“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Mmm. I guess not. But are you willing to risk defying me? You already know I’m capable of kidnapping an innocent woman. What else am I capable of?”
Her eyes darken and she shivers. Got her. “My brother never held me captive.”
“So you’ve already said.”
“I like being in my room. It’s safe there. So I stayed in there and Dimitri let me. He made me a hidden room so no one could find me. That’s what I wanted. What I needed.”
Interesting. “Why?”
She looks at me with a frown.
“Why did you want to stay in your room? Why dd you need it?”
“I don’t want to say,” she whispers, biting her lip. I can’t help but notice how soft her lips look. She’s a beautiful woman to say the least, if odd. Maybe that makes her more pretty in some ways.
“Well, I want you to say. You’re going to give in to me, Katya. Even if I have to beat you down to make it happen.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“You like being in this cage, I take it? You feel safe in it?”
Slowly, she nods.
“Fine. Then I’m not going to keep you in this cage.” I open the door and pull her from the cage.
“What are you doing?” she gasps, struggling against me.
“I’m going to bring you outside. If it’s an enclosed space that makes you feel good, then how do you feel when you’re out in the wide open?”
“Please, no,” she sobs, surprising me. “No!”
I throw her over my shoulder and carry her outside, setting her on her feet carefully so she doesn’t get hurt. I don’t need Katya to get hurt to achieve my plan. That’s not why I need her.
“Please, let me back inside,” she continues to cry. Tears run down her face. Her moods are a shock. I don’t understand them. Who exactly is this girl and what has she been through in life to make her act this way?
“Just tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you back into the cage.” I shake my head. “You know, you are a strange, little creature. Most people would be happy to be let out of my cage.”
“Please.”
“Just do what I want, Katya. Tell me why you needed to stay in your hidden room? Why a hidden room? Why not just any room?”
She falls to her knees and sobs so hard, her entire body shakes. I have no sympathy for her. She’s the sister of my enemy. The last thing I need to do is care for her. So I harden my feelings and look down at her with no pity.
“Katya, just tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you back into the cage.”
“My mom… was murdered.”
That pulls me up short. I’ve heard the stories of Dimitri’s parents. How his father murdered her mother and how he died of a heart attack. Of course, rumors spread that Dimitri was the one who killed his father afterwards but no one could prove anything. Katya was never included in any of the stories that I heard.
“By my dad,” she continues, practically pressing her face into the cement as if that will make the world disappear.
“And? Is that why you wanted to stay hidden?”
“I was there. He killed her right in front of me.” Her crying picks up its intensity.
“So, you hid yourself away, is that it? You wanted to stay safe, I’m assuming.”
