by April Lust
Cursing under my breath, I push with all of my might. Even though I’ve kept up with my dancing, I still feel weaker than I should. I grit my teeth and close my eyes and push hard. Finally, the window pops open. It makes a sound that’s louder than what I feel comfortable with, but I don’t care. Reis’s likely still down the hall, and he won’t be able to hear.
Reaching out into the cold winter air, I grab onto the lip of the window and start hauling myself through the small opening. It’s going to be a tight squeeze, even for someone as petite as myself. My feet scramble and kick against the wall, and I suppress the urge to cry out with pain as my toe catches on the cinderblock wall.
The pain doesn’t bother me as much as it normally would. It reminds me that I have to leap into action, or else fear losing my life. I’m not sure why I didn’t see it before, but I’m convinced Reis has to be a trap. Someone must have arranged for everything to happen exactly the way it did. Someone more dangerous than Beast or I could have anticipated before this all went down.
I struggle and kick until I find my footing against the wall. Pulling myself through the tiny window was harder than it should have been. The frame scraped against my chest, back and butt, and I know I am going to be black and blue with bruises by nightfall. But that doesn’t matter. Maybe by that time, I’ll be safe.
By the time my feet touch the frozen ground outside the warehouse, my heartrate has finally slowed. I know I can’t waste any time. If I’m to get away from here before Reis notices I’ve gone missing, I’ll have to move fast. I spot his bike leaning against the wall. For a moment, I’m tempted to steal it, forgetting that I don’t know the first thing about riding a motorcycle.
With renewed determination, I bolt forward. Glancing around me, I hold my breath as I listen for Reis.
The only sound in the air was silence. I sighed. Thank God , I think. At least I made it out of here alive .
A loud sound, somewhere in the distance, makes me cry out in surprise. As quickly as I can, I dart across the snowy ground towards a tree. I have no idea where I am – somewhere outside of the city, that much is obvious. Even if I can’t figure out where I am, I have no idea how to find my way back to anything resembling familiar territory.
The sound grows louder until I realize with horror that it is an approaching car. Squatting behind the tree, I hold my breath and wait as a shiny black Town Car pulls up on the snow, gravel crunching underneath its tires.
A large, muscular man climbs out of the backseat. He doesn’t close the door behind him. Instead, he glances around, surveying the nearby land with hawkish eyes. I groan as they linger just a little too long on the scraggly tree that is keeping me partially concealed. Please don’t see me , I beg silently. Please don’t see me. Please don’t notice me. Please, just get back into your car and drive away .
Suddenly, Reis comes into sight. He’s dressed and looks like he’s feeling completely back to normal. His bright green eyes glow with a hateful chill. I shiver. How the hell had I almost managed to fall for this man the night before? Just what exactly is going on?
“Where is she?” the large man demands.
Reis sighs. He runs a hand through his light brown hair. “She got out. She used the bathroom, musta climbed out that window. Not five minutes ago. I’m such a fucking moron. I thought she trusted me!”
The other man slaps him, hard.
Reis staggers back, clutching his cheek with both hands. “I deserved that,” Reis grumbles under his breath. “She can’t be far. Let’s get her.”
The man shakes his head. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a gun. Before I can cry out, the air is filled with a loud gunshot.
Reis staggers backwards, clutching his body and glancing down as a large bloodstain blooms like a morbid flower on his chest. “You shot me,” Reis croaks. “You shot me!”
“Fuck you,” the other man snarls. He turns around and stares right at me. I know right then and there that he’s known my location the whole time – this has been nothing but a cruel, horrific joke.
I’m frozen as he steps closer. When his hands tighten around my arm, I know the end is near.
Chapter 22 Natalia
When I wake up, my arms and back are incredibly stiff and my head is throbbing. Turning to my right, I see a dark form hanging in a metal cage next to me. Daring a look at the ground, I instantly feel sick. I appear to be several hundred feet from the ground, and I am locked in a cage of my own.
Closing my eyes, I think back to the snowy ground outside the warehouse. As soon as the man grabbed me, I started kicking and screaming. Reis lying on the ground in agony and dying, and I screamed even louder at the sight of the man I had slept next to. The man ordered me to be quiet, but I couldn’t control myself. I think he hit me then because everything went black, and I have a huge lump on the side of my head.
And now, here I am. Stuck in a cage, hanging in the middle of the air. I’m responsible for the death of one man, and it’s not even noon. What other trouble am I going to find myself in today?
This is all my fault , I think. If only I’d been able to see through Reis’s trickery sooner. Or if only I’d stayed behind in the warehouse, and never thought to explore!
A lump forms in my throat when I think about Beast. How am I supposed to contact him? And I’m betting that even if he figures out Reis kidnapped me, he won’t be able to find my third kidnapper. No, I have the worst feeling that I’m going to die here, tied up and all alone.
