Page 9 of Master Vidar & Vali

Iwas an idiot. No. I was a fool wishing on a star praying for a unicorn to appear and somehow make a fairy tale real. That was the only explanation for why I was standing on a Philadelphia side street in front of what looked to be a club praying that a man who I’d met for less than ten minutes had really meant it when he offered to help.

I clutched his now crumpled business card tightly in my trembling hand as the Uber drove away. There was every possibility that Colin was in league with Mihal, but my exhausted brain couldn’t come up with a better plan. There was only one address on the card, and I seriously hoped that if he wasn’t here, someone could direct me to him. I’d honestly expected the address to be the headquarters for the security company but maybe their offices were in the upstairs of the bar.

Truth was, I’d barely slept for the last week, so I was pretty sure I wasn’t making the best decisions. It had all started when, instead of playing things smart, I’d thought I could bully my way through Mihal and get myself back home.

My pulse raced as I stepped into Mihal’s office with a mix of determination and dread. The large room had seemed bigger in the past, but after his veiled threats it felt like the walls were closing in on me. As if the room couldn’t hold enough oxygen to sustain me without breathing quickly.

“Sit down, Zara, it’s time for us to talk.” Mihal’s tone was casual, but his eyes held an anger that looked ready to explode.

I took a seat, my hands folded tightly in my lap to conceal their slight tremble. “Mihal, I want my passport back.”

I was proud of how steady my voice was as I maintained eye contact despite the sinking feeling in my stomach. I’d grown up around evil men and knew better than to present myself as a victim. They respected strength up to a point as long as it was tempered with respect and a dash of subservience. Hopefully, my boss was cut from the same cloth.

His lips curled into a patronizing smile as he leaned back, steepling his fingers in front of him. “No.”

“What do you mean, no? I want to go home,” I replied, my voice steadier than I felt inside. “I’ve made up my mind. You can’t keep me here against my will.”

“Can’t I?” His facade cracked, a flash of anger flickering across his face before it settled back into a mask of indifference. "You're mine. I’ve already gotten approval from the family to marry you."

Was this man insane? What family? But most of all…“Why would you want to marry me?”

He stood up and circled me. The urge to lash out at him was strong, but even if I thought I could take him, the hulking brute of the man who had escorted me to his office was standing by the door killing any hope of escape. I shuddered as he ran a hand down my hair.

“Do you know how rare innocence is? You're beautiful, smart, and untouched. You have no family or friends to causetrouble. You haven’t contacted a single person since you got here. So no one will stop me from taking what I want. By the time I am done with you, you will be an obedient wife. One created by my design.”

Untouched? Did he think I was a virgin? I wanted to laugh. My sex life might have been non-existent for the last few months but that was only because I was determined not to let a relationship get in the way of my goals. During college I’d experimented a lot. I wasn’t ashamed of the men I’d been with but if I was being honest I’d not been impressed by them either. I wanted someone to take my breath away. Someone I could trust to explore my fantasies with. Until I found them, it wasn’t worth the effort.

But why would he assume I was untouched? Horror swept over me as I remembered his bodyguard back in the U.S. He’d tried to seduce me. Rather than deal with a man with hurt feelings connected to someone I was working for, I’d told him I was waiting for marriage. I’d been surprised at how quickly and respectfully he’d backed off but never imagined…

The room seemed to close in on me, the weight of his words pressing down like a physical force. Telling him the truth now would not go well for me. But I had no intention of marrying a crazy man who thought he could make that decision without even discussing it with me.

“I have rights,” I insisted, my voice rising slightly despite my efforts to stay composed. I stood to make myself appear more confident. “If you don’t give me back my passport, I'll contact the U.S. embassy.”

The threat hung between us like a storm cloud, tension crackling in the air. In an instant, his demeanor shifted from composed to volatile. With a sudden movement, he struck me across the face, the sharp sound of skin meeting skin echoing inthe room. Pain exploded through my cheek, tears springing to my eyes from shock as I stumbled back against the chair.

There were more blows and things got blurry for a while. When I came to myself, I was in a strange bedroom. When I looked out the window, to my horror, I recognized Mihal’s sprawling estate. In the mirror over the dresser, I could see the damage Mihal had done. My face was swollen and bruised as were my ribs where I faintly remember him kicking me. On the bed next to me was a short note.

We will talk again in the morning.

M

That unmitigated asshole!

I pushed back the memories, not wanting to dwell on them till I was safe. So many times on the journey from there to here I thought I’d escaped him only to have men show up everywhere I went. I’d searched all my belongings for electronics or trackers and finally decided he had to somehow be tipped into the system that tracked passports.

I’d known I was right when I started through customs in New York and saw several Albanian-looking men searching the faces of the people coming through the gate. I’d rushed back inside under the pretense of using the ladies room. After an hour or two of scouting the areas I had access to and they didn’t, I picked the lock to a maintenance hallway and snuck out of the airport like a criminal.

It was during those hours that I’d come up with the idea of finding Colin. It took most of my remaining cash to convince a taxi driver to take me to Philadelphia. Luckily the safe that had held my passport had also held my purse and about ten thousand dollars in U.S. currency. My conscience hadn’t even twitched when I’d taken it.

The bruises on my face weren’t swollen anymore but had turned a sickly yellow. The sympathy they’d gotten me had gonea long way in making people not question why I needed to pay for everything in cash. For all I knew, Mihal would be able to track my credit cards as easily as he had my passport.

The smart thing to do would be to go to the police. I’d done nothing wrong. But after my childhood experiences with the law, and knowing how easy it was to bribe them, it was impossible to make myself trust I would be safe. So why was I willing to risk my safety on Colin?

I had to trust my gut even if it made no logical sense. It was only six o’clock and from the outside, there was no way to tell if the club was open yet. Thankfully, the door was unlocked and I stepped inside.

I was impressed once I stepped through the innocuous doors. The outside and inside were so different. A gigantic hallway with a red carpeted runner down the center was wide enough that a dozen people could walk side by side. The walls were lined with black and white art photos of couples and groups doing all types of kinky things. I wasn’t sure about what the kink represented in the art hanging on the walls meant. But as I stepped into the next room, it became very clear. The overall setting was like I had somehow stepped into the set ofThe VikingsSeries from Netflix.

The mix of rustic with contemporary comforts had my jaw dropping. Well, it wasn’t just the obvious money that went into making a place like this, but what I saw in the back two-thirds of space that made up the club. I was no prude, but there were things even I didn’t recognize as my gaze roved over the vast assortment of bondage and BDSM equipment.

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