Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Irina
All I can see is the silhouettes of the men who will be bidding on me and the two other women. I can’t make out faces, which makes it all the scarier.
I try tugging at the rope around my wrists but it’s pointless. It’s too tight and besides, even if I did manage to break free, there are men with guns behind me, ready to shoot if I run. This is happening. I am being sold because of my father’s debts.
He was supposed to protect me but instead, he has done the ultimate betrayal to me.
“Let’s start with this beauty, shall we?” Dexter asks, pointing at me. “I know I promised you men she would be a blonde but her father lied about that. She’s still beautiful though. And her father assured me that she’s a virgin. He made sure she never dated.”
I can feel the energy in the room change at that information. These men are hungry… for me. To take my innocence. To hurt me.
To ruin me.
“Let’s start the bidding at five hundred thousand dollars.”
I gasp. I may have grown up with wealth but even I’m not immune to how much money that is. That’s a lot to just spend on a human being. These men are rich. They don’t play by the rules of society.
One of the men must raise his hand because Dexter says, “We have five hundred thousand dollars. Going once, going twice…”
“One million,” a man murmurs in the dark. I squint to see who it is but I still can’t make out his face. I should have looked harder at the men when I walked down the aisle but I was too afraid. I’m regretting that now.
“Two million,” another man says. I gasp once more. How much money do these men have to spend on me? It’s crazy… and terrifying. To have this much money means you have a lot of power.
The price keeps going up between the two men until one of them finally says, “Six million dollars.”
The other man doesn’t offer a counter.
“Six million dollars going once, going twice…” Dexter brings his gavel down. “Sold! To Nikolai Volkov. Come get your girl.”
I can see him stand up. The man who bought me. As he walks forward, he comes into the light.
The first thing I’m struck by his how handsome he is. Tall and broad shouldered. Dark hair and stubble. Blue eyes that are so striking, they’re hard to miss.
Why would a man who looks like him need to buy a woman?
He has a Russian name, I note. Russian just like my family. Is he a part of the Bratva like my father is? I have so many questions but am I going to get answers from the man who just bought me like I’m a slave?
I want nothing to do with this man.
Dexter goes to untie me when Nikolai shakes his head. “I’ll do it.” His tone is commanding, even with that one simple sentence. Dexter immediately backs off.
Nikolai comes to stand behind me. The sheer presence he has is unwavering. It makes every hair on my body stand up.
He kneels down and touches my wrists. The moment he does, a spike of electricity goes through my skin, like I’ve been burned. This man bought me. He is not my savior.
He’s surprisingly gentle with the binds as he unties me. Once he’s done, he takes the rag out of my mouth and for a moment, caresses my face like we’re lovers and not… whatever we are.
“You are beautiful,” he murmurs before he drops his hand. For some reason, I blush. “Let’s get you out of here.” He pulls me to my feet, once again in a gentle way. Who is this man to treat me like this? None of it makes any sense.
“The other women?” I whisper, turning to them. They both stare at me with their eyes, pleading with me to save them.
“I don’t want them.” His answer is a cold, hard slap to the face.
“But…”
“They are not your concern anymore, Irina.”
I gasp. Dexter never said my name. How does this man know who I am? I’m too afraid to ask.
“Come along.” He takes my hand as if we’re boyfriend and girlfriend and walks me down the aisle, away from the stage. Away from the women. Away from this horrifying situation.
But that doesn’t mean I’m walking into something better. No. I’m sure I’m walking towards something much worse.
Nikolai
I knew the moment I saw Irina, I had to have her.
But the first time I saw her wasn’t at the theater. It was much earlier… when her father, Ivan Koslov, came to me to make a deal.
“I’ll give you my daughter’s hand in marriage,” Ivan had said as we sat in the back booth of my restaurant. The smell of meat and spices was strong in the air.
“I’m not interested,” I scoffed. That was until Ivan slid a picture of Irina across the table.
“This was taken on her eighteenth birthday. Just a few months ago. She’s a virgin, I promise you. She will make the perfect wife.”
I couldn’t deny that Irina was beautiful. Long silky dark hair. Stunning fair skin. Petite. She looked like a woman who needed to be saved.
And I wanted to save her.
“What do you want in return?” I asked. Ivan stared at me like he hadn’t expected the question. “Come now. You want me to marry your daughter. You must want something in return. What is it?”
“I have debts,” he said slowly. “I need you to pay them off.”
“So, I get your daughter if I pay off your debts. Interesting. But you see, Ivan, it just seems like you want me to do all the work. You get all the benefits.”
