Chapter 7
A ngelina
Waking up was difficult because it was so warm.
My body was heavy—too heavy. The arm around me tightened, and I snapped awake.
The fancy wallpaper across from me and the muscular limb around me were unfamiliar.
For a moment, I studied the artistry of the colourful tattoos on his arm, admiring the bold lines, before reality crashed in.
"What are you doing?" I gasped.
"You had a nightmare, and I settled you back to sleep." His growly voice was close to my ear, and I shivered.
I vaguely remember waking up and Viktor reassuring me to go back to sleep.
Last night, after my shower, I’d found food in my room, which I ate rapidly, changing into Viktor’s shirt as I didn’t want to sleep naked or wear that awful slip again.
I’d waited nervously for him to return, but eventually I’d crawled under the bed's covers and fallen asleep.
This morning, the borrowed shirt had ridden up, leaving my backside bare except for my thong, and it was snug against his groin where I could feel the unmistakable outline of his erection.
I froze, waiting for revulsion that never came.
I mentally shook myself, because it shouldn't feel this comfortable to wake in my captor’s arms. He rolled away from me, but I remained rigidly on my side.
"There are some clothes on the dresser. Nik has breakfast downstairs."
This time, the door closed, but there was no lock click.
I sat up quickly and looked around. The room was bare aside from the bed and a single chest of drawers.
On top was a pile of clothes that looked more significant than the slip.
I darted out of bed and picked them up. It was a pair of leggings, a T-shirt, a sweater, and a pair of ballet pumps.
No underwear. The sizes were unfamiliar, but I pulled them on quickly and was grateful to see they fit reasonably well; even the ballet pumps were a close fit.
Cautiously, I opened the door and peered out into the hallway.
No one was out there, so I shuffled towards the stairs.
The sweeping wooden stair rail guided me down, and voices pulled me towards the back of the house.
The walls were relatively bare and were begging for paintings to cheer them up.
I shook the stupid idea of decorating my kidnapper’s house away and paused outside the kitchen, looking towards the front door. Should I try it? Could I get away?
I decided against it. I needed to find out if these men could help me find Rada. If they'd taken me from the auction and set the other girls free, they could find her, and I was willing to negotiate.
I’d spent time last night thinking things over.
It was clear Viktor was attracted to me, and my virginity held value; otherwise, those people back there wouldn’t have been trying to sell it.
Rada often said I lived in a make-believe world where I created my paintings, which was partly true.
My imagination helped me through the dark times at home, caring for my mother and father, but I had no romantic notions about my first time.
When the man who ran the pawnshop realised how badly I needed money, he suggested I sell him my body to make some cash.
I was ashamed to admit that if my sister hadn’t returned when she did, I would have had to take him up on that offer.
Letting Father starve or lose access to his medicines after we lost Mother wasn’t something I could allow, and my paintings had no value back home.
So if trading my body meant rescuing Rada, I would do it because, at least, it was my choice.
Any one of those disgusting men would have forced me after I’d been sold.
At least Viktor hadn’t done that, and unlike Baris from the pawnshop, he was attractive.
I wanted my virgin status gone because if Viktor wouldn’t help me, then I would escape, and if I fell back into their hands, at least I’d end up where Rada was.
That reality made me shake with fear, but I guess I’d call it plan C at this stage.
"Food’s ready," Nik called, and I realised they'd known I was here all along.
I lifted my chin and tried to channel some of Rada's confidence as I walked in.
"Hey, those clothes fit pretty well," Nik said, pointing a spatula at me.
"Don't stare at her," Viktor growled, startling me with the intensity of his tone.
Nik rolled his eyes and turned back to the stove. These two had a relationship that reminded me of siblings, although they looked nothing alike.
The kitchen smelled of bacon, and my stomach growled.
"Sit," Viktor said.
I pulled out a stool at the breakfast bar, noticing the open shopping bag with orange juice and bread inside. Viktor picked up the carton and poured me a glass. Nik presented me with a bacon sandwich and handed me some red sauce.
"Why am I here?"
"Good question." Nik smirked and returned to the cooker as Viktor scowled at his back.
"Did you want to stay there?" Viktor asked again.
