She nods but doesn’t look me in the eye. Tears continue to stream down her pretty face.
“So that’s why you prefer an enclosed room to the outdoors. How long have you stayed hidden away? No one has seen you in years.”
“Since I was eight.”
All the air leaves my body. Katya isn’t just Dimitri’s baby sister but she’s an innocent, trauma ridden woman who has stayed inside for the past thirteen years.
“Can I go back inside the cage now?” she asks, sounding younger than Nina and Susanna and they’re seventeen and sixteen. It makes me feel like a dirty old man for a moment. But Katya is twenty-one. She’s an adult. She may act younger but she’s still a woman. One with more depths I want to explore.
But first, this is the perfect opportunity to hurt Dimitri.
I pull out my phone and turn the camera on, filming Katya.
“What are you doing?” she asks as she continues to cry.
“Showing Dimitri that I have you. That I’m willing to do whatever I want with you just to hurt him. Say hi, Katya.”
“No.”
“Say hi.”
She ducks her chin and sucks in a breath before saying, “Hi.”
“That’s a good girl. Are you going to be my good girl?”
“I’m not yours.”
“Not yet anyway. Dimitri, when you watch this video, listen to my words: I have your sister and you’re not going to find her. You’re not going to find me this time. It will drive you insane and I will love every minute of it.” I kneel down before Katya, stillfilming her, and swipe my thumb along her cheek, wiping her tears away. “Your sister is pretty when she cries.” Then I turn the video off.
I send the video to one of my men – Josh – a hacker I work with from time to time. He’ll be able to send it to Dimitri without Dimitri finding out where I took the video. My thumb hovers over the delete button on the video. Now that I’ve sent it to Josh, I don’t need to keep it any longer.
But one look at Katya’s pretty crying face in the video and I know I need to keep it. I want to keep all of her. Just from my first look at her, I knew she had to be mine. And I will make her mine. All of mine.
“Can I go back into the cage now?” she asks.
I put my phone away and look her in the eye. I can tell how much she’s struggling to keep eye contact. “Yes. You can. You’ve given me what I needed.”
“And what’s that?”
“I know how to beat you down. And in turn, it will beat Dimitri down. I’ve already won this war and he doesn’t even seem to realize it yet.”
“You can’t send him that video. It will only hurt him.”
“That’s the point, sweetheart. You’re my key to Dimitri’s downfall.” I cup her face and she holds still, not even breathing. “I know in time, you’ll join me at my side in doing so.”
“Never,” she hisses.
“Never say never.” I pull her to her feet and throw her over my shoulder again. This time, Katya doesn’t put up a fight like she did when I pulled her from the cage. No. Instead, Katya seems to relax the closer we get to the cage and the moment I place her inside of it, she eases to the floor, looking relieved.
An enigma indeed.
Dimitri
It doesn’t take me long to realize that Alice, my new housekeeper, isn’t anywhere in the house, doing the job I’m paying her to do. Sofiya is still out with her friends for brunch, so I know she doesn’t know anything. I try calling Alice but she doesn’t pick up. I just lost Ann over a week ago and now this? It’s getting ridiculous. I pay Alice good money and she just… leaves?
With a grumble, I go to Katya’s room to see if she knows anything about Alice’s whereabouts when I knock and she doesn’t answer. I knock again but once more, Katya doesn’t reply. Maybe she’s taking a nap but it’s before noon. I’m not sure why she would need to nap this time of day.
I decide to open her door without her permission. Normally, I’m against doing something like that but my gut is telling me to open the door. When I do, I see that she isn’t in her room or the adjoining bathroom. My heart skips a beat. Where is she?
