Page 7 of Forced Bratva Prisoner

One day I will get away.

***

The next day I don’t leave my room other than sneaking downstairs to find something to eat. This toxic environment is devouring my soul. Piece by piece I am disappearing.

In the kitchen, I jump in fright when Marie walks in.

“It’s just me, honey,” she says gently, knowing how I am feeling.

She has raised me since before I could walk. She was my mother and my father, because my mother left, and my father was barely around.

I turn and lean into her hug as she holds me and whispers in my ear, “It’s going to be okay, Sasha. You’ll see. One day it will all be okay.”

She always tells me this. I know she means well. When I was little, I used to believe her, but now—now I am older, and I know what the real world is like.

I step away from her and wipe the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“Sasha, why don’t you get out of the house a bit tonight? I heard your father is going out. I can help you sneak out once he’s left,” Marie says.

“Will you? I need to clear my head.”

She always helps me when I want to get out of the house. It doesn’t always work, and sometimes we have to backtrack our steps or cancel the entire plan, but tonight I so desperately need to get out of here for a while.

“Meet me at the usual spot at eleven.”

I nod, smiling. I don’t know what I would do without her.

***

Marie helped me sneak out at eleven, and now I am sitting in the back of a taxi on my way to a nightclub out of my father’s territory. It’s a place I go sometimes where I know people don’t know me. On top of that, I don’t take any chances, so as ridiculous as I look wearing these oversized sunglasses at night time, I’d rather be harder to recognize.

The club is thrumming with deep bass that vibrates through my chest and pushes away the horrible visions that have been infecting my thoughts, even more today because of what my father made me watch yesterday. The images are still fresh in my mind and I want to get them out.

I move freely on the dance floor, closing my eyes as and letting the music pulse through me.

I can’t help smiling now. This is the only time I ever feel free, and it’s so rare that I manage to get out I have to enjoy every second of it. I grin as the colorful lasers move over my skin and the thick smoke on the dance floor catches the display.

After dancing until a light glow is glistening on my skin, I walk over to the bar to order a drink.

That’s when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. A tingle runs down my spine as I feel eyes on me.

Shit.

Maybe one of my father’s bodyguards saw me leaving after all and managed to track me down. My body shivers with nervous energy, but as I glance around the room, I don’t see any familiar faces.

Then my eyes lock with the man who has been staring at me.

His gaze is so intense it pierces right through me.

No wonder I was feeling the heat of his stare.

I can’t take my eyes off him.

He has an intense, commanding presence. Even from across the room, I can see how blue his eyes are and how deeply enticing he is. A slight grin creeps onto my lips and he grins back.

My heart shudders in my chest.

Chapter 3 - Leon

---