CHAPTER 36
Sonya was startled awake by the sound of a 230-pound man smashing into a toilet seat and bathtub. But she didn't know what she'd heard.
Her big eyes simply snapped open, and the house was silent now. She didn't know where she was. Some dusty old room, at least that was a change.
For the past few days, she'd been waking up in swanky hotels, always some awful man or men nearby. She didn't remember much more, but she knew she did not want that to continue.
Sonya still felt groggy from the drugs, but for some reason, her heart was racing now. She lay there, eyes open but body unmoving, for a few minutes.
She'd had a dream. What happened? The imagery passed again through her mind:
First, I was playing in the woods with my imaginary friend… only he had Dmitri's face. How weird. Then violence, a motorcycle ride, those big arms protecting me. Wait, was that a dream too?
Her wrists hurt, and so did her ankles. But she wasn't tied up anymore. Had she been saved? Had Dmitri really come for her? She looked around the room without raising her head. Nobody there.
Sonya looked at the door. It was shut. Locked? She didn't know what might be waiting for her out there, but she had to find out.
Her body felt like she weighed a thousand pounds, like she was made of solid lead, as she rolled to her stomach and lifted herself onto her hands and knees.
She thought about crawling to the door. Even that sounded hard. She let her body drop back to the mattress and her face sink into the pillow.
I need to rest, just for a minute.
She was dozing off again. Then she remembered why she had woken up, why her heart was pounding. A groan of pain and a crashing sound.
She remembered the weary, pale look on Dmitri's face when she beckoned him to bed.
Sonya lifted herself again and crawled to the foot of the bed. She sat back, extended her legs, scooted forward, let her legs drop to the floor.
Looking down, she noticed something all over the bathrobe she was wearing. Blood? Blood. But she wasn't cut.
He must be hurt.
Sonya summoned all her strength to stand up on her wobbly legs. The comfort of sleep called to her. She rocked back and forth. She took a step forward and let her momentum carry her.
Another step, then one more, and there was the door. She grabbed the doorknob, held it for a second, before turning it slowly.
Unlocked. Sonya felt a sense of relief. She was closer to proving she had been saved and this wasn't still part of the nightmare she'd been living in since Halim invited her to dinner.
She held the handle and leaned her other hand against the door frame to balance herself as she opened the door.
It was late afternoon, the sun dipping behind trees, and not much light was getting in. But she could see the house was sparsely furnished, just like you'd expect for a place where an old Russian mob boss was the interior decorator. A two seat table, two wooden chairs. A stove, a furnace, a lamp.
Sonya looked around at the other rooms. She saw the empty bedroom. The bathroom door was closed, since Dmitri had shut it to muffle any grunts or moans he might make, to not disturb the sleeping girl as he performed his self-surgery, or tried to.
Sonya walked toward the bathroom, touching the wall to stabilize herself. She knocked. No answer. She opened the door just a few inches, stopping when she felt it hit something.
“Dmitri…?” she whispered.
She tried to peek inside, but couldn't see anything. It was too dark in there, and she didn't have a good vantage point. She pressed harder on the door, pushing Dmitri's heavy feet and legs out of the way, opening it enough to slither inside.
Then she saw him sprawled across the tile. His head was cocked to the side, rammed up against the edge of the tub. Blood was everywhere. The mirror, the sink, all over the floor, even some on the walls. It looked black and sticky in the shadowy room, like oil.