by Bry Ann
“Yeah I do.” I glare at him. “I know that real well. Fine. I’m prepared.”
Tobias growls and stands up. He pounces over me and cages me in with his arms. Out of fear I look over Tobias’s shoulder to Anatoli, but Tobias grabs my chin roughly and forces me my eyes back to his.
“Don’t look at him! Look at me. You need to understand this. You need to understand what Anatoli is saying in real terms. If Pytor rapes you. He can’t step in. If Pytor has someone else rape you he can’t step in. If he beats you, chokes you or worse, fucks with your mind, he can’t step in. Is that clear?”
That’s blunt. My eyes start to pulse. Tobias pushes away and stares me down.
“Yeah, it’s clear.”
My voice is soft and I look at my knees, trying to get a grip on myself.
“Anatoli doesn’t understand he isn’t doing you any favors by sugarcoating this. You need to learn to separate your mind and body.”
I look up at Tobias confused. Is he being helpful? Dare I say somewhat nice.
“Find your reason to survive and hone in that. You’d be surprised what your body can endure. It is the mind you have to convince. The mind fucks with you.”
My mouth is open in shock. Anatoli stands and slaps Tobias’s back in a brotherly gesture. Then Anatoli squeezes my shoulder and goes to grab Rex. I don’t focus on any of them.
I’m not ready for this.
I’m scared of the pain.
I’m scared of the torture.
But what I am truly most afraid of is what Tobias just said. I’m terrified my mind is going to break beyond repair.
‘Fuck with me” in a way I won’t ever be able to recover from.
Chapter 13 (Pytor):
Ah, this is so fun. I sit at my desk with a smirk on my face. One that has been described as devilish to some. Eh, fuck ‘em I guess. To this day the most fun I have is with Alex under my control. Honestly even the chase is fun with her. The girl is fragile as glass, but knows how to fight with the big boys.
I will amend my previous statement. It was fun. It was fun and games until she killed one of my men. Only I get to do that.
I’ve never wanted revenge more, but after it happened Alex disappeared off the face of the earth. She got smart. None of my men could find her. Not one. Then she started appearing in the news with none other than Logan Prescott and his bitch. I want to say I'm surprised, but honestly I'm not. This is a girl I have honestly never underestimated. It’s the first time a female has ever challenged me. She’s mine. Not in the fairytale shit way, but that woman is mine. Mine to fuck. Mine to control. Mine to say what she says and does, and who she says and does it with. It’s why I’ve wasted so much time and resources on her. Now I have someone on the inside. Someone who knew her. Who can give me intel on what she’s been up to all this time. The fuckers name is Blaze. I won’t get into his background, but he’s a ghost. Always has been. A demon really. Deep in the dark, underbelly of the world. He’ll die when I get the information I need. I killed his fiance. He can’t truly be on my side of things, but I am interested to see how far he will go to take down Alex. For some reason he blames her more than me for the death of his fiance, which is just fucking brilliant.
According to Blaze, Alex has two close friends, Sam and Dana Prescott. Sam is like her sister though. Sam is the one Alex would die for in a heartbeat. I wonder if Sam for would do the same for Alex? I smile spreads across my face. See, Alex likes to act tough. Likes to act like she doesn’t give a fuck, but she cares. She’d be easy to kill, but that would do shit for me. I have to kill her heart. That’s something she can never come back from, and that, well, that will be fun to watch. She deserves to break after what’s done. There’s two people I have to take out to make this happen.
Samantha Prescott.
Rex Carter.
Then I can snatch up my прекрасная шлюха. She’ll be broken. She will do whatever I want. I pull out my phone and the slip of paper with Sam’s number on it. The one that one of my men got me. He is one of the best hackers in the world. Right behind the man Alex murdered. I feel that fire in my chest again. I dial the number. It rings four times before she picks up. I don’t like to be kept waiting.
“Hello.”
Her voice is cold and hard. It’s knows immediately this isn’t some business call. A slow mile spreads across my face. This may be more fun than previously anticipated.
