Chapter 6
Vasily
After speaking to the doctor, I’m both relieved and pissed.
It kills me to think about someone hurting Nina, but I’m also fully aware that it could’ve been a lot worse.
Before I can get back upstairs to her, my phone rings, and when I see my brother’s name, I sigh and answer it.
Vladimir immediately starts asking me questions in fast Russian.
“Volodya, calm down,” I say, using the shortened form of his name like I have since we were kids. “I can’t answer a million questions all at once.”
“You didn’t call me back,” he says, and I smile because it sounds like my thirty-year-old brother is pouting.
As the middle child, he’s always been the balance between the three of us.
He helps me keep an eye on our younger brother, Valeri, but he’s also always had my back without trying to challenge my role as oldest. He’s the peacekeeper, always has been, even if he does come off as being standoffish to the extreme to everyone else.
“I’m sorry. Last night was hectic to say the least.”
“Tell me what happened.”
I walk up the stairs, wanting to check on Nina and knowing it won’t matter if she hears me talking to my brother since it will all be in Russian. I explain everything to Volodya, who interrupts me every thirty seconds with a new question, so the story ends up taking four times as long as it should.
“So you’re married?”
“I am,” I tell him, finding Nina on the balcony. I give her an apologetic shrug and point to my phone. She gives me a soft smile and then looks back out at the ocean. I watch the dark strands of her hair blowing in the breeze and resist the urge to run my hands through it again.
“Fuck,” Volodya mutters in my ear. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You always did like to rescue things. I mean, look at Ruslan.”
I smile at the memory. We’d found some asshole who’d been running dog fights, and when I’d seen this big fur ball of a puppy with droopy eyes, pleading with me to get him out of there, I’d shot the man and taken the puppy home. It was a sound decision. He’s a great dog.
“He’s really liking America, by the way. I can barely keep him inside. He always wants to splash around in the ocean.”
Volodya laughs. “Yeah, from what I hear everyone is liking America. Ilya says the women are keeping him very busy. I may have to visit soon.”
“How are things in Moscow?”
“The usual. Mom’s the same, no better, no worse, and Valeri and I had to deal with a few issues, but everything is fine. The casino is bringing in a ton this month, and the last arms deal went through as planned.”
“Good to hear. Is Valeri keeping out of trouble?”
Volodya laughs. “Never, you know him, but he’s not getting into too much, at least not more than he can handle.”
I laugh thinking about our youngest brother, and after a few seconds, Volodya says, “I can’t believe you’re married. What are you going to do when they’re no longer looking for her?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, keeping my eyes on the curve of Nina’s neck, remembering how soft her skin feels when I brush my fingers over it. “I know it was a crazy decision, but I couldn’t leave her there. I feel protective of her.”
“Well tell her we would’ve come to the wedding had we known about it and, you know, been invited.”
“I’m sorry, but there was nothing else to be done. Ruby would’ve come after her if I’d waited.”
“She sounds like a real piece of work.”
“Yeah, I might not be able to resist crossing into neutral territory and taking her out.”
“Don’t do anything rash, brother, or at least invite me to the party if you decide to go that route.”
I promise him I will before we say our goodbyes and I pocket my phone. Nina turns to look at me, holding my gaze for a few seconds before looking away again.
“Sorry, I had to take that. It was my brother.”
She turns back to me. “You have a brother?”
“Two actually, both younger. Vladimir, but we all call him Volodya, and Valeri, the youngest. They’re both in Moscow.”
“You must miss them.”
“I do. We’ve always been very close. Maybe they can visit soon. I’d like for them to meet you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she says. “I appreciate you trying to welcome me in and make me feel at home, but you don’t have to pretend this is something more than it is.”
“Why do you say that?”
She runs a hand through her hair and darts her eyes away, a nervous habit she has when she’s embarrassed. “I can’t be a real wife to you, Vasily. Those men,” she says with a heavy sigh, “they ruined me.”
“They didn’t ruin you,” I tell her, grabbing her hand in mine. “They hurt you deeply, but they didn’t ruin you. You’re not going to give them that.”
“I can’t have sex with you,” she whispers in a shaky voice.
