Chapter Five #2
The lady cleared her throat, a mix of embarrassment and shock crossing her face. “I didn’t know you had company today.”
“Leave.” Renat’s voice was cold and commanding. Without waiting for her response, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the bed. The woman scrambled to flee, and he barked at her, “Get the fuck out, now.”
He shoved me onto the bed, and I landed with a jolt. I tried to sit up, ready to fight, but he pushed me back down with a force that knocked the wind from my lungs.
The door slammed shut behind him, leaving us alone. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat louder than the last.
“We will talk this way,” Renat growled, his hands firm on my shoulders, trapping me beneath his weight. “If you fail to cooperate, I’ll ruin you.”
Fear rushed through my veins, and I shook my head.
“Don’t do this,” I pleaded, my voice shaking.
He snorted. “You think you can tell me what to do?” His eyes darkened, and one of his hands slid down my shoulder, grazing my chest. I fought to shove him off. “Should I show you who is in charge here?” His voice dripped with malice.
“No need,” I cried out. “No, please. Stop.”
But that didn’t deter him. His hand moved lower, toward my breast. I twisted away, but his knee pressed into my thigh, holding me in place. The pain was sharp and immediate.
I groaned in response, anger taking over. “Stop!”
“Look at you now, pathetic slut,” Renat sneered. “I’ll touch you however I like.”
His grip tightened, and I lashed out, trying to push him off. He swatted my hands away with ease. Pinning my wrists above my head, he squeezed my breast with his free hand. I whimpered, the sensation numbing me.
“Good,” he mocked, his grip tightening. “That’s the sound of an obedient whore.”
My chest burned with shame and pain. I wanted to scream, to claw him off of me, but I couldn’t.
Tears blurred my eyes. “Please stop.”
Renat’s smirk only deepened. “Not until you tell me everything you know about Marco. How much did he tell you?”
“Nothing,” I gasped, struggling against his hold. But my strength was fading. The numbness spreading through me made it hard to focus. Despite the tears, he didn’t loosen his grip. I had no choice but to admit defeat. “Nothing.”
“You fucking know something.”
“No, I don’t.” I shook my head. “Trust me.”
A knock on the door interrupted us, and Renat turned, his irritation palpable. “Who told you to come in?” He released me and turned toward the intruder, his voice tight. “What?”
“The car is ready. You have a meeting.”
Renat cursed under his breath. “Cancel it.”
The man pressed on. “You scheduled it. It’s important.”
Renat swore again, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Fine. Keep her here. I’ll be back in an hour.”
His gaze flicked to me, but I crawled away, curling into myself as he walked out the door. The room fell silent, but I stayed motionless, refusing to admit this was my life now.
Footsteps approached the bed, and my heart skipped a beat. I prepared for whatever assault this one had planned. But when I glanced at him, recognition set in. He was one of the men who walked around with Artur.
He met my gaze with a calculating look. “Sit up.”
My left thigh burned with pain as I tried to sit up. When I shifted, my dress pulled tight over my thighs, exposing the bruise left by Renat’s knee.
His eyes flickered to my injured leg before returning to my face, and his lips curled in a faint smirk. “You should learn to obey. Otherwise, this will get worse.”
Anger tasted bitter on my tongue, but I managed to whisper, “I didn’t do anything.”
More tears threatened to spill, but I blinked them away. Our eyes locked for a brief moment, and for the first time, his expression faltered. His gaze dropped to my leg again, the memory of Renat’s violence still fresh in my body.
“You will die here,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact.
Pulling my knees to my chest, I closed my eyes and tried to block out the ache in my joints and the uncertainty gnawing at me.
Silence hung in the air, broken only by the distant echoes of footsteps outside. My mind drifted again to the image of Marco’s chef and the blood pooling on the floor. Artur took her life without mercy, and that same fate awaited me.
A scream tore from my throat when I felt hands slide under my thighs and another settle against my back. My eyes snapped open, and my pulse quickened.
“Shut up and close your eyes,” the new guy snapped.