“Hello,” I draw out, letting my accent hang heavy. “Samantha Perkins?”
“How the hell did you get this number?”
“Oh, so you know who I am.”
“I was waiting for your call. I heard you were smart. You’d have to be a fucking idiot not to track me down. Not after you finding out Alex has been with me this whole entire fucking time. You know she has friends now. I’m not stupid either.”
“And yet you haven’t doubled your security?”
I’m going out on a limb here. She very well could have security all around her listening to this call. She’s fucking Logan Prescott’s fiance.
“I want you to leave Alex the hell alone.”
Ah, well now I’m seeing how someone as hard hearted as Alex got close with this girl. I laugh to myself and shake my head. These people and their loyalty.
“Alex and I are friends богатая девушка.”
“Oh don’t use your fucking Russian with me. Friends? Friends? Forcing her into prostitution. Raping her. Having her own father rape her?” Sam’s voice is shrill. “You sicken me. Don’t you dare call yourself a friend of hers.”
“You don’t know who you are talking to Ms. Prescott. I would watch your tongue.”
I can hear her breathing heavy on the other end of the line, trying to control her temper. Boy do I like them feisty.
“I know exactly who I am talking to!”
“I will be seeing you Samantha.”
Silence. I grin. She doesn’t deny it. She knows. Oh, these fucking girls.
I feel giddy. My rage has turned to pleasure. This is the game of my lifetime.
Chapter 14 (Sam):
I hate him! I fucking hate him. Everything about him makes me completely sick. That’s the man who Alex was controlled by for three years. I can’t even control my rage. I’m crying. Tearing apart my bathroom. How did she survive that for three years? Three years!
Ahh, not my friend. Hell fuck no. I honestly am not sure I’ve hated anyone more. I mean I met her right after it all happened, and I just went on with life. I didn’t know. I feel like shit. I was young, but that’s no excuse. She was my friend and I let her live this private life of pain. I’m fixing that now.
Gunner and Rex want to serve her up to him as bait. What the fuck? I’m seething. I can’t think. I jerk my phone out of my pocket and dial Logan’s number.
“Logan!” I snap.
“Sam, Sam what’s up? I’m working. You sound pissed.”
“Pissed! Pissed! I’m fucking furious. You need to come home right now.”
His tone totally changes. “Wait why? What happened? I’m getting leaving now. Sam are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Alex. Come. Home!” I slam my phone shut and try to breath.
“Mom! Mom! Dusty took all my makeup and threw it in the water!”
I put my face in my hands and scream silently. I throw open the bathroom door and brush right past Jazmine and march upstairs.
“Dusty!” I screech. I barge into his room. “Why did you ruin all Jazmine’s makeup, huh? Why would you do that?”
I’m still so mad Im seeing red. It’s hard to control my temper, and I know I’m doing a shit job at hiding my rage.
Dusty looks at me curiously. Like he’s seeing through my anger. He has this weird ability to read me. Usually it makes me feel connected to him, but right now it is annoying.
“She looks worse with that stuff on her face anyway. What happened? What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing's wrong with me Dusty. Leave your sist
ers stuff alone!”
I barge out of his room and ignore Jazmine’s attempts at talking to me. I slam my bedroom door and scream out.
“Mom needs five minutes of quiet!”
I pick up my phone and text Logan, poor guy.
Me: When are you coming home?
Logan: I’m on the plane now. Are you okay?
I don’t text him back, so twenty minutes later he texts me again.
Logan: I love you Sam.
I sigh. I can’t ignore that text.
Me: I love you too. Get home.
Logan is home in four hours. He greets the kids first, knowing that they have been putting up with my temper for the last four to five hours. Then he comes in the bedroom where I am currently hiding. He knocks as he slowly pushes the door open.
“Coming in.”
“Babe?”
He looks a little alarmed when he sees me. I must be a complete mess. He doesn’t mention it though. He shuts the door and walks over to sit on the bed. He doesn’t touch me or get affectionate, because he knows I’d probably hit him. He knows from experience.
