Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
She moans gently, rolling over, her lips forming a soft smile. I want to know what she’s dreaming about so badly. I want to share the dream with her, even though I shouldn’t.
CHAPTER 6
ANIA
In the dream, I’m weightless. I know I’m dreaming because I’m back in my studio, floating around, made of pure light. I flutter and laugh, and for a second, I forget. Then, a gentle hand shakes me awake.
Peeling my eyes open, I find Aiden staring down at me. He looks seriously pissed, as if he resents me for allowing him to kidnap me or something.
“Are you still taking me to see my mom?” I ask bitterly.
He frowns. “Hmm.”
“Is that a yes or a no?”
“I’ve already told you.”
“I guess trusting you should be my top priority.”
“We need to leave. We’re not supposed to be here.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me.”
I try to act like a don’t-give-a-damn boss bitch, but it’s tough because something is smoldering in his eyes. Nobody has ever looked at me like that before. It’s like he wants to kiss me and kill me at the same time.
“Come on,” he says, standing up. “We can’t hang around.”
“Or what? Somebody will catch us and send me home?”
“That’s not happening. It’ll just mean I need to bribe more people. Intimidate more people. It’s a hassle, Ania, not an escape route.”
I turn away, annoyed at how easily he reads me. Standing up, I brush my sweaty clothes down, self-conscious. I shouldn’t care if I look messy, but shamefully, I do. He leads me toward the rear of the plane. A huge door opens, and a ramp leads down to an airstrip. Everybody else is gone. A jeep idles just beyond the ramp.
“Wait,” I say, turning back. “I forgot the ballerina.”
He grunts and takes my arm. “No time.”
“But—”
“It’s a bit of wood, Ania. If you care that much, I’ll make you another one.”
“I don’t care at all.”
I snatch my arm away, walking toward the jeep. I know that’s where I’ll end up anyway, so I might as well pretend it’s my choice, at least on some level. I get into the passenger seat. He climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the engine, seeming so huge, so broad, so strong, so … No, so nothing. He’s a kidnapper—end of story.
He drives through some metal gates, already open, and down a long, quiet road. The stars stare down at us. It’s a clear night. The moon is too beautiful for what’s happening. In the distance, a city shines with bright lights.
“Where are we?”
“Home,” he says.
“You should’ve had a nap on the plane. You’re so cranky.”
Is that a smile? He turns his face as though he doesn’t want me to see, but then he says, “I am not cranky.”
Now I’m the one smiling at a totally inappropriate time. “You are so cranky.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm,” I tease.
Then he stays silent, which is fine with me, as if I need to talk anyway.
He stops on the outskirts of the city in the middle of a forest. After spending all my life on the West Coast, the greenery and the smell of damp earth seem so new to me. When I climb from the car, I take a moment to inhale the clean, cold air. I won’t let him break me. I won’t let him mindfuck me. I won’t let him ruin me.
Walking around to the back of the car, he takes out a duffel bag.
“Is this when the torture begins?” I say, trying to make myself sound sarcastic and like I don’t give a single F. Yet when I hear my voice, I know I’ve failed. I sound small and frightened.
“I won’t hurt you,” he grunts, heading for a cluster of trees.
“Are we camping?”
“Just follow me.”
“And if I don’t?”
He stops and doesn’t even turn. “Then I’ll chase you and bring you back. Unless you think you’re quicker than me.”
He’s big, sure, broad, and strong, but he moves like my brothers. Mikhail and Dimitri are big and can move like big cats on the hunt. That’s what he seems like with each step. Not bothering to reply, I follow him. He leads me through two tall pines, and then I spot it: a small lodge sitting right in the middle of the trees, with nature trying to tear it back down, covered in vines and leaves.
“We’ll stay here until morning,” he says. “Then tomorrow, I’ll take you to Molly.”
“Cheers, stepbro.”
He tries to hide the flinch, but he does a poor job. It’s his fault for giving me a surefire way to get to him. He shouldn’t let me affect him as much as he affects me. We walk to the entrance of the lodge. As Aiden searches for keys in his pockets and opens the door, many escape scenarios play out in my head, but they all fail.
Inside, it’s musty, the air thick with dust. Otherwise, it could be a nice holiday lodge. There’s a fireplace, big, comfy-looking couches, and a natural home-away-from-home feel.