Chapter 73: Chapter Eighteen

Alice

My hands were shaking as Andrei led me back into the club, back to the prison, back to the place where he’d most likely take advantage of me just like my brother did, then toss me when he got bored.

His kiss proved nothing.

It was to punish me.

To show me his place.

To remind me of mine.

And I hated that I liked the way his lips felt.

The way my body responded when it absolutely shouldn’t have.

It’s why I slapped him, because I was angry and embarrassed that he would use it against me when he had to know what it cost me to give it.

What it cost me to even reveal it.

I kept my stare straight ahead as he grabbed me by the hand and led me past couples making out in the hall. The women all wore black and red, and on their ankles were the little lock tattoos, something every single one of them had in common.

A reminder that they were owned?

Chained without actual chains?

“The tattoos,” I whispered. “Do I get one?”

Andrei stopped walking, causing me to crash into his back. I recovered just in time for his icy blue stare to lock on mine. “Is that what you want?”

I gulped. “What I want is to be free, and I don’t like pain so no I don’t want a tattoo. I’m just asking so I can mentally prepare myself.”

He let out a sigh that sounded more annoyed than angry. “We’ll discuss this later.”

“No.” I stood my ground.

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he raised his right hand and gripped my chin, the leather gloves felt hot against my skin. “I said,” he whispered coldly, “we’ll discuss this later.”

I didn’t realize people were staring until he dropped his hand, and then he flashed me a smile so seductive, so endearing I almost turned around to make sure I wasn’t mistaken that it was for me.

I frowned.

Only encouraging him more.

“Come.” He pulled me roughly into his arms and kissed my neck.

I sucked in a breath as his hot kisses moved down to my collarbone, pulling my fur to the side while he toyed with the material of the dress. My knees almost buckled as he assaulted me with something so simple.

A kiss.

He sucked on my collarbone, his tongue swirling along my skin and causing goose bumps to erupt up and down my body.

I trembled in his arms, and then his lips were on my ear. “Remember what I said… they need to see ownership, or you’re fair game. And if you’re fair game, you can expect one of those ugly tattoos within the hour, so decide…”

“Decide?” I said it too breathlessly.

He chuckled darkly. Bastard. I hated him. I hated him.

“Are you mine?” He pressed his body against mine and walked me backward toward a wall, then grabbed my hands, pinning them over my head as he continued his assault on my left shoulder. My fur coat dropped to my waist as he used his teeth and tongue to kiss along my other collarbone.

“Do I have a choice?”

“It’s me or them,” he hissed, then bit my skin enough to leave a mark as he stopped kissing me and pressed his forehead to mine. “That’s as bad as it gets with me, ~dorogaya.~”

My body swayed as he pressed against me, making it hard to breathe, hard to think.

He was solid muscle and radiating sex like he was used to getting exactly what he wanted and knew all the tricks to get there.

“Come,” he snapped, releasing my hands and wrapping an arm around me. We walked through the VIP section of the club, past a security guy with dark hair and light blue eyes.

He looked from me to Andrei and then stepped in front of Andrei when he tried to open a solid silver door.

“Boss.” He crossed his arms. “We have men entertaining in the vault.”

“Better she see it now than later, better she know now,” he muttered. “Open the damn door.”

“Right away, Boss.” He pushed away from the door and slid a card over it. “Did you want me to bring you champagne?”

“We won’t be staying long, Ax.”

“Hmm.” Ax eyed me up and down again and then nodded. “Am I adding to my list of secrets and favors, Russian?”

“May as well.” Andrei grumbled. “We all die someday.”

“That we do.” Ax sighed. “Blood in, no out.”

“~Sangue in non mai fuori,~” Andrei repeated.

~Blood in, never out.~ His Italian was flawless, like he’d been born speaking the language.

I gaped and then was pulled through the dark corridor and into a small space with nothing but windows overlooking a huge concrete area.

The glass looked super thick, and when I looked to the left and right, there were several other boxes that looked like this one, like something you’d see at a theater, with full red curtains ready to pull in front of the window.

“That,” Andrei said in a lethal voice, “is what you get with them.”

He pointed down at the cement-looking stage.

“Nobody’s down there.”

He sighed, grabbed a small silver remote with two buttons, and hit the red one twice.

Slowly, a curtain was pulled from the back of the stage, and a woman hung there by her wrists, bound over her head, wearing nothing but a ripped dress.

She had a gag in her mouth, and the man in front of her had a cat tail whip in his hand.

Rock music blared in the sound system as the woman struggled, blood streamed from her face, making a trail all the way down her body as it dripped down her toes.

Her eyes were wild as the man hit her across the thighs again and again, then dropped the whip and pulled off his blood-stained shirt and jerked his pants down.

He had a similar remote to Andrei and hit a button; the woman was suddenly lowered, her hands still tied above her head.

The man walked up to her and flipped her around and started thrusting into her, as her blood caked his hands, the same hands running up and down her body.

“Enough.” My voice shook as tears slid down my cheeks. “Make him stop!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, ~dorogaya.~ He’s paid for his time with her, and she’s signed a contract she can’t get out of.”

“But he’s raping her! He’s going to kill her!”

“We have good doctors.”

“That’s what you say?! ” I roared. “That you have good doctors? Are those doctors going to sew up her broken heart? Are they going to give her back her decency? Take away her humiliation?

“Her shame? Are they going to wipe her memory of this, so she doesn’t wake up every night screaming?”

“No.” Andrei pressed the red button as the curtain started moving around the window, blanketing us in near darkness. “Our doctor will make her comfortable as she takes her last breath.”

“You’re a monster,” I hissed, hating that I’d enjoyed his kiss and the way I felt in his arms when I’d already seen my fair share of horror at my brother’s hands.

What the hell had I been thinking?

Letting this man touch me?

With blood on his hands.

This man who owned a place where women were sexual objects and looked forward to death!

“Make your choice, six thirty-two.”

“Wh-what?”

“You have three seconds.”

“What are you saying?”

“Monster.” He gritted his teeth and took a step toward me, then pointed at the window. “Or man.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, squeezed my eyes closed, and whispered, “Monster.”