My heart breaks at hearing the pain in her voice, and I wish I knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. Her shoulders start to tremble, and when I pull her in for a hug, she grabs onto me like I’m her lifeline.
“It’s not fair to you, Vasily. I can’t be a normal wife to you. Sex is nothing but pain, and I don’t want anything to do with it, and you deserve a wife who can give you all of themselves, someone who’s not damaged or dirty.”
“Nyet, zolotse,” I quickly say, pulling her into my lap and sitting down in one of the chairs on the balcony. “Don’t even think that.” I kiss her head and ask, “Do you know what zolotse means?”
“Nyet,” she says, making me smile because I love hearing her speak my language even if it is something as simple as the word no.
“It’s similar to darling, but it has a deeper meaning than that. It comes from the word for gold, and the word is used to describe someone who’s precious or valuable, and that’s what you are. There’s nothing damaged or dirty about you.”
I sigh and stroke her hair. “And as far as sex goes, please don’t worry about it. Remember how it was before you went to Ruby’s. You can get that back again.”
She cries harder, and I quickly rehash everything I’ve said, wondering what could’ve triggered this reaction. It occurs to me that she may have had a boyfriend before she was taken, maybe she wanted to get back to him and instead I brought her here and married her.
“Do you have a boyfriend? I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think to ask last night.”
“No.” Her voice is strained from crying.
“What did I say that made you cry?”
Right when I’m convinced she’s not going to answer me, she whispers, “I don’t have a before to compare it to.”
My whole body freezes at her words. “Are you telling me you were a virgin when you went there?”
“Yes.” Her fingers fidget with my shirt. “I wanted to wait until I was in love.” She gives a harsh laugh. “I was such a dumbass.”
“No, you weren’t, zolotse.” I know the next question is going to upset her, but I have to know. “How did you end up there?”
She takes in a deep, shaky breath and says, “My parents picked me up from college and told me that my dad had racked up a huge debt from gambling and that I needed to work at this lounge to help pay it off. They swore I wouldn’t have to do anything, just hand out drinks and smile at the men, like a typical waitressing job. ”
“Your parents took you there?” She tenses at the anger in my voice, but when I run my fingers through her hair again, she relaxes into my touch.
“Ruby had me sign something, and then my dad left. He just left me there,” she sobs. “Later Ruby told me that my dad knew exactly what kind of place it was because part of his debt was from coming in there.”
I don’t want to upset her any more by telling her that I’m going to be paying a visit to her father very soon, so I just hold her, rubbing her back as she cries and I think about how good it’s going to feel to end these motherfuckers’ lives.
When she’s able to talk again, she tells me about the auction and about how her virginity was roughly and cruelly taken from her.
I thought I felt protective of her before, but hearing this has ratcheted that feeling up by a thousand percent.
The only thing that keeps me calm is thinking about how good it’s going to feel to get revenge.
I hold her for a long time, not wanting to let her go, but when I hear her stomach growl, I smile and kiss her head before helping her up.
“Let’s go get some lunch. You need to eat something, and Katya will be deeply offended if we skip a meal.”
She gives me a small smile and follows me downstairs, keeping a tight grip on my hand the whole way.
After lunch, we spend the rest of the afternoon together.
There are things I need to check on, but I trust Ilya and Andrei to run things while I spend time with Nina.
I’m not ready to leave her alone just yet.
When I go into our bathroom later and see the clothes she’s thrown away, I grab them and walk out to her.
“You don’t want these?”
“No.” She takes a step back like she doesn’t even like being near them. “I never want to see them again.”
I look out the window, watching the sky start to darken, and then turn back to her. “Let’s go build a bonfire.”
I can tell it’s the last thing she expected me to say, but I see the corner of her mouth turn up as she gives a small nod.
I toss her clothes into a bag, noticing there are several pairs of panties mixed in along with a black dress and a couple of pairs of shorts and T-shirts.
I’m guessing the black dress was from the night her virginity was auctioned off, and I have the sudden urge to tear it to shreds.
I resist, but only because I don’t want to cheat her out of the pleasure of destroying it herself.