The room stares at us in shock but Alek ignores them all and brings his hand back down onto my ass. It’s then that I notice the pain and begin to cry for that reason. Alek continues to spank me over and over and over again. No one stops him.
And I cry so loud, my voice fills the entire house.
“You will get yourself under control, is that understood?” He spanks me again. Merciless. Unrelenting. “This is just a get together. Nothing is going wrong. You will stop panicking. Stop crying. You wanted to be a woman. So act like it.”
How ironic. He tells me to act like a woman while he’s spanking me in front of a room filled with people.
“I’m sorry,” I cry out, squeezing my eyes shut. I can’t bear to look at the other people. See their hunger at my getting spanked. Or see their pity. I am pathetic. I don’t need anyone reminding me of that.
“I’m sure you are. Get control of yourself, Katya. You need this.” He lands one more hard spank to my backside then steps away. I can tell he’s breathing heavy but I still don’t dare look at him.
I slump to my knees, my backside stinging, and all the energy taken out of me. The room is deadly quiet. “Please,” I whisper. “Please.”
Alek kneels down beside me and cups my face. “I know I was harsh on you. But I see potential in you, Katya. You fascinate me. You intrigue me. But if you continue to panic like this, it’s going to get old fast. And it’s not good for you.”
I wrench my face away from his hand. “Like you care what’s good for me. You’re not my husband or boyfriend. You have no claim to me. You kidnapped me.”
“I know I did. And now I’ve decided to make you mine. It’s as simple as that. So we’re going to continue this party and you’re going to not panic this time. You wanted a night to feel like a woman. So take it.” He pulls me to my feet and turns me to face the room.
No one can look me in the eye. Either they’re embarrassed or embarrassed for me.
“Katya is ready to behave now,” Alek announces. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I say because I know it’s what Alek wants to hear. But I can’t help but resent him while at the same time feeling drawn to him. He just spanked me like a naughty child and yet… I feel more calm than I have in a long time. Like he took some of my anxiety away from me.
“Good. Now, let us have a nice evening.”
Except the evening doesn’t turn out nice.
After sitting on the couch, my backside burning and keeping my composure, the doorbell rings again.
Alek frowns. “I wasn’t expecting another guest. Travis, answer the door for me, why don’t you?”
“Sure thing, Alek.”
I hear Travis go to front door and open it and that’s when the sound of a loud bang happens. Everyone tenses. Alek runs toward the foyer to see what happens and curiosity gets the best of me and I follow too even as fear is coursing through me.
Travis is laying on the ground and a man stands in the doorway with a gun drawn. When he sees Alek, he points his gun at him.
“This is from Dimitri.” He fires and Alek jumps out of the way, just barely avoiding getting hit. He grabs my arm and throws us both into the hallway. Screams fill the air and then gunshots until everything goes quiet.
Alek peeks out from around the wall and tenses. “Stay here.” He pulls out a gun from his jacket pocket and begins to fire at someone on the other side of the wall. That’s when I hear a grunt and everything goes silent.
“It’s safe now,” Alek says. But he’s the one I need saving from.
When I walk back into the foyer, I see that the man with the gun is lying dead on the ground. A couple of Alek’s other guests are dead. A few are hiding in the living room.
“Dimitri knows where I am,” Alek says. “How the fuck did he find this place?”
Travis, who managed to survive, sits up with a groan. “I might have mentioned this gathering to a friend. But I didn’t know that word would get back to Dimitri. I didn’t know you were still at war with Dimitri. And I definitely didn’t know that you had kidnapped his sister until I showed up here.”
Alek gives him a withering look. “You made it possible for Dimitri to find this place. I’m going to have to move Katya somewhere else. Dimitri will not stop coming after her. Or me.”
“Then why did you steal his sister if you didn’t want him coming after you?”
“Travis, you’re a fucking idiot. I stole Katya to drive Dimitri insane. He was never supposed to find this place. You and your big fucking mouth.” And right before my very eyes, Alek turns his gun onto Travis and pulls the trigger… killing him instantly.
I scream and stumble back in my heels, which only ends up making me fall right onto my back, knocking all the air out of me.
