Chapter Sixteen
Dimitri
Keeping Sofiya in the cage for the next few days goes smoothly. I purposefully don’t fuck her again. I want her body aching and needy for me when this is all over.
I bring her food, feed it to her, let her out to use the bathroom, and then put her back in. The one thing I notice over the course of the four days she’s in the cage, she becomes more quiet. More docile. The fight in her is going away.
I thought I would be happy about that but I have found that I like her spirit. I like that she’s not afraid to confront me.
It makes me think of the incident with Katya. How Sofiya was so convinced that what was best for Katya was getting her out of her room. Since I’ve been busy with Sofiya, Ann has been tending to Katya.
But it’s time I talk to my sister again.
Doubt has crept in if I’m doing the right thing by my sister by not making her leave her room. I always thought I was doing it for her because that’s what she needed. But is it truly what’s best for her?
I knock on Katya’s door. I’ve always been respectful of her space.
“Dimitri?” she asks on the other side.
“Yes.”
“Come in.”
I find Katya by her record player, listening to music with her eyes shut. A content smile is on her face. She must like it in here to act this way.
“Katya,” I murmur.
Her eyes snap open. “What? Ann already brought me food. I haven’t seen you in days. What are you doing here now?”
“I wanted to check in on you.”
“You have. You can go now.”
“Katya, I’m sorry I haven’t been around to see you in a few days. I’ve been busy with something else.”
She eyes me over with suspicion. “Like what? Like your wife? I still can’t believe you never told me you got married.”
“It was for your own benefit. I know how much change can be scary.”
“I know.” She wraps her arms around herself. “But sometimes I wonder if you baby me too much.”
“What makes you think that?” I sit down in the chair next to her. “I’ve always taken care of you.”
“I know. But after Sofiya came here… she looked so womanly, even though we’re the same age. I felt like a child next to her.”
“You’re not a child. You’re not dressed like one.” Katya’s wearing white sweatpants and a simple cotton top. Loungewear. Something any woman would wear.
“I know. But look around my room. It’s covered in pink and all my stuffed animals…”
“Sofiya had stuffed animals too. When I first met her. But she grew into the woman you met. You can grow into the woman you want to become as well.”
“But can I? When I’m always in this room?”
I hesitate, knowing what I’m going to say next isn’t going to go over well. “You could always leave your room more.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “Is that what you want me to do?”
“I want what’s best for you. I want to protect you. I thought keeping you in this room would do that. But if it’s not helping you…”
“Why would you think it’s not helping me?”
“Because you did leave your room. To go gardening with Sofiya. She managed to get you out of your room when I’ve never been able to. You told me you left of your own accord.”
“No. I told you that Sofiya pushed me to do it,” she mumbles, curling into a ball on the chair.
“But you still left. I doubt Sofiya dragged you from your room. Did she?”
“No,” she admits.
“Exactly. You still chose to leave. You’ve always been allowed to leave if you want to.
I’ve never forced you to stay in here. I only made this room for you because I knew it was what you needed when you were younger.
You were struggling so much from what our father did to our mother.
This room was meant as a safe space for you.
But if you want to leave it, Katya, you can.
I can always set you up in a different room in the house. One that isn’t hidden away.”
“I’m not sure what I want. I’m terrified to leave this room and I’m not sure that I want to. And yet…”
“A part of you wants to?”
“Maybe. Seeing Sofiya made me realize that there’s more of a world out there. I’ve read about it in my books and on my computer. But maybe it would be nice to experience it for real.”
A spike of anxiety hits me at the thought of my sister in out in the real world. “If you want to leave your room, you can. But that doesn’t mean I’ll just let you go around the city without me or a guard. I have enemies out there, Katya. It’s dangerous.”
She shrinks more in on herself. It’s not my intended affect but it works anyway. “I know. Maybe I should just stay in here then. I know it’s safe in here. I don’t want to leave.”
“You could always start with eating dinner with me and Sofiya at the kitchen table.” That is, after I let Sofiya out of the cage. “Spend more time in other parts of the house. It doesn’t mean you have to do anything more.”
“Maybe,” she whispers. Katya sounds so quiet and scared and I know I’m the reason she is that way. I always thought I was protecting her but have I been? Sofiya has made me see things a little bit differently when it comes to my sister.
I may be trying to control my wife but can I also control my sister? Do I even want to?
I’ve been her guardian since she was eight years old. She’s like a daughter to me. I’m not sure I can ever let her go.
