Page 46 of Escaping the Bratva

Sasha

The sound of a door closing has me jumping from my sleep. My head is throbbing. I’m in a master bedroom, but it’s not V’s. All the memories come back to me like a tidal wave, and I sit up straight on the bed. I look down at my arm to see a handcuff wrapped around my wrist. I follow the chain to where it's attached to the headboard. Son of a bitch. Where the fuck am I? Where’s V? Does he even know I’m gone? I stay quiet, listening to see if I can hear anything outside this bedroom, but it's silent. I’m not stupid. There’s no way someone kidnapped me and left me alone in a…house? Apartment? I scan the room. Everything is decorated very modern. The comforter and sheets underneath me are black satin. There’s one window on the other side of the room, but the curtains are drawn. If I could just get to them, maybe I can see the street below and figure out where I am, but the handcuff keeps me firmly in place. I close my eyes and allow tears to stream down my face.

Will V be able to find me? I hear another door close, and I snap my head up to focus on the paneled door to the room. Footsteps approach the door, and I try to gauge how many steps are taken. It’s silly, but I’m grabbing on to anything I can at this point. My heart jumps into my throat as the door handle is turned. A man walks inside. He’s dressed in a suit that looks like it costs a fortune. He’s at least six foot, with broad shoulders. His dark hair is pushed back away from his face as if he frequently runs his hands through it. But it's his dark, beady eyes that are fixated on me that stops my breath. They’re hollow, as if he doesn’t have a soul anymore. His face is a mask of stone as he crosses the room to stand next to me. I instantly try to move myself to the other side of the bed as far as I can go, but with my wrist attached to the headboard, I can’t move much.

“Sasha.”

My name on his tongue sounds like pure evil. He reaches a hand out to stroke my cheek. I hate that I feel so weak right now, but I’m afraid to open my mouth. If this man is willing to kidnap me, what else is he willing to do?

“Let’s see if you’re really worth the millions of dollars Vladimir will be handing over to me.”

That’s what this is about? V owed this man money. His hand slides from my cheeks down to my collarbone, and vomit rises in my throat.

“Please…don’t.”

To my surprise, he stops the trail he was making, and his beady eyes focus back on me.

“I can pay you. I have money,” I rush out, cringing at how weak my voice sounds.

The man’s lip twitches up, and I’m guessing that’s the closest thing he’s ever come to smile.

“I’m well aware of the empire you’ve built. I do my research.” He continues to trail his hand over my chest. “But it’s not just about the money. It’s about respect, and Vladimir seems to have forgotten that concept.”

He moves away from me, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Without another word, the man turns and walks away from me, leaving me alone in the room again. This time, I really let myself cry. Big, ugly tears roll down my cheek as my heart breaks into two. All I can do is pray that V finds a way to pay this man his money. I should be mad at him for getting me into this, for putting my life at risk, but for some reason, I can’t. Even now when I should hate him the most, all I can do is wish for him to save me so that we can go back to life as it has been. Me, V, and Teddy—that’s all I want after all this is over. It’s the one thing in my life that has been missing. I’ve built my business, I’ve achieved everything I’ve wanted to achieve, but I know, without V, I’ll always be missing something.

I’m not sure how long I sit on that bed before the door opens again, and another man walks inside. He’s big and muscular, but he doesn’t have the same scary eyes as the first man. I flinch as he gets close to me, but he just pulls out a small key from his pocket and uses it to unlock my handcuff. A sane person would have seen the size of that man and not done anything, but I take my chance, and the moment I’m free, I lift my knee and hit him in the balls. He groans and doubles over in pain. With my heart pounding, I race off the bed and pull the bedroom door open.

If I can just get to the door, I can run, I can find help. My body slams into a hard wall of muscles, and I look up, seeing those dark, beady eyes staring down at me. All hope instantly evaporates as the man shakes his head. I turn to try and run the other way, but I’m met with a wall. The room I’ve been locked in is at the end of a short hallway. A hand grabs my arm and something in me breaks. I scream. The sound pierces even my own ears as I twist and turn, trying to get out of the man’s grip. Even if they end up killing me at the end of this, I won’t go down without a fight. I’m not a weak woman, and now is as good a time as any to prove that. As if my fighting has no effect on him, he picks me up like a sack of potatoes and hurls me over his shoulder. I beat on his back as hard as I can, but it’s like he's made from pure stone.

