Chapter 6 Danica
DANICA
Vadim's hand is wrapped around my throat, and I can feel my pulse hammering against his palm.
The pressure isn't enough to hurt, but it's enough to remind me that he could crush my windpipe if he wanted to.
His thumb strokes across my skin slowly, and I hate that my body responds with fear instead of fury.
"You understand now," Vadim says quietly.
I understand that I was an idiot to think someone who looked at me the way he did actually wanted me. The elaborate dinner and the dancing and the roses were all part of a plan I never saw coming. Now I'm trapped with a man who's worse than Petr could ever be.
"I understand," I whisper, and it hurts to swallow, but I don't dare look away from him.
Vadim's grip loosens and his hand slides away from my throat. I suck in air and my lungs burn from breathing too shallowly for too long. Vadim steps back and gives me space, but he's still blocking the door.
"Now that you know what I'm about, you can't walk away cleanly," Vadim says. "But I'll cut you in on some of my profit and you can get out of that shitty house you're renting."
Heat floods my face at his choice of words.
My home is small and maybe it's falling apart a little.
And yes, it's awful, but it's mine. I pay my rent on time and I keep it clean, and hearing Vadim dismiss it so casually makes me so angry with him.
But he's not wrong, though, and that makes it worse.
"My home is fine," I say even though we both know it isn't.
"The door sticks and the radiator doesn't work and you have water stains on your ceiling." Vadim pulls a cigarette from his pocket but doesn't light it. "It's probably infested with rodents…" He chuckles darkly as he takes a lighter from his pocket while offering me a cigarette too.
The fact that he noticed those details when he was in my apartment makes my skin crawl. I invited him in for coffee and he was studying me, mentally calculating exactly how desperate I am so he could use it against me.
I can't believe this is happening. I grimace at his cigarette pack and push it away. "Forcing me to marry you so you can stay here in Serbia and murder someone?" I ask incredulously.
"Yes." Vadim says it so simply that I know he's a madman. No one in his right mind would be so calm and rational about something so evil.
"That's insane." I press my back harder against the wall. "You can't actually think I'll agree to this." My neck pulses and throbs. I want to turn and run, but I'm afraid of what he'll do. He knows where I work and where I live.
"I think you don't have much choice." Vadim finally lights his cigarette and exhales smoke toward the ceiling. "You know what I am now, and I can't let you walk around with that information."
"So you'll kill me if I say no." My words aren't a question at all. It makes me wish Petr were here to defend me. And to think days ago, I felt the opposite.
"I didn't say that." But Vadim doesn't deny it either. "I'm offering you a business arrangement that benefits us both."
"Benefits you," I correct him. Being so close to him makes me squirm. I invited a monster into my life when I slid him my phone number. "I get nothing except the knowledge that I helped a murderer."
"You get money." Vadim takes another drag. "Enough to pay off your debts and move somewhere better."
I wrap my arms around myself and try to think past the panic flooding my system. I don't feel safe at all, and it's so shocking considering how safe I felt with him in my home. It's so scary how blind I can be at times.
"I need you to let me go," I say, and I hate how my voice shakes. I sound like a scared little mouse.
"No." Vadim doesn't move from his position blocking the door. "Not until you agree."
"Then I'll scream." I stand straighter and try to glare at him, but my hands tremble. "The staff will hear me."
"The staff has been paid very well to ignore whatever happens in here tonight." Vadim crushes his cigarette under his boot, and I cringe at it. "No one's coming to help you."
He's not joking. This asshole thinks he really owns me now. But what if I tell someone? What would he do if I went straight to the police? Do I even want to find out?
Vadim's hand comes up toward my face, and I flinch backward so hard, my head hits the wall. But he doesn't touch me. He just reaches past me and opens the door behind my shoulder.
"You can go," Vadim says.
I stare at him trying to understand what just happened. One second, he's blocking my exit and the next, he's opening the door like nothing's wrong.
"What's the catch?" I ask because there has to be a catch.
"No catch." Vadim steps aside completely and gestures toward the open door. "You're free to leave."
With a path of escape right in front of me, I raise my hand and slap him across the face as hard as I can. The crack stings my palm from the impact, and Vadim's head snaps to the side as he takes a step back. His hand comes up to hold his cheek and he stares at me with dark, cold eyes.
I don't believe him for a second, but I'm not stupid enough to waste a perfectly good opportunity.
I shove past him and the instant my feet hit the pavement outside, I turn and run down the street.
It's hard to run in a dress and heels, and I learn very quickly how out of shape I am, but I make it half a block before I see four men step out from the shadows ahead of me and spread across the sidewalk.
They're massive and they spread across the sidewalk, blocking my path with their arms crossed over their chests and angry expressions trained on me.
I'm forced to slow to a walk and then stop because they don't budge.
"Excuse me," I say and try to step around them.
One of the men moves to block my path without saying a word. I try the other direction, but another man mirrors his movement and my blood runs cold. This can't be a coincidence. These men know Vadim and they're here because they were sent.
"I just want to go home," I say, trying to sound confident, but I hear the whine of pleading tint my tone.
My palms are sweaty and my heart is racing.
Why is he doing this to me? It's not fair.
I just wanted to make Petr jealous and if Vadim wanted a real date, I'd have gone with him.
Now I feel like my life is quickly spiraling into a nightmare.
The men stand there glaring at me, not touching me, but not backing down either.
