by Jaden Wilkes
“He’s done, finish this,” Nico said, “you need to stop.”
Dimitri couldn’t stop. He didn’t know if the man knew a damn thing, he didn’t know if he was innocent, or guilty, but at this time he just didn’t fucking care.
He was out of control and yet exuded deliberate actions that belied his inner turmoil. He dragged his blade up the man’s cheek, pulled a flap of skin away and sliced his tongue completely off.
The boss choked and gagged on the tongue as it slipped down the back of his throat. He started to gasp, his eyes bulged and his breathing became labored.
Dimitri watched with a cool efficiency. He hadn’t gotten everything he’d wanted, but killing this man felt good…it felt really good.
The man stopped fighting. The bodyguard’s mewling had turned to thick breathing, and Nico glared at him, but didn’t move his hands away from the boss’s head.
“He didn’t know anything,” Dimitri said to Nico, everything coming into focus as if he was coming down off a high. “He knew nothing about Columbia.”
“I know,” said Nico as he removed his hands at last. The boss was limp but still sucking in choking breaths. Dimitri stood and looked at his work, disgust and enjoyment coursed through him.
“I’ll finish him off,” he told Nico and thrust his knife through his eye, found the brain and twisted. In an instant, the boss stopped breathing. His body twitched, his feet kicked, and it went limp.
Dimitri stood and walked to the bodyguard. Nico followed right behind and asked, “What are you going to do?”
Dimitri didn’t reply, he dropped and punched the guard in the face. The man’s eyes flew open and he groaned in pain.
“Tell your boss that I’m coming for him, I want her back,” he said. “I am going to let you live but let him know that I will never stop hunting him, and I will watch everything he loves burn to the ground. I will destroy him and everything he’s built. Everything he owns. Do you understand me?”
The guard nodded, wide eyes and full of terror.
Dimitri got up, washed his knife in the sink, dried it on the plush white towel and left the room.
As always, Nico was right behind him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
IOANA
Ioana hunched over as another pain raced through her stomach. She wasn’t sure if it was hunger or something wrong with the baby, but she couldn’t help her gasp.
“Fucking move,” the guard said and hit her over the back with his cane. Iryna moved to help her, but she shook her head, not sure if her friend could handle another beating.
They’d been punished for days after their failed escape. It had taken its toll on Iryna more than herself though, the younger girl wasn’t used to such rough living. She had always gone right back to being her fiancé’s little pet the moment his raging storm blew past.
This time was different, this time Ioana really believed that he would sell Iryna; he would get rid of her for good.
She helped her friend to the bed after the guards had left, not wanting to show any sign of mercy or concern in front of them. They always managed to twist signs of weakness for their own pleasure.
“What happened this time?” Ioana asked. She herself had been taken to another bedroom and been forced to suck a few different cocks. It was mild compared to what happened sometimes.
One of the men had punched her in the stomach, laughing to his buddies that he could make her deliver the baby so he could fuck them both at the same time.
Ioana remembered his face. A textiles dealer from Milan. She would kill him one day, maybe his family too, but she would make him pay.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Iryna said and fell back onto the bed. “I can’t talk about it, I can’t talk about this fucking horror show any more.”
“You have to talk about it, it helps keep you sane. The more you bottle it up, the more it eats at you. Tell me about it, and then promise me you’ll keep fighting. Keep moving forward. And keep their faces in your mind so we might hunt them all down one day when we are free.
“We’ll never be free,” Iryna said, “this is it Ioana, this is my life now. I’m going to be fucked until I’m useless, then beaten and left for dead somewhere. I know it.”
“You can’t say that, you can’t believe that,” Ioana said, “I believe in my heart of hearts that we will get through this. They can’t keep us here forever, and sooner or later we’ll get away or Boian will come and find me. I’ll never leave you.”
She sat on the floor next to the bed and rubbed Iryna’s back. She’d never understood when Iryna had been the spoilt one, why she’d done this so many times.
Now she got it, when you were helpless in the face of a friend’s anguish, sometimes the only thing you could do was offer the smallest of comforts. A simple touch, a kind word, encouragement. It was truly the little things that made a difference in the darkest of nights.
“I don’t know how much longer I can last,” Iryna said at last, almost to herself more than to Ioana.
“You’ll last as long as you have to,” Ioana replied, “and when it’s safe, you can collapse.”
Iryna sighed and steadied her breathing. Ioana noticed a large stain spreading on the back of Iryna’s dress, blood. She let her friend sleep, got up, went to the bathroom and gathered a towel to help stop the spread of blood.
Her hands were shaking as she rolled it up and placed it between Iryna’s legs. She could manage to hold her rage inside for the sake of herself, but seeing the bruises and bite marks up and down Iryna’s thighs, the handprints from being held down…the blood. She felt a surge of fury that almost frightened her.
She swallowed it, hard, and pledged for the hundredth time that day to seek revenge.
She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t.
*****
“Move along, you stupid cunts,” the guard said and kicked one of the girls in the calf. The girl, no more than fifteen, fell with a yelp of pain. Immediately two more guards were on her, kicking her and beating her until she couldn’t get up. They dragged her to the crowded bus, pushed those in line out of the way, and shoved her into a seat at the front.