“Can you talk to me Sam? Seeing as that I left set in the middle of a shoot on whim because my fiance called me in a rage and told me to come home.”
A small smile slips across my lips against my will. It is kind of funny. He sees my smile and smirks at me and shakes his head. I don’t know why he puts up with me.
“It’s Alex. She needs me. I have to go to Missouri.”
Logan puts his face in his hands and groans. “When does this end?”
“I can’t just leave my friend in her time of need Logan!”
Logan looks up and for the first time since the day I walked in his office with Jazmine years ago, his gaze is hard. I swallow and take a step back. This Logan; entrepreneur, celebrity, boss is intimidating.
“I’m going to ask you this once Sam. Is there something I don’t know? Are you planning something stupid?”
I swallow. Stupid, no. Dangerous, yes.
“Of course not Logan.” I step over and rub my hands gently down his arm, but he pulls away and stares me down.
“You have kids Sam. Remember. You have kids. You have me.”
“I’m not planning anything. I just need to be there for Alex. That’s all.”
“I’m going to trust you Sam. We are a team. We are in a relationship. Don’t betray my trust.”
I swallow and fight the urge to wince. I want to tear up. I don’t want to hurt Logan again, but he doesn’t understand. I can’t let Alex get taken. She’s my sister. He can’t make me choose who I am loyal to.
“I don’t want to do that Logan.”
I kiss him. He grabs my face and kisses me back roughly. He’s always more aggressive when he gets back from a shoot. I see his eyes cloud with lust and I pull away.
“Can you prep the plane babe?”
“You just played me. Don’t think I didn’t notice,” he calls out as he walks out to make the call.
“I love you!” I yell. He makes me happy, but the second he’s gone the guilt, fear and determination hit me like freight train.
Sure enough, Logan does get the plane ready. He looks at me wearily as I board. Hours later I touch down in Missouri. I have a plan for when Pytor takes me, but I don’t know how to get him to take me instead of Alex. I don’t even know how he got my name and number in the first place. I don’t know what Gunner’s plan is. How they even plan to get Alex in Pytor’s hands authentically.
I do the one thing I can think of. I go to my phone and turn it on. See, when I’m not at home I turn my phone off. I flip it on occasionally to see if I missed any calls, but everyone knows me knows I do this. It is this weird paranoid thing I do, because I know people can track a cell. What can I say? I'm still fucked up from the kidnapping. In this case though I know the Russian will track my cell. I book a hotel room alone. I take a taxi there. Logan’s staff on the plan gives me skeptical looks. I didn’t bring the security I told Logan I would. I didn't take the driver I usually take. I go alone. I throw them a look that lets them know they better not tell Logan. Hopefully they are not too suspicious.
I spent a night at the motel with nothing and on one. As the hours pass I begin to get nervous. What if they have Alex already? Surely Rex would have called me. I need to derail their plan. At around two o’clock, I walk out of my room to get groceries. Across from me, leaning casually against a pole, is a man with slicked back hair, a gold chain and that look trashy but I can tell cost a fortune.
It’s him. I know it’s him. I thought I’d be scared, but I’m not. I’m pissed.
“So you found me,” I snap.
He smirks. “You weren’t hiding богатая девушка.”
“I….” can’t deny it.
“The question is why.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Alex is planning something stupid, isn’t she? You are saving your friend. It’s the only explanation.”
I lift my chin and narrow my eyes. “I know nothing.”
He laughs. “Of course. Right. You just, you know, happen to be in a motel room without security with your phone on. Come on богатая девушка. You think I'm stupid?”
“You can go fuck yourself.”
“Oh why would I do that when I have you now. You know, word will get out so fast that you were taken, again, Ms. Prescott. Alex will just love when I destroy you, now won’t she?”
Two men grab me from behind and I struggle on instinct. “Alex only cares about herself.”
