“Why did you find me? What do you want?” Elaine demanded staring him down, refusing to let his tears affect her in any way. They were fake anyhow. There was no way the man who’d ruined her life, steered it onto a path of death, could cry real tears for a daughter he never cared for.
“Come, I want to take a closer look at you,” when she didn’t move he beckoned with his hand, “Come, I will not harm you.”
She scoffed, “If you think fear is what keeps me from moving then you truly do not know me.”
His hand dropped along with his face, “Da, I do not, and it is my fault. I was not there for you when you were young.”
Elaine laughed bitterly. Oh, that was rich. She would rather have gone on being ignored instead of the one time he did pay attention to her and completely destroyed her.
“I realized too late, you ignoring me was you doing me a favor.”
His head turned to the side, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “I do not understand.”
“You turned me into a killer!” she yelled, his fake ignorance sending her into a rage.
His face grew blank and he just stood there staring at her, no emotion whatsoever in his eyes. That’s where she learned to hide what she felt, from the stark look on his face the few times he did look at her. It had gutted her each time. And she always wondered how different he would have treated her if her mother was still alive.
But all that didn’t matter anymore. She was there to protect her family from him, nothing else. She almost doubled over from the pain in her heart when she thought of Katya. She would never see her daughter again and it ripped her apart. She’d been so close to getting her happily ever after, so close to the normal life. But people like her didn’t deserve happiness. She was Katarina Paraji, and she always will be.
“Tell me what happened to your brother, Vladimir?” he demanded, his voice cold and distant.
She shrugged showing how much she didn’t care, “He’s dead, nothing much to tell.”
His eyes grew thunderous, “Katarina!” then he suddenly smiled, “Your mother used to do the same to annoy me,” he sighed, “Dimitri tells me he was killed by a crazy doctor?”
She nodded once, “It was nothing he didn’t deserve, but it could have been worse if the doctor hadn’t beaten me to it.”
Torment suddenly shadowed his face, “What happened to you Katarina? You were so sweet, so perfect… I know I was wrong ignoring you, but I couldn’t look at you without seeing your mother and it just killed me. I couldn’t lead my family if I was always grieving.”
His hands on her body made her strain to get away even though there was nowhere to go. She was tied to his bed, naked, bleeding and swollen from his abuse just a few minutes ago. Now he stared at her hungrily, his dick large and pulsing threateningly positioned between her stretched open legs as his hands palmed her small breasts. Dear God, she was going to be sick again and he would punch her again because he knew she vomited because he made her sick. What he did to her sickened her.
Her body shook with rage, “That why you gave me to Ivan? Why you asked him to teach me to be strong!”
She thought she was past the hurt and betrayal. That one day she could face him and be as cold as he was to her. She thought his betrayal had no hold over her, but she was wrong. Her blood was like molten lava in her veins as rage filled her.
He nodded, “Yes. I wanted—”
“It will be better this time, I promise.” He said before he stretched his body, thrice the breadth of hers and as heavy as a boulder over hers.
“No!” she screamed and cried but it was no use.
She didn’t hear the next words he said. That word yes just echoed in her ears and all she saw was red and the blood lust pulled her into its grip holding her hostage to her desire to flood the floor with blood. Volkov’s blood. The next thing she knew she was rushing for him, her blades pulled out with every intention of making his death as painful as the day her innocence was ripped from her. She was two steps away from him when a blinding pain ripped through her shoulder. But it didn’t stop her. She swung her hand up, ready to deliver a fatal blow, but Volkov caught her arm, gripping tightly around her wrist. He swung her around and brought her back to his chest where he held her caged to him.
“Who dare shoot my daughter!” he bellowed in Russian, his voice, his rage echoing in the empty warehouse. “Come here and face me!”
Elaine breathed hard, spots filling her vision, but she didn’t quit struggling, trying to break out of Volkov’s hold.
A man moved to stand in front of her, his chin held high, his eyes filled with hate as he stared at her and not a repentant sign from him.
“Was it you?” Volkov demanded, his voice low and lethal.
“Yes sir,” he responded in Russian.
Volkov lifted his hand, Elaine saw the gun the same time the other man did right before it went off with a loud bang. He fell to the ground, eyes wide open and void, blood pouring from the hole right between his baby blues.
Elaine swayed on her feet, but Volkov held her up and yelled, “Dimitri, help her!”
Elaine blinked a few times and shook her head clear. The bullet to the shoulder was nothing compared to what she’d gotten in the past. ‘I’m fine. Let go.”