6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Natalya
W aking up beside Mikhail after what we shared last night makes me feel a combination of giddiness and anxiety. So much happened. I saw two people having sex while Mikhail commanded them to do things. I should be terrified of it and I am in a way.
But it was also exciting. It felt good to sit on his lap, even though it was intimidating. It also felt good to dance for him. To dance at all after my dad’s death.
He’s already awake when I wake, sitting up in bed and reading something on his phone. It’s so… domestic after what we did last night that it almost makes me laugh. I can’t help but smile.
“Something amusing?” he asks, smiling slightly himself.
“Just… everything.”
He sets his phone down and looks at me with his beautiful blue eyes. “Are you happy here with me?”
“I’m not… unhappy. But I am still worried for my sisters. I have no idea what’s happening over there. What if Uncle Denis is trying to force them into marriages right now?”
“I doubt it. He’s probably scrambling looking for Antoni. I wouldn’t worry, Natalya. This is your home now.”
I feel a flash of anger and sit up, wrapping the blanket around my chest. “My home is still with my family.”
“Your home is with me now.”
“Yes but it’s also with my family. I can’t just erase them.”
“I told you that I could save you. Not that I would be able to save your entire family.”
“Yes, I know that,” I huff. “But I’m still worried for them.” Any of the excitement I felt from last night is wearing off and the cold reality of the situation I’m in is coming right back.
“You can call your sisters. I’m not stopping you.”
“And if something is wrong? Will you help them?”
He sighs and gets out of bed, putting his back to me.
There’s an invisible wall between us all of a sudden.
“Your sisters are not my responsibility. I wanted you. I made you mine. That’s it.
” He goes into the walk-in closet. From here, I can see him studying his clothes like that’s more important to him that my family.
“Do you have family, Mikhail?” I don’t even know that about my own husband. “Parents? Siblings?”
“Everyone has parents, Natalya.”
“You know what I mean.”
He changes into a button down shirt and a nice pair of slacks.
I hate to admit it but he looks good in it.
“I do have parents but we don’t really talk.
My parents are retired, living their best lives traveling around Europe.
And I have no siblings.” He approaches the bed. “Does that answer satisfy you?”
“So you don’t know what it’s like to fight for your siblings since you don’t have any. I have fought to protect my sisters for years.”
“You had your dad to protect them. You didn’t have to do that.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine. But I have to protect them now since my dad is dead.”
He gently grabs my chin and makes me look at him. “Never roll your eyes at me. You’re an adult, Natalya. Not some little girl.”
“Then treat me like your equal. Don’t treat me like I’m a little girl.”
He smirks before he lets me go. “I told you last night. I’m a dominant man and you’re naturally a submissive woman. You like it when I’m in control. I’m in control now. And I’m saying to not worry for your family. Take the stress away. Focus on us.”
He makes it sound so easy and in a dream world, I would do as he says. I would stop worrying because it would make my life much more comfortable.
But I don’t live in a dream world. I live in a world I was forced to choose between two men in order to save my family. One a rapist and the other… a mystery. Despite seeing more sides to Mikhail, he’s still a mystery in so many ways.
Maybe if I had married Antoni, I could have saved my sisters from the inside. But my marrying Mikhail, I’m on the outside of my family. I can’t fully reach them any longer.
“I can’t,” I answer him honestly. It would be easier to lie but I’m not comfortable with that. Lying to my husband is not a good way to start our relationship.
“I am telling you, Natalya, to stop worrying.”
“You make it sound like I can just flip my emotions off. I can’t.
You may be good at telling people what to do and I may be good at following but right now, I can’t do as you say, Mikhail.
I can’t stop worrying. And you were the one who said you wanted me to have agency still. So, I’m telling you how I feel.”
“I understand. Then wallow in your worry. I have business to attend to. I’ll see you later tonight.” He leaves the room with a frown. He’s angry with me, I realize. It stings more than it should.
But I don’t dwell on it for long. Instead, I call Irina to see how she’s doing.
“Natalya?” she whispers.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because I can’t let Uncle Denis know I’m talking to you.
He’ll probably take my phone away otherwise.
He found out about your marriage to Mikhail Novikoff and he’s angry.
He’s so angry, it’s scary. Mom has to keep pulling her gun on him.
It got to be too much and he took it from her.
Now she has no way to defend us. He’s already telling Sasha that he’s going to find a husband for her to marry soon.
