Chapter Six
Sofiya
“What is this place?” I ask. The basement is made out of cold cement. There’s a large cage in the middle of the room with nothing in it. It’s a human sized cage. There’s nothing else here.
“This is where I take people who have wronged me.” The darkness in his voice makes me shiver.
“Have I… wronged you?”
“No.”
“So why am I here?” I wrap my arms around myself to protect me from the cold. It has to be at least ten degrees colder in here than in the main house.
“You’re struggling with what happened in Greece. It’s understandable. The only way to deal with your trauma is to relive it. Get in the cage.”
I blink and before my body knows what it’s doing, I make a run for the door.
But Dimitri grabs me around the waist and places me inside the cage.
I try kicking and screaming but the only person around is Ann and it’s clear to me that this dungeon was built so no one would find the people Dimitri has hurt. No one will hear me down here.
He places me inside the cage but he remains in it with me.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my heart squeezing in fear. The panic is starting to overtake me. I clutch at my chest, trying to calm it down but it’s no help.
“I am making you mine, Sofiya. I want your mind focused on me. Not what happened in Greece. I saved you there.”
“Only to lock me up here?”
“You need to be broken and you’re not yet. So, you’ll stay in here and think. Think about how I saved you. How I’m your husband. How you’re going to be mine.”
“You’re sick,” I whisper. I thought I trusted Dimitri after he saved my life. I needed him – was desperate for him – when I was kidnapped by the human traffickers.
But now I don’t know what to feel.
All the rumors about him are true. There’s a darkness inside of him that he’s now focusing on me.
And yet, I still find myself wanting his approval. Wanting to make him proud.
He cups my face. His strong hands are a force to be reckoned with.
“You’re going to be mine, Sofiya. You’re going to beg for me to let you out.
But in time, you’ll be begging for me to let you stay in here.
You’ll be begging for me to fuck you. To claim every inch of you, including your mind.
” His fingers skim along my temple. My face leans into his touch before I really know what I’m doing.
He steps back and I instantly feel colder without him.
“You need to calm yourself down,” he says. “I don’t want you dying of panic inside of here.”
“Please. Please don’t do this.”
“If you can’t calm yourself down, I’ll have to spank you again.”
“Please,” I beg, dropping to my knees. “Please, Dimitri. Don’t do this to me.”
When Dimitri cups the back of my head, it instantly makes me feel better. “I like seeing you on your knees before me. What a lovely sight.”
I look up at him as tears stream down my face. “Please.”
“You’re pretty when you cry. I’m doing this for your benefit, Sofiya. If you just give in to me, you’ll find how much happier you’ll be.”
“You want me to be your slave.” I thought he was my savior and now I’m seeing differently.
“If you want to call it that, then sure. But I want you to be the wife I’ve always dreamed of. The one utterly devoted to me.”
“This isn’t the way. If you showed me love and kindness, I’d return it.”
A pitying look enters his eyes. “That’s not the kind of man I am. I’m one built out of darkness. And in darkness, you shall become mine.”
He lets my head go and I fall forward onto my hands. My tears land on the hard cement floor. It’s so cold, I can already feel my legs going numb.
“I’m going to freeze in here.”
“I’ll turn the temperature up. I like to torture my enemies in here. But you’re not my enemy.”
So why does it feel like I am?
“I just want you to make me proud, Sofiya. That is all.” With those words, he walks out of the cage and shuts the door behind him.
All I can do is cry and beg for him to let me go but Dimitri leaves the basement altogether.
His plan is already working because I can’t get him off my mind, even if I wanted to.
I don’t know how long I’m in this cage for. There’s no windows down here. No signs of the passing of time.
Dimitri keeps the light dimmed. Light enough for me to see but not too bright that it hurts my eyes. And to his credit, the basement warms up. The floor beneath me is warm. A heated floor.
Why would he have a heated floor installed if this space is only for his enemies? Did he install it for me knowing he’d bring me down here?
The sad part is, I still want him. I want to be near him. Feel the power inside of him.
When he saved me from the kidnappers and wrapped me in his arms, I never felt more safe. I’m desperate to feel it again and that’s the problem. That’s how he wants me to feel. Utterly desperate and dependent on him.
The creak of the door opening makes me sit up. Dimitri comes back with a tray full of food.
“You need to eat,” he says, opening the cage and placing it before me. I don’t bother running. He’ll only catch me.
