Page 11 of Collapsed

“Ivan, please stop,” I beg him.

“I’m not done sharing yet,” he growls, his voice growing in frustration.

“You’re right,” I say, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “I want to hear how you left and found Andrei.”

“Andrei found me. He knew he needed me.” His voice is stern and filled with conviction. He really believes it.

“The night I left, I heard my mother and father talking about the incidents at school. They were talking about sending me away. That was never going to happen. After they went to bed, I broke into the small building in the backyard. I knew my father had some gas cans in there. He had three cans, but only one and a half were filled so I needed to make it count, and stuffed them into the bottles to use as a wick.”

He pauses his story to stare at me. For some reason, I know he’s looking for a reaction. He wants to see how far he can push me or perhaps if the story excites me. The very thought of someone getting excited about a story such as this is sickening. His parents were innocent. Their only crime was loving a child and wanting the best for him. I could never get such pleasure from harming an innocent person. Do I enjoy violence when the other person has harmed others or intends to harm me? Yes, but the way he is sharing his story is demented so I give him no such satisfaction and keep my face stoic.

“The bursts of flame that came from those bottles gave me life. As I watched the house burn with my parents inside, the only thing I could think was that I was giving myself new life from those flames. Fire was my escape.”Well, that sure explains his obsession with it.

This vile person in front of me burned down his home with his parents in it and watched. It was pure evil. He is pure evil. Nothing happened to him to make him this way he was simply born evil. He sees things he wants, and he thinks he shouldn’t be told no. He takes what he wants no matter the result. If anything, he could have used a few good spankings from his parents, is what it sounds like.

“From then on, I wanted to see everything engulfed in the beautiful orange-red glow. I tried to find work and offer my services. They scoffed at me and turned me away. Some of them even laughed and called me a child that needed to go home. I burned them all to the ground. Word spread about a man that would make an offer of protection for a steep price, and if denied, their business, or their lives, would be gone in an instant. I was not as careful back then, because one day I found a note under the door of where I was staying. The note told me to meet him.”

Ivan again stands from the bed and moves to the metal table in the room. “I went to the meeting without fear. Something told me this was it. This was going to be the start of my empire. When I arrived, there were men all around the building, but I knew I wanted to get in unnoticed. I slipped past all of them and made my way to Andrei unseen. He was impressed and offered me work as his umbra. The shadow that would kill without question and take care of things others would not have the stomach for. No job was too violent for me. I never failed a single assignment. He made promises of me growing within the business and eventually running the empire I dreamed of, but when that shit excuse of a son, Alexie, disappeared, all Andrei could talk about was getting him back so he could take over the Bratva.”

A loud bang echoes around the room from Ivan slamming his fists on the table. “A man that was supposed to be strong, to bring others to heel, turned out to be a weak fool. His pathetic child, the one that couldn’t stay in line, was going to getmyempire. I was with Andrei for almost a decade before Alexie was even born. I deserved to be next in line, not Alexie. From that moment, I started to make moves that would lead to the removal of Andrei and my taking over. I am the ONLY one that has what it takes to run the empire WE built!” His anger is growing, and I start to worry that he’ll do something horrible.

I glance at him, seeing him standing with his head tilted toward the ceiling. He slowly brings his head back down and sees me watching him. A smile forms on his lips, and he walks back to the bed. Ivan sits back down, and his soft eyes have grown cold again.There’s the Ivan I know and hate.

“Do you know what else I needed,moy ogon?”

All I really want to say isa larger dick, so he doesn’t feel like he has so much to prove,but this doesn’t seem like the best time. When I don’t respond, he continues, “Someone at my side to rule with.”

Gross.He’s talking about me, isn’t he?There is nothing in my entire history that I’ve done to give this psycho any hope about an ‘us’. I was never nice to him or gave him a second glance. There was no flirtation or anything that could be misconstrued as flirting. Then again, I need to remember that I’m not dealing with a sane person, so there’s no telling what he believed all those years. All the times I was a downright bitch to him, he probably thought it was some fucked up love language.

