Chapter 121 Anya
Katya's body hit the floor with a sound I would never forget.
I could not move. I could not breathe. I could only stare at the blood spreading across the concrete.
Alexei lowered his gun and turned to look at me.
We should have killed him when we had the chance. I should have allowed Nikolai kill that day.
"Hello, my love," he said. "Did you miss me?"
"You killed her," I whispered.
"She tried to use me," Volkov said. He stepped over Katya's body like it was nothing. "I do not like being used."
He moved toward me. I backed away until my back hit the wall.
"Do not run," he said. "You know I always catch you."
"Why are you here?" I asked. "Katya said tomorrow. She said..."
"Katya said many things," Volkov interrupted. "But Katya is dead now. So what Katya said does not matter anymore."
"What do you want?" I demanded.
"You," he said simply. "I told you years ago. You belong to me. And now, finally, I am going to take what is mine."
"I do not belong to you," I said, my voice trembling.
"Yes you do," Volkov said. "You have always belonged to me. Since the moment I saw you."
"Nikolai will come for me," I said. "He will kill you."
Volkov laughed. It was a terrible sound.
"Nikolai is not coming for anyone," he said. "Because by tomorrow morning, Nikolai will be dead. Or wishing he was."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I set a trap," Volkov said. "Katya was useful for that at least. She lured Nikolai here. And when he arrives, my men will be waiting. They will capture him. Bring him to me. And then I will make him watch while I take everything that was his."
"You are insane," I said.
"I am patient," Volkov corrected. "I spent two years in prison planning this moment. Two years thinking about you. About Nikolai. About how I would destroy him and take everything he loved."
He reached for me. I tried to dodge but he was faster. His hand closed around my wrist.
"Do not fight me," he said. "You know how that ends."
Of course I did.
"Please," I said, my voice breaking. "Just let me go. I will leave Moscow. I will disappear. You will never see me again."
"But I want to see you again," Volkov said. "Every day. For the rest of your life. As my wife."
"I would rather die," I said.
"That can be arranged too," Volkov said. "But not until after Nikolai does. I want him to see you one last time. To know that he lost."
He pulled me toward the door. I kicked and screamed.
He hit me across the face. Hard enough that I tasted blood.
"Stop fighting," he said. "Or I hurt you worse."
I stopped fighting. Not because I wanted to. But because I knew he would do it. He would hurt me until I could not fight anymore.
He dragged me out of the room. Past dead bodies of Anya’s guards.
"You killed all of them," I said.
"They were in my way," Volkov said. "Just like Katya was in my way."
We reached the exit. A car was waiting outside. It was black and expensive with tinted.
Volkov opened the back door and pushed me inside.
I fell across the seat and hit my head on the far door.
Volkov climbed in beside me, and slammed the door shut.
"Drive," he ordered.
The car started moving.
I sat up slowly. My head throbbed. My face hurt where he had hit me.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked.
"Somewhere safe. Where Nikolai will ever find you." Volkov said.
"He will survive," I said. "And he will come for me."
"No," Volkov said. "He will not. Because by the time my men are done with him, there will not be enough left to come for anyone."
"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked.
Volkov looked at me.
"Because he took everything from me. My freedom. My reputation. My future. Two years of my life spent in a cage because of him. And now I am going to return the favor."
"So this is about revenge," I said.
"This is about justice," Volkov corrected. "Nikolai thinks he can destroy people without consequences. He thinks he is untouchable. I am going to show him he is wrong."
"By hurting me?" I asked. "I never did anything to you."
"You are his wife," Volkov said. "You are the thing he loves most in this world. Hurting you hurts him. Taking you destroys him."
"He does not love me," I said quietly. "Not anymore. He locked me in a cage. Just like you did."
Volkov smiled. "Then we have something in common. We both know how to keep what belongs to us."
The car drove for what felt like hours. I watched the city disappear outside the window.
Volkov said nothing. He just sat beside me. His hand was still on my wrist.
Finally the car stopped. We were at another building. It was smaller and isolated.
"Home," Volkov said. "Our home."
"This is not my home," I said.
"It will be," Volkov said. "After we are married."
He pulled me out of the car and dragged me toward the building.
I looked back at the road. At the empty darkness. At my last chance to escape.
But there was nowhere to run. And even if I ran, Volkov would catch me.
Inside, the building was clean and modern. Nothing like the house where he had kept me before.
"I prepared this for you," Volkov said. "Everything you could want. Clothes. Books. A bed. As long as you behave, you can have whatever you want."
"I want my freedom," I said.
"That is the one thing I cannot give you," Volkov said. "Everything else is negotiable."
He led me upstairs to a bedroom. It was beautiful and elegant. Like something from a magazine.
And the door had bars on the windows.
"This is your room," Volkov said. "Make yourself comfortable. We have a long night ahead of us."
"What happens now?" I asked.
"Now we wait," Volkov said. "We wait for my men to bring me Nikolai. And then the real fun begins."
He walked to the door and paused.
"I never forgot about you, Anya," he said. "Not for a single day in that prison. Every morning I woke up and thought about you. About your face. Your voice. The way you looked in that wedding dress."
"That was not real," I said. "None of it was real."
"It was real to me," Volkov said. "And now we get to finish what we started. The wedding. Our live together."
"I will never marry you," I said.
"We will see," Volkov said. "People change their minds when they have no other options."
He left, locking the door.
I walked to the window and looked out at the darkness. At the woods surrounding the house.
Somewhere out there was Nikolai. Maybe alive. Maybe dead. I did not know.
But I knew one thing. I would not stay here. I would not let Volkov win.
I had escaped him once before. I would do it again.
Or I would die trying.
A sound outside my door made me turn.
The door opened.
Volkov stood there. And behind him, two men dragged someone into the room.
Someone covered in blood and unconscious.
They dropped him on the floor at my feet.
I looked down.
And my heart stopped.
It was Nikolai.