As I struggle with my bonds, the cage sways slightly from a tether in the ceiling. The room where I’m held is dark, but the swaying makes me nauseous anyway. Nervously, I wonder how much weight this thing can hold. I’m not exactly light, being a muscular ballerina, but at least I’m nowhere near the size of the other man dangling from the cage next door.
I decide that as soon as I get out of here, I’m going to apologize to Beast, first thing. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I can’t stick around New York – I don’t have a life here anymore. Maybe I’ll go somewhere else, think about dancing again. Hell, between sewing up Beast and patching up Reis, maybe I’ll go to medical school. The world always needs more doctors, right?
My head aches and throbs with each heartbeat, and I let out a quiet moan of frustration. Struggling with my bonds, I manage to twist out of the ropes that hold my wrists together. It feels like they’ve been bound for hours. Gingerly, I rub them together, wincing at the sores that have sprung up in the wake of the ropes.
Beneath me, a light turns on. It’s far away, down on the floor, and it doesn’t do much to help me see. Two men walk in. I’m so high up in the air that they look like ants. One of them walks over to the wall and presses a button.
The cage holding me shakes and jolts. I let out a wail of surprise and fear. There’s a clanking sound like metal against metal and the cage slowly begins descending towards the ground.
The men laugh loudly as I wail again. The cage feels less stable than ever, and it’s a slow ride down to the bottom. My mind is running scared with horrible thoughts of what they’re going to do. Am I going to be sold into slavery? Forced to work as a hooker for rival motorcycle clubs?
Killed?
By the time the cage reaches the floor, I’m shaking so hard I can barely stand up. The men walk closer – now, I can finally see them. They’re both clad in dark suits and wearing sunglasses. They both have short crew-cut haircuts like Beast.
The reminder is enough to make me feel sick once more.
“Sweetheart,” one of the men says as he walks towards the cage. “We’ve been waitin’ for you for a long time.”
“Who are you?” My voice is shaky, and I cringe – I know it’s easy to tell how afraid I am. The men both burst out laughing. One of them – the heavier one – leans against the metal cage and rattles the bars with both of his hands. I cry out in fear and he laughs again, throwing his head back and showing his golden fillings off to the world.
“You’re fuckin’ s
caring her, man,” the other man says. He steps forward and pulls the door of my cage open. The hinges creak as the door swings open. Suddenly, I wish I was back up in the air, away from their reach.
“What do you want? Why am I here?”
“Sweetheart,” the first man says, looking at me over the tops of his sunglasses. “We’re gonna take you to meet someone who’s been waiting a long time to see you.”
My heart leaps in my chest but my stomach turns to ice. I don’t know who they’re talking about, but I know it can’t be good.
“We’re gonna take you to meet your father, Abram,” the man continues. “Ain’t that a nice surprise?”
Now I know what’s going to happen to me.
I’m going to die.
Chapter 23 Natalia
I try to swallow., but my mouth is dry and sticky. Suddenly, I wish that I had a toothbrush. “I don’t know,” I say casually. “He abandoned me, didn’t he? Why would I want to meet him now?”
The skinnier man rolls his eyes. “It’s not like you got a choice. Chubby, you take her,” he grunts.
The larger man, Chubby, steps forward and grabs me around the wrist. I try to fight back but after a few days of high anxiety and not eating very much, I don’t have much strength. My body feels alien and sore like I haven’t had the chance to dance in days.
I think back on yesterday. Reis kidnapping me, tending to his wounds, and seeing him get killed. Thinking of Reis makes me shiver, but not in a good way. I can’t believe I acted like that, that I was so hurtful to Beast behind his back.
Chubby pulls me out of the cage. My wrists are throbbing, but when I reach down to try to massage myself, he keeps my hands in a firm grip.
“Don’t go thinking you can fight us,” Chubby says. He grins at me, showing a mouthful of rotten teeth. There’s even a gold filling on his incisor. It’s a detail that chills me to the bone.
I yank my hand away from Chubby’s grip and cross my arms over my chest. My heart is beating frantically.
“William, is the car here?” Chubby turns to face the skinnier guy, William, and belches. “I’m fuckin’ starving,” he adds. “Can we eat on the way?”
William rolls his eyes. “We gotta get this bitch out of here,” he says. He smirks at me, and I fight the urge to spit in his face. Even though I haven’t been aware of William and Chubby for more than five minutes, I’ve already decided I hate them both.
Chubby grabs me by the arm and pulls me forward. He’s stronger than he looks, and I cry out in pain as I stumble across the floor. By now, the memory of my night with Reis is fading, just like the memories of my time with Beast. Thinking of Beast hurts my heart.
“Hey!” William swats Chubby on the upper back. “Be fuckin’ gentle with her!” He raised his eyebrows. “Abram won’t like it if we take her in, and she’s all beat up.”
I bite my lip, wondering what’s going to happen next. Chubby glances at me, not even bothering to apologize. As he hustles me farther away from the row of hanging cages, I can’t help but shiver. I feel like I’ve somehow managed to dodge a bullet, even though these guys are still abducting me against my will.
