He chuckled. “I can only take you to a doctor if you’re unconscious. So stop being difficult.”
“Or you’ll also hurt me?” The words escaped before I could stop them. He didn’t answer but moved to drop me, and I tightened my arms around his neck. “Wait,” I whispered. “Fine, I will be unconscious.”
Right now, I didn’t have a choice. I closed my eyes, letting my head loll to the side to appear limp. He continued moving. I wasn’t sure I trusted him, but as long as Renat wouldn’t find me back in that room, I was fine.
Exhaustion came quickly. Between the pain, tiredness, and everything I’d been through, my body gave in. I drifted into a restless sleep until a voice echoed in my ears. I didn’t know how much I slept, but it felt enough.
“Hey, are you awake?”
My eyes fluttered open. The room was blurry at first. The smooth voice carried a strange comfort in a place where comfort didn’t exist. I blinked, my vision adjusting to take in the woman before me. She had bright eyes and a serene smile, but I didn’t trust her.
“Who are you?” I croaked.
She smiled again, a warm but professional curve of her lips. “Dorothy.” She didn’t have an accent, the first person I met who wasn’t Russian in this territory. “I’m the doctor.”
My body protested when I tried to move, and I winced. My thigh was no longer screaming with pain. The ache had dulled to a manageable throb.
“What happened?” I asked, glancing down at my leg.
“You passed out in Renat’s room, and Matvet rushed you here,” she explained, her tone too calm for the situation.
Matvet, the man who was kind to me. He was the only one who hadn’t treated me like a piece of property.
“Will I be able to walk?” I asked. I hoped so, since the pain in my leg had faded.
She chuckled. “Of course. It’s only a minor injury. But if you stay out of trouble, no one’s going to hurt you again.”
Giving me one last look, as if to measure my resolve, she started for the door. Before she could open the door, it swung open with a force that made my heart skip.
Artur entered with Renat right behind him. They both radiated a cold that quickened my pulse. I couldn’t look at Renat for long. Not with everything that had happened. His very presence made my blood boil.
Dorothy lowered her head in a perfect bow. “Boss. Renat. Excuse me.”
Boss. So, Artur was the one in charge. I didn’t need any further confirmation. The way he carried himself, the way his silence commanded authority, told me everything.
He was the master here.
The silence was thick and oppressive until he tossed two photographs onto my lap. I glanced at the pictures.
The first was one of my dates with Marco. I was smiling, naive and unaware of what was about to come. The second photo showed Marco with a familiar man. Marco had introduced him as a friend, but I couldn’t recall his name.
Artur’s voice cut through the silence. “Start talking.”
What was I supposed to say? What did they want from me? “I don’t know him,” I said, but I had learned that my responses meant nothing.
Renat sneered, unimpressed. “She’s either lying or she’s plain stupid.”
Artur’s gaze was piercing, “Are you sure?” he pressed.
I met his eyes, the same ones I fell for when I first saw him, which had turned out to be the thing I hated the most.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Artur turned his back on me. The door opened again, and Matvet entered, dragging the man from the second photo behind him. He collapsed onto the floor, looking terrified.
My stomach twisted. This man was in the same position the chef had been in before she died.
None of us spoke as Artur removed a gun from his holster and stretched it to me. “Kill him.”