His voice was cold, but he wasn’t hurting me. He was carrying me. I could feel the heat of his body, his broad chest rising and falling with each steady breath. I forced myself to look away from the intensity in his gaze and focused on the hard thrum of my pulse.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
He chuckled. “I can only take you to a doctor if you’re unconscious. So stop being difficult.”
“Or you’ll also hurt me?” The words escaped before I could stop them. He didn’t answer but moved to drop me, and I tightened my arms around his neck. “Wait,” I whispered. “Fine, I will be unconscious.”
Right now, I didn’t have a choice. I closed my eyes, letting my head loll to the side to appear limp. He continued moving. I wasn’t sure I trusted him, but as long as Renat wouldn’t find me back in that room, I was fine.
Exhaustion came quickly. Between the pain, tiredness, and everything I’d been through, my body gave in. I drifted into a restless sleep until a voice echoed in my ears. I didn’t know how much I slept, but it felt enough.
“Hey, are you awake?”
My eyes fluttered open. The room was blurry at first. The smooth voice carried a strange comfort in a place where comfort didn’t exist. I blinked, my vision adjusting to take in the woman before me. She had bright eyes and a serene smile, but I didn’t trust her.
“Who are you?” I croaked.
She smiled again, a warm but professional curve of her lips. “Dorothy.” She didn’t have an accent, the first person I met who wasn’t Russian in this territory. “I’m the doctor.”
My body protested when I tried to move, and I winced. My thigh was no longer screaming with pain. The ache had dulled to a manageable throb.
“What happened?” I asked, glancing down at my leg.
“You passed out in Renat’s room, and Matvet rushed you here,” she explained, her tone too calm for the situation.
Matvet, the man who was kind to me. He was the only one who hadn’t treated me like a piece of property.
“Will I be able to walk?” I asked. I hoped so, since the pain in my leg had faded.
She chuckled. “Of course. It’s only a minor injury. But if you stay out of trouble, no one’s going to hurt you again.”
Giving me one last look, as if to measure my resolve, she started for the door. Before she could open the door, it swung open with a force that made my heart skip.
Artur entered with Renat right behind him. They both radiated a cold that quickened my pulse. I couldn’t look at Renat for long. Not with everything that had happened. His very presence made my blood boil.
Dorothy lowered her head in a perfect bow. “Boss. Renat. Excuse me.”
Boss. So, Artur was the one in charge. I didn’t need any further confirmation. The way he carried himself, the way his silence commanded authority, told me everything.
He was the master here.
The silence was thick and oppressive until he tossed two photographs onto my lap. I glanced at the pictures.
The first was one of my dates with Marco. I was smiling, naive and unaware of what was about to come. The second photo showed Marco with a familiar man. Marco had introduced him as a friend, but I couldn’t recall his name.
Artur’s voice cut through the silence. “Start talking.”
What was I supposed to say? What did they want from me? “I don’t know him,” I said, but I had learned that my responses meant nothing.
Renat sneered, unimpressed. “She’s either lying or she’s plain stupid.”
Artur’s gaze was piercing, “Are you sure?” he pressed.
I met his eyes, the same ones I fell for when I first saw him, which had turned out to be the thing I hated the most.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Artur turned his back on me. The door opened again, and Matvet entered, dragging the man from the second photo behind him. He collapsed onto the floor, looking terrified.
My stomach twisted. This man was in the same position the chef had been in before she died.
None of us spoke as Artur removed a gun from his holster and stretched it to me. “Kill him.”
“Sorry?” I whispered.
The weight of his request tried to suffocate me.
“You don’t know him, right?” he asked. I was afraid to nod, afraid to speak. “So, kill him.”
Renat stepped toward the guy and grabbed Matvet’s gun. “Let’s make this interesting. One of you better be faster.”
He checked the barrel and handed the gun to Marco’s guy. The man shook, his eyes darting between the gun in his hand and me.
The atmosphere thickened with fear and danger. My arm shook as I reached for the gun in Artur’s outstretched hand.
I didn’t want to do this.
I couldn’t do this.
But what choice did I have? Kill or be killed.
My breath caught in my throat as I aimed at the man in front of me. The decision felt like the final nail in my coffin. Marco’s guy also aimed at me, his finger going over the trigger. I closed my eyes and prayed.