Chapter 5 - Arseny

Great, what am I going to do now? I'm such a dumbass.

It's more like Luka to do things before he thinks, to make irrational decisions. I am precise. I know the next move before I've made the current one. Life is a game of chess, and I am the master.

Except now.

Except with her.

I had to take her. We would never get an opportunity like this again. The problem is this is big enough to start a war with Sokolov, a war that Kervyn didn't ask for or want. He's going to be pissed with me if I come home with this diva of a Mafia princess who won't stop kicking my seat.

What do I do with her? That's the really big question. I mean, Kervyn wouldn't literally kill me, but he'd figuratively kill me if I brought her to the house. I can't call my brothers. No, that's for sure. Could I?

I drive around for a while, unsure where to go. I need to go somewhere no one can find me, that no one would suspect to look for me.

She kicks my chair again and again, and it's starting to get irritating.

"Cut it out, or I'll make you regret it," I growl. "You don't want to annoy me."

"Or what? You're going to tie me up? News flash, you've already done that."

"There are other things I can do to that body of yours that would be far worse than tying you up. Tying you up is just the warm-up," I chuckle darkly. "You belong to me now, and I can have my way with you any which way I like. There are things worse than death, Elena."

"You can't. You can't do this. I am a Sokolov, daughter to Emery, current Pakhan of the Vegas division." It's a rehearsed line and a tired one. Every time I capture one of these family assholes and start torturing them, they claim their birthright.

As if that would stop me.

"I've never had a princess before," I continue to taunt her. I just want to scare her into silence, but my thoughts race as I think of things I could do to her. "I could touch you in ways you haven't even touched yourself."

"Stop being vulgar," she demands.

"No one saw me take you. I could have my way with you and ditch you in the desert, and someone should eventually find your body if it's not dragged off by animals first." I glance in the rearview mirror and see her chest rising and falling as she controls her breathing.

She's stubborn as hell. I'd give her that, but she's hardly a threat to me.

"Maybe I'm doing this wrong," I say. "Maybe I should send a message carved into that pretty little face. After all, that's what I'm known for."

I turn off the main road and drive on the dirt road up the mountain.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I don't even think you know what I would and wouldn't do, princess. I've done things that you cannot even imagine." I laugh. "The things I'd do to your brothers if I had half an hour with them."

She stays silent, and I press her.

"Why is your family buying all the butchers?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says calmly. "I was trying to figure that out myself."

"Don't bullshit me. You were confident enough to walk in there and ask for files. What files were you looking for?" I ask.

"Nothing in particular. I wanted to know what made the butchery so special that my father would be interested. That's all, I swear." I can hear a slight whine in her voice. I'm getting to her.

"You'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it. You've put me in quite a predicament. I need to know what you were looking for, and I can't let you go until you tell me."

"I need to pee, or I'm going to pee in the car," she warns me.

"Wouldn't be the first time I cleaned piss off the upholstery. Go ahead."

She falls silent. She certainly wasn't expecting that from me.

We travel for another half an hour before I turn left and drive through the trees. There isn't a road here. You need to know where you're going to make it through this section. I prefer it that way. It"s easier to hide from prying eyes. The trees are tall in this area, and the canopy keeps the forest cool.

"Where are you taking me?" she asks.

"If I wanted you to know where we're going, I wouldn't have bothered with the blindfold, Elena," I say.

I pull up to a cabin in the woods. I built it myself. It took me almost two years to get it right, and I only worked on it in my spare time. It's safe and secure, warm but sparse in luxuries. It gets colder up here, so I'll have to make a fire to warm up the place. There are provisions here, such as tinned food and bottled water. We should be good for a couple of days.

At least until I can figure out the mess that I've created.

I get out and get the back door open. She instantly starts to kick at me. I grab her ankles, and she squeals as I drag her out, and she lands on the floor hard.

"You don't have to hurt me," she growls.

"Well, if you weren't kicking me, maybe we could have gotten out nicely."

I grab her bound wrists and force her to stand. I shut the door and led her toward the cabin. I open it. It's chilly in here, as expected. The electricity is solar, and the batteries should be charged.

I flip a switch, and as promised, the lights light up the room.

