32. Sienna
SIENNA
I can’t hide my shock at the underground club I never suspected was here.
The more I delve into this world and realize how my friends have had time to adapt, the more I try to imagine life without it.
It’s not something I should want to be a part of, and I wonder how deeply they themselves have become immersed in it.
Nikolai splits his attention between keeping an eye on me and taking in the sight before us.
Is this what his boss wants? Involvement with this fight club? But there’s all types of fighting out there, isn’t there? What makes this so lucrative and exclusive?
The centerpiece of the space is a boxing ring with stadium seating surrounding it. The crowd is mostly made up of men, though I see a few women perched on men’s laps, but they’re more accessories than anything else .
Security guards wearing all black surround the room, some openly showcasing their weapons. My heart drops at the thought that we really are in a den of dangerous men who I’m assuming work for Luca.
Ara walks ahead to where Luca is seated on a chair slightly more elevated than the others, and he looks furious to see her.
I feel almost guilty that Ara left her baby to come here for me, but I’m also flooded with a sense of joy that she cares about me that much.
Lily’s arm links with mine, and I can sense Nikolai lock up every time any other person touches me. I ignore his reaction because I’ve missed her.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay.” She leans in closer and quietly asks, “You are okay, right?”
I squeeze her hand gently. “I mean, it certainly isn’t an ideal situation, but I’m okay.”
Lily flicks a glance over her shoulder at Nikolai, who trails us intently. “So, ah, want to explain to me what’s happening between you two?”
“Nothing.” My voice squeaks, and Lily gives me a deadpan expression. “I mean … things might’ve happened, but it’s not anything, because it can’t be, right?”
Lily’s eyebrows dip as we’re escorted through the crowd. “No, he kidnapped you.”
“True. Speaking of, I’m sure there’s much to hear about how you and Lorenzo came to be.” A blush streaks her cheeks. “I always knew there was something up with him. He does an impression of a stone-cold statue far too well.”
“It’s a long story,” Lily says, then is quick to add, “I never meant to keep it from you. It’s just everything moved so quickly. And then you and Michael—” She cuts herself off, and I realize then that Nikolai’s green gaze has sliced in her direction.
“Don’t be an ass to my friends,” I snap at him.
His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t add anything further.
“I get it,” I say to Lily as we move to take the seats closest to Luca. God, do I get it. If anything, it’s felt like I’ve been falling with no parachute since I was first ensnared by Nikolai.
Ara sits on Luca’s knee, scowling at Nikolai as he takes the seat next to Luca. When I go to sit beside him, Nikolai sweeps me into his lap possessively. Ara’s gaze narrows on the action as I give him my full attention.
“Needy doesn’t suit you,” I say to him.
“You are safest when you’re closest to me,” he states matter-of-factly. But I can hear the irritation in his tone. He doesn’t like it here. Probably because there are too many variables he can’t control.
I place my hand on his chest, looking deeply into his green eyes. “These are my friends. I’m safe with them.”
His expression doesn’t soften. In fact, he looks even more determined as he says, “Doesn’t mean they’re the most suited to protect you. If they were, they would’ve already attempted to pry you from my fingers.”
“A rather bold statement,” Luca comments from beside us, drawing our attention. Nikolai’s hold on me never wavers. It might look like a casual grip, but it’s ironclad.
The ladies look on, cautiously curious. I’m not uncomfortable at their assumptions about my relationship with Nikolai, but I hate the wall between us.
That they see him as the enemy, when my heart has started to think otherwise.
I feel like a fool for believing in a fantasy that maybe they’d actually get along.
Then again, I doubt Nikolai gets along with many people.
Why, of all the men who could have stolen my attention, did it end up being a man I can’t be with? The knowledge that I will lose him someday soon makes me cling to him that little bit more.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome,” a man announces from the ring.
I lean toward Lily, and ask, “Have you been to one of these before?”
Lily shakes her head. “No, I didn’t even know this place existed until I landed yesterday, and Romi told me you’d be here.
I doubt Lorenzo will be impressed to know I’m here.
” Then a small smile stretches her lips as a blush infuses her cheeks.
“You have to make sure these types of men don’t push you around, you know?
” she whispers as the announcer calls two fighters into the ring .
The first man looks young, probably in his early twenties, but he’s built like he’s been carved from stone.
He’s not as big as Nikolai—I don’t think anyone is—but he’s easily six foot three with green eyes that are ablaze, ready for the fight.
He doesn’t wear a shirt, and my gaze catches on the strange scarring around his throat. It almost looks like a burn.
The second man looks easily ten years his senior. He’s bulkier in frame, like he lives in the gym, and I wonder how practical those huge muscles are. I imagine if caught in his grip, the first fighter will be in trouble.
I look back at Nikolai and Luca, both of whom are focused on the ring. I bite my bottom lip, worried. What will happen between them? Nikolai is the messenger, and him being here puts him in danger since he’s outnumbered.
Why is Nikolai willing to risk his life?
“It’ll be all right, mishka . No one will die. Maybe,” Nikolai says, assuming my anxiety is for the staged fight, instead of his safety. Then again, he might’ve understood clearly, and a sense of comfort rolls over me. I didn’t realize he knew I was watching. “Not quickly anyway.”
“That’s not funny,” I grumble, and the corners of his lips tilt up.
I glance over at Luca and Ara, and it’s unnerving to see them in this light. They’re both intimidating in their own right, but I’ve also seen pictures of them with their baby, their love and joy obvious.
