Czar

by Julia Sykes

  “Get me out of here,” I begged, renewing my struggles.

  He stopped by the side of the bed. His twisted smile stayed in place, and his black eyes studied me with the open fascination he had so often shown me.

  My throat tightened. “Help me,” I managed to whisper.

  “You must be thirsty,” he remarked.

  His long fingers unscrewed the cap on a bottle of water. I hadn’t even noticed he was holding it.

  How did he know I would be thirsty? The drugs left me parched. For a moment, I simply focused on how grateful I was for the water.

  One large hand slid beneath my head to prop me up, and the other guided the lip of the bottle to my mouth. I gulped down the cool liquid, not caring that some of it spilled down my chin to pool at the hollow of my throat.

  He pulled the bottle away to allow me room to breathe.

  The throbbing of my head abated slightly, and my attention turned back to my dire situation. I pulled against my restraints.

  “Untie me,” I urged. Why wasn’t he hurrying? Surely whoever had kidnapped me would return soon, and then Dimitri would be in danger.

  His fingers threaded through mine, stilling my movements and pressing my arms back against the mattress.

  “Don’t struggle. You’ll hurt yourself,” he ordered in the same coolly authoritarian voice he used so often.

  “We have to get out of here,” I insisted. “Did you come alone? Is Roman with you?” I would feel better if Dimitri’s fierce friend had his back. We would have a better chance of escaping the men who had taken me.

  “Roman left some time ago. I wanted to be alone with you.”

  “What…” My brain fumbled over what he said. “What are you talking about? Why would Roman leave us? Isn’t he going to help us get out?”

  Dimitri shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Fear gripped my chest again, but my brain refused to put the pieces together. “Did you… Did you already get me away from them? Where are we?”

  Maybe Dimitri had rescued me while I was unconscious. Then why am I naked and tied to this bed? I immediately shied away from the thought.

  “We are at my father’s estate outside St. Petersburg. I had Roman and my men bring you to me. They’re gone now. You don’t need to fear them.” He tenderly stroked my hair back from my forehead in a soothing motion.

  “I had Roman and my men bring you to me.” I couldn’t allow the words to sink in. I couldn’t. Surely there was some language barrier that was causing this whole misunderstanding.

  “So Roman saved me?”

  Dimitri chuckled. The sound usually made heat bloom within me, but now it made my blood freeze in my veins. A whimper slipped through my teeth as the horrible truth began to solidify in my mind. He pressed his finger to my lips and gently shushed me.

  “We are going to be together, Alicia,” he assured me.

  My eyes burned. “Please, untie me. Let me go.”

  “No.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked pleadingly.

  “You love me. You are mine.” He said it as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  The first tears slid down my face to fall into my hair. He brushed them away with the feather-light touch of a lover.

  “I don’t want this,” I managed to whisper. If I could make him understand that I was unwilling, maybe all this would stop.

  “I do.” The sickening declaration was uttered with the cool sense of entitlement that had always defined his character.

  “Are you going to…” I fumbled over the word rape. “Are you going to make love to me again?” The term sounded stupid in my own ears.

  His smile ticked up with amusement. “No, Alicia. I’m going to fuck you.”

  The man I loved was going to violate me. Despite what was happening – or perhaps because it hadn’t quite sunk in yet – I still believed myself to be in love with him.

  “If you love me, you won’t do this,” I pleaded.

  He replied with a low laugh and a shake of his beautiful head.

  “You gave yourself to me,” he said in a tone that suggested he was explaining something simple to a small child. “This is how it’s going to be between us. You belong to me, and I can do whatever I want with you.” He wiped away my horrified tears in a perversely tender gesture. “You will like it. You were meant for this.”

  “For what?” I forced out through chattering teeth.

  “To be mine.”

  A nauseating suspicion stirred in my mind. “Are you going to let me go… after?” If I could just endure this, I would be able to go home.

  But I knew deep down that wasn’t what he had planned for me.

