The Collector: A Dark Russian Mafia Romance (The Cells of Kalashov Book 1)

by Vi Carter

  MILA

  He leaves me alone again. I listen as his car starts up and I tug uselessly at the handcuffs like I might make an impact. It’s hard not to meet my eyes in the overhead mirror, and I’m imagining what he must look like from that angle. My body burns with the thoughts he is provoking in me. I’d never felt this level of attraction to a man. Maybe it was because he had taken me. Maybe the darkness of it was adding to his appeal.

  I had tried talking to him in the kitchen, but that was pointless. His eyes constantly told me he was undressing me. I wasn’t used to being around men, not since the mill.

  I bit my lip. I could try to seduce him. I didn't have any other options and maybe it would be an offer he would take me up on.

  He had said he would never force himself on me, and some part of me believed him. I lie in wait for his return, but exhaustion has me falling asleep. I wake to a dead arm. I had laid on my arm all night. I pull and the chains rattle. I’m glancing around the room wondering how long I’ve been asleep.

  The door opens and The Collector steps in. The green v-neck jumper he wears is such a difference from the suits. My heart leaps for too many different reasons. He steps up to me and I try to control my breathing as he unlocks my handcuffs.

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  Of course he doesn’t answer. There’s a watch on his wrist that I try to read upside down. I’m sure it says seven in the morning.

  “Go to the bathroom and tidy yourself up.” He puts the handcuffs in the drawer as I roll off the bed. My clothes are crumpled and I’m sure I smell badly from the motel room. I enter the bathroom and he doesn’t follow. I close the door and quickly relieve myself. I wash my hands and face and am just turning off the tap when he steps into the bathroom. His ability to shrink spaces has the air stilling in my lungs.

  Seduce him. The whisper is quick and I have to keep the laughter in. I’m sure I look great this morning and I’ve never seduced a man before. I didn’t think that’s what men wanted, but I take a step towards him, ready to try.

  I swallow as he folds his large arms across his chest. He has the sleeves pushed up, showcasing all his ink.

  My heart dips and falls around my chest as I step up to him and crane my neck back. “I can do things.” I start to scold myself, I sound like a child saying hey I can do magic. He doesn’t blink, but some part of me recognizes the humor in his dark eyes.

  “Things…” I blow out a breath, telling myself to walk away. But he doesn’t move, and I take that as an encouraging step. “Things that men like.” I’m speaking to his chest, really selling myself. Liddi’s laughter has me taking a step back and I blink.

  “You couldn’t please a man even if you tried.” Her words taunt me and I feel my cheeks burn.

  “You are making me an offer I don’t think I can refuse.” The Collector’s words hold laughter in them, but he isn’t smiling.

  “I’d rather die than touch you.” My embarrassment turns to anger and he unfolds his arms and takes a step closer to me.

  “Is that so?” He doesn’t sound happy. This was some seduction.

  “It doesn’t matter.” I try to get out of the bathroom and he blocks me. I glance up at The Collector.

  “What things can you do?”

  Is he taunting me? Making fun of me? I have no idea, but now was my chance. Just say it and do it and he might consider helping you.

  The lies I tell myself. “I can please you.” I hold my head high. It was a small price to pay. All the girls at the mill had to do it. I could do it too.

  Liddi had always said to try to find some enjoyment in it.

  “Please me.” The Collector holds out his hands and my stomach hollows. He’s serious. It was simple. All I had to do was wrap my mouth around him and suck up and down. That’s what Liddi said. Liddi, I push her face aside. I need to be something or someone else. Just for now, just for this moment.

  “Anytime today would be nice.”

  I snap my gaze up at The Collector. His dark eyes dared me and I move to my knees. I’m waiting each step for him to stop me, but he doesn’t. I unbuckle his jeans and open the button. I’m waiting for him to laugh, but when I pull down his jeans, I can see his erection through his boxers. He looks huge, too huge for my mouth. I feel more confident as I pull down his boxers and his large erection is there. All of it. In my face and I don’t know what to do, so I touch it with my hand. I know he’s watching me and my heart won’t slow down. I’m ready to bolt, but I tell myself I can do this. I can make him cum. The wetness between my legs I ignore as I continue to stroke his cock. His cock is huge and I wonder what it would feel like inside me.

