SNUFFED: SNUFF Sequel - Part One

by Bonny Capps

  I run my hand over my face, and my eyes travel to a different screen. A crib sits in the middle of a room, and a baby is sitting up, cooing as she reaches out her tiny hands.

  A dark form lingers in the corner, and I do not recognize him until he takes several steps towards her.

  Dimitri.

  Leaning forward, I grasp my knees when he picks her up. I cannot hear what he says, but I know that the baby is crying. Her head tosses back, and he doesn’t seem to make any attempts to console her. My eyes snap to Sofia. She’s a woman gone mad. She resists her restraints, and I wonder if she hears her daughter.

  “Konstantin?”

  Once again, Vadim’s voice assaults my ear.

  “I … I am just settling in, Vadim. I’ll be in touch.” I whisper, and before he can respond I press the tiny button on the earpiece.

  I stand and stare at the screens, wondering what exactly I’ve gotten myself into.

  I stare down at the chessboard with my steepled fingers pressed to my lips as Vlad continues. “We have looked everywhere, and we cannot trace him. It almost seems as though he’s vanished. We are certain that he worked with the Vavilovs?”

  I clench my jaw and close my eyes momentarily as I shoo away the vivid memory of him and my wife. After taking a deep breath, my eyes snap open and lock onto Vlad’s. “We are, though to what extent—I’m unsure. I located plane tickets in the bag that he left in Sofia’s hotel room along with counterfeit passports. I believe that he used the Vavilovs as a tool to get her. He had other plans.”

  “Could they be stowing him away?”

  My gaze falls to the chessboard once more as I contemplate his question. “So far, there is no sign of Vadim being inside of the Vavilov dacha. I would assume that if he were, my sister would have told me. Alina and I hold no secrets between each other.”

  “And if we do find him? Are we to bring him back dead or alive?”

  My lips twitch into a smile when I think of all of the possibilities. “Alive … fully alive. I want to be the one to drain the life from him.”

  I whistle as I tie off the last stitch. Stepping back, I admire my newest masterpiece. The white feathers are soft … smooth. The girl’s neck was just slender enough to fit. I smile when I look into her glass eyes.

  When my madness gets too close to the edge, I find my release here. When I kill, and when I build these pieces, it calms the chaos that is my mind. My wife … she did. Did. Before she chose to leave my side. Before she chose to sleep with Vadim.

  She was willing to throw this marriage away, but I am not. I can’t lose her, because I love her. She holds the last fragment of humanity that I possess. I assume the same should be said about my daughter, but I can’t. If I said that I loved that baby, I would be a liar.

  I know what Sofia wants from me, but I will never give her that until she relinquishes what I desire from her. If she wants to see me make any attempt to bond with our child, she must submit to my darkness. There is no other way around it. The quicker she accepts that, the quicker we can move on from this.

  My priorities at this point in my life are my bratva and my marriage. I knew that Sofia was special. I knew that she would be the one to claim my heart. The only one. When mama died, a part of me did too. It’s no excuse for the blood on my hands, though. That is my own doing. I was never like the others, so I suppose it’s good that I was brought up this way. Otherwise, I’d have to find other outlets to unleash my madness.

  This life is mostly perfect for a man like me. It will be absolute when my wife accepts the darkness in her, and I’m determined to help her do that.

  “Vashe telo tak kholodno,” I whisper. Your body is so cold. Running my hand down her spine, I count the vertebrae that seem to protrude painfully. “Vy nastol’ko khrupkim.” Your body is so frail.

  I do not like her this way. I do not like her malnourished. I know of no other ways to teach her a lesson, but the scratchy voice that is my conscience reminds me that if I continue to do this—leave her here, strapped to this table with no food, minimal water, with piss and shit running down her legs—she’ll die.

  I cannot allow that. She holds my sanity. If she goes, seemingly I will too.

  Closing my eyes momentarily, I think about the amount of time that she’s spent down here. Days … it’s been days. I think it’s finally time to begin the next phase of repairing our relationship. Her punishment hasn’t ended, it’s only evolving.

