“No, you weren’t,zolotse.” I know the next question is going to upset her, but I have to know. “How did you end up there?”
She takes in a deep, shaky breath and says, “My parents picked me up from college and told me that my dad had racked up a huge debt from gambling and that I needed to work at this lounge to help pay it off. They swore I wouldn’t have to do anything, just hand out drinks and smile at the men, like a typical waitressing job.”
“Your parents took you there?” She tenses at the anger in my voice, but when I run my fingers through her hair again, she relaxes into my touch.
“Ruby had me sign something, and then my dad left. He just left me there,” she sobs. “Later Ruby told me that my dad knew exactly what kind of place it was because part of his debt was from coming in there.”
I don’t want to upset her any more by telling her that I’m going to be paying a visit to her father very soon, so I just hold her, rubbing her back as she cries and I think about how good it’s going to feel to end these motherfuckers’ lives. When she’s able to talk again, she tells me about the auction and about how her virginity was roughly and cruelly taken from her. I thought I felt protective of her before, but hearing this has ratcheted that feeling up by a thousand percent. The only thing that keeps me calm is thinking about how good it’s going to feel to get revenge.
I hold her for a long time, not wanting to let her go, but when I hear her stomach growl, I smile and kiss her head before helping her up.
“Let’s go get some lunch. You need to eat something, and Katya will be deeply offended if we skip a meal.”
She gives me a small smile and follows me downstairs, keeping a tight grip on my hand the whole way. After lunch, we spend the rest of the afternoon together. There are things I need to check on, but I trust Ilya and Andrei to run things while I spend time with Nina. I’m not ready to leave her alone just yet. When I go into our bathroom later and see the clothes she’s thrown away, I grab them and walk out to her.
“You don’t want these?”
“No.” She takes a step back like she doesn’t even like being near them. “I never want to see them again.”
I look out the window, watching the sky start to darken, and then turn back to her. “Let’s go build a bonfire.”
I can tell it’s the last thing she expected me to say, but I see the corner of her mouth turn up as she gives a small nod. I toss her clothes into a bag, noticing there are several pairs of panties mixed in along with a black dress and a couple of pairs of shorts and T-shirts. I’m guessing the black dress was from the night her virginity was auctioned off, and I have the sudden urge to tear it to shreds. I resist, but only because I don’t want to cheat her out of the pleasure of destroying it herself.
On the way outside, I holler to Ilya and Andrei, letting them know what’s going on. Ruslan comes running up to us, tail wagging and big paws prancing around because he’s unable to keep still. Nina pats his head and follows him down the path to the stretch of private beach in front of us. Ilya, Andrei, and I work to pile logs and create a base for the bonfire. As soon as we light it up, Svetlana comes running down to join us, carrying a basket filled with god knows what. She sets it down and walks over to stand near Andrei while the logs catch and the flames start to grow.
When it really starts blazing, I hook an arm around Nina’s waist and gently pull her back a bit. She stares at the flames, her dark hair whipping around in the strong breeze, looking so damn beautiful that I can’t tear my eyes from her. I wish she could see what I see. I know she sees herself as weak and broken, but she’s wrong. There’s nothing weak about her, and she may be broken, but she won’t be for long.
Pulling her closer to me so the others on the other side of the bonfire can’t see us, I hand her one of the pieces of clothing from the bag. Her fingers automatically clench around the shirt as she looks up at me in confusion. I look to the fire and then give her a wink. A small smile pulls at the corner of her mouth before she throws the shirt into the flames. I watch the light dance across her face as she watches it burn and then reaches for another piece. One by one, she tosses the clothing into the bonfire until only the black dress remains. She clutches the soft fabric tightly, her dark eyes filled with a pain so deep it’s painful to witness, but then she lets go, throwing it in and letting the flames engulf it, turning it to nothing but ash.
She doesn’t speak for several minutes, just watches the clothing disappear as the logs crackle and the waves crash violently behind us. When she’s satisfied, she looks up at me and says, “Thank you, Vasily.”
“You’re welcome,zolotse.”
It’s hard to tell by the firelight, but I swear she blushes at the term of endearment. There’s something so sweet about her, innocent even, and the fact that Ruby wasn’t able to destroy that part of her is a goddamn miracle. The sound of laughter has me pulling my eyes from hers. We walk around the fire and when I see a vodka bottle being passed from Svetlana to Andrei, the mystery of what was in that basket she brought down is solved. Ilya smiles and holds a bottle out to me, but before I can grab it, Nina takes it and brings it to her mouth. I watch her take a healthy swallow and then hold back a laugh when she starts to cough.
“Easy,” I tell her, grabbing the bottle and patting her back softly. As soon as she’s calmed down, she reaches for the vodka again. When I don’t hand it over, she grabs my arm, not realizing it’s the exact spot where her name is inked onto my skin.
“Please, Vasily. I just want to forget, just for a little bit.”
I hand the bottle back to her, knowing it’s not a wise decision but unable to deny her a few hours of relief. She winces when the alcohol hits her lip, but keeps going. She doesn’t cough as much this time, and I recognize the determined look on her face. She’s going to get shit-faced, and I’m guessing she’ll regret it in the morning.
“Someone’s on a mission,” Ilya says in Russian, coming to stand beside me and eyeing the way Nina is attacking the bottle.
“I guess I know what I’ll be doing tonight.”
He laughs and hands me a package of hotdogs and a couple of roasting sticks. “At least get some food into her. Maybe that’ll help.”
I thank him and start spearing hot dogs. Nina takes the stick I hand her, but she doesn’t let go of the vodka. She cradles it against her chest while holding her stick out to the flames. I stand next to her and do the same. When I look down at her, I notice that her eyes are already looking a little glassy and she’s already swaying a bit. I’m guessing she rarely drinks, if ever, and this is about to hit her hard. Grabbing the package of buns from the basket Svetlana brought, I help Nina get hers off the stick so she doesn’t burn herself and then hold them both out to her.
“Eat both of these.”
“Do you have mustard?” she asks and then gives a soft giggle.
I can’t help but smile at the sound of it as I dig around in the basket and then hand her the yellow bottle. She drenches her hot dogs in it and then takes as large of a bite as her split lip will allow.
“That’s really good,” she says around her mouthful.
I smile and tuck a strand of her dark hair behind her ear to keep it out of her way as she mauls the hot dog. I fix my own and make quick work of them. When she slips a piece of hot dog to Ruslan, I pretend not to notice, even though stealthy is the last word I’d use to describe it, especially with the loud laugh she gives when he licks her fingers.