Ioana and Iryna were seated at the back; they were huddled together and uncertain as to their destination. They just knew they’d been woken some time in the night and loaded onto a crowded dilapidated passenger bus and driven somewhere out of Berlin.
They’d been afforded a short bathroom break, fifty girls squatting on the side of the road somewhere in Germany.
The bus rumbled to life and the door creaked shut. The guards walked up and down the aisle, counting girls, pinching them and cuffing them when they felt it necessary.
It was mostly never necessary, but these men clearly got off on this kind of power.
Iryna had been in a better mood, she was healing from the last attack and both women couldn’t help but feel some excitement at moving to a new environment.
Some time later, as it was growing dark, Ioana woke up. The bus was silent, most of the women were sleeping, some were shifting restlessly, some crying out from their dreams. The guards were at the front playing some kind of card game and speaking in low voices to each other. Even from the back, Ioana’s hair stood on end at the sound of their cruel laughter.
She sat up straight and let Iryna slide into the nook under her arm. She held her friend upright and watched the darkened landscape, they were traveling on bumpy back roads to avoid detection so she couldn’t get a feel for exactly where they were.
She was almost lulled back to sleep when she noticed the silhouette of a road sign up ahead. She watched carefully as the bus sped past, caught part of a name in the flash of headlights, and closed her eyes in utter relief.
They were apparently twenty kilometers away from a place she recognized, Năsăud, the village her father’s mother had come from.
They were home, back in Romania.
She could feel Boian’s presence in her bones, in every fibre of
her being.
He would find them now, he would come for them.
Her baby gave a kick and did a little barrel roll. She smiled and touched her stomach, grateful for these private moments with her child.
“We’re going home,” she whispered and rubbed her stomach. “We’re going back to your Daddy.”
She fell asleep with her hand on her curving abdomen and a smile on her face.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DIMITRI
The room was dimly lit and Dimitri had a sense of déjà vu. He’d been here months before, under different circumstances, but this same room. He was sure of it.
He was here to meet Boian, ironically he’d contacted Sanda’s son long before the son ever decided to take Dimitri’s money. Dimitri had been the first one to cave, the first one to make contact.
He hadn’t returned to Malta. Columbia was six days gone and he hadn’t slept, eaten, or changed his clothes other than to drag a fresh jacket over his bloodstained shirt in order to avoid detection.
After his brief layover in Kiev to stock up on a few more weapons and kill a couple men for information, he’d taken the plane to Bucharest. Nico had gone home to research, he did much better under these circumstances when he could make connections and dig up information online.
The door opened and Boian stepped in. He wore a suspicious look and was surprised to see Dimitri.
“You again,” he said and closed the door.
“Yes, me again. This time I need your help.”
“What could I possibly do for you, a man of such wealth and position? I am just a lowly orphan boy.”
Boian’s face was gaunt; Dimitri didn’t recall him being that thin the last time they’d met.
“I’m looking for a girl,” Dimitri said.
Boian paused, looked him up and down and said, “I thought you were out of that business.”
“It’s not business,” he replied, “this is personal.”
“I’m intrigued,” Boian replied, “but I can’t see how I could possibly help you.”
“She might have been taken here, to your country…but I don’t know where. I need information.”
Boian looked at Dimitri, stared him down and apparently found him lacking. “I can’t help you,” he said and turned to leave.
“Wait,” Dimitri said, “I’ll pay you. Anything you want. Everything I’ve got.”
Boian looked back at Dimitri and said, “You’re fucking joking, right? Is everything so easily solved by money? Abandoned by your mother? Here, have some cash. A girl goes missing? Let’s solve it with more money. Money can’t buy you everything, and I’m afraid it can’t buy you out of this one.”
Dimitri was crushed, he had been certain Boian would know something, point him in the right direction…give him the tiniest indication where his little dove was being kept. He wanted to grab the other man, push him down and fucking stab the information from his lips, cut it from his brain.
But this was Sanda’s son, and at this point, his only hope.
“I’ve got nothing,” he said and Boian stopped in his tracks. “Without her I mean. I'm nothing, I’ve got nothing, I’m worth nothing. I would do anything in the world to get her back. Name your price, every man wants something.”
Boian turned back and walked to Dimitri. He searched his face, looking for signs that Dimitri was being deceptive. He must have seen something in his eyes, the longing and desperation that haunted them now, because he said, “I might be able to help you if you help me.”
“What could I do for you? Anything, please tell me.”
“I am also looking for a girl. We could possibly find our girls together, combine our resources and energy to look for them.”
“Who did you lose?”
“Her name is Ioana, and she is going to be my wife. She disappeared five months ago. At first I thought she ran back to her family, but she hasn’t been seen since she left Bucharest. I’ve heard rumours about her being taken by the people she fled from in the first place. They might be the same ones who took your girl.”
Dimitri was overjoyed, not at Boian’s loss but at this potential lead. He was beyond exhausted at this point though, and could barely comprehend what was being said. “They might be at the same place? This fortress in the countryside?”
