimitri is a powerful man. He saved me today but something in my gut tells me that I don’t have all the information. That I’m missing something. I just don’t know what.
But Dimitri did save me. I need to focus on that.
“So, we’re going back to New York?” I ask.
“We’re going back to New York.”
I’m quiet on the flight back home and Dimitri doesn’t press me on anything. I’m relieved I don’t have to be the perfect wife for him right now. After what I went through, all I feel is a strange combination of numbness and anxiety.
The moment we land in New York, I begin to cry. The tears come on suddenly and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.
Dimitri’s eyes soften before he pulls me into his arms. “You’re safe now, Sofiya. We’re home. Those men can’t get to you here.”
I want to believe him but I just don’t. Those men are out there and they could find me again.
And who’s going to save me from my own husband? Will he tie me up again? Spank me some more?
I’m beginning to feel desperate for him. A dull ache inside of me that needs him.
“Collect yourself now,” he murmurs against my hair. “Smile for me.”
I calm my tears and force a smile onto my face. Dimitri wipes the tears left behind on my cheeks. Without even realizing it, I find myself leaning into his touch.
“Better,” he says. “It’s time for you to see your new home.”
He drives us to his house. Well, my house now, I guess. It’s strange. I won’t be living with my parents any longer. Instead, I’ll be living with this man who confuses me. Who terrifies me. Who excites me.
Who saved me.