That makes him throw his head back and laugh. “Oh we both know that’s not true. Although she desperately wishes it was. She tries hard to convince us of that, doesn’t she Sam?”
The two men shove me to my knees. The Russian leans down so his stinky breath is in my face.
“Welcome to my little family Samantha. I have a feeling you will be a very pleasurable edition to my collection.”
Chapter 15 (Gunner):
“Anything else going on I should know?”
The worry in Dana’s voice is more than clear, but I appreciate the fact that she is trying to be strong for me.
“No D. It’s actually pretty boring.”
She snorts. “Oh yeah, I am sure you are just twiddling your thumbs down there. Should I send you some crossword puzzles? Maybe some sudoku?”
Now it’s my turn to laugh.
“I love you Dana.”
I hear her let out a sweet sigh, but before she can respond Alex comes barreling through the door, looking livid. Rex is behind her looking solemn and slightly out of place.
“Where the hell is Sam? I’m not fucking kidding here Gunner!”
I tell Dana I’ll call her later and turn to Alex, thoroughly confused. Alex marches right up to me and starts smacking me in the chest. I roughly grab her wrists and glare at her. No one hits me. Especially not a pissed off little girl.
“How should I know? At home in her mansion probably. Calm the hell down.”
“No! No!” she screeches. In this moment I realize something has gone very wrong. Very, very wrong. My face drops.
Rex turns to me. “Logan called me. He said he was worried about Sam. She apparently came here to check on Alex yesterday. She never checked on Alex, and Logan can’t get ahold of her. He’s flipping out man.”
“He’s flipping out! He’s flipping out! You guys don’t know Sam like I do. She’d…” I finish for as a darkness settles over us.
“Jump in front of a train for her friends.”
“Yeah! Or intervene in a plan that stupidly involved me getting kidnapped!”
“Fuck! Fuck!” I yell. I turn and smack my hand on the wall.
Of all the things I thought could go wrong this was not one of them. I should have seen this coming. I throw the nearest thing I can find. The memory floods me as I rage. Usually I have control. All semblance of it is gone now.
“I run through the halls of the familiar building, cursing Dana in my head.
‘If you ever
cared about me you will save Sam’.
She was so firm in the way she said I knew she wasn’t kidding. I’m gonna lose my men now. I’ll be a traitor. Now that I needed them, it was just convenient, but still. I walk down the halls not even bothering to try and hide. They’ll know it was me in the end. The men either let me pass or I shoot them with the gun I am holding lazily in my hand. Finally, I get to the cell I know they would be holding Sam in. It’s the most thoroughly secured cell we have. I walk in, knowing how to crack the locks. Everything around me spins when I see her. I’ve never seen a human being so broken. So utterly destroyed. My heart temporarily stops beating in my cheat. The usual heavy thumps that fill my ears turn to dull ticks. How will she survive this? She is one of the few humans I respect. I immediately getting to work getting her out of there... and building up my defenses. I can’t care. That was a lie I wanted to believe, because this memory is cemented in my brain forever.”
Anatoli and Tobias come running in the room. Anatoli’s gaze snaps straight to Alex. I suspect he will always be protective of her. Guilt is powerful. Tobias, on the other hand, looks at the four of us, detached from the situation. He simply is looking to see what happened and how we feel about it.
“What happened?” one of them asks. I don’t even hear who. Alex is pacing the floor like a caged lion. She is very close to the edge of a nervous breakdown. I can see the fine line she is walking.
“I think Pytor has Sam Perkins.”
That does it. Alex’s legs give out before anyone can catch her and a choked sob escapes her lips. Rex runs over to her, and so does Anatoli. Tobias narrows his gaze at the three of them.
“Not Sam. Anyone but Sam. She’s suffered enough. I….” I watch as Alex’s eyes roll back in her head. Anatoli catches her before she hits the ground. I look at Rex and then Tobias. She fainted. She actually passed out from emotional stress. This plan is going to shit. Somehow that prick had managed to pull one over on us. Just like everyone said he would. That doesn’t fucking sit right with me.