  “No, Alicia,” he said my name fondly. It was becoming obvious that he took delight in my naiveté. “You’re not leaving.”

  I cried harder, and he resumed stroking my hair in that sweet, soothing motion. “Don’t worry. I won’t share you, and I won’t sell you. I’m going to keep you.”

  Share me? Sell me?

  “You can’t,” I desperately rationalized. “I’m an American. The authorities will find me. My parents won’t just let me disappear. Please. Let me go, and I won’t say anything. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “The authorities have been paid. Besides, they know better than to interfere with my affairs.”

  “Who are you?” I asked in a tremulous whisper.

  He cocked his head at me. “I think you know. You’re an intelligent woman. I like that about you. Don’t disappoint me now.”

  He was obscenely wealthy, people seemed to fear him, and he spoke casually about bribing the police. He had men who would abduct a woman at his command. Roman wasn’t his friend; he was Dimitri’s henchman.

  “Mafia. You’re Russian Mafia.” I hardly realized I said it aloud.

  He nodded in acknowledgement. “I think you understand your situation. The sooner you accept your place, the better things will go for you.”

  My place? I couldn’t give voice to the question. I was too terrified of the answer. Everything was happening too fast, and my brain refused to continue processing the implications of what Dimitri was saying. My blood froze, and my fingers began to go numb as the beginnings of shock set in.

  A small frown creased his features. “You are very pale.” He cupped my cheek. “I want to see that pretty blush.”

  His hand fisted in the sheet that covered me, and he slowly pulled it downward, revealing my naked flesh inch by inch. I squirmed in my panic, but the cuffs around my wrists and ankles held me in place as he ruthlessly exposed me.

  When I was fully bared to him, he simply stared at me for long moments, his black eyes drinking in the sight of my bound body. His touch was almost reverent as he trailed his fingertips along the curve of my waist.

  “I am the only man who has touched you. I am the only one who will ever touch you.”

  The fierce possessiveness that I once reveled in now terrified me. Only hours earlier, I had believed I would never desire another man’s touch.

  To my horror, my body still responded to the feel of his hands upon me. Even though this was against my will, he still ignited my physical passion. He had conditioned me to crave him in this way. I hated him for it.

  And yet my soul still ached with love. The pain of the all-consuming emotion was sharpened by the knowledge of my helplessness to resist it. My heart couldn’t differentiate between the man I had gifted with my innocence and the man who abducted me by force.

  His touch moved to my breasts, his large palms nearly engulfing them. My nipples peaked under his hands, and his cruel smile returned.

  “I knew you would be like this,” he murmured, his words only half-meant for me. He caught my hardened buds between his fingers, pinching. Desire pulsed at my core, and I couldn’t suppress a gasp. He pulled upwards, forcing me to arch into him in order to alleviate the pressure. “You respond to pain.” He deftly rolled my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. An invo
luntary whine eased up my throat. I wished it were purely a sound of distress, but there was an edge of carnal pleading to it.

  “You even like being afraid. I have known this ever since the night I first laid eyes on you.” His fingers twisted, and I cried out. “You fear me and desire me. It’s why you ran from me, and it’s why you couldn’t stay away.” His voice turned deeper, rougher. “I know you, Alicia. Better than you know yourself.”

  “No,” I moaned in pained protest. Nothing that was happening made sense. This was all wrong.

  “You will learn to embrace it,” he informed me huskily. “I will teach you.”

  One hand left my breast, but he continued tormenting my nipples with the other. He found the heated place between my legs, and his fingertips swirled in the wetness there.

  He lifted his forefinger to his lips and eased it into his mouth, his eyes locking on mine as he tasted my arousal. My cheeks burned with mortification, even as my belly clenched at the sight of his enjoyment.

  His wet fingers brushed across my cheek, absorbing the heat of my blush.

  “There it is,” he said with soft satisfaction. “You are so beautiful, myshka.”