  His groan surprises me and I stop and look up at him. His dark eyes swirl and I feel even braver. Pushing my lips to the head of his cock, it jumps in my hand and I lick it, loving its reaction to me. I kiss the head again before wrapping my mouth around it and taking as much of him as I can in my mouth, he fills me and I let his cock back out. Everything in me stirs to life, and I wonder if I might cum without him even touching me. I push my lips down on his large cock again and he groans, so I move faster. I can’t take him all in my mouth. Holding his shaft, I stroke him and my lips follow suit, leaving a trail of saliva that my hand glides over. His moans have me moving faster and I startle when warm seed flows into my mouth that I swallow instinctively. I release him and his head snaps down to me, so I touch him again and watch as his seed spills on the bathroom floor. He reaches down and pulls me up, my back collides with the wall and he towers over me. I’m not sure what he is doing. My body sings as his hand touches me. There is a sense of foreboding and I close my eyes as he pushes his palm against the outside of my pants. I’m a bundle of nerves and I know it won’t take much to make me cum.

  His hand touches the band of my trousers and I react, slamming my palms into his chest. He stumbles back. I tell him, “Don’t touch me.”

  Anger lights in his eyes. I don’t want the blowjob to have been for nothing. I know I’m messing up, so I clear the space between us and press my lips against his. I don’t know what he will do, but when he lifts me and holds my body to his like I weigh nothing, my body comes to life with a need I’ve never felt. I wrap my legs around him. I feel his cock grow hard against me again and I have no idea what’s happening. I am losing control of this situation. His lips are soft and warm against mine. My mind drifts off to forbidden places like what he would feel like inside me. What it must be like to be handcuffed to the bed and see him above me. He breaks the kiss and the heaviness in his eyes has my stomach squirming. He untangles me from him and reaches for the waistband of my trousers, but I freeze under his touch. He pauses, sensing the change.

  “I don’t want you to touch me.” He holds his hands up and steps away.

  I want to erase my words, but he doesn’t seem angry this time. He pulls up his trousers and boxers.

  “Come downstairs when you’re ready for breakfast.”

  I nod. My cheeks burn again. I just gave The Collector a blowjob. I just gave my first blowjob.

  I hope it was worth it.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NICHOLAI

  My body still hums with a want for Mila. I flip the egg in the pan as she enters the kitchen. Her cheeks are still flushed. She pulls the white long sleeves over her hands that she crosses against her chest. My gaze flickers to her swollen lips. Her lips were perfect around my cock. I turn back to the pan, a chair creaks as she sits down.

  The toast pops and I place it on the plate along with her egg. I’d never cooked for anyone but myself before. Placing the plate in front of her, her cheeks still aglow, making her look innocent, but I needed to remember she had the attention of Victor. She wasn’t innocent in all this. No matter how pure she looked, or how unsteady she was as she touched my cock, like it was her first time.

  “Thank you.” She doesn’t look at me as she picks up her knife and fork. I get my own plate and sit across from her.

  She’s gnawing on her swolle
n lips and my cock twitches. This was going to be a long day. The sound of the gate bell has Mila’s head snapping up and she glances at me. Fear widens her blue eyes.

  I get up and go to the hall, a silver car is pulled up in front of the camera, the driver presses the button again and I lift the phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Nicholai. Open the gate.”

  Oleg glares into the camera, and I push the button to open the gate.

  “Who was it?” Mila asks the moment I step back into the kitchen. I didn’t like the idea of Oleg coming to my home. My stomach twists. He was here to collect her.

  “Go upstairs to your room.” I had no idea why I was sending her up, but I didn’t want her touched.

  “My room?” She stutters.

  “Now!” I bark.

  She pushes out her chair and her small frame moves quickly past me. I keep an eye on her until she disappears up the stairs.

  Oleg enters the house with arms wide. “Nicholai!”

