5. Chapter Five #2
“You may not,” Nico says, his tone dark, suggesting that he’s serious.
“I’m French, Nico. You’re Italian. You understand the need to compliment a woman.”
“Yes but not my woman.”
“Touchy, Nico. Touchy. I’ll leave you two be. I hope to see you in the maze later tonight, Sasha.”
“She won’t be there,” Nico says.
“Ah. Such a shame.” He turns to the woman on his arm and flashes her an award winning smile before walking away.
The moment they’re gone, I turn to Nico. “What was that about?”
“I work with Adrien.”
“Clearly.”
He sighs, patting my back. “You ask so many questions, don’t you?”
“When you leave me in the dark, of course I have questions.”
“Adrien is part of the Corsican.” At my blank face, he elaborates. “The French mafia. We’ve been working together for the past year, growing our business here in Europe. I was looking to expand and so was he. That’s all there is to it.”
“He was looking at me.”
Nico’s face hardens. “So I noticed.”
“Did that make you jealous? Having another man look at me? Knowing you’re not going to get any of my firsts?” I don’t even blink as I taunt him with my lie.
“You like rubbing that in, don’t you? I’m starting to think you may be lying about it.”
I swallow hard. “What makes you say that?”
“The fact that you were self-conscious to go to bed naked with me last night.”
“So? Just because I’ve been with other men, doesn’t mean I want to get naked with you.”
He inclines his head, his eyes sneaky with a secret. “Sure. But there’s an innocence to your face that tells me you’re still a virgin.”
I can’t stop my blush but I don’t back down. Nothing will make me back down when it comes to him. “I’m not. I told you I’m not.”
“And if you have been lying to me, I wonder why? Why not tell me you’re a virgin?”
“Because I’m not.”
“All right. Well, when we eventually have sex, I guess I’ll find out then.”
I have to clench my hand into a fist to stop myself from smacking him across the face. “We’ll never have sex. I’ll never let you touch me.”
“You say that now. But that could change and I’m a patient enough man.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“And you’re a liar,” he says hotly into my ear making me tremble.
“Says the murderer.”
“Just because I’ve killed people doesn’t make me a liar. I’ll find out eventually if you’ve been lying to me. Until then, it’s time for you to go back to our room.”
“It’s only eight.”
“Well, the festivities are going to start soon outside. It’s beginning to get dark. It’s the perfect time.”
I place my hands on my hips. “What exactly are these ‘festivities?’
“You’re not going to find out. Now, go back to our room. If you don’t, I’ll drag you up there. And don’t even think about sneaking outside. You’ll be spotted by one of my guards and brought back inside.”
“And if I sneak outside and manage to make it into your maze?”
“Then it’s going to be dangerous. So I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Now go.” He turns me in the direction of the stairs and gently nudges me. I want nothing more than to lay into Nico and tell him how much of a bastard he is but I know I’m not winning.
As I head for the stairs, I notice the other guests watching me, giving me looks I don’t quite understand. Devious looks. Dark looks. Pitying looks.
The women share secretive smiles with one another while the men eye me over with hunger. What exactly is happening in Nico’s maze tonight? What is this party really about?
I’m not sure I want to find out anymore.
I head upstairs and shut myself in the room. After a minute, I hear the door lock. Rushing to it, I start pounding on the door. “Nico? Did you just lock me in here?”
“It’s for your own good,” he says through the door. “Have a nice night, Sasha.” His footsteps fade away.
A primal scream escapes my throat as I pound on the door. He’s unbelievable.
I slump onto the bed and lay there for almost an hour, bored out of my mind, when I hear sounds coming from outside. I crack open the window that overlooks onto the maze and see people running into it. People screaming. It sounds more playful than true terror.
One thing I notice is how people are discarding some of their clothes as they enter the maze. Men take off their shirts, making them look more animalistic, while the women strip down to their underwear.
What is going on out there? Is Nico having some sort of orgy?
I can’t believe it. Is that why he didn’t want me joining? Too much for my virginal eyes?
But he doesn’t know for a fact that I’m a virgin. He only suspects.
I hate him for getting to dictate what I do or don’t do. I might not even like a party like whatever is happening below but I’ll never know since I wasn’t invited. Nico took the choice away from me and that upsets me like nothing else ever has.
Denis has been controlling my life for a year now. I’m tired of it. The last thing I’m going to stand for is Nico doing the same to me.
I’m attending this party so I can see things for myself.
There’s a lattice on the side of the house that I can reach.
Taking a deep breath, I bundle up the skirt of my gown and lower myself out the window onto the lattice.
Slowly, I lower myself down the side of the mansion until I reach the ground.
A gasp escapes me. I actually managed to get down on my own without hurting myself.
I wish my sisters had been here to see me do that.
I wonder how Irina and Ana are doing, stuck alone with Denis. Or how Natalya is. Did Mikhail survive what Nico did to him? I can only hope so.
