Chapter 30

Katja~

T hankfully, I wasn't walking gingerly anymore, so I wasn't going to have to come up with a lie for why I was walking funny. All weekend long, I'd been able to convince my grandfather that my ‘date' had taken me dancing, and being wholly out of shape, I'd woken up sore. Luckily for me, he had just laughed before encouraging me to get some more exercise.

At any rate, I also hadn't heard from Maksim all weekend, except for a few texts that came across like threats. If I hadn't already been sleeping with Maksim, they would have come across like something from a stalker's handbook. His texts had been to remind me that I was his, and to also remind me that I didn't have a choice in the matter.

It'd been an exhausting weekend.

That was probably why I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings when I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist as soon as I got out of my car. The hand over my mouth silenced my surprised scream, and it took only a few seconds before I realized what this was, and of fucking course.

"If you scream or draw any unnecessary attention, I will gut you, milaya devushka."

I gave Klive a quick nod to let him know that I'd heard him. However, as soon as he moved his hand from my mouth, I did ask, "What are you doing?"

"Finally taking matters into my own hands," he answered cryptically. "Now, we're going to walk over to my truck, and you're going to get in like a good captive. If not, I will leave you here, then drive straight over to your house, then kill your grandfather before the police can even get there."

Even though I knew that Artur was with him, I wasn't sure if I still trusted him completely. While you'd think that Artur would have the upper-hand, I couldn't risk my grandfather's life on that. Plus, wasn't this what we'd been hoping for? To finally bring Klive out into the open?

With my heart beating rapidly inside my chest, I followed Klive to his truck, deciding to wait this out. While it could be the worst decision of my life, I hadn't grown up with a kidnapping plan in place for situations like this one.

Once we got in his truck, I asked, "Why me, Klive? Why are you doing this?"

He ignored me.

He ignored me all the way until we passed an abandoned warehouse just outside the city limits, and I really was a goddamn fool. From day one, I'd been playing this all wrong because they didn't prepare you for this shit in school. Oh, they warned you of stranger-danger, but not of getting hijacked by the Mafia and whatever came with such an ordeal.

I also realized that I'd been living in a delusional state since the second that Klive had sat down at my lunch table. I had convinced myself that I could keep my grandfather safe when I'd never had the control to do that. I'd been nothing but a pawn between Maksim and Klive, and I'd been too na?ve or arrogant to see it before. They'd been pulling my strings this entire time, and I'd been too stupid to realize it. I'd let my emotions and desperation cloud my common sense, and because of that, I'd gotten into Klive's truck without a struggle. I'd gotten into his truck, and now I was going to die for my stupidity, and quite frankly, I deserved it.

Christ, how could I have been so stupid?

When Klive finally parked his truck in the dead grass in back of a rotting house, I thought about making a run for it. After all, bullets were the only things that you couldn't outrun. Yeah, a knife might get me if he stabbed in the perfect place to kill me, but I still had a fighting chance against a knife.

However, all my grand plans quickly went up in smoke when he turned off the engine, saying, "I also have a gun, Katja. I just didn't want to pull it out in case you decided to fight me. I couldn't afford it accidentally going off and calling attention to what I was doing."

"Well, that was very thought out of you," I drawled out, suddenly feeling so damn exhausted.

To prove his point, Klive finally pulled out his gun, and without another word, we both got out of the truck as I started to think up a different plan. Now, in the movies, you're supposed to get the maniac talking and try to connect with him, but what was there to talk about? I already knew that he was here because of Maksim, so what more could I possibly learn that would help me? What would getting to know each other better get me? Yeah, conversation might stall him, but to what end?

When we finally entered the house, it looked like it might fall down around us at any moment, which might not be a bad thing in all honesty. I was also curious as to how he knew about this place, but Klive's resources were the least of my problems right now.

"What am I doing here?" I finally asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"Sit down," he ordered as he ushered me into the living room, a dusty couch right in the middle of the room, two wooden chairs near the front window.

"Where?"

Klive grabbed one of the chairs, then placed it in the center of the room. "Here."

I did as he'd ordered, and as soon as I sat down, he grabbed some rope that I just noticed had been laying across the couch. Resigned, I didn't fight as he tied me to the chair, praying that my wits would get me out of this since I was no match for him in strength, and definitely no match for the gun.

When Klive was done tying me to the chair, he said, "I saw you and Maksim arguing at Erato's the other night. Why were you fighting with him?"

"I bought him a drink, and he took exception," I answered, sticking to the truth as much as possible.

"You're lying!" he yelled right before backhanding me across the face, the force of the hit making my eyes water.

"I'm not lying," I semi-lied. "He felt insulted that I would pay for our outing."

"Why fight with him?" he asked. "You're supposed to be sucking his dick to get information for me. Why would you fight with him, knowing that he could easily cast you aside and ruin all our plans?"

"We weren't fighting," I lied again. "He got mad, but I wasn't fighting with him."

"You know, I picked you because there was no one else. Samara Kotov and Masha Andreev are too well guarded, and Akim is always with his family," he bit out. "With Maksim always being alone, he was the better target, and using a perfect stranger with everything to lose was the best plan."

Panic gripped my chest, but I did my best to keep it under control. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Everyone knows that indifference is the true definition of apathy," he said. "So, since Maksim cares enough about you to argue with you, the plan has changed."

I shook my head, my left eye still stinging a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to make a trade," he announced. "Maksim for you."

I laughed.

Despite it all, I laughed.

Honestly, I couldn't help myself.

Looking into his dark eyes, I asked, "Do you really believe that Maksim Barychev is going to trade his life for some random pussy?" No matter what Maksim might have said to me in bed, there was no way that he was going to sacrifice himself for a woman that he'd only been fucking for a few weeks. "You're insane."

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" he replied coldly. "Shall we call him now?"

Thankfully, I'd had enough sense to erase all the texts between me and Maksim. Granted, I had also erased all the texts and calls that I'd gotten from Klive, but that'd been in a futile attempt to pretend that my life was normal.

"You can call him, but I can guarantee you that Maksim won't care that you have me," I told him. "He might orchestrate an exchange to get to the bottom of this, but he's not going to care if you kill me, Klive. You're…you might as well just let me go. I'm not the bargaining chip that you think I am."

"Even if Maksim doesn't think you're worth the trade, that doesn't mean that I can't have some fun with you in the meantime," he remarked with a sneer, and I knew that I wasn't going to leave here alive.

I thought about my grandfather, and pain hit the center of my chest like a two-by-four. There was no telling how long it'd be before someone found my body out here, and I had no idea if he was going to be able to withstand me missing before finding out the truth. He was going to be left alone with so much violence left behind, and my heart was breaking for him

I watched as Klive dug into my purse to get my phone out, and he was going to have to kill me before I let him rape me. Maybe that was a stupid choice to make, but I wanted to leave this world a fighter. Albeit a stupid one, but a fighter, nonetheless. Even if my grandfather would never know, it'd be enough that I knew that I'd gone out fighting, hoping to make him proud.

When Klive finally walked over with my phone in his hand, he ordered me to unlock it, and when I did, he said, "For your sake, you better have made a better impression on him than you think."

"You're making a mistake, Klive," I said, hoping to make him listen. "It's not too late to still stick with our original plan."

"It became too late the second that you failed me, milaya devushka."