  When my eyes open, I quickly begin undoing her restraints. Sofia lifts her head weakly and looks towards my hands. Her eyes look wild—primal—as she attempts to keep her head up.

  Once the last strap is removed, I lift her into my arms and begin making my way up the stairs to the main house.

  She fucking reeks, but I am not surprised. Not in the least. I take note of how she clutches to my collar, and I swear that I hear her whisper.

  “What was that?” I ask as I emerge from the basement and into the kitchen.

  “Th-thank y-y-you,” she murmurs through cracked lips.

  I smile. “Don’t thank me yet, mouse.”

  When I begin making my way up the stairs, Konstantin is descending them. He stops in his tracks and eyes Sofia’s limp body as it drapes over my arms. He doesn’t do so much as lift an eyebrow. He simply nods and continues on his way.

  Good bluff.

  Once I enter the master bath, I attempt to set her on her feet, but she groans as she continues to cling to my collar. Her legs are wobbly, so I clutch her against my side as I reach into the shower to turn on the water.

  When it’s warm, I attempt to lead her into the shower, but she doesn’t let go. She clings to me like her life depends on it.

  How is it that I can rape, torture, and murder without a second thought … but with her, she warms the remnants of my cold heart? I want to feel her pain, because in essence, that would bring me closer to her. In her absence, my bed has felt so cold. Not even the whores could warm the empty spot that Sofia left. I found myself not even able to touch them. Her absence reminded me of the girl that stood in my bedroom that first night when I decided to keep her. She wasn’t nearly as broken as she is now. In fact, she wasn’t broken at all.

  She was hurt, lost, scared—but not broken.

  When I claimed her, I fractured her soul. When I beat her, that tiny fracture became broader, and with each additional occurrence, it grew wider and deeper until she eventually shattered.

  She’s so broken that she clings to me, the one who broke her.

  “Come,” I whisper as I turn and back into the shower fully clothed with Sofia attached to my front. The water pelts down over our heads, soaking my clothing as I hold her close. Her eyes flutter shut as her head falls back. The rivulets of water slither down her face before they join at her neck and stream between the valley of her breasts.

  Holding her up with one hand, I reach behind my shoulder to pull my shirt over my head. Then I kick off my shoes and socks before removing my jeans. Once I’m fully naked, I pull her against my chest and hold her close as I step further into the water.

  She whimpers as I run a hand over her slick, wet hair. “You can’t deny me, mouse. The longer you do, the longer you will be punished.”

  “I–I …” She murmurs, yet her eyes remain closed. “I don’t want to be punished anymore. I’ll give you what you need, Dimitri. Please, just don’t hurt Eva … or me. Forgive me … please.”

  She gasps when I grasp her jaw and dig my fingers into her gaunt cheeks. “Your punishment is far from over,” I growl, watching as her eyes snap open and lock onto mine. “You ask for forgiveness? You want me to forget? I am not a man that forgives Sofia, nor am I a man that forgets. You will pay with every ounce of yourself. You will succumb to the fact that you are mine. You are my property. You have no say in who you love, who you fuck, or who you kill.”

  Her eyes sober as she looks up at me, her lips tremble as they part and close several times. “Kill ….” She breathes out and I nod slowly
.

  “Yes, Sofia. I am going to pluck away your angel wings and replace them with horns. You are no longer Sofia Dmitriev, and I thought that was made clear long ago, but apparently it was not. You are a Vavilov—The Pakhan’s wife. The mother of our child … and there will be more, Sofia. Yes, you will not stop bearing children until I have an heir. I was going to be easy on you. I was going to let you live a happy life, and you still can, however, there is a price to be paid. Do you understand?”

  I watch as her brow furrows and her jaw clenches. She’d be wise to keep her smart mouth shut, otherwise I will do it for her.

  She blinks several times as her smug expression loosens. “Yes,” she whispers, defeat clearly evident in her tone.

  “Good,” I murmur, loosening my grip on her jaw. “Sweet Sofia, I love you. I love you.”

  I wrap my arms around her and hold her head against my chest as I stroke her hair with my thumb. “It would be wise to follow orders, mouse. I’m afraid your daughter will not survive if you fail … even the tiniest infraction will lead to her demise.”

