Chapter 59
Chapter fifty-nine
Alisa
The next morning I woke up so giddy I barely recognized myself.
My cheeks hurt from how wide I was smiling.
I curled into the rumpled sheets, enjoying the lingering scent of Dmitri.
The frozen fragrance of newly fallen snow.
When I stepped out of bed, the spot between my legs ached.
But that physical reminder of last night just made me giddier.
Even when I padded into the living room, and found the apartment empty, not even that could dim the happiness flowing through my entire body. I spied a yellow note on the front door and read it.
“DO NOT leave the apartment, Alisa.”
Like I wanted to go anywhere else.
You’d have to drag me out kicking and screaming.
Humming to myself, I opened the refrigerator. My smile deepened impossibly wide when I realized Dmitri had replenished the stock, and I had all the ingredients to make another round of muffins.
This time, I’d make sure they weren’t burnt.
I finished the batter with a flourish of chocolate chips, Dmitri’s favorite, and fished my phone out while secretly hoping for a text from him.
The smile dropped off my face when I saw it was from Gemma. Icy fingers caught on my intestines at the reminder of all the responsibilities that laid outside the front door.
Beyond this warm, cozy house was everything I’d been able to block out while underneath Dmitri’s dominating touch. No matter how hard Dmitri fucked me, Gemma remained in danger, the Pakhan’s competition still raged on, my father was sure to be pissed at me, and Roman…
Last night, I promised Dmitri that I’d tell him the name of the man who hurt me. But he’d awoken before me, and left before I could utter the name.
Thinking back to the raw anger on his face, maybe it was a good thing. First I needed to get Gemma outside of Roman’s clutches, because I doubted Dmitri would care about collateral damage.
After storing the mix in the fridge, I texted Gemma to come meet me here and instructed her not to mention it to anyone.
The response of ‘okayyyyyyyyyyyy’ told me she was weirded out by the tone of my text, but I didn’t care. Once she was in Dmitri’s house, she’d be safe. No one would be stupid enough to break into his apartment.
I shot Dmitri a text, giving him a heads-up Gemma was coming over.
He texted back immediately. ‘Fine. But don’t you dare leave the house.’
While I waited for Gemma to arrive, I settled under the fuzzy blanket and set the rest of my plan in motion. I contacted the men I’d previously arranged to get my mother into safety if she one day left my father. They agreed to do it for Gemma instead.
I would need to let Dmitri know before I gave them the okay to come to the apartment and pick up Gemma, but I needed to cross one bridge at a time. Already, there was going to be a hell of a lot of explaining to be had when Gemma arrived.
After receiving confirmation on the dollar amount, I opened the door to the room Dmitri had said the stuff from my apartment was stored.
When I flicked on the light in the room, I gasped. But it wasn’t because he’d thrown out all my ratty furniture.
No, it was because all of my books sat on a gorgeous white oak bookshelf. Dmitri hadn’t thrown a single dog-eared paperback away, and on the shelf below was…
A pristine first edition of the book Gemma mentioned I was dying to read. It was accompanied by every single book that author had ever written. Even the out-of-print ones that went for thousands online. Tears welled in my eyes as I ran my fingers across the immaculate spines.
I couldn’t believe he’d paid such close attention, let alone done all of this. I swallowed unsteadily as a tear tumbled down my cheek.
After I finished fondling the books, I turned my head and took in the shopping bags from Fifth Avenue. Underneath them were hangers full of designer dresses that cost more than a year’s rent at my old place.
My mouth dropped open when I realized that he’d followed through with his promise to replace the dress that he’d ripped in half while undressing me. Along with every single other color it came in.
My hand stopped on a silk blue dress with a small note on it.
‘To match your eyes.’
I immediately shimmied into the dress, admiring how the soft silk hugged my body. A perfect fit. The man never did anything half-assed.
The doorbell rang, and I dashed for the door.
I rose on my tiptoes to check the peephole, and let out a sigh of relief when I spotted Gemma’s confused and slightly irritated face.
Not a bruise or bit of blood marked her.
Safe.
I pushed open the door, making sure to follow Dmitri’s orders and stay within the threshold. Gemma’s head swung to the right, and her eyes widened enormously large. My heart raced into my throat as I turned to face the cause of her shock.
