Page 39 of Ensnared
Pulling onto the highway, Eve forced herself to smile. It was a hard task considering the growing knot in her stomach.
"You can do this," she whispered to herself. Rolling down the windows, she let the wind whip through the car and tried to enjoy the freedom.
Phase one of the plan was already done. All she needed to do was keep driving until she reached Santa Barbara. From there, she would call one of her friends and just bum on their couch for a while. For the past few nights, she researched everything. If Dimitri decided to retaliate for her running away by kicking out her grandparents, then it would take him at least thirty days to evict them. In that time, she would find a job, two if she had to, anything to scrape up enough money for at least a one-bedroom. Would her grandparents be heartbroken? Yes. Would a one-bedroom be uncomfortable? Definitely. But it was better than waiting for him to take his fill of her and then just tossing them all out on a whim. This way she could get ahead of it. This way she could try to control her own narrative at least.
But would Dimitri do that? Would he really kick an elderly couple out onto the street? Her heart quickened at the thought; it felt like there was a bird trapped in her chest and its wings were beating wildly inside. The knot in her stomach made her want to pull over and throw up. She didn't know. She knew nothing about that man other than the fact that he was a vengeful criminal determined to get his way.
"Oh god, he would," she moaned out loud.
Reaching for the radio, she turned it on. She needed to clear her mind. She was gone from that lunatic, that was what mattered. His pride may be hurt and he may take it out on Ricky a bit, but it would be fine, she assured herself despite the twisting pain of dread in her chest.
"He's a rich, good-looking man. He could find another woman to play house with," she mumbled to herself as the radio played a commercial for a mattress sale. "While I'm…I'm…" her words faded and she glanced up at her reflection in the rearview mirror.
Her gold frames sparkled in the light and she imagined the rest of her face she could not see. Eve pictured her round face and chubby cheeks behind her glasses. Ricky used to call them Harry Potter glasses when she was in high school. She thought of Dimitri's face last night as he pulled back from their kiss. He gave her that same smoky look he had given her that first night in his penthouse suite. He looked at her as if there was no one and nothing else. It scared her. Even now she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. In his gaze, there was both desire and danger, a terrible blend of longing and menace that sent shivers down her spine and shouted to her senses to run. Subconsciously, Eve pressed the gas pedal. She needed to put as much distance between herself and him as possible.
Flicking her gaze down at the dash, Eve frowned. The gas gauge read a quarter of a tank.
"What the hell," she cursed. Wasn't it nearly full the other day?!
Since there was no way, she was going to make the five-hour journey on a quarter of a tank she put in a destination for the closest gas station in her GPS.
Two exits later, she was pulling to a stop at the gas pump. The station was located directly off the highway and an hour outside of Vegas. Her GPS told her the name of the city she was supposedly in but Eve was dubious as she stepped out of the car. The desert landscape surrounding the lonely gas station stretched endlessly around her, an arid expanse of sand and distant horizons. Unless there was a city hiding like a mirage behind some dusty bushes out in the distance then she could hardly call this a town much less a city.
Putting the pump into her car, Eve walked over to the gas station and opened the jangling glass door. Sitting behind the register in a cloud of smoke was a weathered old man giving her a bored stare. She smiled at him as she stopped in front of the counter. The man returned a nod.
"I would like twenty-five on pump two, please."
The man punched in a few numbers onto the register and held out his hand. "Twenty-five," he said brusquely.
Dropping the notes into his hand, Eve mentally thanked herself for having the exact change and making this interaction as short as possible. Outside, she breathed in the cool clean air and made her way back to her car. She was halfway across the empty lot when something black whooshed up behind her. Eve barely got a chance to turn and see the black SUV when the door opened and she caught sight of a pair of thunderous blue eyes.
Chapter 22
Everyjoltingstepupthe stairs sent a ripple of fear through her as Eve dangled over Dimitri's shoulder. The entire hour drive back, he didn't say a word to her. He spent approximately one minute zip-tying her hands and feet together, another second giving her a look so cold she felt her heart freeze in place, and the remainder of the time he spent staring out the window.
Now the moment she dreaded was here. With far too much ease, Dimitri had plucked her from her seat, hoisted her easily over his shoulder, and entered the house. From her position, she caught only a glimpse of Dominic getting out of the driver's seat and another glimpse of her car pulling into the drive with another familiar enforcer behind the wheel.
Her vision oscillated between the ground and a distorted view of the surroundings of the house as Dimitri carried her deeper inside. The sensation of vulnerability intensified when she realized they were passing the bedroom door and stopping in front of the other room.
Eve found her voice. "No, Dimitri!" she shouted.
Dimitri ignored her, opened the door, and walked in. Although set up slightly differently from the room in the penthouse suite, Eve recognized theplayroomimmediately. With its large black bed in the middle and the wall lined with shelves holding various toys that gleamed in the low purple light, the room's focal point was the large X structure mounted to the far wall. Eve shuddered at the sight of the straps at each point of the X.
Dimitri continued forward, clearly ignoring her mounting fear. "You don't get far in this business without listening to your gut,” he explained. “I knew the moment I left that something was off with you." Stopping in front of the bed he knelt down, allowing her to tumble off his shoulder onto the black silk sheets. Dimitri stood at the edge of the bed looking down at her with a dangerous smile. "Did you really think you would make it far? Did you forget I have your brother? Not to mention your grandparents."
Eve didn't say anything. With her hands and legs still bound, all she could do was lie there but she would be damned if she looked at him. Focusing her gaze on the wall, she pointedly ignored him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him tilt his head to the side. "You won't speak?" he asked in a cold voice, almost taunting, and it made her stomach drop. "Mmm, let's see how long that will last."
Hearing the smile in his voice, Eve looked back at him and he flashed her a grin that was neither friendly nor menacing, just predatory.
Eve stiffened.
Dimitri reached for her, grabbing her by the front of her pants, hoisting her forward. He began pulling down her clothes, stopping when they got to the zip-tie. His sapphire eyes flicked up to her and their eyes held even as he reached for something in his pocket. Eve's eyes grew wide in horror as she broke from his intense gaze and watched him pull out a folded silver knife. Seeing her fear, Dimitri leaned forward and placed a kiss just above her navel. The muscles in her stomach fluttered. Flicking the knife open with one hand, he reached down to her ankles and sliced through the plastic zip-tie with one stroke before reaching up to undo her hands. Free, Eve let out a breath as he put the knife down and focused back on her clothes. One by one he divested her of all her clothes. Her instincts screamed at her to fight him, to try and get herself out of this situation. But how could she? Looking up at his beautiful face, she thought he looked like a fallen angel sent to torment her. Deranged and still in possession of a knife, he towered over her with a look of determined satisfaction as he reached for something on a nearby shelf.
Eve blinked twice as she stared at the bundled object in his hand. It was a bundle of satin rope.
Eve whimpered and curled in on herself. Crawling over her, Dimitri straddled her legs. His fully clothed body ran along hers, the juxtaposition of her nakedness with his clothed body only adding to her terror. She could feel the strength of his strong thighs even through his pants driving home the unspoken reality that there was no way out of this.