  Familiar joy expanded in my chest at his compliment. He was so like the man I loved. Even the arrogant certainty in his own power was the same as always; I had just never fully understood it before.

  I did fear him. I always had. And I got off on it. The throbbing of my clitoris confirmed it.

  His hands left me to find the buttons on his shirt. Keeping his eyes fixed on mine, he undressed at a leisurely pace. My breath quickened as his glorious body was slowly revealed to me, and my body reacted with familiar desire. Any woman would be helpless to resist responding to the sight of his sculpted perfection.

  His hard cock jutted towards me. He took a moment to sheathe himself in a condom, and then his body settled over mine. I gave a half-hearted jerk against the ropes that bound me, but I knew resistance was useless. I wouldn’t admit to myself that my fierce craving for him to fill me kept me immobile more effectively than the restraints.

  His pleased grin told me he knew the truth of it.

  He lined himself up with my slick opening, but he didn’t penetrate me immediately. Instead, he returned his attention to torturing my breasts. I recalled how he had caused me similar erotic pain on the night I gave him my virginity, and how I had reacted with such pleasure. It was the same now as it had been then.

  “You respond to pain. You even like being afraid.”

  Dimitri had laid bare my deepest secrets – ones I myself hadn’t yet discovered. I still wasn’t ready to admit to them, but my traitorous body showed signs of welcoming him. My back arched, pushing my breasts into his cruel teeth. His low chuckle vibrated through my trapped nipple, and my hips pressed upward. His cock slid partway into me at the movement.

  I tensed with uncertainty, and he stilled his progress. His mouth left my breasts to kiss my lips. His tongue stroked mine, coaxing, comforting. I lost myself in the feel of him, my mind going to a more primal place in an effort to protect itself. Giving myself over to bliss, I allowed my love for him to enfold me, imagining we were back in his bed at his suite. If I focused on the here and now, surely my soul would shatter.

  His steady progress resumed, and he pressed in until his hips were flush with mine. My sex was still sore from losing my virginity, but the burning pain of that night was minimal by comparison. The slight pain gave me pleasure as the twinge of discomfort heightened my physical awareness of him.

  We were connected, body and soul. I surrendered to the sweet ecstasy of the intimate union that I had only ever shared with him.

  My inner muscles rippled around him, and he pressed into me with a groan. He murmured something in Russian, but I was too lost in him to attempt to translate it. I simply reveled in the warmth of his voice and the heat of his cock as it thrust in and out of my tight sheath.

  Ecstasy built, originating at my core and pulsing out through my body until my toes and fingertips tingled. My orgasm hit me with unexpected force, and I arched into him with a scream. He caught it with his lips, and his rough growl rumbled into my own mouth. I exulted in the taste of his raw lust for me.

  I love you.

  He came seconds after I found my completion, the convulsions of my sex bringing about his orgasm. He broke our kiss with a harsh shout, and I stared up at him in wonder, drinking in the perfection of the blatant pleasure he found in my body.

  He shuddered, and then his weight bore down on me.

  “Alicia,” he whispered my name against my skin and tenderly kissed my neck. I shivered and remained in my bliss-drunk state for a few minutes longer, willfully putting off the moment when I would again have to face my horrific new reality.

  Chapter 8

  My lust-induced euphoria unraveled. There was only so long the pleasant chemicals flooding my body could muddle my thoughts. The sweet reprieve from terror was cruelly short-lived.

  Dimitri’s weight still held me down, but I pulled against my restraints anyway.

  “Please. Let me go. You took what you wanted,” I added bitterly.

  He leaned back slightly so he could look into my eyes. His lips thinned with disapproval. “I didn’t take anything.”

  “You didn’t take anything? You abducted me!” I flung out, incredulous.

  “You gave yourself to me,” he responded coolly.

  I cringed at the reminder of how I had trusted him so completely. “I gave you my virginity because I thought we were going to be together.”

  “And now we can be.”