  I greet him with a hug. “Oleg, to what do I owe the honor?”

  He touches my face before looking around the space. “I like what you have done here.”

  He takes a silver box from his jacket and removes a thick cigar from it. Two more men enter, crossing their arms in front of them. The last one closes the front door.

  Cigar smoke fills the hallway as Oleg blows it around him.

  “I’m here on personal business from Victor.” Oleg inhales again as he walks into my kitchen, his two bodyguards move along with him.

  “It’s not like Victor to send a personal messenger,” I say, folding my arms across my chest.

  Oleg laughs, and coughs up puffs of smoke. “This is important.”

  I unfold my arms. There is a gun in the cupboard behind him. Two knives are under the table, a shotgun lies behind the radiator. Two tiles are liftable and under them are more guns. I still have one strapped to my ankle. I’m pinging the escape routes and how many guns these three men carry. So far, I’ve clocked five. The odds weren’t good, but I’ve had worse.

  “I’m here for Mila.” He’s watching me closely.

  “Are you here to collect her?” I hate the sick feeling in my stomach.

  “I’m not The Collector.” No, you’re an errand boy, one who can’t be touched.

  I leave the kitchen. “Mila,” I call her name and see her peek from the corner of the wall. She never went to her room. Her gaze clashes with mine and for the first time I want to apologize.

  “Come down.”

  She moves along the steps, her hand runs along the wall like it’s the only thing keeping her up. When she reaches me, I grip her arm, I want to tell her to run. She had done something to bring this upon herself. I release her and she steps into the kitchen.

  “Mila, Mila.” Oleg greets her and I don’t return to the kitchen straight away as I try to compose myself.

  “Oleg,” she says his name with a hitch in her voice. She knows him.

  I enter the kitchen and Oleg inhales his cigar before blowing smoke into Mila’s face.

  “I want a word with Mila in private.” His gaze dances to mine.

  “This way.” I lead him to a sitting room.

  “This will do.” He looks around him. I’m tempted to stop Mila again as she steps into the room. Her shoulders are hunched forward. Frustration claws at me. She is a job. I need to treat this like a job. I knew I would deliver her to the can, so this need to protect her, I had to get rid of it.

  “You can leave.” Oleg smiles up at me, Mila keeps her back to me and maybe that’s for the best. I leave the room and his two bodyguards step up to the door blocking me from entering. I leave the sitting room and get my phone. Turning on the tracking app, the red light that’s Mila comes to life. She’s standing still.

  Her eggs and toast are going cold on the kitchen table. I can’t stop staring at them. Getting up, I leave out the back door and inhale a few deep breaths of air. This sense in me is building and I can’t control it, the need to go in there and protect her. She gave me a blowjob. Is that why? I laugh at my own reasoning. Hundreds of women have given me blowjobs that have never made me want to protect them.

  I pace outside before moving to the front of the house. His car is unlocked and I open the passenger door. Looking up at the house, nothing stirs close to the windows as I hunker down and look inside. Opening the glove compartment, I find a gun, two phones, but nothing else. I do a quick sweep of the car, but it’s clean. Closing the door gently, I move back to the house.

  When I enter the kitchen, Oleg is at the sink. “She’s very comfortable here.” He’s speaking, but I’m focused on the blood on his fists. Every fiber of my being wants to demand whose blood it is, but I hold still.

  “I want her tied up in that room until we return for her.” He glances over his shoulder at me and shakes his hands out. Droplets of blood flick out onto my sink.

  “She seems very comfortable here and Victor wouldn’t like that.” Blood rushes through me and I control the violence that wants to be unleashed. “When will she be collected?”

  Oleg turns off the tap and picks up my dishcloth to dry his hands in. “I’m not sure, but I won’t be a stranger.” He smiles at me and I’ve never wanted to kill someone so badly. The sense that tries to override the calm in me and everything else isn’t normal.

  He pats my shoulder, but pauses. “I’ll be in touch.” I want to shrug his arm off my shoulder.

