CHAPTER 4

The next few weeks continued on uneventfully. Tori felt the tedium and the boredom of each day bleeding into the next as she tried to scramble together some semblance of a daily routine and purpose. Most days she found herself reading in the library.

Sometimes she forced herself to watch the television just so she would know what was going on out there, but it depressed her so much that she had to shut it off after a few minutes. To know that the door to freedom was just a few feet away, unlocked, and unguarded was maddening. Nothing was actually keeping her there except for a threat.

She wished that she was more like Mikhail and her father—hard to core. She was tough, but Mikhail had figured out her biggest and perhaps only real weakness—her love for her friends and family. Tori was loyal to the very end with those she loved. She would do anything for them and she would lay down her own life to protect them without hesitation.

Mikhail had figured that out and he was exploiting it in every possible way. She longed for the day when she might be freed from her hell.

She usually only saw him in the evenings. Some days he tried to be social with her and others he just let her be as if she didn’t exist. He would usually play a few games of pool and have a few drinks and she found herself occasionally joining him; the loneliness of being by herself cut off from the world was getting to her and she was seeing how people could develop Stockholm Syndrome and actually identify with their captors. When you had no one then you were desperate to cling to absolutely any form of human companionship, no matter how horrid.

After dinner, which Mikhail usually prepared himself (he was a great cook) they would retire to the living room and watch a few movies. He was partial to action films and classic horror movies. She did not bother to tell him those were her favorites too.

Tori tried to hate Mikhail, but it was getting harder with each passing day. Her thoughts kept returning to the night he forced his lips on hers. It had been exhilarating and she found herself turned on so much that she actually entertained the notion of going to his bed and just riding him until he needed to have both hips replaced. And then she would feel like a vile, wretched pig for even thinking about it. The man was holding her captive against her will after all.

But he had not forced himself on her at all since then. They hardly even spoke, despite spending more and more time together. And when they did speak it was usually just bitchy quips and put downs.

“So, are you hungry?” Mikhail asked one night as he usually did, which meant he was hungry and he was fixing food anyway.

“I’m hungry for freedom,” Tori said.

“Are you sure you aren’t hungry for something else?” Mikhail said adjusting his crotch in front of her and allowing his hand to linger over his package.

“Are you making sure it’s still there? I hate it when I lose small things too.”

Mikhail would just laugh. He enjoyed the banter they had. The man was so infuriating because nothing ever bothered him. She had yet to see him actually angry or upset over anything at all. It was like he had no emotions, as if he were some kind of a robot.

But she found herself growing increasingly attracted to his surly behavior and she didn’t understand why.

(Of course you do)

Ugh. It was the bad boy. Tori, like a lot of women were addicted to the rush of being near a bad boy. The danger, the excitement of living on the edge where anything was possible. She hated to admit it, but she could not resist a real bad boy either.

And Mikhail was proving out to be the ultimate bad boy.

Mikhail had proven that he could take from her whatever he wanted anytime if he were so inclined; that was what the basement stunt was about when he kissed her. But he was proving to be a more complicated man than she had originally thought. He loved the chase. That was what he was all about. Even though he had her under his thumb to do whatever he chose, he didn’t. He wanted her to give it to him because she wanted to. He preferred the game, the tension, the give and take, the fun of it all.

So Tori was content to string him along and play his games. She had even taken to teasing him. One morning when she finished her workout she came upstairs to use the shower and he was finishing his breakfast. She was dying of thirst so she went to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

Tori was wearing a tank top, a sports bra, and a pair of small gym shorts. Mikhail had surprised her the very first day she was there by filling the closet in her room with an entire wardrobe of new clothes, something for every occasion it seemed. When she saw it she wasn’t sure whether to be mortified or ecstatic.

“Good workout?” Mikhail asked finishing his coffee.

Tori grabbed bottle of water from the fridge, downed most of it in one gulp, spilling a bit of it on her face and shirt and tossed the bottle in the trash. She looked at him then covered in sweat and peeled off her tank top.