Someone who can find Mikhail and kill him and get you back. ”
I shiver. None of this is good and all my fears are proven true. I thought Mikhail would help the situation. He made me believe he would.
But so far, he’s shown that he only wanted to get me and now that he’s gotten me, he doesn’t care about saving the rest of my family. I feel tricked. Betrayed. I thought I could trust him but now I see that I was wrong.
“I need to get all of you out of there. You can come live with me.” That’s the solution and Mikhail will just have to deal with it. If he wants me, he’ll accept that my family is important to me.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Can you escape?”
“No. Uncle Denis has the house on lockdown. We’re not allowed out of it.”
Damn it. But maybe there’s a way…
“I could come to you. He would let me in and then I could…” Could what? Shoot him? I don’t even have a gun.
“What?” Irina’s soft voice breaks my heart. She sounds so scared.
“I can get you out of there. I’ll find a way. I’ll come over now.” Rationally, I should stay put. Going back to my uncle when he’s so angry is not a good idea.
But I’m not thinking rationally right now. I’m thinking I want to save my family.
I need a gun for that.
Surely Mikhail has one around the house. He’s a Bratva man. He must have ones hidden in case of an emergency.
My eyes land on the closet. I hurry inside and start opening drawer after drawer. Near the back, I find it. A gun stashed into the back of one of the drawers.
All the lessons my mother gave me on how to shoot will come in handy.
I check that the safety is on for now and get dressed in a simple blue sundress and head for the door.
I stuff the gun in my purse. Mikhail doesn’t even know I know how to use one and I see no point in telling him.
That’s a secret I can keep just for myself.
Mikhail keeps two guards stationed outside the front door. But I’m not a prisoner. I’m his wife and he never said I wasn’t allowed to leave the house.
Going into the large garage, I see that Mikhail has multiple cars. There’s a set of keys on the wall, each one labeled so it’s easy to figure out which key goes to which car. I choose a simple white one. I want to blend in right now.
I drive out of the garage but am stopped by one of the guards out front.
“Mrs. Novikoff?”
My eyes fall onto the ring on my left ring finger. Mikhail made sure to put it on me the day of our wedding, claiming me as his. “Yes?”
“Where are you going?”
“Am I not allowed to leave?”
“You are but… we need to know where you’re going. You should take a guard with you. It’s not safe out there.”
“I’m going out shopping,” I lie. “To fifth avenue. Is that ok? I don’t want to be cooped up in the house all day.”
“Yes. That’s acceptable. I just have to call Mr. Novikoff and ask him.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m his wife. I don’t need his permission to leave. I’m not a prisoner here.”
“He would want to know where you are.”
I remember Mikhail hugging me last night when I cried. I felt so safe then but now his grip feels stifling.
The guard calls Mikhail and Mikhail gives his ok for me to leave.
“But you have to take a guard with you,” the guard says after he hangs up.
“Fine. Get in the car.”
He does as I say and I quickly drive away from the house. “I’m Todd.”
“Nice to meet you, Todd. I don’t mean to sound rude right now but I’m in a hurry.”
He frowns. “To go shopping?”
“Yes. I love it.”
We’re silent on the drive, for which I’m grateful. He doesn’t ask any questions until I pull up to my old house.
“What are we doing here?”
“I need to see my sisters.” I rush out of the car before he can stop me and head to the front door. There are no guards stationed outside which means they’re inside. Uncle Denis wouldn’t leave the house unguarded when he knows he lost me.
“Mrs. Novikoff,” Todd hisses, running after me. “We need to go. Now. You can’t be back here.”
The door opens and I’m confronted with the sight of a guard. I pull out my gun and point it at him. “Lower your gun and let me into the house.”
Todd gapes at me.
The other guard slowly lowers his gun. “But not him,” he says, nodding at Todd.
“That’s fine.” I walk into the house and the guard shuts the door behind me. I keep my gun trained on him. “Where are my sisters?”
“Upstairs. In their rooms.”
“Get my uncle.”
With a heavy sigh, he walks into the kitchen and a moment later, Uncle Denis comes walking out, with a big smile on his face.
“Natalya. How nice to see you again.”
“Let my sisters go.”
“Or what? You’ll shoot me? You don’t even know how to use that thing.”
My sisters congregate on the stairs.
“Natalya,” Irina cries while Sasha shushes her. Ana tries walking towards me but Sasha holds her back. She’s had to be the big sister since I left.