  “Vadim!” I whisper loudly as I pace back and forth in my room. The surveillance room.

  I wait impatiently, and just when I am about to repeat Vadim’s name, Alexei responds.

  “Konstantin, have you seen her? Have you seen my sister?”

  I let out a heavy sigh as I slump down on the bed. “Yes,” I rasp. “I have seen Sofia. She didn’t look good, but she is alive.”

  Alexei sighs. “How bad is she?”

  I squeeze my eyes shut as I recall how she looked. “Not good. She’s skin and bones … he was carrying her off somewhere. She was covered in her own filth … looked unresponsive, but I could tell she was alive because she was clutching to his collar.”

  All I can hear are his heavy breaths before he finally responds. “Konstantin, you must earn his trust. You can’t remain in that room.”

  “Yeah?” I retort. “How in the fuck am I to do that?”

  My chest heaves as I consider that I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life when I decided to come here … then her words mumble their way through my chaotic mind. I made a promise, though I didn’t consider what I’d be getting myself into when I did. Everything seemed to fall right into place. The thing is—it was all planned—all along, there was always a bigger plan.

  “I do not know, Konstantin. I am not trying to become upset with you. I just want my sister and my niece safe. That is all.”

  Just when I’m about to respond, the door swings open and Vlad stomps into the room. “The Packhan has requested for you to come to dinner with the brat’ya.” He crosses his arms as he leans against the doorframe. “Talk to yourself often?”

  I scoff before running my hands down my face.

  “I asked you a fucking question,” Vlad growls as his arms drop to his sides, his fists balling up when he steps in the room.

  I stand and approach him with a smirk. “Do you have a problem?”

  He narrows his eyes at me when I don’t back down. “I heard mumbling.”

  I snicker. “Do you hear shit often? You might want to get that checked.”

  His bulldog face stays serious for a time before his lips curl into a smile. He slaps my arm—hard—before laughing. “Long hours will do that, yes?”

  I smile in return. “Yeah … late nights, they are doing a number on me.”

  He huffs as he squeezes my arm. “I’m afraid it doesn’t get any better from here, my friend. The bratva never sleeps, you know?” He pauses and spreads his eyelids with his index finger and thumb. “You always have to have one eye open. You never know who you can trust.” A smirk curls his lips before he releases me and turns to leave.

  I move my head from side to side, hearing my bones pop when I do. I don’t know what waits beyond the double doors. Nothing should shock me at this point. Sitting behind those screens, that was the easy part. I’m afraid the closer that I get to earning Dimitri’s trust, the more I will see.

  I exhale a heavy breath before pushing the doors open. The other men that I’ve seen here and there quiet when I enter. I spot an empty seat next to the head of the table and plop down as a dozen eyes watch my every move.

  “Kto eto?” Who is that? One of the men murmurs to Vlad, all the while his eyes stay on me. Vlad smirks in response before responding loudly, ensuring that I hear him loud and clear. “Novyy biych.” The new bitch.

  The men all laugh in response, and I shake my head slightly as a smirk pulls at my lips. I’m a boxer, having shit talked to me is nothing new. In fact, I’ve learned that people will talk a lot of shit when they want what I have. Looks, strength, whatever else.

  Jealousy is obnoxiously loud.

  The door swings open once more, and Dimitri’s presence immediately fills the once boisterous dining hall. The way these men look at him is sickening. Fear shrouds their wide gazes as they watch him saunter to the head of the table. Before he sits, my eyes travel from a leash he grasps tightly in his hand … and my heart drops to the pit of my stomach when I see her.

  At least she’s clean, unlike when I saw him carrying her up the stairs—but that’s the only improvement. She’s still stick thin and sickly looking.

  Dull, blonde hair hangs over her shoulders, blocking most of her face. Her pale skin isn’t luminesce like it was in the pictures, it’s drab and flat—reminding me of a sheet of paper—other than her pink cheeks, which I can barely see as they hide behind the blanket of hair.

