Page 28 of Luka

Lucia kicks the wall and whimpers into my palm.

“Is somebody in there?” the woman asks.

Lucia looks so hopeful. So desperate as she tries her hardest to make noise. She doesn’t get it. I would never have brought her here if it wasn’t safe. If it would be a problem.

The art lady is playing a dangerous game right now, but I’m certain she knows it. I’ve seen her discomfort the few times we’ve passed. The way her steps pick up when she notices me. She won’t call the police. She doesn’t have the courage. If shedoes, I’ll possibly have to answer to the Bratva, but the police wouldn’t fuss over an illegal immigrant.

The woman knocks once more, but after another minute, her chronically sticky shoes squeak away.

“See?” I say to Lucia. “Nobody is going to help you. If you scream, you’ll become anuisance, not a victim. People are too big of cowards to even try to open that door.”

A muffled cry collects into my hand as Lucia deflates, her back sliding inches down the wall.

I press my lips to her ear, my grip on her wrist tight with wrath. “Youreallyshould not have done that.”

8

LUCIA

“Youreallyshould not have done that.” Tall’s voice trembles with anger, his hand around my wrist bruising.

Every part of me hasscreamedwith the need to struggle, shout, run,fight. But at his words, I feel myself freeze, cold dread washing over me.

I wonder if he can feel the weight of the terror he causes because he removes his hand from my mouth like he’s no longer concerned with my calls for help. They’re trapped at the bottom of my lungs, too scared and powerless to come out.

He throws me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing at all and storms toward the ladder leading to his bed while I squirm and stare longingly at the door I couldn’t manage to open. I should’ve waited until I’d been better prepared. I shouldn’t have panicked.

But the way he told me he was going to kill me… I don’t know what I expected or how I could have possibly imagined any other outcome, but hearing the evenness of his tone made me desperate to flee. It was a mistake. I see that now. I should’ve waited.

Will he kill me? Will he …fuck my corpse, as he put it?

I whimper and shut my eyes at the possibility, gasping when my body rocks from Luka climbing the ladder. This is one way he could kill me. He could justdropme. Let my neck break. Maybe some of my teeth would fall out so he’d be saved time during my disposal.

My muscles contract as I try to cling to him, but it’s only a couple seconds before we’ve reached the platform.

Tall throws me down on his bed, my back bouncing on the mattress, then yanks rope free from the bed post and climbs beside me. His face is blank. I don’t see lust, amusement, playfulness, nothing that I saw on him before.

This is bad.

This ishorriblybad.

“I’m sorry,” I say while he brings both my wrists above my head and ties them to his headboard, the rope digging into my skin so tightly it cuts off circulation. “Luka, I’m so sorry.Please.”

His eyes meet mine as he finishes tying me. They’re so empty, they remind me of black holes that threaten to suck me inside. I try to sink into the bed to ground myself, my shoulders pulling in.

“Shut. Up.”

With that, he straightens, his lips flat as he surveys my body as if I’m underwhelming. Or not. I don’t know. It’s impossible to tell what he’s thinking, and that makes him more terrifying than before. I suddenly want him to laugh at me. To call me stupid names or mock me or something that makes me think he isn’t about to wrap his hand around my throat.

He told me to shut up, and my instinct is to obey. To not push right now. But I also question if this is my last chance to do something before it’s too late.

When he pulls off his shirt, my eyes widen, and my breath stutters. I jerk my head away from him and peer up at the ceiling.

He stands, and from my periphery, I see him pull his shorts off, no boxers underneath.

But I also wouldn’t mind fucking your corpse, and that’s exactly what I’ll do if you scream again.

Oh my God.

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