CHAPTER 10
Naomi
I woke to the sunlight streaming through the balcony doors, my head fuzzy and my body sore in places that hadn’t been that way in a long time. Wincing, I pulled myself up to a seated position, rubbing my head lightly. My eyes felt gritty from the tears I had shed until I fell asleep, disbelieving of what I had gotten myself into.
I really should have tried to stop it when I had the chance. It was one thing for me to marry Gavril and become his wife.
It was completely another situation for me to marry him and give him a child that was meant to carry Sveta’s bloodline. That was something I couldn’t do, no matter what anyone thought.
Sighing, I threw back the covers and took care of my bathroom needs before staring at myself in the mirror.
I saw a familiar broken woman who barely knew herself years ago staring back, before Ilsa saved me and pulled me back together.
Well, that and a lot of therapy. A bubble of laughter escaped me as I thought about my therapist. Not even she could help me with this mess.
Walking back into the bedroom, I glanced at the clock, seeing that it was only a little after six in the morning. I doubted that Vera served breakfast this early, nor was I brave enough to walk out of this bedroom by myself and run the risk of running into my husband.
Well, Sveta’s husband. I didn’t know if Gavril realized it or not, but we weren’t really married. While I knew I served a purpose for him right now, the name that had dried on the marriage certificate was Sveta’s, not mine. Everything was a sham.
Just because I needed to know, I tried the doorknob and found it locked again. It seemed that even being Gavril’s wife didn’t allow me the liberties that it should.
The balcony doors, however, were unlocked, and I wandered out into the early morning sunshine, letting it warm my face and arms. The view was just as spectacular as I remembered it, with a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean in the far distance. This was mine.
Well, I had a claim to it at least. I doubted anything was mine, really. Not the clothes or even the ring on my finger.
I had lost all ownership to my body and my freedom by marrying Gavril.
A sigh escaped me as I wrapped my arms around my waist, staring out into the distance. It wasn’t the first time I had thought I lost my freedom, or my sanity for that matter.
I shivered as I lay on the ground, the pavement biting into my cheek.
But I didn’t dare move. If I moved, they might think I was still awake and come back to do the things that they had crudely whispered to me when they had picked me up and put me here, telling me that they were going to come back and really give me a good time.
Not that I could move. I was almost certain that I had been drugged somehow, my head fuzzy and my limbs feeling as if I was moving through water. I wanted to cry out, to call for help, but my tongue was thick in my mouth, not able to form the words I needed.
One of them leaned down, his breath foul with the beer he was drinking. “God, you are fucking gorgeous,” he said, his hand wandering over my hip before squeezing my ass hard. “I bet you suck cock real well with those lips of yours.”
“She would have to find yours!” another called out, the laughter filling the air a second later.
“Maybe she should warm up on the trainer!” a third voice said, laughing. “Because we all know that you are hiding a worm in your fucking pants!”
The guy before me disappeared, and I heard a scuffle in the background, followed by laughter and the sound of breaking glass. I knew I was in some sort of parking lot, but everything else was fuzzy, including my vision and the way that I processed anything.
I was terrified. Going to that party off campus tonight had been a mistake, a big one, one that could cost me my life. I didn’t know who or how many guys were behind me, but I know they didn’t just intend on teasing me then letting me go.
They were going to rape me.
A shudder coursed through my body, and tears filled my eyes. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to go through whatever they had planned for me. I wasn’t that kind of girl. Sure, I dressed confidently and flirted a little, but what girl didn’t in college?
I felt, well, helpless, unable to do anything other than lie on the ground and wait for whatever fate was going to happen.
I shook out of the memory to the sound of someone walking into my bedroom. Maybe I was wrong, and Vera was an early riser with breakfast.
But as I moved into the room, I drew up short as I saw my husband standing there, impeccably dressed in a suit that conformed to his muscular body. “Good morning.”
I kept my arms wrapped around my waist. “Good morning.”
“I’m going to work,” he said, clasping his hands before him. “And will be gone all day, but I will be home tonight.”
I really didn’t know why he was telling me this or what I was supposed to do with myself in the meantime. A part of me wanted to ask him to take me with him, just so I wouldn’t be trapped in this room alone all day. “Okay.”
“You have free rein of the house,” he continued. “With the exception of my suite. Vera is at your beck and call, as well as the rest of my staff, but I will tell you that you need to be Sveta, not Naomi. That is who they think you are.”
His words irked me. No mention of what happened between us last night, or how he had left me sobbing in his suite, scared that I was looking at the rest of my life with this brutal man. He hadn’t been abusive, but just, well, indifferent to my reactions, to my needs.
God help Sveta if she had really been alive. I was almost certain that she would have been terrified of what happened last night. I was glad that I could take her place for that reason alone. Gavril was clearly a man who liked to be in control and that included the bedroom.
How was I going to live the rest of my life like this?
“Do you understand?”
Gavril’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I realized he was watching me carefully, his expression devoid of emotion. “I understand,” I stated, knowing I had no other option. If I told anyone who I truly was, then I would be in serious danger for ruining his plans.
He gave me a single nod. “Good. If you do what I say, we will have no concerns between us, Sveta.”
No concerns? I had a lot of concerns, mainly how he was planning to continue to pull this off.
And what happened to me when the truth was finally brought to light. What would happen if we went out and someone saw me, recognized me for who I was and not as the part I was playing? What would Gavril do then? How would we get past that?
He turned to go, and I sucked in a breath. “Wait.”
Gavril stopped and looked at me. “Yes?”
“What do you expect me to do?” I asked. “I mean, as your wife.” I wasn’t someone who liked to be idle. I was always doing something, whether it was entertaining my social media followers or going to interviews.
Surely there was something as his “wife” that I would be required to do.
“Obey me,” he finally said, turning and walking out without another word.
Dumbly, I stared at the open door, realizing he hadn’t closed it behind him. Obey him? That wasn’t what I was talking about!
“Crap,” I muttered, tears crowding my eyes before I blinked them away. So, he didn’t expect me to do anything right now, but what would happen when he came back and resumed his husbandly duties?
My body heated at the thought, and I pressed my hands to my cheeks. I wasn’t going to deny it. Even though the sex had been pretty much one sided, it had been good, and I had been horribly turned on by it. His roughness, the way he had commanded my body and not allowed me a moment to think, to breathe; that was new to me.
And not completely terrifying.
Groaning, I dropped my hands and walked back into the bathroom, turning on the shower. There was something wrong with me. There had to be. I couldn’t hate and want the man at the same time.
Could I?
I thought back to what Ilsa had told me when she started really liking Roman, how his abruptness and overall terrifying nature had only made her want him more. God, how I wished that I could talk to her now! She would never believe what I had gotten myself into, likely would want to try to get me out of it with Roman’s help.
I didn’t think that Roman and Gavril were friends.
If she could endure everything that she had gone through, then I could ride this out myself until I could find a way out. This marriage wasn’t meant to be, and I was only on day one.
The steam started to fog up the bathroom, so I stripped off my clothing and stepped under the spray. Until I could find a way out of this mess, I was going to have to do my best to survive whatever Gavril threw at me. I would have to dig deep down and hide the feelings of the past so that I could focus on surviving.
That was what I was: a survivor.
I was going to find a way to get through this with my sanity and my body intact.
In some ways, I was glad that Gavril knew who I was now. I no longer had to pretend with him. He was about to find out who Naomi Spencer truly was and that I wasn’t a girl who just laid down and took it.
He was going to rue the day that he took me.