  “I look forward to it.” My mouth moves automatically and I don’t do anything as they leave my home. The car hums and rolls down the driveway. I walk to the front door and watch as the car leaves, the gates close slowly behind Oleg.

  MILA

  Oleg, how I hate him. I move my legs, but my stomach screams as I try to make myself smaller. I open my eyes as the door closes and Oleg leaves me. My body aches, but I remind myself I’m alive. The pain is telling me I was very much alive. I move my fingers in front of my face and none seem broken. He had bent them back. I tighten my hand into a fist and close my eyes. I wish I was as strong as them, I wish I could fight back. My cheek aches from the slap he gave me.

  “You’re a dirty little whore.” His slap had been delivered with those words.

  The door opens and I don’t move off the floor, I wasn’t sure I could. The Collector fills the space and his eyes grow dark. A look of savagery twists his handsome face. He covers his lips with a finger, telling me to be quiet. I close my eyes. I don’t want to speak to him, he has no power. Oleg had waltzed in here and had done whatever he had wished. Why I thought seducing The Collector would keep me safe, is stupid and naïve. My eyelids flutter open as The Collector picks me up. I groan as pain wracks my body. He lays me on the couch and leaves the room. I fight the tears that threaten to fall.

  I move my jaw left and right— it aches— but once again, I can confirm that nothing was broken. He had punched me like I was a lump of meat. Anger claws at me, anger that I don’t let go of as The Collector arrives back into the room. He kneels on the floor beside me. The click of handcuffs has me looking at him. He tightens one around my wrist, my other hand is left free.

  “What are you doing?” Disgust races through me.

  He doesn’t answer me and starts to wipe my face. I push his hand away and pain ignites in my side. The cloth touches my face again and I don’t have the power to stop him as he cleans me. I keep my eyes closed, as his gentle strokes find their way deep inside me and stir something that craves more. Kindness wasn’t something I ever had around me.

  I want him to stop. His gentle strokes are doing more damage than Oleg’s violent ones. He stops like he had read my mind. I still don’t look as he lifts me and carries me to a radiator. I open my eyes in confusion as he lowers me to the carpeted ground. The click of the handcuff has me trying to pull away from the radiator. The Collector doesn’t meet my eye. With stiff shoulders and controlled steps, he leaves the sitting room. The door closes and my body grows tired from holding in the pain a
nd anger.

  Oleg always liked them young. Liddi was sixteen going on sixty. At the mill we shared a room. She was proud of what she was. She enjoyed sharing herself with men. I think it was the attention that she craved, the want to belong. Through the cracks, I could always see her damage.

  I can picture her smiling at me as she lies on her bed, chewing gum. I keep getting requested. She’s so proud and my stomach rolled in disgust. Disgust that was visible on my face.

  “God, how did I end up sharing a room with someone like you?” She rolled onto her back, lifting her long tanned legs into the air. She had painted her nails a vibrant red. I turned away and continued to pick the wallpaper off the wall. I had the wall nearly bare; once I cleared it, I was going to paint. I smile at the concrete slab.

  “You are so weird. Why were you even sent here?” She says the same thing every few days. It’s been weeks or has it been months since I was sent to the mill? I swallow the bile. I had fought, but they had dragged me here. From the first night, I had waited to be drugged or raped, but nothing happened. Killing myself was unsuccessful each time. I just never cut deep enough.

  They placed Liddi in here with me, and she hated me so much. A year of sharing a cell with someone and never leaving, it did funny things to someone’s mind. I wasn’t given to anyone, I knew I should have been grateful for that small mercy. But sometimes listening to them cry out in fear or pain or even pleasure was worse than the act being done to me. I had to listen, and I couldn’t change the outcome for any of these women.

  Oleg visited Liddi often, and he was cruel and vicious with how he handled her. Her bruises coated most of her body, but she wore them like a badge of honor. Like it was something to be proud of.

  I swallow the saliva that pools in my mouth and tug my arm again. The chains rattle against the radiator and I want to scream again.

  Oleg had stood over her, she had said no, that she was tired, but you didn’t say no to a man like Oleg, I had known that.