Chapter 10
Kaylee
I open my mouth to continue arguing, but the door opens back up.
"Is she your one true love?" the big guy asks as he steps back into the room.
"Not yet," the stranger says as he takes a step back, releasing his grip on my wrists. "But she will be."
The big guy laughs like they have an inside joke between the two of them, and I want to slap both of them across the face. The man standing in front of me raises an eyebrow, a challenge to trust him. As annoyed as I am that he's here, the other night was miserable, and as close a rein as the men here have on the women, I can't see myself having the chance to break away from the group and go snooping around.
From the way this guy is talking, doing so might be a death sentence, and as brave as I'd like to pretend to be, dying isn't on my list of things to do today.
"He make good husband," I say in broken English and an accent so fake and terrible that the stranger in front of me coughs to hide his laughter.
The big guy narrows his eyes at me as I walk past him out of the room. Before the stranger showed up, I might've been trembling and terrified from the look, but there's something about this man that tells me maybe he will protect me like he claims he will.
It doesn't, however, answer the millions of questions I have for him.
"I hear we have a love match!"
My head snaps in the direction of the voice, my eyes landing on Dima who has his hands pressed together and a sinister look in his eyes. I swear the man is pure evil, and I pray this guy isn't full of it and can actually help these women.
"She's feisty," the stranger says, leaving me standing there while he crosses the room toward the big boss. "Ellis Burke."
The two shake hands like there isn't a woman literally being sold, standing on the other side of the room.
"She's new," Dima says, a warning in his tone. "Are you sure you don't want one of the others?"
"She's perfect for what I need her for," Ellis says, not bothering to look over his shoulder in my direction, even though he's talking about me.
"If you're sure, the van is waiting."
"Van?" Ellis asks, a hint of surprise in his tone.
"We have to go to the Marriage License Bureau," Dima explains.
Ellis takes a step back from him.
"What is this?" Dima asks, suspicion filling his tone as he points at the man. "Why are you nervous?"
"What if she says something to the clerk?" the man asks, clearly shocked that we would leave this place and present ourselves in front of others so soon.
Dima looks from him to me, a slow evil smile spreading across his face. "Her friend Morgan assured me that she'll be the perfect wife."
I swallow the bubble of terror that tries to force its way up the back of my throat. I never mentioned my friend to him. It seems he has spent some time since yesterday afternoon doing research on me. I hear the hint of warning, knowing that I've put my one and only dear friend in danger, all the while trying to find out what happened to a woman whose last name I don't even know.
Ellis looks over his shoulder at me, and I can see that he understands completely what is happening. Either I'm reading him wrong or he actually looks a little sad at the veiled threat I've been issued.
As if we've been together forever, Ellis holds his hand out, waiting for me to cross the room in my too-high heels and then he places his palm on my back. I don't miss the way his fingers curl, and I take it as a way he's trying to assure me that everything will be okay.
I climb into the SUV, scooting away from Ellis when he climbs inside, while trying to fight tears.
I thought it would be simple, that I could come here, find out what I needed, and leave whenever I wanted, but the threat against Morgan makes it very clear that isn't going to be possible. It makes me wonder what threats the other women have gotten to keep them there. I approached this situation only looking at the face value of it, and that shows just how uneducated I am about this sort of thing.
Regret makes my stomach turn the entire way across town, and I press my hand to the window when we drive right past the grocery store. How I wish my life was still just the boring old go to work and go home that it was a mere twenty-four hours ago.
I feel like a failure, and, worse, I feel selfish and unkind for wishing I had just minded my own business instead of trying to find out what happened to Alena.
I flinch when Ellis palms my knee, giving it a little squeeze of reassurance, before pulling it away.
He frowns at me, but I'm in no position to worry about his feelings right now.
I look out the window, my eyes scanning the multidimensional building. I've driven by this place a million times in the two-plus years I've lived here, but I never imagined I'd be in a vehicle, parking in the lot, then walking through the front doors.
Once again, as we make our way into the building, Ellis has his hand on my lower back.
"I can't," I say, stopping in my tracks.
Dima steps forward, as if he's willing to put me in my place right here in front of God only knows how many witnesses, but he freezes when I bend over and reach for my shoes.
"I'm going to fall," I mutter, trying to break the damn heels off of the shoes.
"Just take them off," Dima urges, as if he's going to miss getting paid if we're delayed another minute.
"You can't enter a government building without shoes," Ellis says at the same time I say, "You can't go inside without shoes."
"Let me help," Ellis offers. He crouches in front of me, his palm warm on my calf, as he urges me with the slightest pressure to lift my leg.
I teeter on one foot for half a second before the heel is removed.
"The other one," he says, moving his touch to the other leg.
