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“I need to know what life was like for you in the Bratva. I need to know exactly what she’s going to experience if I don’t get her out. Right now, my fear of her getting hurt or killed is greater than my fear of what’s to come for her. I need that to change, and I feel like you’re the person who can help me,” I reply.
She takes another drag off her cigarette, her face taking on a grave, humorless veil.
“It was absolute hell being married to Remi. The reason I married him was because I needed to escape from my own demons in Sweden, and he had the means to help me do that. My sister followed shortly behind in order to follow the American dream, but she’s in a shithole apartment with a shit job and no legacy. I doubt I’d rather be in her position than here.”
I already know that my worst fears are about to become reality, and the anxious swirl in the pit of my stomach grows heavier as I wait for her to continue.
“I’m sure you’ve seen it yourself. The Bratva men are boorish, cruel, and perpetually defensive about their status. Status matters above all to them, and they’ll sacrifice their women to achieve it,” she continues.
“I’ve heard how Remi speaks about Mika, and he doesn’t seem to address her as more than a… fixture. Or a prize,” I reply, feeling sick to my stomach just at the memory alone. “She’s a dollar sign to him.”
She laughs again, mostly to herself. “It doesn’t matter how intelligent, accomplished, or independent a woman is, they’ll abuse her and mistreat her until she doesn’t recognize herself anymore. When I realized that, I attempted suicide for the first time. I was better off dead than allowing Remi to humiliate me every day for the rest of my life.”
Suicide.
Do I think Mika is capable?
She’s been upset enough to starve herself, practically rotting through her mattress. I thought I knew the pain she was feeling before, but now I’ve been offered a perspective that is even more bleak and hopeless.
“What was it that pushed you over the edge?” I ask, regretting my question instantly. Why would I ask something so personal? Why would she owe me that information?
She looks me in the eye, holding my gaze as if to ask,do you really want to know?
After ashing her cigarette, she takes a deep breath of fresh air before she recounts the darkest moment of her whole life.
“It was one of Remi’s infamous parties. He’s always been a people-pleaser, so it was very easy to make him do things to impress people that he otherwise wouldn’t have done. I was serving champagne on a platter, and I had accidentally skipped over one of the guests who had just come back from smoking outside,” she begins, wishing that she had something much stronger than a cigarette to take away the pain.
“Remi noticed that this guest in particular didn’t have a glass, so he shouted my name from across the room to scold me. I was more embarrassed than anything at that point. The guest himself didn’t seem to care much, but Remi was furious. He caused a scene in front of a crowd of at least fifty people,” she continues.
“When I realized that the guest was the son of one of Remi’s clients, I nearly fainted from dread. This was so much more to Remi than just bad hospitality – it was an affront to his business. So he did what he did best, something he had only done in the shadows before. He slapped me across the face, sending me to the floor as the glasses of champagne crashed around me.”
Trying to envision Remi doing something so heartless is uncomfortably easy, and my stomach is tied in knots at the thought that this could be Mika’s fate very soon.
“He was just trying to assert dominance. For a moment, I was relieved that he’d done it in front of everyone, because surely someone would come to help me. But nobody did. Out of all the people there who had seen him hit me, nobody intervened. I didn’t have one friend or advocate in the entire world, and that’s exactly how Remi wanted it.”
I allow her a moment to collect herself as the memories play behind her eyes like a classic film on a projector screen. I still regret asking, but now I’ve gained an understanding that I hadn’t had before.
An understanding that changes everything.
Vivka looks at me again, emphasizing the importance of her words to me as if she could download them into my mind from eye contact alone. She will not let me forget this. I need to feel every bit of it.
“That night, I locked myself into our master bathroom, swallowed an entire bottle of valium, and washed it down with a fifth of vodka. It wasn’t excessive, but I thought for sure it would get the job done. I cried when I woke up in the hospital after having my stomach pumped.”
All I can think about is the mental image of Mika in her bedroom, curled up in bed with an empty bottle of pills as she cries herself into an eternal sleep.
I knew that the Bratva mistreated their men, but I had never encountered the true extent of it. Now that I know the truth, I’m going to make sure that Mika escapes whether I survive it or not.
27
MIKA
I’m jolted awake by the sound of violent shouting coming from across the house. It’s four in the morning, and being startled awake like that sent a shockwave of terror through me that keeps me stunned in my bed.
My bedroom is so dark at night that I can’t see anything at all, even in the faint light from the moon that trickles in through my window. As my eyes try to adjust to the blackness after being asleep, I hear more screaming coming from downstairs.
I don’t know whether it’s smart to try to investigate the shouting, but the voice was definitely male. If there’s someone here who’s on a mission to kill someone who lives here, I’d be an easy target. I would definitely be the most valuable to kidnap based on my status as a prized cash cow.
If my heart wasn’t pounding in my ears, I would be able to hear better and make a plan to escape from there. This particular aspect of human evolution feels pointless and counterproductive in general, but right now, it could be the difference between life and death for me.