The food is nice, I’ll give him that. A piece of chicken, stuffed with veggies and cream. A potato dish that looks to die for. And broccolini, covered in oil and spices.
“We could eat in the dining room together,” I offer.
He sits down opposite me in the cage. It’s a strange site: Dimitri sitting crossed legged in his suit with me in the creepy cage he built.
“We could,” he says. “But you still need to learn your lesson. You need to see that captivity doesn’t have to be such a scary thing. Put what happened in Greece behind you. And focus on me.”
“You want me dependent on you. But when you’re working, I have to do other things. I can’t just sit around and think of you.”
“I don’t expect you to. But that’s not why I’m doing this. I’m doing this to make you see that you are mine. I’m in control here. I want you to run into my arms, Sofiya. I want you to be desperate for me. Eat up.”
I know the food isn’t poisoned because that would make no sense. Dimitri wants me. He doesn’t want me dead.
So I quickly eat all the food, feeling some strength settle itself back inside my body.
Dimitri opens his arms wide. “Do you want a hug?”
I do. I want it so badly, it’s embarrassing.
With a sniffle, I push the tray out of the way and lean forward, letting him wrap his arms around me.
I cling to him like a little girl does her stuffed animals.
I think back to the stuffed animals on my bed at my parents’ house.
How I’ll never see those stuffed animals again.
I’m no longer a little girl. Dimitri is making sure of that.
“There,” he says against my head. “Doesn’t that feel better?”
“Yes.” I snuggle my face into his chest, smelling his masculine scent. Like pine and cinnamon. He may smell like Christmas time but Dimitri is no Santa Claus. He’s more like Krampus, a thing of nightmares.
But he’s all I have now.
“Get on your hands and knees.” His tone speaks to no disagreements.
“Why? Why spank me again?”
“Because I know you enjoy it. I think you like a little bit of pain mixed with pleasure. It will help clear your mind. Do as I say, Sofiya.” He doesn’t sound mean. Only commanding.
With a whimper, I get on my hands and knees. “The floor hurts my knees.”
“I’ll bring a cushion for you for next time.”
Next time? My arms almost give out from that alone.
Dimitri pushes my skirt up and pulls my underwear down. Even though it’s a lot warmer in the room, the air is still cool. It tickles my bare skin.
I’m ashamed to say that I can smell my arousal after my underwear is gone. It seems that Dimitri has an effect on me no matter what.
“Stay still,” he says right before he brings his hand down hard on my backside. I let myself cry out. No one will hear me anyway.
Dimitri is a force of nature as he spanks me. Hard and forceful. He’s making it clear that I belong to him.
It’s so intense that I have to bring my forearms to the ground so I don’t hurt myself.
Every spank makes me moan in pain. But there’s the tiniest bit of pleasure there.
“Please,” I beg after he’s spanked me at least ten times by now. “It’s too much.”
“You’ll take it,” he says darkly, making my core throb. I can feel my wetness coating my inner thighs. “Say ‘yes.’”
“Yes,” I whimper, squeezing my eyes shut from another intense slap.
“Scream it for me, Sofiya.” He palms my backside, giving it a squeeze.
“Yes!” My voice echoes throughout the room.
“Good girl.” He gives me one more slap before he stops. I slump against the floor, breathing heavy. All my energy is spent.
But to my surprise, I feel… better. Not as consumed by what happened in Greece.
Dimitri pulls my hips up, back into place, and presses his hand between my legs. Once again, he doesn’t fully touch me but lets his hand hover there. Right over my sensitive bud.
“Let me touch you this time.” He sounds as desperate as I feel. “All you have to do is say yes again.”
I’ve been fighting how I feel for Dimitri. He still frightens me and a part of me hates him. Hates him for wanting to break me down when instead, he could shower me with love and I’d give it in return.
But I know how my body feels. It wants his touch. Bad.
So I finally say the word. “Yes.”
There’s a collective exhale of relief from both of us right before Dimitri presses his hand against my nub. This time, the moan that escapes my mouth is one of pleasure. My folds are puffy and hot. Desperate for his touch.
Dimitri cups my entire vulva, running his palm over my nub, back and forth, getting me even more warmed up. My hips buck against his hand on instinct.
I’ve explored myself before, in the comfort of my own room, but my own touch is nothing compared to Dimitri’s. I never fully could make myself find release from my own hand. I was always too self-conscious and thinking of the shame my father instilled in me about sex.
But with Dimitri, I don’t have to feel that shame.
He’s ripping it right from me.