I press my hands to his shoulders as he removes the second heel before standing and putting them in the front pocket of his jeans.
I wobble less as we enter the building, but these shoes weren't made to be flats.
After following the directions to the correct place, we enter an office with a long counter. The clerk on the other side looks bored and ready to go home. I want to yell at her and tell her that there are worse positions to be in than working a government job with great benefits in air conditioning, but I doubt Dima would let that slide.
"Mr.Tkachenko," the clerk says, her tone just as bored as her face. "Another friend getting married?"
"Yes, Sandra. Mr. Burke and Ms. Rhodes."
She points to a tablet on the counter. "After completing that, I'll need to see your identification. The names you enter must match what's on them."
"I don't—" I start to say, turning around to Dima, only to find him holding my driver's license between two fingers.
I grind my teeth before pulling it from his hand and turning back to enter my information into the tablet.
He has my license which means he went through my purse. I know how silly it is to worry about the hidden emergency hundred-dollar bill in there and my social security card, but it doesn't stop my mind from heading in that direction.
I know how bad things could be for me. Ellis's warning back at the warehouse made me really consider just how bad of a man could end up going to the warehouse and purchasing me. Those thoughts are the only reason I'm standing here going through with this. I never considered that it would be a legally binding marriage. I had no clue we'd be here filling out paperwork to actually get married.
Dima is taking a lot of risks because I know there's no way his business is legal, especially if he has to use threats and sneaky-ass contracts in order to operate.
It takes a lot less time to get a marriage license in Clark County Nevada than it ever should. I know Vegas is the marriage capital of the world, but shouldn't Sharon or Sandra or whatever her name is wonder why this man is in so often that she knows him by name?
"The license fee is a hundred and two dollars," the woman says after all the digital forms are complete.
Ellis doesn't hesitate to pull out his wallet. This time he uses a credit card rather than a handful of cash like he used last night at the grocery store.
"Thank you, Sandra," Dima says, accepting the forms rather than letting Ellis or me hold them.
We follow the man right back out of the building and back to the SUV.
The drive back to the warehouse seems to take twice as long as the drive to the marriage license place, and with each turn of the SUV's wheels, my heart rate increases.
Instead of going into the same door we exited, Dima has the driver go around the building to another door.
Unease washes over me when we climb out of the vehicle, but somehow Ellis's palm on my lower back helps some. I may not know the man, but knowing I'm not alone makes me feel a hell of a lot better.
The door opens, and I feel like I'm in some sort of fractured fairy tale. The room we walk into is set up like a chapel. There are flowers—fake, I imagine—in vases, and two pews on either side of the aisle, as if someone would show up to buy a wife with all of their fucking family or something.
"Let's go," Dima urges with his hand waving toward the front. "The sooner the ceremony is over, the sooner you can start the honeymoon."
My skin crawls with his words. Are the women lining up for these men? Are the ones living practically on top of each other actually willing to marry these men and have sex with them?
I'm not a prude, and I'm not usually one to judge, but Jesus, what does he have on them that would make them see that situation as one they'd willingly enter into?
But then again, to what extreme would I go in order to protect Morgan?
"Please," I whisper when Ellis urges me to walk toward the front, making me realize that my feet are locked in place.
"It's okay," he says, but I don't know that I can trust him.
Maybe he is just as evil as Dima and the men working for him. Maybe he's only trying to get compliance out of me until we're no longer here and then he plans to hurt me or sell me to someone else, or many someone elses.
I run my hands up and down my arms, doing my best to ward off the goosebumps that cover my skin. In any other situation, I'd turn around and run, but I know my feet can't carry me past the trouble I've gotten myself into this time.
My knees threaten to give out as we walk toward the man in the front.
I never spent much time worrying or planning my wedding, but the limited time I have pictured what it would be like, it looked nothing like this.
The rest of the ceremony is a haze. I know I say the words, repeating the vows after the man, but I also know I won't be able to pull this moment from memory when I need to.
I tremble even more when I hear the man say Ellis may now kiss his bride, a tear streaming down my face. But the man leans in, pressing his lips to my cheek rather than my lips.
I open my eyes, feeling very surprised he didn't take the opportunity he was given, knowing there isn't a single person in this room other than myself that would be offended by whatever he wanted to do.
"Very sweet," the big guy who came to the door the first time yesterday says.
"Mr. Burke, please come with me," Dima urges.
"And my wife?"
"She'll be right here when we get back."
The big guy smiles as Ellis walks away but his lips form a flat line once he's out of the room.
He turns toward me, making sure to invade my entire line of sight.
"You will do whatever is asked of you," he growls. "You signed a two-year contract, and you must stay married to him for that long. I'd suggest being a submissive wife, or it's going to be a very long two years for you."