Chapter 8 - Anatoli
Some of my men were already working in the big room I had set up for them. They stopped sifting through data to stare at Masha as I yanked her through the door. Was I disappointed she didn’t attack me this morning? My nose was happy not to get knocked out of joint again, but where was her fire?
The fear in her eyes should have been enough. The fact that she was practically trembling as I dragged her downstairs was a bonus. But it wasn’t enough. Maybe nothing would be enough as far as Masha was concerned. Now it was time to get some work done.
Shoving her into a chair next to my desk, I smacked a pile of papers in front of her.
Pointing to the top of the first one, I said, “These are the keywords I want you to find as you go through these. If you find one, highlight it and set the page aside for me to look at later. Don’t ask questions. Simple enough?”
She goggled at the pile, then at me. “You must be crazy if you think I’m going to help you,” she hissed.
Pushing aside the edge of my jacket, I showed her the small whip I had strapped where I normally carried a gun.
For some reason, I thought this would strike more fear into her heart, and I was right.
At the sight of the coil of leather with sharp metal barbs embedded in it, she blanched and swallowed hard.
“Gentlemen,” I said, loud enough to have the whole crew turning our way. “Meet my wife.”
They all laughed, in on the joke, but quickly went back to work, not daring to look at her for too long. I smiled down at her, then sat in my own chair, close enough to reach out and punish her if she tried anything stupid.
“I think you will help,” I told her. “I know you love to dole out pain, but do you enjoy being on the receiving end? If you step out of line, I’ll invite all of them to join in.”
Of course, no one was touching her but me, but she didn’t have to know that. She believed the bluff and got to work, biting her lower lip so hard I expected to see blood at any second. She was clearly about to blow a gasket, but there was nothing for her to do but comply.
With anything I wanted.
So why was I making her sort through all the information I’d gathered on the Collective instead of something that would be much more pleasurable for me?
Making her suffer was the goal, but I had to remember that I had plenty of time.
She was all mine and would remain so until I grew bored of her or she was dead.
There was no reason not to keep her dangling on the hook of confusion.
I could barely concentrate with her so close, hearing her soft, disgruntled huffs that she couldn’t hold back, watching from the corner of my eye as she squirmed in the hard chair I chose for her.
There was no way she was actually doing what I instructed.
No way in hell she’d ever help me, but I wanted to keep an eye on her while I made her wonder about when the real torture would start.
I could tell myself all day long that she was safely confined in the bedroom prison, but she was as resourceful as she was easy on the eyes. It wasn’t hard to admit I liked looking at her, the same way I’d enjoy the sight of any of my other possessions.
After an hour of barely getting through a few pages, I was sick of the game. I lived in the twenty-first century, and poring over all those papers was a fool’s errand meant to frustrate Masha, not me. I was ready to quit when I sensed her looking at me and not her work.
I turned, fixing her with a steady glare. She gave me one right back, going so far as to raise an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Why are you letting me see all this?” she asked. At a glance, I was surprised to see she had actually highlighted a few words. On closer inspection, they weren’t the words I asked her to look for.
It was true that all the papers contained highly sensitive information about my family as well as the Collective. There were even plans in there that might have benefited the Fokins if they ever found out about them.
I leaned close, close enough to smell the fresh apple scent emanating from her glossy dark hair. Close enough to see her lip tremble, though she didn’t back away from me as she continued to scowl.
“It’s funny that you think you’ll still be around by our first anniversary, let alone ever be able to get that information to anyone I don’t want seeing it.”
She blinked, her eyes darkening as the color drained from her cheeks and her pretty face went slack with fear. There. That was what I wanted. Unadulterated terror that she could be dead at any moment, by any means, especially very painful ones. Quite similar to how I felt when I was her captive.
I had put a lot on hold for this little detour into the sweet land of revenge, even going against my family’s best interests when they needed me most. Now it was finally starting to be worth it.