25. Maya
MAYA
“Move, you stupid bitch,” Artem spits to me, as he shoves me back along the corridor we came out of. I stumble on the stupid heels I’m wearing, and I have to pause to right myself before I can go after him. He looks back at me, his lip curling up into a disgusted snarl.
“I said, move!”
“I’m trying,” I shoot back, but he grabs my arm and forces me along with him, and the best I can manage is to stumble after him and pray that I don’t get caught in the gunfire exploding outside.
I know who shot the first bullet. I saw his face, just for a split second—Anton, sitting there at the back of the room, killing the man who put a bid on me the second the words were out of his mouth.
I don’t know how he found me, but honestly, I don’t care. All that matters is that he is here, and I know he will not let anything at all happen to me.
Artem, for his part, must be aware that my safety is the only chip he still holds in all of this, and is racing back to the saferoom that me and the other girls were held in before Anton got here.
I was the first one out, the first one forced into this gross skimpy lingerie and these heels that feel like they might snap my ankle in two at any moment.
I hate the way I feel in them, so on-display, my body laid out for anyone who happened to glance in my direction.
I hear another gunshot, and gasp, looking back to see what is going on. I know that Anton would never have been stupid enough to attempt something like this alone, but I saw plenty of guards on this place while we were being led in.
What if he and his men are overwhelmed? I know that their numbers already took a serious hit after the fire at the mansion, and if Artem’s men get the better of them...
But Artem is pulling me away before I can so much as react, and I have to just hope against hope that Anton is smart enough to figure out a way through this. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something had happened to him as a result of coming after me.
Artem bundles me into the room once more, and Luna is already on her feet, her arms wrapped around herself to provide some kind of cover to herself.
“What’s going on out there—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Artem snarls at her, but she stands her ground. She must have sensed that something had shifted, that the power was no longer entirely in his hands, no matter how much he might have wanted to convince us that it did.
But before she can shoot back a response, I hear footsteps rushing along the corridor – and Anton appears in the doorway, just a few seconds behind us. He is breathing hard, and his shirt is spattered with blood, but it doesn’t look like his.
“Anton,” I gasp, and I go to hurry over to him – but Artem grabs me, pulling me back roughly, making me cry out in pain as he closes his fingers around my wrist.
“Now, don’t think I’m going to hand you over that easily,” he reminds me, his voice a little mad with panic by now. “I was going to get a good price for you, remember?”
“Let go of her, Artem,” Anton orders him, and he lifts his gun, levelling it at his brother. Artem goes to reach for his, but I manage to shift my weight and knock it away from him before he can get a grip on it.
“You stupid fucking—”
“Careful what you say to her,” Anton warns him, his voice low and filled with so much fury it takes me a second to recognize it as his.
The way he speaks when I’m in danger, it’s like he can’t think of anything that matters more than ensuring that I’m safe, and the relief I feel knowing that he is there to have my back in all of this is everything right now.
“Why, because she’s the mother of your child?
” Artem replies mockingly. I hear Anna gasp from behind me, and I remember how shocked they were when I brought up the mere mention of children.
My head drops. She must think so much less of me, realizing that I’m carrying a child and trapped in this mess...
“Because she doesn’t deserve it,” Anton tells him. “None of these women do.”
“Look, brother, I can see why you might get attached to a little slut like this,” Artem continues, leering at me as he holds me close to him. “But you never get these kind of women pregnant, eh?”
“Just because you never got what you wanted from our father doesn’t mean—”
“It means that you don’t get it, either,” he snarls back, suddenly taking a step towards his brother. I stumble back, and Luna puts an arm around me, supporting me as best she can. I clutch to her, my entire body frozen in terror as I try to make sense of whatever will happen next.
“You were stupid enough to get this whore pregnant, and now she’s going to come between us if you let her,” Artem continues.
Is he really trying to invoke a kind of brotherly code between them now, after everything he has done—not just to me, but to all of these women?
It’s almost laughable. Anton’s expression does not shift for a moment, refusing to let his brother get under his skin.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way,” he tells him. “We could be in this together, you and I. Make some real money. Start by getting rid of her, eh? And make it so she can never…”
Anton takes the shot, burying his gun in his brother’s guts before he pulls the trigger. For a second, Artem’s eyes widen, and he grabs for Anton’s shoulders.
He leaves a smear of blood as he falls away, staggering back towards the doorframe as his gaze goes blank. And then, at last, he slumps to the ground, dead.