I walk Elena over to the kitchen and cable-tie her to a hook in the wall. She has to sit for me to do it, but I finally take her blindfold off.

"There you go," I say as she blinks and looks around.

"Where are we? I demand you return me to my family at once," she growls the words at me.

"I think not. I think I'm going to have a little fun," I taunt her again.

She falls silent, and I leave to gather chopped wood from the pile outside. I bring it in and chuckle. "I can see you're trying to escape, but it's not going to work."

She grunts a little as she tugs at her bindings, but I can see they're simply cutting into her skin.

She falls silent again, and I carefully stack the wood in the fireplace and get some kindling. I put it under the wood and strike a match, setting it on fire.

I stay there, poking and prodding until the fire catches the wood, and then I sit back as it slowly develops into a blazing fire.

"That should warm us up. Water?" I ask, looking at her.

She refuses to look at me, so I get a bottle and sit at the kitchen island to sip it while watching her.

"Are you ignoring me now? Hoping your silent protest will persuade me to let you go? I have news for you, Elena. I know how to make people talk." I get up and kneel in front of her.

She looks at me disdainfully. "You don't scare me."

"You don't scare me. We're on even ground." I chuckle. "Except you're the one tied up, and I'm the one holding you captive."

She spits at me, and I take the handkerchief out and wipe my face. "That's not nice, Elena." I grab her face in my hand and squeeze. "I don't like being disrespected."

She whimpers slightly, and I let go. I don't beat women. It's a rule.

I get up and go to the pantry. I take out some food to cook. I make it without looking at her or acknowledging her presence. She doesn't say anything. She grunts now and then, I assume from discomfort, but other than that, she doesn't make a noise.

I kneel beside her and cut her free from the wall but leave her hands bound. "You can go to the bathroom before we eat."

I lead her to the door and push her inside. "The door doesn't lock from the inside, and that window is sealed shut, so I would just make it easy for both of us. Take a leak and come out again."

"Can you untie me?" she asks.

"No." I shut the door between us.

I go back to the kitchen. Everything is open plan, so I know she can't sneak out. There's nothing in the bathroom she can use to free herself.

I hear the toilet flush, and I go back to the door.

She comes out, and I take her back to the wall, where I bind her again.

"These are killing my wrists." She motions behind her. I check her binds, and it seems she's pulled them tighter, and now they're causing her wrists to bleed. That's not my intention.

"I'll loosen them and redo them," I grumble.

"Thanks," she says, kneeling by the wall.

I get a knife and move behind her, cutting the cable ties free. She moves her hands to the front and rubs her wrists. I move to face her, and the next thing I know, she grabs her high heel and stabs me in the shoulder with it.

I fall backward as she kicks off the other high heel and runs for the door.

That bitch.

She's feisty. I like that.

I pull the heel out of my shoulder and grab my hunting knife and a torch. I stroll out of the cabin after her. I can track her. It isn't hard.

In the distance, I can hear her running. She's grunting and crying out way too loudly to hide herself. She's also going the wrong way. She might make it to a road, but not the road. The one that will take her back the way we came. She's getting herself lost.

I follow her tracks as I walk. My shoulder is killing me. When I get back, I'll have to clean and dress it. She's got quite the kick to her.

I pause as I examine her prints. Not far from hers, another set of prints is walking in the same direction. I stoop down low to check them out.

Three sets, one set bigger than the other two. I groan. I didn't bring a gun, and bears are out tonight. I hope she doesn't purposefully run into them. I'm not in the mood to come swinging in and save her like Tarzan with just a knife to defend myself with.

I hurry, trying to keep as quiet as I can so I don't make her scream, all the while trying not to alert any bears nearby that tonight"s meal is out and about.

We're nearing the road that leads to the river. She'll think it's a main road and will probably follow it. If I take a shortcut, I can probably get there before she does. But then I run the risk of being unable to follow her footprints.

Still, it looks like she's going in a steady direction and probably following that age-old advice of not getting turned around in the woods. I'm confident she will make it to the road, so I take my shortcut and cut along the trees down to the road. I reach it quickly and walk quietly toward where I think she should emerge.

I hear snuffling nearby, and I prepare myself for the worst possible scenario coming to life.

I know bears are nearby, and I can hear Elena walking toward them.