I notice one of Nico’s guards stationed right at the entrance to the maze. He’ll see me right away and stop me from going inside. I’ll just have to blend in.
I spy a large group of men and women heading towards the maze and I dash after them, hiding behind the group. My heart is racing. The guard doesn’t stop the group from entering the maze and I sidle up close to a woman and keep my head ducked so the guard can’t recognize me.
Then I’m inside the maze itself. I actually did it.
The woman closest to me speaks to me in Italian and I shrug, not understanding her, so she switches to English. “Are you going to take your dress off?” She’s stripping her own gown off.
“Uh… do I have to?”
“No. There are no rules here. But why not get naked? That’s where the fun comes from.”
“What exactly happens in here?”
“The men chase the women. Hunt them. And when we’re caught…” She waggles her eyebrows.
“What happens?”
“Oh, you’re so innocent.” She leans in closer to me. “They ravage us like animals.”
“Do you have to? Can you tell them to stop?”
“Sure but they don’t listen. Everyone who enters the maze agrees to have sex with anyone here. I’m hoping for a hot man to ravage me but if one of the fat ones find me, that will be fine too. It’s all part of the game.”
Now I know why Nico didn’t want me coming in here. Why he said this was too much for me.
Because it is.
“I should go,” I say, heading back towards the entrance.
“Shame,” the woman responds before running off into the maze.
Before I can reach the entrance, a man steps in front of me. A man I don’t know. He’s tall and imposing. A little on the chubby side but not overweight. Not ugly but not handsome. Just an average man.
But there’s a darkness to his eyes that rocks me to my core.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks, speaking with an American accent.
“You’re American?” I gasp.
“Some of us are. Now, enough talking. Run, little girl. Run.”
“No. I’m leaving. Please get out of my way.” When I try to pass him, he only steps into my path, blocking me. “Please move.”
“You joined the hunt tonight. You’re going to play. Now run. Before I catch you.”
“I don’t want to do this. Move.”
He lunges at me and I take off running into the maze, away from the entrance.
How na?ve and foolish was I to enter this game?
I felt left out and lonely and mad at Nico for not telling me everything.
If he had just told me what was going to happen in this game, I never would have snuck into it. I would have listened to him.
Did he think I would come into this game anyway? Was it a test to see what I would do by not giving me all the information?
I don’t have time to wonder as I run through the maze, the man hot on my heels.
As I run through it, I spy dead ends with people in it, having sex right out in the open.
My steps falter but when I glance over my shoulder and see the man coming after me, I pick up my speed.
I will not let myself get caught. I will not let this man rape me.
Natalya and Irina would be much better suited for this game. They’re dancers. They have stamina and strength in their bodies I don’t possess. I do work out a little – mostly yoga – but that doesn’t lend itself to running. I can feel my lungs screaming at me, begging me to stop.
But if I stop, the man will catch me and hurt me. It won’t matter how much I tell him to stop, he won’t stop.
I get further and further into the maze. It’s chaos. People running past. People having sex. Screams and howls in the night air. It’s like I’m living in a waking nightmare and I have no way to wake myself up out of it.
I round a corner and stop when I realize it’s a dead end. I spin back around but the man is right behind me. With a burst of speed, I try running past him but he grabs me around the waist. I let out a blood-curdling scream as he pushes me to the floor and gets on top of me.
“Get off!” I scream. “Get off!” I never should have come inside of this maze. If Nico had just told me…
Nico! I need Nico.
Even though I don’t want to call out for my husband – and I don’t even know if he’ll hear me amongst the chaos of the night – I have to try.
I have to hope he’ll save me and not let me get raped.
Something tells me that Nico is a possessive man.
He didn’t like the way Adrien was looking at me earlier.
I doubt he’ll appreciate a man trying to rape me now.
“Nico!” I shout. “Nico, it’s Sasha! I need your help! Nico!”
“Shut up,” the man growls, clamping his hand over my mouth. He laughs as his hands reach the bottom of my dress and shove it up me.
This can’t be happening.
I kick and claw at him but he’s just too strong for me. I have never felt this powerless in my entire life.
He rips my dress, exposing my underwear. I flinch when his fingers reach the waistband of my panties. He’s going to rip them down. He’s going to do the unthinkable to me.
“Please,” I cry through his hand, my voice muffled. “Please.”
“You came into this maze. You asked for this.”
“Please!”
Hands wrap around the man’s neck and yank him off me. I sit up with a gasp and back away to see that Nico found me. He shoves the man to the ground and begins kicking and hitting him. The pure anger in Nico’s eyes is chilling.
He wraps his arms around the man’s neck and strangles him. The man tries to fight it and fight it but he can’t and he soon stops fighting. Nico lets the man go.
The man doesn’t get back up. Because Nico killed him.
With a gasp, I look up at my husband, who’s breathing heavy, looking like he wants to kill more people. He sets his eyes onto me.
“I told you to not come in here.”