“I need you by my side,” he pleads. “I just needed to get rid of your weaknesses first.” He’s talking about the guys I know, but they aren’t a weakness. If anything, having people rally behind you and love you, like I know they do me, makes them a strength. Now I’m picturing their faces; Alexie’s unhinged smirk, King’s long ponytail and his permanent scowl, and Stryker, the wound-up boss that just needs someone to show him how to relax.Fuck! Don’t lose it!I’m trying with everything I have, but my heart is shattering, and that rage is starting to ignite.

“You had weaknesses, and unfortunately, you still do.” He’s right, I still have people out there who I love unconditionally, but that’s not a weakness. Katia, BJ, Marcela, and Conrad are all still alive, or at least I hope they are. Ivan has never said if he did anything to them, but if he’s saying I still have weaknesses, then he has to mean them… right? “They will be dealt with, but the choice is yours.”

“What do you mean?” I ask desperately.

He leans down towards me so that he is uncomfortably close to my face. “Stay and rule with me, and mercy will be granted. Fight me, and everything you have ever shown an ounce of affection for will be wiped from this planet.”

There is no choice. I will play along as long as I can until Ivan can be dealt with. Because of me, and Ivan’s obsession, countless have suffered. Alexie, King, and Stryker are… gone because of me. No one else will suffer because of his unhealthy, creepy obsession with me. This ends here with the two of us, so I say the only thing I can so I can bide my time until the moment arises I can strike.

“I’ll stay,” I concede.

Ivan closes the gap between us and presses his lips firmly to the side of my head. He then stands abruptly from the bed and walks toward the door. Before he leaves, he turns back to face me. “I will have someone come check your injuries. I do not want to cause you harm, Natalia, but you brought this on yourself for acting out earlier. I will only remove one more weakness from you. I will be back to let you decide.” My face contorts in horror at what he’s saying. “It’s only fair to let you make some decisions if we are to run our empire together.”WHAT!?

“NO!” I scream at him. “Stay away from them!”

When he does nothing but smile back, I break. “If you do this, I will NEVER be yours!” I shout out. “You are the most disgusting, pathetic piece of shit, and the fact that you think you have what I need...” I don’t finish that sentence but burst into a bitter-sounding fit of laughter instead. “You could do your worst, but with that shriveled-up excuse for a cock, I wouldn’t even feel it.”

He takes a few steps forward, places his hands under the table, and flips it over, causing a loud bang to echo throughout the room. My ears ring when Ivan turns around and storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I’m not sure how much time has passed since Ivan stormed out of here.What have I done? My words could get everyone I have left killed.They may already be dead. I have to get out of here now.

I wriggle and jerk my left hand as much as I can to get the restraint loosened. The pain shooting down my arm is almost unbearable, but I have to get out of here and kill Ivan before he can harm anyone else. I tug as hard as I can, even through the pain of my skin peeling from my wrist.I can barely feel my hand when the base of my palm slips through the loop. Finally, my hand is pulled all the way through.

It’s difficult to move my hand to examine it because my arms have been extended for so long that my muscles feel like they forgot how to work correctly. I finally get my hand in front of me, and it's beet red. Blood is pooling around my wrist and dripping down my arm. Quickly, I move my hand to try and reach the other knot. I find it after fumbling around for a short time. The knot is simple but tight. I try to make out where the weak points in the knot are because I’m not sure I can get lucky and pull my hand through, as I did with my left.

Footsteps at the door have me freezing in place. The handle to the door turns. As fast as humanly possible, I move my free hand to the rope it was in and twist my wrist around the rope to look as though it's still tied. If Ivan walks through that door, I’m not sure he’ll be fooled. The door opens, and it’s one of his lackeys. Now, I have to hope with everything I have that he doesn’t look towards my freed hand hiding in the rope.

The man walks over and says nothing. He moves to the end of the bed, and I start to feel uncomfortable as he reaches his hand between my legs. Everything in me is screaming to grab him and make him pay for thinking that he could put his hands on me. I can’t give away that I’ve freed my hand, so I play along and glare at him.

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