  “Not like this!” I shouted. “I just want to go home. Let me go home.”

  “This is your home now. With me.”

  His implacable calm brought forth my hysteria, and I started crying again. He couldn’t be reasoned with, and he didn’t seem at all affected by my distress. What was worse, he treated me as a lover would, holding me through my sobs. But that was just a twisted mockery of comfort. He didn’t care that he was putting me through hell. All he cared about was getting what he wanted, and he wanted me.

  That much had been clear from the very beginning. He had pursued me at the club, and even tracked me down through my study abroad program. I remembered how he researched me before our first date, and I shuddered. Everything we shared – all my feelings for him – threatened to become irreversibly tainted. I didn’t think I could face it.

  “Did you… Did you always intend to kidnap me?” I had to know if everything had been a lie.

  His expression turned contemplative. “At first, I thought about enjoying you for a while and then selling you.”

  “Selling me?” I couldn’t hold in the horrified question.

  Dimitri just shrugged. “You now know what I am. Are you truly surprised?”

  Human trafficking. I understood his insinuation with terrible clarity.

  “You ran from me,” he continued before I could respond to his casual admission. “Women don’t run from me. Especially not when we share a physical connection like the one you and I have. You intrigued me. I came to care about you, and because of that I planned to let you return to your life in America.” Solemnity softened his features. “Then you told me you love me. No woman has ever freely given me her love. I knew then that I couldn’t let you go.”

  My stomach tightened further with every sickening word that dripped from his perfect lips. “I don’t love you.” I tried to sound defiant, but my voice shook.

  “Don’t lie, myshka. You won’t like the consequences.”

  Anger gripped me. “I hate you,” I seethed.

  One corner of his lips tugged up in an indulgent smile. “That will pass. You won’t always hate me.” His thumb traced the line of my cheekbone as he studied me with something I almost mistook for reverence. “I will take care of you.”

  He discussed my perpetual captivity with cool assurance. He considered my fate sealed. I lifted my chin and glared at him.

  “I can ta
ke care of myself.”

  He laughed. “I know you can. But now you don’t have to.” He said it as though he was giving me some sort of gift. “I won’t let you,” he added when I held my glare. “I want to take care of you. I’ve never wanted that before.”

  “I don’t care what you want!” I snapped.

  He turned suddenly grave. “You should. Understand this, Alicia: I want you to be happy with me, but my happiness comes first. I will care for you, but how well you are treated depends on how much you please me. I enjoy breaking women. You Americans might call it a hobby. I can easily do the same to you, if I choose to.” He shushed me gently. “Don’t cry. I don’t want that for you. I know you’ll be a good girl for me, because you love me. Isn’t that right?”

  My body stilled completely, and my mind went oddly blank. I couldn’t face what Dimitri was saying. Everything in me shut down.

  He leaned in for a kiss, but my lips were immobile under his. He pulled back with a frown.

  “You are very cold, myshka.”

  I didn’t respond.

  His frown deepened, and he shifted above me to unbuckle the cuffs that encircled my wrists. Surprise teased at the edges of my mind, but it was soon lost in the cold nothingness.

  When his weight left me completely so he could remove the restraints around my ankles, I turned on my side and pulled my legs up to hug them to my chest. I shivered violently, and my teeth began to chatter.

  His warm arms slid beneath my body and lifted me so I was cradled against his chest. I couldn’t help pressing into the heat of him, tucking my face against his shoulder. I closed my eyes and fully disengaged from my surroundings. The void was far preferable to the terror that had been coursing through my system so ruthlessly.

  I was vaguely aware of cool tiles beneath my feet, Dimitri’s strong arm braced around my lower back. The sound of spraying water echoed around me, and I registered that he had started a shower. His fingers briefly sank into my hips as he lifted me, and then hot water cascaded down my frigid skin. Soap-slicked hands skated across my flesh. Their warmth was irresistible, and my muscles began to thaw. I sighed and relaxed into the familiar pleasure of his touch.