7. Maya
MAYA
I have no idea how long I’ve been there, no clue how many hours have passed since the moment I set foot in this house. The sky has darkened to an inky blackness outside, but it’s not enough to stop the rushing in my head, that feeling like something terrible is going to happen if I’m not careful.
Because, most likely, it is.
I still can’t believe that I’m here, can’t believe that I’m curled up on this bed in this room in this enormous house being held against my will by the very man who seems insistent that he is actually trying to help me.
It doesn’t seem to matter how insane that sounds, he is entirely convinced that I’m where I should be.
Well, just as long as I keep playing by his rules, of course.
Which is the part that I’m struggling with. He wants me locked up in here, watched over, so that he can… So that he can what? Is he preparing me for something, holding back on taking what he has paid for to enjoy the squirming dread he’s putting me through in the process?
I have a million questions and not a damn clue who can answer a single one of them. I don’t know where that leaves me.
I hug my knees up closer to my chest, the corners of my mouth turning down as I manage my racing thoughts. I just don’t know what happens next. I should try to get out of here, really; he can’t hold me here forever, can he?
Now that he owns me, now that he’s paid up all that money to make me his, it’s hard to believe that he will ever let me go again, but at the same time...
Who do I have who would come looking for me? No family, that’s for sure. Some of the people I work with?
But if the bar is the very place that all of this has been happening, I don’t see how I can pull that off, either. No doubt Artem will just spin some story about how I got bored and moved on, replace me with some other girl who has no idea what is waiting for her on the other side of all of this.
It makes me sick to think about it, someone else unknowingly stepping into my shoes, but there’s not much I can do to protect against it from in here...
There will be no gap where my life once resided, nobody to notice that I’m gone.
The debts my father left behind will likely have been paid up by the million that this man handed over for me.
Anton? I think that’s what I heard one of the guards call him outside, though I’m not sure. I have no clue what he’s capable of, if he will subject me to the same brutality that his brother did, or if there is a chance for me to get away from all of this and survive it.
But I need to try. God knows, I need to try.
I sit up in bed and run my fingers through my hair, glancing around the room in a search for something I can use to help. There has to be something in here I can make use of to ease the situation, as dire as it seems now.
I search the wardrobe, which is empty, and then check the bathroom, which has nothing but some high-end toiletries in it. I could try to make myself sick, chug back a gallon of this shower gel to force them to call me a doctor, but I have the baby to think about, too.
Oh, God. The baby.
I’ve been trying not to focus too much on that fact, on top of everything else; the weight of it is too big, the failure I’ve hit my little one with before they’ve even come into the world.
They are relying on me to protect them, and what have I done?
Gotten myself sold off and kidnapped by their father, even if he has no idea that I’m pregnant yet.
In front of the mirror, I turn to the side slightly, pulling up my tee to look at my stomach. It’s the first time I have really paid much attention to myself since I first found out about the pregnancy, given that I was snatched up before I so much as had time to take in the news.
I can’t see much of a bump, though I guess it won’t be long till I start to show. And when that time comes, I’m not going to have any choice but to tell them about it, the people who are holding me. Will they provide medical care? Or will I be left out in the cold to deal with this shit alone?
I have no clue, and I’m praying I can get out of here before I have to find out one way or another.
I drop my tee back into place and splash some water on my face.
I know there are guards on my door, I just need to find the right words to convince them to let me out of here.
Shouldn’t be that hard, right? I might not have much of an ego, but a man just paid a million bucks to make me his.
If I can just channel that energy, I might be able to find a way through this...
I make my way to the door and press my ear against it, pausing for a moment to figure out what I can hear. Whoever is out there, I’m pretty sure they’re alone, and that has to help my chances.
I knock on the inside of the door, trying to get their attention. “Hello? Hello!”
Nothing. Silence rings through the room, and I grimace. Guess I’m going to have to pull out the big guns.
“Please, I need help!” I call through the door, banging on it with a little more purpose. “I can’t be in here alone, you have to understand me...”
I hear a small creak on the other side of the door, and I’m sure he must have heard me. I try again, whining about whatever I can bring to mind as I wait for him to respond. I try the handle a few times, but the door is locked tight, and it only rattles uselessly in the frame.
A part of me wants to give up and rest, just like he told me to, but another side of me knows that I need to keep pushing on. Not just for me, but for this baby, to make sure that we get out of here in one piece.
“Please—”
But just as I’m about to start over, the door flies open before me, nearly sending me tumbling over the threshold.
I’m confronted with a man I have seen before, I think one of the guards I spotted when Anton was leading me through the house.
He looks to be a little older than me, and he eyes me for a moment as he opens the door.
“What is it?”
“I need to see a doctor,” I tell him. “I’m not feeling well. Is there someone in this house I can speak to?”
He eyes me for a moment, incredulous, and I stare back at him, standing my ground as best I can.
“What’s wrong?”
“I told you, I’m not feeling well—”
“But how?”
I freeze. I didn’t exactly think this part through. “I…uh…”
“You hungry?” he asks. “The housekeeper brought some dinner down, but I assumed you were asleep, so I didn’t bring it in.”
My stomach grumbles heartily, but I try not to let it distract me. I have bigger things to concern myself with right now. “It’s not about that,” I retort. “I need fresh air. I can’t be cooped up in here all the time, it’s not fair...”
He cocks an eyebrow, and I get the feeling that I have not exactly made my point as I had hoped. “I’ll talk to the Pakhan. He’ll decide what to do with you.”