"That's not an answer."
Viktor tore into his breakfast, ignoring my question, while Nik stifled a snigger.
Deciding I could negotiate better with a stomach full of bacon, I tucked in too.
The salty explosion across my taste buds almost made me groan.
I finished the first sandwich, and Nik gave me another.
Seeing the second made me think of Rada, which turned the food in my mouth to ash.
I swallowed thickly and pushed my plate away.
“What’s wrong?” Viktor asked.
“I’m full,” I said.
Viktor grabbed my sandwich and ate it while his eyes remained intently on me.
It was totally different from the stares I’d felt on me last night.
His gaze felt like a brand, and it made me shiver inside.
This man’s effect on me was something I'd never experienced.
I tried not to squirm in my chair and cast around for something to say.
“Food always tastes better off someone else’s plate,” I said, echoing something my father used to say.
A sharp stab of grief needled through me. Father would be turning in his grave to see his girls now.
I cleared my throat. “I need to speak to you.”
“Nik,” Viktor said without looking at the other man.
Nik grabbed the towering plate of sandwiches he’d just built for himself and left the kitchen, snatching the red sauce as he went.
I dug deep for more of Rada’s courage and fixed my gaze on a point at Viktor’s shoulder. The potency of his stare was too much to handle when I was trying to get my words out.
“I have a deal to offer you. I will exchange my virginity for your help. My sister was taken by those men too, and I need to find her. You let the other women escape when you took me, so I know you can help.” My voice shook slightly as I finished.
My words were met with silence. Viktor was Bulgarian, so I didn’t know why I chose English. Perhaps it was because of Rada’s insistence that I practice. I opened my mouth to repeat myself in Bulgarian.
“Look at me,” Viktor said, his voice gravelly.
I wasn’t prepared for the ferocity of his gaze.
“Do I look like the kind of man who trades in a woman’s innocence?”
I blinked at him, shifting in my seat.
“Y-you were at the auction,” I said.
“I wasn’t there to buy a woman.”
My heart sank. I’d pinned my hopes on him helping me. Perhaps I’d misunderstood his heated inspection of me.
“Oh.”
What did he want me for then? I couldn’t give up on finding Rada. I still had uses to trade.
“I can do other things. I’m a hard worker and came here for a cleaning job. I’m an artist, so I could decorate, and I cared for my parents before they died, so I can do any domestic task. Anything. Please, I can’t leave my sister there.” Tears welled in my eyes as Viktor continued to study me.
“You asked me why I took you.”
I nodded at him, fighting to keep my frustration under control.
“I’ve never wanted a woman so intensely from the first instant of meeting them.”
Shock rang through my body at his words.
“I am not impulsive, but how I already feel about you defies logic. So, no, I don’t want to trade your virginity for helping you. I will help you, and when you choose to give me your body, I will be your first and only man. You are mine.”
My brain glitched at his words, and my mouth fell open at the strength of conviction behind them. They were heady and intoxicating, but I couldn’t be na?ve.
“I belong to you like property?”
“No. Belong to me as my wife.”
What? Be this man’s wife? That was insane, yet the gravity behind his words had a physical weight.
“I’ve never even had a boyfriend.”
“You wouldn’t need one.”
This was like one of those thought experiments Rada and I used to play. What if this were reality? What if this happened? But searching Viktor's face, I saw only a sincerity there that bordered on feral. Sinking into the crazy idea for a second, a nasty thought occurred.
“Do you have other wives?”
Viktor’s eyebrows slashed down. “No. You would be my only wife.”
“What about girlfriends, lovers?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up, and my stomach flipped over. He seemed to be enjoying my questions.
“No, Puhcho . You would be the only one.”
There he went with the endearments again.
“Why?”
“Don’t you feel it?” He hovered his large hand against my cheek, and the heat radiating from his palm made me turn my head slightly.
I startled as he pulled away, his chair scraping along the stone floor.
“I need to set a few things up, but Nik will be here today, and I’ll be back later. Think over what I’ve said.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly kissed my temple and left the room. My fingers feathered over the place he’d kissed, and my chest tightened as I wrestled with the conflicting thoughts and emotions running through me.