They’re not at all who I thought they were, but at the same time, they are.
I turn back to the fighting ring, my gaze pulled to the man who is announced as Luca’s champion. He naturally draws attention to himself because of that half-cocked smile and the unnerving way he paces back and forth like a predator.
The second the bell rings to start the fight, Luca’s champion lunges and tackles his opponent into the ropes surrounding the ring.
I jump, shocked by the intensity, as he throws him over his shoulder headfirst into the ground. But somehow, the second man, although dazed, stumbles to his feet, only to be greeted with Luca’s champion kicking him in the jaw.
He drops to the ground, knocked out cold, and the announcer begins counting down.
The crowd cheers as money exchanges hands.
“Does it usually go that quickly?” I ask Nikolai, surprised.
“Only if they have such an uncontrollable temperament that they don’t know how to put on a show,” he says, the comment made more for Luca.
Luca shrugs. “Perhaps the next challenger won’t be so slow.”
Luca’s champion looks to him for approval, and I notice Luca signal something to the fighter. The fighter doesn’t seem pleased about it but nods. Luca probably told him to put on a longer show.
It dawns on me then that these men don’t even flinch at the violence.
Had it been little more than a month ago, I most likely would’ve vomited at the sight of blood.
I don’t like it, but I now understand this is what Nikolai’s boss wants in on.
And if he has it, if they agree to this, could Nikolai stay?
Is that what I want?
My heart twists at the naive notion that maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to keep him. But then what?
We watch new contenders, ones who last longer than the first, but half my focus is on the small circles Nikolai draws on my leg. That is until he abruptly stops and then whispers in my ear, “I’ll be back.”
He shifts me off his lap as Luca does the same thing with Ara. I grab Nikolai by the arm, the fear I might not see him again constricting my next breath.
“You’re not going to hurt him, are you?” I say directly to Luca, whose gaze narrows on me.
“You don’t seem to understand that you’re a hostage.”
“I understand my circumstance very well,” I bite back.
Lily reaches for me. “Sienna?”
I realize then that all my friends are gaping at me as if I’ve grown a second head.
“Don’t worry, little doll,” Nikolai says, and I hate that he calls me that in front of them.
It signals that the wall has gone back up between us.
“If something happens to me, you will meet the same fate. My men know to activate this if I’m not out within the hour. ” He taps the necklace at my throat.
It’s a lie. I open my mouth, but then close it again as his sharp gaze freezes me in place. All the gentleness I’ve come to know bleeds away as he’s overtaken by business. It’s an act—it has to be.
He pockets his hand and gives me the cold shoulder as he follows Luca back toward the way we came in.
The moment he’s gone, I’m swarmed by my friends, and Ara grabs my hand. “We’re having one of the hounds assess that necklace right now.” I’m dragged in the opposite direction of where the two men went, and my stomach swirls with unease.
“Ara, I really don’t want anything happening to him,” I plead as she pulls me through the cheering crowd that hardly notices us.
One of the masked men, this one with a yellow gem, waits for us beside a door near the ring. The men in the seats closest to us are screaming in excitement for the next round of fighting.
“You’ve been brainwashed,” Ara bites, and the moment the masked guard opens the door, a chill rushes over me.
“No, I haven’t been,” I argue, pulling my hand out of hers. I look around to my circle of friends, and everything begins to feel as if it’s spinning. They’re who I trust the most. Who I care about the most. “I care about him.”
“Fuck me,” Romi breathes as the light in the room comes on. The sight that’s revealed is one that makes my stomach turn. The space is empty except for the racks of different torture devices that line against the walls.
I recall being in a room like this once, with Nikolai, except he made sure we remained in the dark so I couldn’t see the full extent of it.
“Scream for me,” he’d said as he fucked me within an inch of my life.
This all feels wrong.
“Sienna, you’ve been through something traumatic,” Lily begins.
“No!” I shout, taking a step back as the masked man tries to inspect my necklace. I cling to it, as if they’ll take away my one attachment to Nikolai.
It doesn’t make sense. I don’t have a plan or know how to control this situation. But what I do know is how my heart—as cruel as it is—feels.
“Why is it okay for you to all accept unhinged men, but if I dare to feel the same about someone similar, I’m just a fool for it?” I’m surprised by the quiver in my voice.
“He is using you,” Ara insists.
“H-he kept me alive.” My voice breaks. In my heart, I know that when he acted indifferent and cold, that was his way of protecting me in the only way he knew how.
“He’s not a good man, but if it were anyone but Nikolai who’d kidnapped me, they would’ve hurt me.
I know that much. I-I’ve seen a lot.” My voice cracks again as I try to shove out the memories of the man being mauled by the tiger or the dead bodies at my feet.
The girls grow quiet, and I take in a harsh breath. “It doesn’t make any fucking sense, but I know I don’t want him to die. Even if we have to part ways, I want to protect him as much as he has me. So, please, Ara, listen to me.”
“He has a bomb around your neck,” she snaps.
I realize she’s not furious with me but the situation. But I don’t back down. “It’s a bluff.”
“Can you be so certain?” the man with the yellow gem asks, his fingers hovering near my necklace. “Only I can be the judge of that. Are you willing to bet your life on it?”
And my heart begins to pound in my chest. Because if I’m wrong about Nikolai bluffing—I’m dead.