But that’s a problem for another day.
“I just wanted to check in on you,” I say. “See how you’re doing. But if you want me to go, I will.”
“I need time to think.”
Think about whether she wants to leave her room or not. That worries me. Once Katya decides to leave her room, will she want to leave this house altogether? I won’t be able to protect her then.
But I’ve always protected my sister so I’m not going to be abusive to her and force her to stay in here.
“Ok.” I kiss her forehead like a dad does to his daughter, rather than a brother to his sister. “You think about it.” The only saving grace I have is that Katya will probably choose to stay in her room.
She’s always been too afraid to leave.
Ivan calls me on the fourth day of keeping Sofiya locked in the cage. “Where is my daughter?” he demands to know.
I stop in the hallway, my cell phone clenched in my hand. “Why are you asking?”
“Because my wife has been calling Sofiya every day for the past three days and Sofiya hasn’t answered. Not once. Where is my daughter?”
“She’s fine. She’s alive and unhurt if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“So why isn’t she answering her mother’s phone calls? Sofiya loves Polina. She would never ignore one of her calls.”
Because Sofiya is currently locked away right now to break her down even more and I can’t tell you about that because I know it will freak you the fuck out and come barging over here and I can’t have that. What happens between me and Sofiya stays between me and Sofiya.
“Sofiya is busy. She must have just forgot.”
“Let me talk to my daughter.”
“Now, Ivan. You know I’m the one to make the rules. Not you. You don’t get to make demands of me.”
“I want to know were my daughter is. Let me talk to her, just once, and I won’t bother you.”
It’s a risk – one I don’t want to take but I know Ivan won’t get off my back otherwise. And we are business partners after all. I should probably throw him a bone.
“Fine,” I mutter. “I’ll let you talk to her.”
Sofiya is awake when I open the cage door but she looks dazed, like she has forgotten which day it is. I’m doing this to her. Breaking her down to be my perfect wife.
So why does this sight of her like this not bring me as much happiness as I thought it would?
“Sofiya, your dad wants to talk to you.” I put the phone on speaker and hold it to her mouth.
“Sofiya?” Ivan asks. “How are you?”
“Dad?” Her voice is groggy. She hasn’t used it much in the past four days.
“Are you all right? You don’t sound all right. What happened?”
“I’m fine,” she replies, sounding on autopilot. She doesn’t even sound human.
“You don’t sound fine. What has happened?”
“You told me to endure, remember?”
Ivan hesitates. “I did. But you don’t sound ok. What is Dimitri doing to you?”
“I’m right here, you know,” I say into the phone.
“Let me talk to my daughter alone,” Ivan hisses.
“No,” I respond calmly. “You heard her. She’s alive. She’s fine. No need to worry.”
“Dimitri,” he warns.
“Ivan,” I snap back. “Sofiya is not dead. She’s clearly alive and unhurt or she wouldn’t have been able to talk to you. Now, I’m going to hang up. Have a nice day.”
“Dimitri –,”
I hang up the phone, cutting him off.
Sofiya continues to lay on the ground, looking out of it. “What did my dad want?”
“He just wanted to check in on you. That was all. Are you all right? You seem out of it.”
“Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to be broken down?”
I did but… seeing it in person is making me doubt everything. Do I truly want her broken like this?
“I’ll be back later tonight to bring you dinner.” I leave the basement, my heart pounding from so many different emotions. I’m getting what I wanted but now I’m unsure.
It was fun to tease Sofiya. To discipline her. But to watch her become a shell? I’m not so sure now.
The day goes by and I get more work done. Alek is still causing fucking problems but he’s always surrounded by guards so I can’t get to him. Can’t kill him. It’s an ongoing problem that I need to solve.
That’s when the doorbell rings.
With a frown, I go to answer it and find Ivan on my doorstep.
“Seriously, Ivan? What are you doing here?”
He barges past me into the house. “I want to see my daughter. My wife is insisting. She didn’t sound ok on the phone. Just let me see her and I’ll be on my way.”
“Ivan, leave.”
“Let me see her, Dimitri. And then I’ll leave. But Polina needs to know that her daughter is all right. I need to know that my daughter is all right. Understood?”
“I could just kick you out of this house. Or I could kill you.”
Ivan tenses. “We have a deal, Dimitri. You can’t just kill me.”
“Maybe not. But if you’re going to be causing me problems, then yes. I might have to consider it.”
“Where is she?”
“Leave, Ivan.”
“Where is she?”