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I was sound asleep when he returned.The first thing I knew was the feeling of weightlessness and then the softness of his bed beneath me. In my groggy state, reality came slowly.
“Kirill? I had such a horrible nightmare,” I murmured, inhaling the scent of his neck. The nook behind his ear smelled amazing. The whole bed smelled amazing.
I turned my head into his pillow and breathed it in. The motion made me realize I couldn’t turn as I wanted. My eyes jerked open as his weight caused the bed to dip. Reality crashed into me, and I tried to sit, only to slump back as my arms threatened to pull from their sockets.
My hands were bound to the bedposts, holding me tethered like a captive. Kirill sat on the edge of the bed, watching me with an unreadable gaze.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling against the ropes.
Kirill ran a finger along my wrist.“Pull too hard, and you’ll cut yourself.”
“Like you care if I get hurt,” I hurled at him.
He shrugged and stood. “Your choice.”
“Where are you going?”
“Work. I’ll be home later to check on you. Why don’t you take this time to come to terms with what’s happened,” he said quietly.
“You can’t leave me here like this! I have to go to work, see my mom—”
“You have no job as of this morning. I took the liberty of quitting for you. And your mother doesn’t know you’re here. Your father will run away and leave you behind to save himself, and you barely have any friends. You’re still the same anti-social loner you were when we were kids, which will make it so much easier for me.” He gave me a humorless smile.
“To do what? Kill me?” My voice came out in an incredulous scoff. This couldn’t be happening.
“To keep you. I told you I would never kill you,” he said with an irritated sigh, as if my slowness to accept his demented plan was a mere inconvenience.
“Have you lost your fucking mind? You can’t keep me against my will. I’m a free person—”
“Not anymore.” Kirill’s dryly sardonic tone stilled me, and my heart jumped to my throat. He seemed amused by my fear. I stared at him, real fear flickering in my belly.
He released a long sigh and picked an invisible speck from his sleeve. “You are mine, Molly. Get used to it.” He delivered the last with a devasting calm before turning toward the door.
“Did you kill Kaplan Holmes?” I demanded. I needed to know what level of insanity I was dealing with.
He turned back and grinned at me. It was positively wicked.“Don’t play coy, Molly. You know I did. You knew it this morning when you heard the news. Admit to it yourself.”
“I didn’t know.” I shook my head resolutely.
Kirill let out a long sigh as if I was a difficult child he had to humor. “Very well. Stay in denial. Yes. I killed Kap and had his friends killed. According to Ivan, they will take a little longer to identify. And yes, I enjoyed it, if that was your next question.” He confessed without a flicker of shame.
“Why?”
Kirill tilted his head. “Kap and his friends touched something that belonged to me, so I killed them. Kap had it coming. The last seven years were a gift he didn’t deserve. Enough questions.” He started back toward the door.
“Wait! What if I need to pee?”
“Not my problem, Princess.”
I heard the front door slamming and the electronic beep of his prison-quality alarms settling into place. Holy fuck. What now?
* * *
I losttrack of time as I cycled through disbelief, anger, and fear. This couldn’t be happening. Kirill,myKirill, wouldn’t treat me this way. How dare he? What was going to happen? The cycle went round and round until I was dizzy.
I was thirsty, and I needed to pee. The apartment was as quiet as a grave. Maybe itwouldbe my grave. Maybe this was it. All these years of running from scary men, and the one who ended me was the only man I’d ever loved.
Kirill was right. No one would miss me. If I died here, no one would know except him. As soon as I thought it, a vehement denial sprung up inside me.No. Kirill would never kill me.Of course, he wouldn’t. Something had happened, something terrible and dark and scarring, but I knew in my bones he wouldn’t kill me.