I back up quickly and they follow. My hands are shaking when I pull out my phone, but before I can dial anything, one of the men lunges forward and grabs my wrist. The phone falls from my fingers and clatters onto the pavement, and I pull away frantically.
"Let go of me," I whimper, tugging at his grip. His hand is locked on me so hard it hurts. I glance around, praying someone is there to see this, but I'm alone.
Then another man grabs my other arm and starts pulling me toward an alley. I dig my heels in and try to resist, but they're too strong and I'm too small to fight them off. The only thing I can do is scream and thrash around.
My world narrows down to the thrumming in my ears and the pain in my wrists as I kick and lash out with my feet. There's no one around to hear me scream, but it doesn't stop me.
"Help," I scream as loud as I can. "Someone help me." Tears come fast and terror makes every hair on my body stand on end. Why would he do this to me? Why would he send men after me like this? Is this really how my life ends?
The men drag me deeper into the alley and one of them covers my mouth with his hand. I try to bite him, but he just presses harder until I can't breathe and my screams for help are muffled.
Then I hear footsteps approaching and a voice speaking that I very much recognize. It makes the men around me go still and the hand over my mouth drops away. I suck in air and look toward the mouth of the alley where Vadim is standing with his hands in his pockets.
Vadim says something in Russian that makes these men heel like dogs on a leash, and the way they recoil from me obediently shows me he's not just here to intimidate them and protect me from whatever manner of evil they were about to unleash.
He planned this, and he told them when he arrived that their fun was over.
These are his men. This whole thing was planned. Vadim let me go knowing they'd be waiting. It's sickening, and it’s even scarier now that I know what sort of man he really is. Way more terrifying than Petr. He wasn't lying when he said he's here in Serbia to kill a man.
Vadim walks closer and the men part to let him through. When he reaches me, he tilts my chin up with one finger. I jerk away from his touch, but he just drops his hand.
"I'm going to make this very simple," Vadim says. "You are going to marry me to help me stay in this country and finish my job, or you are going to regret saying no." A shudder runs across my skin and makes my stomach turn. I think I'm going to throw up.
"I won't help you kill someone." I can't keep the disgust out of my voice.
"I'm not asking you to pull the trigger." Vadim pulls out another cigarette and lights it. "I'm asking you to sign some paperwork and keep your mouth shut."
"No, I won't do it. I have morals…" Tears stream down my cheeks and I speak through gritted teeth.
"Then my friends here will make sure you can't say anything to anyone" —Vadim takes a drag and exhales smoke— "ever."
Say yes or die. Those are my only options.
And they're not good options at all.
I'm not a killer, and I don't want to be married to one. Hell, I don't want to be married at all. If I get married, I want it to be because I love the man, not because he held a gun to my head. And how sickening that he wants to pay me to do this, and with what blood money?
But then I think about Dusan's debts hanging over my head and how his creditors keep coming to look for me.
I can't keep paying for my brother's sins the rest of my life.
When I miss a payment or I'm late by a day, they tack on interest and penalties.
I'll be paying these men for the rest of my life because my brother skipped town and left me to deal with it.
"I have no intention of harming you," Vadim continues, now with a much gentler voice. I could almost believe he's sincere if his thugs didn't hover so close with bared teeth ready to tear me to shreds. "And an annulment in our future will alleviate the marriage. You'll be better off because of it."
"How long?" My voice sounds hollow, maybe because my soul feels like I'm being gutted. Without a choice, what am I left to do? If I run, they'll find me. If I try to hide, they'll search for me. And if I outright refuse, they'll kill me.
"Six months, maybe." Vadim flicks ash onto the ground. "Long enough for me to finish my work here."
"And then what?" I need to hear him spell it out because if the ending isn't clear, how will I endure? What if he just kills me when this is over anyway?
"And then you go back to your life with enough money to start over somewhere else.
" Vadim watches me carefully. "Or stay here and continue living in your shitty house with your shitty job…
" He shrugs so casually, it infuriates me.
The high horse he sits on could collapse so easily.
All I'd have to do is go to the police. But then what if he found out and came after me for that?
Surely, he'd kill me. It's what he does for a living.
He'd have no qualms about murdering someone who double-crossed him.
And I get the feeling Vadim is deadly serious about harming me if I say no or if I open my mouth to anyone. The cold way he's looking at me leaves no room for doubt.
"I need time," I say. "Twenty-four hours to get my affairs at home in order."
"Fourteen hours." Vadim checks his watch. "Meet me at the registrar's office tomorrow morning at ten."
"That's not enough time." I'm already shaking my head, backing away. He can't truly expect me to drop everything and marry him. I have to work tomorrow, and who would cover my shift? Besides, the amount of liquor it's going to take to shut my body down so I can sleep… I won’t be awake until noon.
"Fourteen hours is more than enough." Vadim narrows his eyes on me and sucks a long drag from his cigarette. "You don't have that many affairs to order."
He's right and I hate him for knowing it. My entire life can be packed in a few hours because I don't own anything worth keeping.
"Fine." I spit the bitter word out with a hateful tone. "Fourteen hours."
Vadim pulls a card from his pocket and holds it out to me. I take it with shaking hands and see an address printed in neat letters.
"Don't be late," Vadim says.
Vadim nods at his men, and they step aside to let me pass. I walk toward the mouth of the alley on legs that feel like they might give out at any moment, and I reach the street only to glance back and see Vadim still standing there watching me with smoke curling around his face.
What the hell will I do now? This can't be happening to me.