Before I could react, a huge rock slammed into my head, and everything went black.
I blinked and bright fluorescent lights seared into my retinas. When I managed to see beyond the piercing light, I wished I’d kept my eyes closed.
Roman Komarov towered over me, a cruel smile spread across his lips. Instinctively, I tried to stand from the cold metal chair and run, but something hard and rough cut into my arms.
Ropes.
His smile grew larger when a whimper of pain escaped my lips.
“You’re finally awake. I was worried I’d have to go ahead with my plan while you were still unconscious. That wouldn’t have been nearly as fun.”
The vow of violence in his eyes promised it certainly wouldn’t be fun for me.
“Where’s Gemma?” I said, forcing my voice to sound steady when I felt anything but.
“That’s your biggest concern?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Not what I’m planning to do with you?”
I swallowed. The images of that night he’d cornered me started to drown out the gray walls of the concrete warehouse I was currently restrained in. I dug my nails into my palms, terror threatening to turn my mind black.
As the corners of my vision darkened, I bit down hard on my cheek. I couldn’t afford to black out. I couldn’t disconnect from reality, no matter how tempting that numbness would be in the face of what Roman had planned for me.
“Dmitri will come,” I whispered to myself.
The conjuring of his name lightened the load. The darkness receded as I repeated the statement louder.
Roman flinched at the mention of Dmitri’s name, and the room snapped back into focus. I would survive this.
“He’s not coming,” Roman said. There was finality in his voice, but I noted that his earlier bravado had disintegrated with the mention of Dmitri.
“You’re wrong.”
“Want to know a secret, Alisa? I set it up, so it looks like the Italians kidnapped you. If he searches for you, he’s going to go looking in the wrong place.”
“He’ll find me.”
“Eventually,” Roman said before slamming his fist into my ribs. Pain splintered from the impact, and I held back the tears threatening to break through. I refused to give this nightmare of a human a single one of my tears. “He just won’t recognize you when he does.”
Roman absently ran a finger over his split knuckles. “Alisa, it was very stupid to try to take away my leverage.”
My eyes widened. “Did Gemma tell you?”
I’d made her promise not to tell anyone about my text.
Roman leaned back on his heels, a flash of annoyance appearing in his eyes.
“No. While I was at her house, she made some ham-fisted excuse about desperately needing a grocery run. Funny thing to do when she has a full refrigerator.”
“Is she okay?” I said, my entire body clenching as I anticipated his answer.
“So concerned about her…” Roman’s voice took on a false note of pity. “When really you should be worried about yourself.”
His fist slammed into the same spot on my ribs, and this time I did scream. Roman raised his fist again.
“Why are you doing this?” I gasped out.
I needed to stall for time. To keep him talking so I could come up with a plan before I was too weak to fight back.
“The competition is ending,” he said.
Roman’s head cocked as he took in my expression, looking disappointed when I didn’t react.
“You knew…. Interesting. Well, maybe you aren’t the clueless pawn I thought you were.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked, feeling the ache in my side.
I twisted to relieve the pain and noticed a little tear in the ropes around my wrists. Thankfully, they were knotted behind my back, so Roman wouldn’t notice…
“Your ranking is low enough that you might as well be irrelevant. But Dmitri and I are the top two in the competition.”
Yes, I was more than aware of where we all stood, but I needed to keep him talking. Every breath he wasted speaking was another second for me to inconspicuously grind the ropes pinning me in place.
“As it stands, the Pakhan will name Dmitri his heir, but since I did so well, he’s likely to make me his Sovietnik. The last thing I need is any kind of bad blood between myself and Dmitri, so I’m eliminating you before you can say anything to mess with the equilibrium.”
Understanding flooded through my aching body. “Because Dmitri will destroy you if he finds out what you did to me at that party.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Alisa.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Sure, he’d probably be a bit upset that someone hurt his little fuck doll. But he won’t risk his life when you are completely replaceable.”
I thought back to the raw fury stamped on Dmitri’s face when I told him what had happened to me. His promise of violence swirled in my mind like a soothing antidote to Roman’s belittling words.
Roman was wrong. I was far more than Dmitri’s little fuck toy.