24. Anastasia

TWENTY-FOUR

Anastasia

I t’s early, too early for whatever furniture Vitali is deciding to rearrange in my bedroom. I have to blink and pinch myself to make sure I’m not still asleep when my eyes open to see boxes, moving boxes that I do not fucking own, folded, and propped up ready to be packed as he stands folding my clothes.

He’s engrossed in his task, and I throw a cushion at him to get his attention as I slowly sit up. My eyes go wide when I notice my things inside the boxes and I look between them and him as I ask, “What the fuck are you doing?”

The asshole has the audacity to look at me like I’m dumb and holds his hands out to the boxes as though it’s self-explanatory.

“Packing?”

Don’t kill Vitali, he’s a puppy and his family are all fucking crazy .

I rub my temples to try and meditate into a different reality because I’ve clearly awoken in one that I don’t belong in and it doesn’t help when he opens his fat mouth.

“Go back to sleep, I’ll be done when you wake up.”

Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. Don’t fucking kill him.

My anger has my vision doubling as I swing my legs over the bed. The little freak has managed to pack up one side of the room. How long has he been awake? And why the fuck is he boxing up my things?!

My face heats at the box full of toys. There’s a line normal people don’t cross, it’s right in front of a panty drawer and it reaches to where people leave their sex toys. But Vitali isn’t fucking normal, and he has a wide grin on his face as he instructs me to help.

“If you put things in boxes that go together it makes it easier. Do you want to get that side of the room now that you’re up?”

The only reason I can come up with for his behavior is one he’s going to literally going to pay for.

“If you donate my things, you’re replacing everything.”

He’s wealthy enough to do it and I won’t even blink while swiping his card in every high-end shop that exists. He finally pauses in folding my clothes and sighs as though me asking about my own shit is an inconvenience.

“We’re not donating them, sweetness. You’re moving in with me.”

A laugh bubbles out of me, the force of it folds me in half and I have to grab my knees, so I don’t hit the floor.It’s an elaborate joke, one he’s committed to exceptionally. I can see him through my blurry vision as he seals a box and pushes it into the hallway. He doesn’t slow down or wipe the smile off his face as he starts picking up my cushions and placing them in boxes. I’m going crazy and pinch my thigh to wake up. I do it hard enough for there to be red marks but he’s still packing.

There’s no way I’ve lost time, but I still check the date to make sure I haven’t been in a coma. The last conversation we had I told him he deserves better and it’s not even twelve hours later. He doesn’t slow down, somehow he’s got another three boxes packed and I’m standing like an idiot pinching my thigh.

He doesn’t look at me and my blood roars in my ears at his blasé tone as he says, “I’m going to put these in the car, then you can make me breakfast.”

Grabbing the thing closest to me, I throw it at his head and only once it’s in midair do I realize what it is. Some of my anger lessens, seeing the bright pink dildo slap off his temple and he turns to me with shock. He finally loses his smile and drops the boxes to gently touch the red mark forming near his hairline as he stares at me.

“Did you just throw a dick at me?” He looks down at it and nods. “Yeah, you just threw a dick at me.”

My anger return as I hiss, “You said put things together that match.”

His big dopey grin comes out and I look away so it can’t affect me.Stupid endearing asshole, he can’t just fucking wake up and decide shit about my life. Vitali stomps around the boxes and I jump on the bed to get away from him. Rough fingers wrap around my ankle, dragging me down and he fits himself between my thighs. I try to push him away and he grabs my wrists in one hand, pins them above my head, and wraps his hand around my throat, pushing me into the sheets. His voice deepens as he lines our faces up so we’re eye to eye.

“You are moving in with me, Anastasia, you will fall asleep beside me, and wake up in the same fucking place.”

“When the fuck did we talk about that?” I argue back despite a part of me wanting to agree as I knock my knee into his side to dislodge him.

The immovable prick stays solid above me, and I don’t have the heart to hit into his bad knee.He squeezes the sides of my neck, filling with pride as he leans further into me.

“I decided somewhere between your snoring and your fart.”

My entire body stills, and I turn bright red, whispering, “I don’t fart.”

He’s doing it on purpose, saying dumb shit so I ignore what he’s doing.

“Okay, you were snoring from your ass.”

My lips twitch despite him being a cunt and I hate him. I’m frozen, and he adds to my confusion by planting a chaste kiss on my lips.

“You’re cute, I’m keeping you.”

Am I a fucking pet? Some lost animal that’s wandered onto his property without a collar? Fucking psycho.

When he tries to move, ignoring every protest I’ve made, I wrap my legs around his waist. There’s more forcefulness in my voice trying to make the obtuse dickhead listen to me.

“I am not moving in with you.”

He lets go of my neck and moves my hair off my face with one finger while making me question his intelligence.

“You want me to move in here? Okay, I’ll ring Val and get him to pack my shit up.”

I’d have a more fruitful conversation with my hand, it would make sense and actually follow the conversation unlike Vitali.I shake my head to knock away my frustration, but it settles into my voice as I say, “No. We are not living together.”

He moves back and scans my face before shrugging and speaking too easily. “Well, your things are coming with me and you’re wearing my ring, every time you need something it will be me you come to.” He presses further into me and sweetly kisses my cheek as his voice becomes more playful. “Don’t be difficult, sweetness, think of the environment. What will all the emissions do to the ozone layer with me driving back and forward?”

