“If you want me…” My voice is barely audible, and I have to force myself to speak louder. “Use me however you want. Simi has never been this happy, and I’ll do whatever you want so you’ll continue to treat her with kindness. I won’t fight you, and Iwon’t scream. All I ask is that you allow me to raise my daughter and for you not to hurt her.”
The silence after my proposition is deafening.
Suddenly, his fingers wrap around both my wrists, and while I expect him to force me down to the floor so he can take what I’m offering him, he doesn’t.
“No.” Even though the word is nothing more than a whisper, it’s filled with so much raw emotion, I can’t help but meet his eyes. They’re dark and filled with rage.
The next instant, Georgi grabs hold of my hips, and I go airborne. Once I find myself draped over his shoulder, my lips part in a gasp as shock registers, and my hands slap against his back.
Oh God! What have I done.
No, I’m not ready!
I’ll never be ready to be raped.
He carries me up the stairs, each of his steps shuddering through my body, and a sob builds in my chest. The man is a giant, and even when I try to push up so I can try to fight, he carries me with ease.
At the top of the staircase, Georgi hauls me down, and as soon as my heels settle on the floor, he takes two steps away from me. Dragging a hand over his face as if he’s trying to calm himself down, his eyes burn on me with anger.
I made a terrible mistake! That look has always been followed by a beating that left me broken for days.
Georgi shakes his head, looking down before taking my eyes prisoner again. Right now, he looks unbelievably dangerous, and when he speaks, I jerk with fright from the low and deadly tone he’s using.
“Do you think I brought you here to use you?”
Before I can answer, he closes the distance in one large step, moving so quickly that I don’t have time to get away. A peepescapes my lips as I jerk, bracing for the blow, but then his huge hands frame my face, and as he leans down.
As our eyes collide, there’s no sign of the anger that was there a second ago.
With the five-inch heels I’m wearing it makes it easier for him to press his forehead to mine. Sounding as if he’s in extreme pain, he groans, “I watched that animal violate you while I was shackled. I couldn’t do anything.”
The words rip through me like a destructive tornado.
Anton raped me so many times, I’ve learned to disassociate when it happens. Somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing my body as mine, only as something to trade when survival demands it. Once you learn to step outside your own flesh, sacrifice no longer feels like loss but more like duty.
It was my duty to lure all those men.
It was my duty to tend to their wounds.
It was my duty to let Anton fuck me whenever he felt like it.
It was my duty to let Boris beat me.
It was my duty to let the guards verbally attack me and talk to me like I’m nothing but a whore.
Georgi brushes his thumbs over my cheeks, pulling me out of the darkness my mind slipped into.
“Do you really think after witnessing you being beaten and raped, I’d take you when you offer yourself as payment?”
I shake my head because I can’t bear the hurt in his eyes. “I only want to protect Simi,” I croak, while a tear escapes.
Georgi catches it with his thumb, and his expression softens. “I know.”
I lift my hands and grip his shirt, giving him a pleading look. “Please. Don’t hurt my daughter.”
“I won’t, Nina.” His eyes close for a moment before he looks at me again. “How can I make you believe that you’re safe here with me?”
A sob bursts over my lips. “I don’t know. Men demand things. They hurt… They take...” I almost choke on another sob, my voice cracking as I brokenly admit, “They hurt me.”