“Possibly,” Boian replied, “but listen, when’s the last time you slept?”
“Three nights ago, I think.”
“You need to keep yourself strong, for her.”
“I need to stay focused until I find her.”
“You’ll never find her like this. Take tonight off, sleep. I will come first thing in the morning and we’ll work on this together.” Boian wouldn’t heed Dimitri’s protests and he opened the door. Dimitri saw two armed, muscled men standing guard, he hadn’t realized Boian had been with them all along, that’s how foggy his focus was at the moment.
“Thank you,” he said and sat at the same kitchen table he’d been at months before.
Boian almost shut the door, then opened it again and asked, “Who is the girl you are looking for?”
“Her name is Columbia,” Dimitri replied with a small, secret smile, “and she is going to be my wife.”
*****
Dimitri’s phone buzzed and dragged him from his dreamless sleep. He looked at the clock on the nightstand; he’d been in bed for six hours but felt worse than he had last night. He had vague recollections of flipping from side to side, constantly seeking Columbia.
His cock ached for her, it was hard this morning but he was too overcome with grief at his loss to do anything about it. He could close his eyes and imagine her with him in this hard double bed with the thick, rough sheets and thin blankets. It was a far cry from their luxurious bed back home, but most likely heads above her current conditions.
He choked back an overwhelming urge to punch something, pound his fist into the headboard or get up and smash one of the cheap little chairs through a window.
He wanted to destroy the fucking world until she was home in his arms.
The phone buzzed again and he reached for it. Nico had texted some documents about Boian and the group of men he lead in Bucharest. It seemed Sanda’s son might be somebody better connected than initially thought.
He ran an underground city made up of mostly orphans and society’s rejects. A lot of escaped or discarded servants and sex slaves made their way into his realm. The upper world rejected them; cast them off, so they found solace with their own kind in their own kingdom of sorts.
Dimitri finished reading the profile Nico had compiled on Boian and lay back on the bed. He closed his eyes and could almost imagine Columbia by his side. He loved her face in the morning, the way her eyes opened and widened in surprised delight when he woke her with his tongue in her cleft.
He loved the taste of her, a deep musky flavour, their combined juices and her own special additions.
He loved her sleepy smile when she woke him with her mouth around his cock, sucking him into consciousness and drinking him down before she stepped foot out of bed.
He had to stop remembering her, for if he did it would mean she was memorialized. He couldn’t face the world without her in it, so he decided to force himself back into rage.
Fire would keep him moving, and fire would help him find her. It didn’t matter if he scorched the earth behind him as he went, as long as she ended up back in his arms.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
COLUMBIA
“Wakey wakey, you stupid little bitch,” Columbia heard a nasty voice whisper in her ear. She pretended to be asleep, regulated her breathing to add to the charade.
She felt the man to her left, crouched over her, breathing into her ear. She let him place his hands on her back, travel down to the top of her ass and start to slide into her jeans.
That’s as far as she let him get. She flipped over and brought her knee up into his groin. He doubled over with a grunt and she jumped up, ran to the door and was out in a flash. He c
alled after her, but she was gone, running down the narrow hallway, past doors that all looked the same, metal and locked. She thought there must be a way out, somewhere to the outside, if only she could make it to the end.
All around her she heard the cries and screams of other women and men. They had heard her frantic bid for escape and seemed to be cheering her on. She hadn’t realized she shared this space with so many others; they must have been bringing people down as she’d slept.
A door on her right opened and Mike stepped out, doing up his trousers.
“Hey there, princess,” he said and grabbed a handful of her hair as she tried to duck past. He got her in a headlock and held her against him.
He was strong, well muscled and well fed…and had probably been sleeping soundly somewhere in a soft bed under thick blankets.
She struggled and tried to bite him, she couldn’t get a hold on him though; he was tough and kept her pinned tight.
She felt his cock harden against her and he said, “Oh princess, just the way I like it. Fight me, try to stop me, but please, keep going.”
She went limp and let him drag her back to her room. She counted seven doors along the hall until they got to hers, plus two more past before the end of the hall. She counted all the doors on either side and realized there was room for twenty people down here, twenty of them to be abused and tortured…and raped.
She realized this must be a holding area for sex workers, or a place to keep somebody you wanted to forget about. She didn’t know any more about it, if it was in a house, a basement under an industrial space…if it were in the country or in the city. Or even what continent they were on.
“Awe, come on, you’re ruining my fun,” Mike said and motioned for the guard to get out of the way. Columbia had a small amount of satisfaction when she noted his pained walk.
“Not talking?” Mike asked as he dragged her to the cot. “That’s okay, I’ve got plenty enough to say. I’ll tell you a bedtime story,” he said and let her body fall back onto the mattress. “Once upon a time there was a mean little bitch, let’s call her princess. She got it in her head to kill a few men, nobody too important, but let’s say they were important enough that their deaths pissed off some very powerful men. In order to find out who had killed those men, the king of the castle decided to keep the princess safe and unharmed so he could extract information. But once the king finds out who those men are and gets them where he wants them, he’s going to no longer give a shit what happens to the princess. You follow?”