  She crawls to the side of his chair and props herself up on her shins before a rattling, sharp breath hisses past her lips. I look down at her knees just as the white, silk gown that she wears slinks up her thighs. They’re red, bruised, and bloody.

  As I examine her, my eyes flit from Dimitri, to his men, back to her. If I blatantly stared at her, I’d be in trouble.

  Dimitri sits and his eyes snap to me as I look at him expectantly. “Konstantin, have you been settling in well.”

  I nod nonchalantly. “Yes. Though I must admit, I’m getting tired of staring at screens.”

  He smiles. It isn’t a kind smile. Nothing is kind about him.

  “I’m happy to hear that because I would like to promote you.”

  My eyebrows sit high on my forehead. “Oh?”

  “Yes,” he responds. “There has been a change of plans. It seems that there is a little woman who is being very loud in her search for my mouse.”

  Sofia’s head jerks upwards, her eyes locking onto Dimitri. “Mirna?” she whispers with such hope glistening in her eyes, it’s heartbreaking. Dimitri’s response, though, is none less than a kick to her gut.

  “Yes,” he sneers, and she quickly diverts her eyes. “That bitch is persistent. She seems to think that you’ve been kidnapped, mouse.” He laughs like that’s the most ludicrous thing, for her to have been taken against her will.

  “So,” he continues. “Sofia will begin skating again, once she gets healthier of course. We will show the world how happy you are … how happy we are. Won’t we mouse?” He smiles as he runs a hand over her head.

  Her eyes slowly narrow to meet his, and she doesn’t look frightened or excited … she looks angry. “You expect me to skate again?”

  “Yes,” Dimitri quips. “I do, and I expect you to do it with a smile on your face, and with as much grace, if not more, than you’ve demonstrated before. You will be skating for Russia, your home.”

  “Who will coach me?” Sofia murmurs, her eyes not leaving his.

  Dimitri’s mouth twitches into a smile as irritability is evident on his face. “I’ve secured one of the best coaches for you, Sofia. That bitch from the United States isn’t shit compared to the coach you will have here. Here in Russia, we are not weak. We work hard, for everything.”

  “I did work hard,” Sofia seethes as she weakly stands before us, her tiny fists balled at her sides as her feeble body sways back and forth. “You … this place … you took everything from me. These men—” Pausing, she glares at
the faces around the table. “These men are monsters—murderers!”

  “Sofia,” Dimitri growls, so low that it’s barely audible. “Get on your fucking knees. I will deal with you later.”

  She inhales a shaky breath as a single tear slithers down her cheek. “You took away everything. My life, my freedom, my drive. You took it all. Now you expect me to somehow dig my soul from where it’s been buried?”

  “Enough!” Dimitri roars as he leaps from his chair. He takes a deep breath before jabbing his finger toward the floor where Sofia once knelt. “On the floor. On the floor at once.”

  My gaze travels to her face. Her eyes grow wider by the second as her body shakes furiously and her fists grow tighter. I watch as her jaw tenses, and her lips tremble. But then, her mouth snaps open and the silence in the room is cut by her shrill scream.

  Dimitri bares his teeth as he steps around the chair, tangles his fingers in her hair, and slams the side of her face onto the wooden surface of the table.

  Her face is right in front of me. Her eyes travel up my abdomen, to my chest, and then they lock onto mine. I can’t swallow … I can’t breathe. Her eyes ask so many questions. I wish that I could answer them with a look alone. Perhaps she’s incredibly intuitive and knows that I’m here to help. I hope she does know. She needs to know that she’s not alone.

  Leaning over her back, Dimitri audibly whispers, “Listen to me now, Sofia. Your daughter will now go one day without any nourishment or comfort. One. Entire. Day.”

  “No,” She breathes out as numerous tears begin flooding from her sad eyes.

  “Yes,” he responds simply. “Tonight, you will not be able to sleep. I can promise you that. Now get on the fucking floor.”

  Abruptly, he releases her, and she slides back onto the floor, staring at her lap as quiet sobs erupt from her chest.

  Dimitri takes a seat once more at the head of the table before pouring himself a shot of vodka and allowing it to slide down his throat. His tense body loosens after two more.