She flicked the shirt at him hitting him in the face with it as she slowly walked out of the room with only a sports bra covering her large, double D chest.

A few days later she walked into the billiard room where he was playing pool. She could tell Mikhail was getting a bit intoxicated, and she decided to tease him. Tori opened her robe a bit under the ruse of retying the drawstring, but she allowed him to see her body beneath wearing only a skimpy bra and panties.

She could taste the hunger radiating from him. He wanted her so bad and she enjoyed being wanted.

But she knew this was a very dangerous game she was playing. One day he was going to be tired of playing games and he was just going to take her and have his way.

Tori wasn’t sure when that would be, but she didn’t imagine it being long in the future.

And as much as she hated to admit it she had fantasized about it. His rugged hands ripping her clothes off, bending her over a piece of furniture, and entering her from behind hard and fast; just the very thought of it got her hot and bothered.

But it was so wrong in every way. She was being forced here against her will; she could never forget that.

She couldn’t wait any longer; she had to find a way out of this.

“Let’s go out.”

Tori wasn’t sure she heard Mikhail correctly. He had just come home and found her sitting in the living room reading Tom Sawyer. She was getting to a great scene when he spoke to her and interrupted her thoughts.

“What?” Tori asked.

“Let’s go out for dinner,” Mikhail said. “Go put on a nice dress—the black one I bought for you.”

“You are joking?”

“No, I’m not. Go on and get dressed. I’ll wait. Hurry up.”

Tori did as she was told. What was he thinking? He trusted her to go out with him in public and not to try anything? Did he not think that the very first chance she had she was going to tell someone who she was and that she had been kidnapped?

“So, we are going to town?” Tori asked as they drove away from Mikhail’s mansion in his Jaguar.

“Not hardly,” Mikhail laughed. “Too many people might recognize you. No, we are going to a nice club outside of town a ways.”

“Oh, ok,” Tori said.

“I know that you think this is probably weird,” Mikhail said. “But I trust that this evening will go off without a hitch.”

“Yea,” Tori replied with a smile.

“I mean I know that you are going to be tempted to scream to high heaven that I kidnapped you and have your friend hostage somewhere.”

What? No way.

“But that is the point,” Mikhail continued. “I do have your friend hostage somewhere and if anything happens to me or you do something stupid then a bullet will find itself buried deep within her brain before you can blink.”

“I understand,” Tori said.

There had to be a way. He could not get that message out that fast if he was incapacitated, right? If she told someone what he did the maybe a mob of people might attack him. It would probably take a few days to find Laila, but she was sure that the cops could do it and force him to talk.

No… no they couldn’t. She could not forget who she was dealing with. Besides it wasn’t like the cops were going to jump at the chance to help a mobster’s daughter any time soon.

The club was called Paridiso Nueve. She had heard of it in passing but had never ventured out that way before. It was a good thirty minutes outside of the city limits, so she guessed Mikhail felt it was pretty safe for them.

The club was dark and fairly busy when they got inside. Tori was impressed by the way that Mikhail got them a table in the most private corner of the club right away, where they could view all the action but no one could really see them or what they were doing.

Tori was feeling a little nervous until she had a few drinks in her. Mikhail might not have been worried about them being seen, but Tori knew that if they were seen by someone then it might put her finding Laila in jeopardy and all of this would have been for naught.

The music was pumping loud in the club and Tori found herself bouncing in her seat to the driving beat, the alcohol starting to loosen her up. It looked like she was worried about nothing; no one was going to recognize her there in that dark place. Mikhail was careful, crafty. He wasn’t going to do anything silly that might wreck his plans for her after all.

“Let’s dance,” Mikhail said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the dance floor without waiting on a response.

Before Tori realized what was happening she found herself in the middle of the dance floor. Mikhail was a good dancer and moved very well for such a large man. He was fluid, graceful, and full of sexy swagger. It was like his whole body came to life in a way she had never seen before.