“Don’t worry about anything else,” William says. He raises an eyebrow. “Right now, we gotta focus on getting you back to your Daddy.”
I wonder what my father is like. Even though I’ve spent my whole life alternately cursing him and loving him, I realize I have no idea who Abram Pestov is as a person, as a man. What is he like as a friend? As a husband? As a boss? Is he the kind of guy who’s gonna pull me into a hug and tell me how much time he’s spent thinking of me over the years? Or is it not going to be that kind of reunion? If Abram is anything like the man Beast described, I think I should be terrified of him, but the man I remember from my childhood was a kind and loving father. Who should I expect to meet now?
“What’s he like?” I twist out of Chubby’s grip and face William. “What’s he going to say when he meets me for the first time? He left me, you know. Back in Russia, he dumped me in shitty orphanage.”
“Shut up,” Chubby hisses. “Stop wasting our time. We ain’t gonna tell you nothing.” Chubby chuckles, and I can tell he’s obviously impressed with his own importance.
“Well, you are going to be wasting a lot of time with me because I somehow don’t think my father’s all that eager to see me right now,” I snap back defiantly. I don’t know where this courage is coming from.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” William says smugly. He steps up in time with Chubby until he’s standing right next to me. “Abram’s talked of nothin’ but you.”
When Chubby pulls me out of the warehouse, the sun is so bright that I’m blinded. Fresh snow has fallen overnight and covered the ground in a blanket of dazzling white. It’s so beautiful that I can’t tear my eyes away – even out here, around a bunch of abandoned warehouses, I realize the power of Mother Nature.
“Stop gawkin’,” Chubby grunts before trying to grab me. “God, you’re wily!” Pulling back, he makes a point to glance over me from head to toe.
William says snidely, “You can’t handle a little girl like that?”
I roll my eyes and say as delicately as I can, “I am a ballerina, after all. I need to be athletic and agile.”
William and Chubby both smirk at me. “Yeah, right,” William says. “At least, you were a ballerina. But you ain’t gonna be, not now.”
My heart skips a beat and my stomach feels like it’s falling to the ground. “What do you mean?” I glance up at William and Chubby. We’re standing in the middle of the snow. There are tire tracks all around and the air smells strongly of gasoline.
“Nothin,’ sweetheart,” William says.
“No, tell me,” I say loudly. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“He means you ain’t gonna be dancin’ for much longer,” Chubby snaps. “Look, William – the car’s comin’!” He points over across the blinding field of white.
I yank my wrist free and shield my eyes. Sure enough, I can see a big black SUV sweeping over the ground. The windows are tinted black and the chrome details are enough to tell me this car is probably heavily armored.
There’s no chance of escaping, not now. I’m stuck with William and Chubby, and I know I can’t think about running away. There’s a big shiny gun strapped to William’s thigh, and I figure Chubby’s armed, as well.
The SUV screeches to a stop, spraying William and Chubby with snow. I gracefully manage to leap out of the way, amazed at the way my muscles are cooperating after hours of confinement in that cramped cage. It makes me smile that such a small thing has managed to bring me a little joy in the middle of a bleak depression.
The back doors open and the three of us are greeted by the barrel of a gun. Instinctively, I cry out and jump back.
This time, Chubby’s quicker than I am. He wraps his doughy fingers around my arm and grips me tightly. “No running away, princess,” Chubby says. He grins at me like he’s just won a prize. “Time to get inside the car and drive away.”
I bite my lip as Chubby shoves me inside the backseat. Inside, the SUV is dark and it takes my eyes a minute to adjust. Finally, I make out two large men seated opposite from me. The SUV has been expanded, almost like a limo, with two benches of seats.
I keep my chin up as I push past the men and sit down on the seat. Chubby and William follow me into the SUV, and William pulls the door closed. He calls something in Russian to the driver. A moment later, the tires screech once more, and we begin drifting through the snowy field.
One of the men sitting opposite leans forward and stares at me. My first urge is to shrink back, but there’s not really anywhere I can go. Unlike William and Chubby, he doesn’t look particularly well-groomed. His face is covered in a dark stubble, and his eyes are yellow with age…or meth.
“This is Natalia,” William says. He points towards me, and I resist the urge to groan. Who the hell else would I be? The pope?
The two men stare a
t me. It’s making me uneasy. By now, I should be used to all this attention from big, brawny men, but if anything, I’m more unsettled than ever. These men are different from Beast and his gang. These men are something more. Something worse. Even though I know that Beast and his guys are violent, these men seem like they would kill me without hesitation. I like to think Beast would hesitate and would feel a little remorse if he had to kill me.
“How long is this going to take?” I turn to William. “When are we going to meet up with my father?”
William shrugs. He calls something to the driver in Russian. I can’t make out a word, but he’s speaking for at least a few seconds. The driver replies and the two of them have a short little conversation. I’m waiting on the edge of my seat to hear William’s reply, but he stays silent.
