AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you still insisting you don’t know this person?” he asks, crumpling the letter up as he watches me. There’s an edge to his voice that tells me he’s regained some control of himself and his desires, that the upper hand I had before is not entirely mine any longer. “You’ve lied to me so often,kotenok, it’s hard for me to know what exactly is truth. You must understand.”
I swallow hard. “I know what you’d do if I lied to you about another man,” I whisper, and it’s not hard to make my voice sound convincing. Idoknow, and what’s more, I’m not lying about this the way I am about my identity. All of this is the truth, whether he believes me or not, and I badly want him to. It’s one thing to take punishment for a lie I’m willingly telling to buy myself time–and very much another to be punished when I’m telling the truth.
“I don’t know them,” I insist, continuing in a rush. “I swear I don’t. I’ve been terrified of who this is for weeks. It was almost a relief when I thought it was you, because at least then I would have known who it was, and I’d already been caught. But now–” I shake my head, looking up at him with genuinely frightened eyes. “I’m scared all over again, because there’s still someone else out there who wants to hurt me.”
“Oh.” The word comes out more softly than I’ve ever heard Mikhail speak, and his face turns momentarily gentle, even earnest, in a way that I’ve never seen it. It shocks me into complete silence, because it’s so unexpected. He looks at me in a way that’s almost caring, as he reaches for the padlock on the crate’s door.
“Kotenok, you don’t need to be afraid,” he murmurs, reaching for me as he helps me out of the cage. “I won’t let anyone else harm you. No one will get to you here. You’re mine, remember?”
He gets me to my feet, his arm around me, and I let out a low moan at the soreness that spreads through me as my body unfolds for the first time in two days. “You need to shower and dress,” he says, urging me towards the bathroom.
I blink at him as we step into the bathroom, confused. “Dress?” I know I sound like an idiot, but I’ve spent days naked at this point, and I can’t quite understand why he’d choose to let me get dressed now.
“I need to go out,” Mikhail explains. “I’d thought of bringing you with me anyway, but this makes it all the more necessary. I can’t leave you here with the chance that someone might break in and take you from me.”
The jealousy that flashes in his eyes as he speaks, the possessive way his gaze rakes down me even in my current dirty and disheveled state, tells me that the obsession isn’t so far off still, even if he’s gotten a semblance of control back.
“You don’t like my having a stalker other than you?” I know I shouldn’t taunt him or tease him, not right now, but I can’t help it. The words slip out, and I see his eyes flash dangerously before his hand snatches my chin in his grasp, pulling me closer, not quite touching him.
“No one takes what’s mine,” he murmurs, his voice low and dark. “And you,kotenok, are mine.”
I can hear everything he’s not saying, underlying the words.I don’t need to be afraid, except of him. No one will get to me, other than him. I belong to him–and no one will hurt me.
Except him.
“Do what you need to,” he says sharply. “I don’t think you have the strength to run, but remember,kotenok, I’ll be just outside in the bedroom. Don’t think about trying. You won’t succeed–and anyway, who knows what’s out there waiting for you?”
He gives me a slow, wicked smile, and my stomach turns over.
But the truth is, I’ve been in danger beyond this place for what feels like a long time now. For as long as I’ve been in Moscow since my return, there’s been danger. My only hope was escape, just as it is now.
But it won’t be this morning, that’s for certain.
The shower feels heavenly. I scrub myself until I’m pink and raw, washing away all traces of Mikhail and the filth of the crate, until I’m so clean and warm that I want to dissolve on the tiles and stay here forever. I wash my hair twice, wrinkling my nose at the traces of black dye that swirl down the drain.It’s a good thing he doesn’t insist on getting in the shower with me.I’d redone my roots just before the fateful date that had ended with me trapped here, but that’s yet another thing that concerns me.
I only have so much time before they start growing out, and he’ll see that my hair is dyed. All my lies about not being Natalia will be for nothing, then.
I have to get out.
He’s taking me out today. Is that a chance?
I can’t fathom that he’ll let me very far from him. But he also can’t hurt me in public, not without causing a scene. I could try to run.
And then what?Your money is probably gone now. If it’s not, then you have to get it back, and find a way to get out of the country before he finds you.
But how can I give up a chance to get free? I’d promised myself that I’d fight, and this feels like a thing to fight for. This feels like an opportunity that I’d regret wasting.
I hear the door open, and Mikhail steps in. “Hurry up,” he says gruffly. “You’ve been in there long enough. Come out, so I can make us something to eat.”
The only thing that could have convinced me to get out of the shower was the promise of food–which likely comes with the promise of something to drink as well. I’d already rinsed my mouth out with hot water, but the idea of something cold has my mouth cramping with need as I turn the water off in a hurry, stepping out and reaching for a towel on the wall.
I can feel his eyes on me as I dry off, sliding over my naked body, and it doesn’t feel as invasive and frightening as it did before. I know that’s a bad sign, that I’m becoming accustomed to these conditions, to his possessiveness over me, but I file it away as something to deal with later. Right now, I feel as if I only have the strength to make it one step forward at a time, and if I’m going to try to escape today, I’ll need all the strength I can get.
“There’s things on the counter for you,” Mikhail says, nodding towards the sinks. “Finish up, quickly.”
I walk nervously towards the sinks, my wet hair sticking to my back, not bothering to wrap the towel around myself. I already know that’s a fight I can’t win. There’s a new toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter, a hairbrush and hair ties and some cheap moisturizer, and I quickly scrub my teeth, rubbing the lotion into my face and braiding my wet hair back. Even still naked, I feel remarkably more human than I did before, and I feel an unexpected lightness.
I know nothing has really improved, but it feels that way. I feel clean and fresh and better than I have in days, and I know I’m on a slippery slope to appreciating him for doing things that should be filed under basic human decency.