Tori loved to dance, but it had been a while since she’d been dancing with a real man who was able to take the lead and make her feel truly like she wanted to be led. Mikhail did that with his eyes bearing into hers, as if reading every single inner most desire she’d ever had and sending her the message that he could make them all come true; all she had to do was let go and believe.

Mikhail’s hands rested on her lower back, pulling her closely into him. His musky, masculine scent flowing into her senses driving her wild in every possible way. Tori wanted to push him away and scream as loud as she could for him to leave her alone, but her body would not let her. Her body had a mind of its own and it ached to be touched by him. Her lust was unforgiving and unrelenting, tugging on her mind to just relinquish all control to him.

Mikhail’s lips were brushing against her cheek, sliding gently up and down the skin as the beat swirled all around them sweeping them up into some kind of magical little bubble where nothing else mattered but the intensifying heat between them. His lips were on hers now, just barely touching, not pressing, brushing and sliding back and forth, slipping off to the side to moisten her cheek before moving back. His hands were sinking lower, getting closer to her ass. Her oven was burning hotter and hotter, the moisture growing, flowing out of her and starting to wet her panties.

Mikhail’s face moved to her neck then, kissing and nuzzling her tender flesh. Her neck was so sensitive; she could feel every single nuance of every touch, every kiss, every pressing of moist lips. His hands were now on her ass, squeezing, rubbing getting her hotter.

“Let’s take this somewhere more private,” Mikhail growled in her ear as he took her lobe into his mouth and suckled it softly.

Tori did not want to. She wanted to stay right where they were where there were people there who could keep them from going farther. If she was alone with him right then she knew that there was no way that she could say no. He was too powerful; his magnetism, his sensuality, his masculinity—he was perfect and she hated him for it. She hated the relinquishing of control that she felt she did not have a choice in. Tori was too strong willed, too stubborn, too hard to give in, but his will was stronger, he was more stubborn, and he was so much harder than she was in every way…

Hard… oh her mind raced at the thought of his hard body pressed against hers, moving up and down against her, his privates fully engorged and diving deeply into her waiting wet flesh.

“I don’t know…” Tori muttered.

“It’s ok to want this… search your heart; it always knows best,” Mikhail said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the ladies bathroom. It was a smaller club and the bathroom was a private one person bathroom.

This was perfect.

Mikhail picked Tori up and sat her on the sink, his mouth pressing down hard on hers, opening and closing around her lips as he kissed her, pushing and pulling the passion erupting in a fountain of sweetness over her lips.

Mikhail reached to lock the door behind them.

“Don’t,” Tori said. “It will be hotter left open.”

She could not believe the words that were coming out of her mouth right then but she knew that she had passed a point of no return and she wanted to see this thing through to the very end. It was time to let go once and for all. She owed it to herself to be ok with this.

Mikhail smiled and grabbed her again, his hands reaching up under her dress, sliding steadily up her inner thighs. Her moistness was practically pouring out of her. She thought for sure that he would feel it any second.

His hands were on her panties now, clutching at them, pulling at them to get them to come down. They were so wet they were clinging to her now.

“Rip it!” Tori said.

Mikhail did not need to be told twice as he ripped her underwear from her body. The cool, fresh air on her ultra-wet center was exhilarating and liberating. She felt like it had been inside of a prison for ages and was now finally stretching the legs of freedom.

His fingers reached for her, plunging into her wetness, so easily eliciting a huge gasping moan from her lips. She could not breathe; her air had clenched in her chest, her back arching, her body struggling to find a whole breath in the midst of pleasurable agony.

The door opened just then.

Tori jumped backwards against the glass with terror. She knew that it was possible someone could walk in, but she was nevertheless totally surprised to see it happen.

And nothing could have surprised her for what she saw next.

“Tori?”

Laila was standing there with the door open.