“Boss, I’m sorry. She slipped away,” a voice says as we enter the bedroom. I’ve stopped screaming, but only because my throat is raw, and I realize the chance of someone hearing me is slim. I’m sure my kidnapper has already thought of that. The wind is knocked out of me as I’m thrown onto the bed like a rag doll. I hurry to sit up, bringing my knees to my chest. The big guy who I’d hit in the balls stands on one side of the room while the man with the piercing black eyes stands on the other side.

“She slipped away?” beady eyes asks, his face void of any emotions. “She’s a tiny woman and you couldn’t grab her?”

“I…I…”

It happens so fast, my brain isn’t able to process it. The beady-eyed man grabs a gun from inside his jacket pocket. He points and aims it at the big guy before pulling the trigger. My body vibrates as if I’m the one that was shot. I watch in horror as the man falls to the ground, making the entire room shake from his large frame. Blood soaks the carpet, and his eyelids are open, but his eyes are blank, like his soul has already left his body. I’m barely able to get to the edge of the bed before emptying the contents of my stomach all over the carpeted floors. Vomit, tears, and snot mix together and drip from my face. I can’t breathe. I need air. A small voice in my head reminds me to take in air, and I do, but it does nothing to stop my body from vibrating.

“Fuck,” the man says. I can’t tell from his voice if he’s referring to me or the guy he just killed.

Something soft hits me on the back, and I see he’s thrown a towel to me. I grab it and wipe my face, but I still feel disgusting, and if there was anything left in my stomach, I’d be throwing up still.

“Take a shower. Clean yourself up. We have somewhere to go.”

“Are you insane?” I spit out, turning to face the murderer.

He doesn’t respond. Instead, he turns his back to me and steps over the dead body lying in the middle of the floor. I hear his footsteps retreat down the hall, but I’m not stupid enough to think I can escape again. He obviously has men working for him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were guarding my door. On shaky legs, I step off the bed, trying my best to not look at the body in the middle of the floor. I make it to the bathroom and slam the door shut before sliding down to the cold tile floor. Sobs rake my body as I try to process what I just witnessed. I saw someone die right in front of my eyes. The smell of death hangs heavy in the air, and I feel like my mind isn’t able to register everything. I need V. I need him so fucking much right now. I need him to hold me and tell me it’s okay and kiss my face. I send up another prayer, hoping that he’ll find me because I have no idea how I’m going to get out of this.

I rise to my feet and turn on the shower like I’ve been instructed. I can’t feel anything anymore, like my mind has completely detached from my body. I clean myself off and wrap a towel around my shivering body. When I step out to the bedroom, I’m relieved to see that the dead man is gone, but the blood stain still remains. On the bed is a bright blue evening gown. There’s no note, but I can assume this is what my kidnapper wants me to wear. Where would we be going that I need to wear an evening gown? I shouldn’t care. It’s not like I’ll be able to escape. And if I did try to escape again, would he kill someone else? Take another person's life for my attempts at freedom? I’m hollow inside as I pull the evening gown over my naked body.

Someone comes into the room not long after and does my hair and makeup. I’m too much in shock to process how strange all this is. I just want it to end. Once I’m in complete glam, the beady-eyed man comes back into the bedroom. He’s changed into a dark suit, and his hair is pushed back.

“Come on,” he says.

I stand from the bed on shaky legs. “Where…where are we going?”

A sick, sadistic smile spreads across his face. “You had an art gallery appearance on your calendar. Don’t you remember?”

My heart sinks. “What?”

“I don’t like to repeat myself, princess. Now, come on before we’re late.”

He’s taking me to an art gallery appearance? None of this makes sense.

“Oh, before we go.” He pulls something from behind his back, and it takes me a minute to process what he’s holding. A collar. A fucking dog collar. I take a step away from him, but he juts his arm out and grabs me around the neck. He forces the collar on my neck, scratching me in the process. The cold metal rests against my collar bone.

“It’s a shock collar, so if you decide to run or do something stupid…” He pulls a small remote from his pocket, and an electric shock runs through my body. My knees give out and I hit the floor. I feel like I’m choking, and I fist the carpet as I try to breathe air into my lungs.

“That’s the lowest setting, so I’d behave if I were you.”

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