I wrinkle my nose up. “With who? I don’t know what you’re talking about-”
“The Pakhan,” he replies, not missing a beat. “Anton Viriski. The man who brought you here.”
I chew my lip. That man, whoever he is, whatever title this man wants to give him, he’s not going to let me out. I take a step forward, gazing up at the man before me, doing my best to put on the sweetest expression possible in the hopes that I can get him feeling sorry for me.
“You don’t have to disturb him,” I assure him. “Just... Just let me out of here, that’s all you need to do. Just for a while. I won’t even tell anyone you let me do it, nobody will find out, okay?”
He lets out a short laugh. “You think that’s how it works around here?” he replies, shaking his head. “Nothing goes outside of the Pakhan’s notice. Especially not when it contradicts direct orders he gave to me.”
I curse inwardly. This Anton man, whoever he is, he has these men under strict control, and it’s hard to believe that I’ll be able to do anything to change that. I run a hand through my hair, mustering up every bit of my charm, or at least what is left of it under these circumstances.
“I can make it worth your while,” I offer half-heartedly, though I’m sure he can see right through me and to the truth of this deal I’m laying out for him.
“Trust me, anything you can offer me,” he replies. “Isn’t worth half of what the Pakhan will do to me if he finds out I betrayed him.”
“He never has to find out—”
“He will. He always does. Go back in your room.”
I press my lips together. I don’t like being spoken to like I’m some errant teenager, and I’m not going to stand aside and let this man tell me how it is going to be. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He eyes me for a moment, seemingly almost impressed by my defiance. I stand my ground, mustering as much courage as I can, though it feels downright impossible in this moment.
“I can go get him, if you want,” he replies. A cold shiver runs down my spine.
Shit, he is calling my bluff, that is the last thing I need right now. Anton might deny that he had anything to do with getting me into this mess in the first place, but that doesn’t mean I’m about to take him at his word.
“Fine,” I reply, tipping my head to the side.
If he wants to take it there, then he can take it there, I’m not going to try and stop him.
The sooner I get a feel for the power structure in this place, the better chance I have of getting out, and I will not let the thrumming anxiety in my chest dissuade me of that.
He stares back at me, a beat of silence playing out between the two of us as we wait for the other to respond. He knows as well as I do that I should be locked up in that room, at least if we are going to go by what his boss seems to have decided for me.
But there has to be something close to humanity in there, right? Some part of him that can see that this is not what he should be doing. Or is he so blinded by his loyalty that he can’t see that the man he calls the Pakhan has a woman locked away in his home, with no way out, no way to escape?
But before I can say another word, the door opens at the far end of the corridor, and we both look up in the same instant. And there he is, as though I have summoned him just by sheer force of will.
Anton.
“Pakhan,” the man greets him, bowing his head slightly.
My lip curls up in distaste. They seem willing to run around and do just about anything if it means that they do not land on the wrong side of him, but where does it end?
How much have they looked the other way on?
And how much more will they be willing to ignore... ?
“What are you doing out of your room?” Anton asks me coolly, his blue eyes sharp as they meet mine. I squeeze my hands into fists at my sides, trying to muster every bit of certainty that I can.
“I wasn’t feeling well—”
“You look fine to me.”
He closes the distance between us, and glances to the guard who has been keeping watch on me.
“You can go, Ken.”
Ken looks like he wants to vanish on into himself.
I don’t blame him. There is a certain level of confidence that Anton carries himself with, a power that echoes off every word he comes out with.
And, as he locks eyes with me again, I can sense that I’m not going to get away with dodging them any longer.
He takes my arm and steers me back towards my room, and I try to pull myself loose, to little avail.
“Let go of me,” I insist. “I’m perfectly capable of walking to—”
He pulls the door shut behind us, his eyes darkening now we are alone together. My heart pitter-patters in my chest.
God, the way he is looking at me right now, I can tell I’ve pissed him off. I thought that I was just getting a bit of fresh air, but the look on his face tells me that he is beyond pissed at me right now.
“I told you to stay here.” His voice is cool and calm and collected, but there’s something simmering just out of sight.
I stand my ground, staring up at him, daring him to say something else.
“You don’t get to just lock me up like some princess in a fucking tower,” I retort sharply.
“I don’t care how much money you paid to your brother to own me, I didn’t agree to it.
I’m not just going to sit here waiting for you to tell me how this works... ”
His gaze flickers slightly.
I guess he expected me to play by the rules he laid out, but he has another thing coming if he thinks I’m going to just stand aside and let him do whatever he wants.
No, as far as I’m concerned, I’m a prisoner here, and that means I will do anything in my power to get the hell out and find a way through this.
He takes another step towards me, but I stand my ground.
And, despite myself, my mind fills with the memory of everything we did that night, his hands in my hair, his touch on my skin, his kiss against my mouth.
I can still recall it all with a startling clarity, every inch of me alight with as much desire as defiance.
“You need to learn your place here,” he warns me, and I cock an eyebrow.
“Oh, yeah?” I retort. “And what place is that, exactly?”
He does not reply for a moment, gaze flicking down briefly towards my mouth. My breath catches at the back of my throat, and I look back at him, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to even think of anything but the way he makes me feel right now.
“You need me to remind you?” he growls.
Slowly, I nod. “Looks like I do.”
And, at last, as though this is what he has been waiting for since the moment he laid eyes on me again, he grabs my face and pulls me in for a kiss.