“But you had me—”
“And you ran away—”
“I didn’t! I left like a normal girl does after a hookup with a stranger!”
“We are more than a mere hookup. I am not a stranger.”
“Are you crazy!? This is only my second time meeting you!” He had to be a psychopath. That explained this.
When he started laughing, I realized I was gonna fucking die. He would chop my body up and hide it somewhere deep in the mountains.
The panic I felt exploded until I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth and started screaming in earnest. Someone had to be around to hear me. Surely someone would save me.
Like the crazy fucker he was, my kidnapper just smiled sadly and gently patted my taped-bound hands as if to comfort me. “Oh,malishka. Screaming won’t save you from me.”
Regardless, I kept trying, screeching until my throat felt like it was on fire and my voice had grown hoarse and I was hyperventilating. I then resorted to simply ugly crying, choking on my sobs until I was sure I would die from distress.
“Please?” I begged.
He shook his head, rose to his feet, returned to the wet bar, then brought back another cup of water. “Drink.”
He tipped the cup toward my mouth, but I refused to sip or take the straw in my mouth. “No, no—”
“I said, drink,” he snapped.
“No—”
He ripped the straw from the cup and threw it on the floor before pinching my cheeks between the strong fingers of his large hand. He poured water in the opening he’d created. I coughed and sputtered as he forced the liquid down my throat.
The cup was finally empty. Most of the water had spilled onto my naked skin and soaked the bed, and what made it into my mouth would likely give me pneumonia when it was all said and done. He almost drowned me.
“You’ll find that your life here will be much easier for you if you simply obey me. I truly have your best interests at heart.”
“I don’t even know your name,” I whimpered, feeling like an abused and wounded animal.
“Alexie Petrov,” he growled, placing the cup on a bedside table. “And you, my sweet, delectable morsel, are Sloane Williams.”
Despite my fear, the instinct that mattered the most was still alive and well—survival. I could survive this. I survived the MC, and this is no different.
“Why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong?”
He smirked at that. “You ran, my littlemalishka,and when my prey runs, I hunt.”
This again!“You could have any woman in the world! Why are you bothering with me!?”
“I knew I wanted you the moment you walked into the bar. I had to have you. Besides your amazing hips, I was drawn to your striking facial features. You're beautiful hazel eyes, the white of your smile, the sharp slant of your nose, and that chin with the tiny butt in it. I wanted my children to share those features.”
My eyes widened. “Your children?”
He smiled kindly. “Ourchildren. My apologies.”
I shivered from the madness in his gaze. He was obviously a psychopath. Maybe someone had dropped him on his head in Soviet Russia. I wasn’t sure, and frankly, I didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to get back to my life, as miserable as it was. And I just couldn’t with the whole kid thing. I wasn’t even going to address that absurdity.
A gentle caress on my shoulder pulled me from my thoughts, causing me to jump.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,malishka,” he whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you. I want to do dirty, filthy things to that body until it grows big with my child, but other than that, I just want to keep you.”
“You could have just asked me on a date,” I mumbled. “I might have said yes.”