Chapter 4
HOLLY
I wake to the sensation of movement. To strong arms cradling me against a solid chest. My eyes flutter open, and feeling disoriented, I take in the star-scattered sky above us.
"Easy," Nikolai's voice rumbles against my ear. "We're here."
Dazed, I realize I must have fallen asleep on the jet despite being kidnapped.
But when I look around, I can see we’re not at the airport. We’re in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow, darkness, and a snow-capped alpine forest. The only light out here comes from a mountain lodge up ahead.
Not only did I fall asleep on the plane, but apparently I slept through a car ride also.
But how did I sleep through—
“Oh my god. You drugged me.” The realization hits hard, and I twist in Nikolai’s arms, trying to break free.
“Relax. It was just a mild sedative to calm your nerves. You were petrified of flying.”
“I was petrified because I was being kidnapped.”
“You were as white as a ghost.”
“What did you give me?”
He must’ve had the flight attendant put something in my vodka.
“Something for uneasy flyers.”
I struggle in his arms again. But he holds me in an impossibly strong embrace.
"Put me down," I demand, but my voice comes out hoarse and uncertain.
Nikolai ignores me and carries me up wooden steps to a massive lodge that looms before us.
I catch glimpses in the exterior lighting. Raw timber beams. River rock. Expansive glass. The door swings open, and suddenly we're inside.
The warmth hits me first. Then light. Then the sheer, overwhelming luxury of the mountain lodge I’m standing in.
"Welcome to my home, malyshka," Nikolai says, setting me on my feet.
I stumble back from him immediately, putting distance between us, and wrap my arms around myself as I take it all in.
Cathedral ceilings. A stone fireplace, already crackling with fire. Floor-to-ceiling windows framing an endless darkness outside.
I turn to face Nikolai. "Where are we?"
"Welcome to Ransom, Alaska," he says, moving toward a bar near the fireplace. "Remote enough that screaming won't help you." He pours a clear liquid into a crystal glass. Vodka. The expensive kind. "Would you like one?"
"No." I hug myself tighter. I have to be smarter. He’s already managed to drug me once. "I want to go home."
"Not possible." He takes a slow sip, those piercing eyes never leaving mine. "And it’s going to be a long and uncomfortable stay if you keep asking."
I gnaw at my lower lip. Frantically trying to figure out a way to convince him to let me go. “Why are you doing this?”
He takes another sip of his drink. “You know why.”
"People will wonder where I am. The police—"
"Won’t look for you." He sets his glass down and starts toward me.
“I have friends.”
“No one who will be immediately concerned when they haven’t seen you for a few weeks.”
His words hit me hard. Because he’s right.
Since the accident, I’ve struggled to get close to people. I mean, I have friends, just no one who will immediately miss me.
I back up instinctively, my shoulders hitting the wall beside the massive fireplace.
He stops a few feet away, close enough that I can see the darker ring around his irises.
"Also, the rent on your apartment has been covered for the next six months," he says conversationally, as if we're discussing the weather.
"Same with your utilities. Phone. Power.
You also purchased a flight to Boston, and it left on schedule, without you on it, but the ticket was used.
As far as anyone knows, Holly Winters went away for Christmas. Oh, and you resigned from your job."
“What?” The word comes out in a harsh whisper as my stomach drops. "How did you—"
He pulls a phone from his jacket pocket. My phone. He must’ve charged it on the plane.
"I'm very good at making people disappear when necessary." His gaze trails down my body, then back up to my face. "Though with you, I'm finding it difficult to decide if keeping you hidden is professional caution or personal preference."
Heat floods my cheeks. "You're a psychopath.”
"Perhaps." He reaches out, and I flinch, but he's only brushing a strand of hair from my face. His fingers are warm. "Either way, this will be your home for a while."
"Until when?" I hate how small my voice sounds.
“Until I decide what to do with you.”
The way he says it, with danger burning on every word, sends a cold shiver through me.
He comes closer, but I’ve got nowhere to go, my shoulders are already touching the wall. He stops only a breath away from me and I’m caught in his heat and intoxicating scent.
“Don’t mistake my hospitality for weakness, malyshka. That would be a grave mistake on your part.”
I swallow thickly. “Are you going to kill me?”
He tilts his head. “Don’t give me another reason to.” He steps back, and I can breathe again. "Follow me, I’ll show you to your room."
He heads toward the staircase, and after a frozen moment, I follow. Because what choice do I have but to go along with this until I can figure out a way to escape?
The second floor of the lodge is just as impressive as the first. Wide hallways with more timber beams, and more windows showing nothing but darkness and the suggestion of mountains beyond.
Nikolai stops at a door and pushes it open. "This will be your room."
I step inside, and my breath catches because the room is stunning and enormous.
A king-sized bed with a thick white duvet dominates the space. More floor-to-ceiling windows. A stone fireplace. A door that must lead to a bathroom. Another that might be a closet.
And sitting dead-center on that flawless white duvet is my suitcase. The one I packed to flee Seattle.
"Get some rest," Nikolai says. "Tomorrow we will talk."
I spin to face him. "Please don’t do this."
I can’t bear the thought of being locked up here. I don’t care how beautiful this room is. I want to go home.
“I have no choice, malyshka. Which means neither do you.”
“You do have a choice. You can let me go and I won’t say a word. I’ll disappear, I’ll—”
He plants a finger over my lips to quieten me. "You will learn to stop asking."
Again his words terrify me, and I clamp my lips shut.
"And as for an escape, any attempt will be futile. My men patrol the perimeter. There are alarms on every possible exit. Every window." His eyes narrow a fraction."Do you understand what I'm telling you, Holly?"
Yes, I’m fucked.
“So I’m expected to just stay in this room?”
“Tomorrow you will come down for breakfast.”
“And if I don’t?”
"Then I'll come get you myself." He lets that hang in the air between us. "And you won't like how that conversation goes."
He's standing close and I'm acutely aware of how much bigger he is, how easily he could break me.
“And if I try to escape?”
"Don’t," he says, his voice dropping lower. "Save your energy for more... productive activities."
The way his gaze drops to my mouth for just a second sends a shiver through me that definitely isn't fear.
I should be terrified. I am terrified. But there's something else too, something I don't want to examine, something that makes me very aware of his proximity, his heat, and the way he's looking at me.
I’ve been kidnapped by the most handsome man in the fucking world.
I clear my throat and take a step back, breaking whatever spell was starting to weave around me. "Then I’ll say good night."
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips. Amusement at my attempt to dismiss him.
"Good night." He moves toward the door but pauses at the threshold.
"This door is lockable only from the inside if it makes you feel safer.” His piercing gaze meets mine.
“Although we both know it wouldn't stop me if I wanted in. "
He turns away and pulls the door closed behind him.
I stand frozen for a long moment, staring at that closed door, my heart hammering against my ribs.
It’s a test. To see if I’ll do as I’m told. And even if I did make it to one of the doors or windows leading out of the lodge, he probably wasn’t lying when he said they were all alarmed.
After all, he probably has a lot of people wanting to kill him.
I’ve known him only a few hours and I’ve already imagined twenty different ways to off him.
Feeling dazed, I sink onto the edge of the massive bed to contemplate my next move.
Five hours ago, I was trying to dodge my cheating ex-boyfriend and cold-hearted boss. Now I’m trapped inside this remote mountain retreat with a man I saw kill someone in front of me.
I drop my head into my hands and try to steady my breathing as I think.
I don’t have many options.
I will have to comply with Nikolai’s demands.
Or face the consequences.