Page 29 of For a Price

I close my eyes and urge myself to remain calm. If I can fight off the emotion that’s swirling inside me and focus on finding my first means of escape, I can make it through this. I’ll be no one’s pet and I won’t have to obey him and these insane rules.

“There will be other women there,” he explains. “They have been purchased too. Many are still for sale. You are different, devochka. You are mine and mine alone. But no one else canknow how I acquired you. If the sovietnik finds out who you are, he will kill you.”

…great. Another death threat. I definitely can’t tell him what happened.

“Are we clear?” he asks.

I merely nod, my expression probably giving me away. My bottom lip’s tucked between my teeth and my brows are drawn close. I can’t even manage eye contact.

“You are still upset,” he observes. “What is it, devochka?”

“Nothing,” I mumble. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“You are different than the women you will see tonight. You will be with me. This is for appearances. This is making sure the sovietnik does not catch onto your true identity. Come.” He grabs my hand without waiting for me to agree and pulls me toward him. “First Ivanka, then the dinner.”

Ivanka huffs out a deep sigh when Roman brings me to her. She’s a woman with harsh and angular features and white-blonde hair that washes out her already pallid complexion. At some point in the past she must’ve been beautiful, but as she nudges me into a chair, I can tell that time has long since passed.

Her fingers are long, her nails sharp like stilettos, making her touch severe and prickly as she dusts light makeup onto my face and then gathers my curls into a knot at the top of my head. She sighs again peering at our reflection in the mirror, as if unsatisfied with the results.

“This is all I could do,” she snaps. She taps my shoulder to signal she wants me out of her chair. “She is not easy. The hair, why is it purple? These curls…”

“Ivanka, don’t be sour,” Roman replies. “She is beautiful. You should be nice. You were her once.”

His biting words seem to cut her down to size. She purses her lips, folding her arms as Roman pulls me away with him. His hand slips around my waist almost intimately, keeping me close by his side.

So close his masculine scent invades my sense of smell.

It disorients me as we walk down a hall that’s dimly lit and trimmed by dark wood and antique brass, calling back to the early 1900s.

“Remember what I told you, devochka,” he says. “Behave yourself. Not all nights will be like this. Some nights will be me and you. But some you will need to go undetected like I have told you or suspicions will come up.”

“Okay…” I trail off, feeling uncharacteristically meek and hopeless.

Not at all like myself.

I’m not sure if it’s the collar secured tightly around my neck or the curious looks that come my way as double doors open and Roman walks me into a huge dining room that’s full of other intimidating men and a few docile women.

…all with the same collars around their neck.

But there’s one man in particular who stands out among the rest. The same squat, old, putrid man who’d pinned me to the wall no less than an hour ago.

Roman’s uncle merely grins at the sight of me, telling me all I need to know.

He meant what he said. If I tell Roman, he’ll hurt me.

And if he’s a man who keeps his promises, he’ll be back for me later tonight.

* Ne govori. Prosto bud’ khoroshim. Vot dlya chego ty nuzhen -Don’t talk. Just be good. That’s what you’re for.

* Ya skazal, ne razgovarivay. Idite syuda -I said don’t talk. Come here.

* Ty ne podchinyayesh’sya, devochka? Ya pridu k tebe -You don’t obey, girl? I’ll come to you.

* Proshchay, devochka. Poka my ne vstretimsya snova. Ochen’ skoro -Goodbye, girl. Until we meet again. Very soon.

CHAPTER 12

Katerina

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