“Why am I here?” I finally ask, unable to bear not knowing any longer.
A slow smile spreads across his mouth as if he had hoped I’d ask. “Why do you think you’re here?”
I frown at him and shake my head. “I don’t know. I know you’re no longer interested in me as your trophy wife, so I’m not sure why you’re keeping me here.”
He cocks his head to the side a little as he asks, “Why do you think that?”
“You’re acting differently than you did in Arizona, and you haven’t touched me or flirted or anything.”
This makes him grin again. “Would you like me to touch you, kukolka?”Little doll.
I lean away from him with a sneer on my face as I quickly shake my head. “God, no.”
An amused noise escapes his throat before he takes another bite of his dinner, chewing slowly as he watches me.When he swallows it down, he finally responds. “You’re right. I have no interest in marrying you anymore. I’ll admit, I was interested in the version of you that your brother had created, the pliant, obedientkukolka. But now I see it was just a facade. He hadn’t really shaped you at all. It was merely a fake glamour, and as soon as it was broken, I could see there was no returning it.”
His words stun me to silence. I hadn’t thought of it like that at all. I thought of it as two versions of myself, the version I was before I escaped, and the version I’m becoming now. But if what Ivan is saying is true, then this version of me was always there, under the surface.
Did my guys not tell me something similar? They showed me that I had always questioned Robert, which is why he started putting me in the closet. They proved that I didn’t obey him because I wanted to; I did it out of fear of punishment. I just forgot that, over time, obeying him had become a habit.
Feeling a little uneasy about the fact that Ivan is making me feel more secure in my skin, I lift my gaze to him as I ask, “Then what is it you want from me?”
This time, a full smile covers his face as he responds. “Who said I want anything from you?”
“Then why am I here?” I ask again, getting annoyed with this verbal roundabout.
He smiles, taking another bite of his dinner, purposely drawing out his response. My hands clench into fists, wishing I had a weapon other than a dinner knife to use on him. I had actually tried to stab him the first time we ate together. But Sergei is much faster than he looks, unarming me before my arm spanned half the distance between Ivan and me. That’s probably why there’s one space between us; itgives them just enough time to stop any attempt I make to hurt him.
“Are your accommodations to your liking?” he asks randomly, throwing me off at the abrupt change in conversation.
“What? My room? It’s fine, why?”
“I was just curious, is all. I wouldn’t want you thinking I wasn’t taking good care of you.”
I narrow my eyes at him, unsure what he’s not saying.
Suddenly, he pushes back his chair and stands up. “Have a good evening, kukolka. I’ll see you at breakfast. I have a feeling it’s going to be… memorable.”
With that strange statement, he turns and leaves the dining room, leaving behind a sense of foreboding that causes goosebumps to rise on my skin.
I have no idea what’s happening tomorrow, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not a good thing.
CHAPTER TWO
JAGGER
Blood trickles from my fingertips as I try to work the nail loose. It would probably hurt more if it weren’t for the cold. It has to be close to freezing, and it’s only going to get colder.
Footsteps approach, and I quickly move to my feet, the chain around my wrist clinking as it's pulled taut. The other end is secured to a U-shaped anchor in the ground at the back of this shed, or storage building, or whatever the hell this tiny ass shack is.
Whatever it had been used for before, it was empty now, apart from me. The chains on the door rattle before the door is yanked open, and the end of an AK-47 is pointed directly at me.
When Roman enters, he steps aside as the other guard, Nikolai, steps inside with a tray of food.
“Don’t move,” Roman warns in Russian as Nikolai moves forward, placing the tray on the ground halfway between us. The first few times they’d brought me food, I tried to fight them and paid with the butt of his gun to my head.
The next time they came, Roman warned me that if I tried to do anything, he’d take it out on Wren instead of me. That had stopped any further attack.
I didn’t even know that she was actually here, wherever here was. The last thing I remembered was holding her tight as smoke surrounded us, then something sharp pierced the skin at the back of my head, and I lost all control of my body. Right before my eyes shut, I saw her being dragged away from me.