I press against his shoulder, but he adds more of his weight to me as his voice darkens, and he lets out the bastard he usually keeps hidden.

“I own the building, so I could evict you then you’d have to live with me.”

What the fuck is his fucking problem? I bought this place outright under Dima’s name, he can’t fucking evict me.

One word leaves me when I realize I’m out of options. “Why?”

Vitali loosens his hold on my wrists and threads our fingers together. He rests his forehead against mine and his eyes soften.

“Why not? Tell me you don’t want me, that you don’t fucking crave this as much as me. Tell me honestly, Stasi, that this, I , mean fuck all to you and I’ll leave you alone.”

I can’t argue verbally and turn my head. But he presses his lips to my cheek and continues fucking with my head and heart.

“I need you and I know you need me too. Give our loneliness company and I’ll give you the fucking world.”

I don’t want the world – I want to be left alone.

I can feel his heart thudding against mine. Each beat begging for me to give in. If I do he’ll be pulled into the shitstorm, listen to everyone’s opinion on me, and it will drag him down. He holds my jaw and slowly turns me to face him. His nose brushes mine, and his tone hardens from a plea to an order.

“You are mine, only ever fucking mine. Do you understand, Anastasia?”

The claim makes me feel better when I should run. I should kick him in his scarred knee and lock myself in the bathroom away from his crazy.

But I nod.

One small movement of my head that seals my fate and has the puppy smiling as though he’s been given the biggest bone in existence.

“Good girl, get dressed we can spend the rest of the day in bed if your stomach still hurts.”

My body falls limp and I stare up at the ceiling as he walks away. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or why I’m agreeing. The most frightening part is the calm, my mind isn’t racing, and I don’t want to escape.

I’ve found the place where crazy goes on vacation as I sit with the Vartanovs who aren’t even questioning why I’m here. They just accept it and move over to allow space for me in their lives, a family full of endearing sociopaths. Dani is the only one who is halfway normal and addresses the fucked-up situation.

“He’s, erm persistent, but Tali isn’t a bad person.”

Persistence is asking the same question over and over again, not packing my things while I slept.The only normalcy I get is Vlad’s message telling me to go through what I’ve found in his usual rude-ass way of not actually asking me with any form of manners. What would usually be a drive to enter his office is a walk and Vanya smiles up at me when I enter. Vlad smirks and stares at the ring I’ve tried to remove ever since it was put on my finger, yet I keep waking up with it back on and I’m not about to test Vitali’s insanity by removing it again.

His smirk gets wider as he asks, “Shouldn’t you be happy that your mother is going to shut the fuck up?”

Dickhead.

I wish I never told him that she kept telling me to seduce him, it was embarrassing as fuck, but he got her to stop talking shit and he made sure that we were never anywhere near each other to prevent her starting a rumor that would hurt Inessa’s feelings.

I have to clench my jaw and remind myself he can easily kill me to stop myself from cursing at him, but Vanya comes to my defense and scowls at her dad.

“Don’t be rude, you asshole.”

She hasn’t slapped him in the mouth, which is her usual move, and my feet turn to lead as he physically holds his hands up. I’ve got the most psychotic person on my side, so I relax as I take a seat beside her. All the emotion is stripped from my voice as I relay that I’m useless.

“I’ve got all the audio files that have been released but there’s no marker and they’ve been scrubbed of background noise so I can’t pinpoint where they are. There haven’t been any images or video links set up, but they must be holding an auction soon.”

It’s the usual depraved marketing scheme of teasing the sickos with what they want. They both turn rigid, and Vanya’s lips fall in a straight line as she tries to be comforting before pointing out my fuck up.

“Did you let the girl you bought go home?”

Vitali did, he drove to Kristi and packed up their things. It’s his signature move, relocating people without any conversation. I stare between both father and daughter unsure if they’ll rage as I answer. “Yeah, she moved with her sister. We got them a new house a couple of blocks away from their mother.”

She pats my hand and speaks slowly, allowing me to absorb how fucked I am. “Amon said they do checks. Is the house in her name?” I nod and she continues, “Did you have a mask on?”

Not physically, my personality allows me to hide shit and I never thought of wearing one.Fuck. My face is plastered on socialite pages, it’s easy to find out who I am with my mother’s need to do everything to advertise me short of putting me on a billboard naked. They would have done something by now, found out where I lived and crept in while I slept. Vlad’s unhelpful-ass commentary makes all the confusion disappear.

“I told Vitali last night. He was supposed to talk to you.”

The little shithead made it seem like moving was due to wanting me. Not an order to keep us both safe.

He didn’t need to lie to me or sell me bullshit. I’m an adult and I would have dealt with it rationally, instead he ignited hope that will always end in disaster for me. Somehow, I manage to maintain a calm facade while I finish up giving them the details. My movements are robotic as I leave Vlad’s office and go to Vitali’s room to lock myself away. My finger is nearly pulled out of the joint from the force of pulling his fucking ring off because he lied.

Why the fuck did he lie? I didn’t ask for him to give me anything more. I asked for less. For him to see me as less and not put me on a fucking pedestal only to push me off. It’s exactly what happened, like my mother always said I’m good for the image, not the reality.