None of us say anything. Luna is still holding tight to my arm, and Anton is breathing hard, the gun gripped tight in his hand.
“Oh, God,” Anna whimpers, and I snap out of it, dropping down to my knees beside her and clasping her hands in mine.
“Hey, it’s over now,” I assure her softly, and her gaze lifts to search mine, distant and bleary, as though she has just woken from a dream.
“Maya, we need to get out of here,” Anton tells me, and I feel his hand resting on my shoulder, trying to coax me to my feet. Anna has started to shake, and beside her, Luna is just standing there, staring into space, as she tries to wrap her head around everything that has just happened.
“Anna, can you hear me? Can you talk to me right now?”
I understand the urgency in Anton’s tone, but there is no way I’m going to walk away from this without these two women. I don’t care if it means putting myself at risk; with Artem gone, the threat seems so much more distant now, anyway, I can hardly believe it existed in the first place.
Anna finally manages to look at me again, and she glances up at Anton, obviously still terrified.
She doesn’t know that he would never, in a million years, let us come to any harm.
As far as she is concerned, he might be just as much of a threat as Artem, from the frying pan and into the fire.
But I need her to trust me, I need them both to trust me, as hard as that might be to believe right now.
“You can come with us,” I tell her, and I offer her a hand. She stares at it for a second, but then, much to my relief, she manages to take it, and I guide her to her feet. Beside me, Luna still has her arms wrapped around herself.
“Can I change before we go?” she asks bluntly. “I hate this shit...”
She plucks at the lingerie she’s wearing, and I glance over at Anton for confirmation.
He parts his lips at first, as though thinking of arguing with me, but I guess that he can see in my eyes that there is no point.
The only way I’m going to leave is if I can do it with these women, with as much dignity and grace as this situation will allow them.
“Yeah, of course you can,” I reply. “Anton, can we have a few minutes?”
“I’ll be waiting right outside,” he tells me with a nod.
And, before I can stop myself, I lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips.
I don’t think I will ever be able to express just how grateful I’m for what he has done for me here today, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove it, if that’s what it takes.
He pulls me close, just for a second, as though reluctant to break this moment between us. Breathing in deeply, he presses his hand to my waist.
“Don’t be long,” he murmurs. And with that, he pulls back, and leaves us to get ourselves put together.
The three of us start to dress in silence.
I suppose there’s not much to be said, at a time like this.
The relief of knowing that the ordeal is over is about as much as we can all focus on right now, as we throw on our normal clothes over the lingerie, kicking off the awful heels for the shoes we arrived in.
“You’re really pregnant, Maya?”
Anna is the first one to speak, and when I turn to her, her eyes are wide, as though she must not have understood what was going on properly. I nod, resting my hands on my belly.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “I... I really am.”
“And he’s the father?” Luna points out past the door, to where Anton must be standing. I nod again.
“Yeah. He’s... He’s Artem’s brother, actually.”
Both the women inhale sharply, looking concerned. I can’t say I blame them. If I had heard that one of them was running off to be with the brother of the man who landed us in all of this in the first place, I would likely have felt the same way.
“He’s nothing like him, though,” I assure them swiftly. “I know how it must look, but we didn’t even meet through Artem. He actually—when Artem first tried to take me, he was the one to save me.”
I press my lips together, a swell of emotion passing through me as my mind fills with memories of that night.
It had been so random, I can see that now, looking back.
If he hadn’t been there to help me, if he hadn’t turned up at the auction on the night Artem first tried to sell me, I would be in a living hell right now.
Every time, he has come through for me, proving to me over and over again how much he cares for me.
“Are you ready to go?” I ask, glancing over the others once they seem fully dressed. Luna and Anna are standing close together, almost as if they are fearful about what stands on the other side of that door.
“I guess so,” Luna replies, and I push open the door. Anton looks around at once, coming to my side, arm around my waist to support me.
“Are they going to be okay?” I ask him softly, gesturing back over my shoulder to the two women behind me. He nods at once.
“I have a couple of cars waiting for them, to take them to a safehouse until we can get them set up with something more permanent,” he replies. I breathe a sigh of relief, finally allowing myself a small smile.
“Thank you, Anton.”
His gaze is fixed on me as we pause at the door, and I finally look back over at him.
“What is it...?”
“Let me take you home,” he tells me, his voice low and gravelly. And I know it is not a request, but an order. He has waited long enough to ensure my safety, and he will not risk another second before ensconcing me in the comfort of our apartment.
I nod. “Let’s get out of here.”