Chapter 69 Anya
The door exploded inward.
For a moment, I thought it was Nikolai. I thought he had come to save me. Like he always did.
But it was not Nikolai.
It was Katya.
She walked into the basement calmly. Dressed in an expensive coat. Her hair was perfect. Her makeup was flawless.
She looked like she was going to a party not a torture chamber.
"Katya?" I whispered. My voice was barely audible.
She looked at me. At my broken body. At the blood.
"Hello, Anya," she said.
"Please," I begged. "Please help me. Your father... he is going to kill me."
"I know. I am here to watch." She said flatly.
My heart sank. "What?"
"You heard me. I came to watch you die."
"But... I thought you understood. I thought you left because you did not want to marry Nikolai."
"I left because I had no choice.
Because he chose you over me. Again and again. And now I am going to make both of you pay."
Viktor smiled at his daughter. "I knew you would come around."
"Of course, Father. Family comes first. Always."
He gestured to me. "She is all yours. Do whatever you want."
Katya walked closer and studied my face.
"You really thought he loved you, did you not?" She asked.
"He does love me." My voice cracked.
"He loves the idea of you. The broken girl he could save. The damsel in distress. But love? Real love? He is not capable of that."
"You are wrong."
"Am I? Then where is he now? Why is he not here? Why has he not saved you?"
I had no answer. Because she was right. Where was Nikolai?
"He does not even know where you are," Katya continued. "My father's men made sure of that. Right now, Nikolai is in my father's other location. Tied up. Being tortured. Just like you."
My blood ran cold. "What?"
She pulled out her phone and showed me a video feed.
Nikolai was tied to a chair. His shirt was in shreds. His body was torn. Blood covered his face and his body. I could barely recognize him.
Guards were whipping him, beating him and pouring water on him.
And I saw a screen. His eyes were glued to it. Despite everything he was going through, he was watching me.
"Nikolai!" I cried.
"He is watching everything I do to you," Viktor said. "Every cut. Every burn. Every scream. He sees it all."
"No. Please. Do not make him watch."
"Why not? He deserves to suffer. You both do."
Katya smiled. "This was my idea, actually. Kill two birds with one stone. Torture you both. Make you watch each other break."
"You are a monster."
"No. I am a Morozov. We do not forgive. And we always get revenge."
Viktor picked up the knife again.
"Now. Where were we?"
He grabbed my hand. The one with missing fingernails. He squeezed it.
I screamed.
"More," Katya said. "Make it louder. I want Nikolai to hear."
Viktor pressed the blade against my palm and started cutting.
The pain was unbearable and consuming.
I looked at the phone. At Nikolai's face.
Our eyes met through the camera.
"I love you," I mouthed.
He was screaming something. But I could not hear.
Viktor cut deeper.
I screamed until my voice gave out.
Katya watched. Unmoved. "More!"
Viktor moved the knife to my other hand.
"Please," I whispered. "Just kill me. Please. I cannot take this anymore."
"But that is the whole point," Katya said. "You are not supposed to take it. You are supposed to break completely. And then, when there is nothing left of you, when you are just an empty shell, then we will kill you."
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
"Because you took him from me! You ruined everything!"
"I did not take him! He was never yours to begin with!"
She slapped me hard. My head snapped to the side.
"He was mine! We were supposed to get married! Have a life together! But then you came along with your sad eyes and your tragic story and he forgot all about me!"
"He did not love you, Katya. He never did."
"Shut up!"
She grabbed the knife from her father and held it against my throat.
"I should kill you right now. And just end this quickly."
"Then do it. Please. Just do it." I said.
Her hand trembled. The knife pressed harder.
I closed my eyes and waited for death.
But it did not come.
"No," Katya said, pulling the knife away. "You do not get the easy way out. You are going to suffer. Every single day. Until there is nothing left."
She turned to her father. "Keep her barely alive. I want weekly updates. Videos. Photos. Everything."
"As you wish, daughter." Viktor smiled.
Katya looked at the phone. At Nikolai on the screen. "This is what happens when you choose wrong, Nikolai. This is what happens when you humiliate a Morozov. We do not forget. And we never forgive."
She walked to the door, stopped and looked back at me one last time. "Oh, and Anya? When this is all over, when you are finally dead, I am going to marry Nikolai. I will use my family's resources to wipe your memory from his mind. Make him forget you ever existed. And he will be mine. Forever."
"He will never love you."
"He does not have to love me. He just has to marry me. And he will. Because by the time I am done with him, he will have no choice."
She left.
The door slammed shut.
And I was alone again. With Viktor.
"Now," Viktor said. "Where were we?"
He checked his watch. "Midnight. Time for you to die."
"I thought your daughter said to keep me alive."
"She did. But she is not here anymore. And I am not a patient man."
He raised the knife and walked towards me.
"Any last words? Again."
I looked at the camera and said nothing.
"Oh, you’ve got nothing to say?" I whispered. "Well then. I wish you both a reunion in hell."
Viktor positioned the knife at my throat.
And then the entire building shook to its foundation.
The lights flickered and went out. Plunging the room into total darkness.
"What is happening?" Viktor roared somewhere in the room.
"We are under attack!" Someone shouted back.
The emergency lights came on, flashing red.
The door was already broken. And I could see dozens of armed men, storming in with guns blazing in their hands.
And in the front of them, covered in blood, eyes wild with rage, was Dmitri.
My little brother.
Wait, what?!