“But you’ll get a wife out of this.”
“Yes but she’s the daughter of a man who’s in debt.
I don’t want that. I want to build an empire.
I’ll marry Irina… but only if I have you in my debt forever.
I’m not going to pay yours off. I’m not the one who’s going to listen to you.
You’ll listen to me. You’ll pay of your debts by being a lackey to me.
And my marriage to your daughter will keep you in line. How is that for a deal?”
Ivan’s face scrunched up. The lines around his eyes were visible.
“No deal. I need my debts paid off and I will not become your lackey. I will not.” He ripped the picture away from me and stood up.
“You won’t get to have my daughter. I’ll give her to a man who can do what I want. Because I’m in charge here.”
I sat back in my seat. “It doesn’t seem that way, Ivan.”
He huffed and stormed out of the restaurant. I only chuckled to myself. What Ivan didn’t realize was how much I wanted Irina the second I saw her photo. I amassed wealth and power over my years as being high ranking in the Bratva. I was much higher in standing than Ivan.
And I decided right then and there that I would get Irina, no matter the cost. But it wouldn’t be to build trust with Ivan. Having him under my thumb would be great.
But the real reason was because Irina stirred something in my heart I thought I had lost long ago. She needed to be mine and I would do whatever I could do to get to her.
Irina
Nikolai leads me outside the theater and to a nice black town car. They’re everywhere in New York. We’ll blend right on in.
He opens the back door and gestures at me to get inside. Knowing I have no choice, I do as he instructs. At least the car is warm inside.
Nikolai gets in the back with me. A driver sits in the front and starts the car without question and drives us away from the theater.
“You must have questions,” Nikolai says, gazing at me. His eyes flick down to my breasts, where I know he can see the nipple indent through my t-shirt. I cross my arms over my chest. His eyes move back to my face. “Ask away.”
“Who… who are you?”
“I’m Nikolai Volkov. I’m a high ranking Bratva official.
Higher than your father. He offered me your hand in marriage if I paid off his debts but I refused.
I then found out he was going to sell you off and I couldn’t let that stand.
So I bought you. But he won’t see any of that money. I’ll make sure of it.”
I shake my head with a frown. “You make it sound like you bought me to… protect me.”
“I wasn’t going to let any of those other men get their hands on you. I knew the second I saw you, you were going to be mine. And now you are.”
“Because you bought me like I’m a slave.”
“You’re not going to be a slave, Irina. You’re going to be my wife.”
I’m not even sure if I’m hearing any of this right. “Your… wife? How is that any better?”
He chuckles like we’re on a date instead of him having just paid six million dollars for me. “Because you’ll stand at my side. I’m used to getting what I want and I knew I wanted you.”
“So you took me,” I whisper as a slow dawning realization takes its place. It’s then that I remember my father talking about a man that he refused to give me to. “You’re the one my father didn’t like.”
“He didn’t like that I refused to pay off his debts.
I told him I would marry you but he would have to personally work for me in exchange and he refused.
That’s how selfish your father is. He sold you off to pay off his debts instead of putting in the work to pay off his debts himself.
I won’t treat you like your father has treated you. I can promise you that.”
“You almost sound like you’re trying to save me. But you bought me.”
Nikolai stares at me for a long moment. His expression is neither cold nor hot. It’s neutral which makes it terrifying. I can’t read him. I’m in over my head.
“I know I did,” he finally says. “And I’m not acting like I’m your savior. I bought you because I wanted you. It wasn’t because I’m a good man. But you’ll see in time, Irina, that I’m not the man you need to fear.”
“How can I believe you?”
He doesn’t give me an answer.
The rest of the drive is quiet until we pull into the driveway of a large mansion. It’s made out of beautiful white brick and black trimmed windows. This place screams money and power.
Nikolai gets out of the car and offers me his hand. For some reason, I take it. The moment his fingers wrap around my hand, a rush of electricity flows over me once more like it did back in the theater.
It makes me gasp and I can’t help but rip my hand away. Nikolai frowns but doesn’t otherwise comment. I don’t run as he leads me into the house. I know I wouldn’t make it far.
Without a word, he walks past the living room and kitchen – both beautifully decorated rooms with soft furnishings and looking like something out of an Architectural Digest magazine – and into a bedroom. The master bedroom judging by the size of it.
There’s a rack of clothes in the middle of the room. But not just any clothes.
No. Wedding dresses. Nikolai meant what he said.
He wants to marry me.