Page 4 of Beautiful Secrets

“Love is a fairy tale old maids tell each other.” Yuri grabs a fistful of my hair. “Old maids like you.”

A shock wave goes through my body when he slams the door shut behind us.

Where is Vanya?

Why isn’t she helping me?

And how could Lev not possibly be here yet? He runs like the wind.

Yuri presses against me, molding me against the tractor’s cold metal exterior.

I can feel every inch of his hard, warm body. When he lets go of my throat and instead wrenches up the hem of my dress, adrenaline spikes through me.

I scream.

Then I fight—slapping and biting and clawing.

Yuri backhands me so hard my legs give way. I land on a gritty floor, my head spinning and bile bubbling into my throat.

He drags me up, shoves me against the tractor. Blood sings in my ears, but I should still be able to hear something outside. Lev shouting, or Vanya calling for help.

But there’s nothing.

Why is no one helping me?

“We made a deal with your family,” Yuri says as he hikes up my skirt again. “Vanya’s cunt was part of that deal. Hervirgincunt.”

“They were just kissing,” I rasp. “Please, Yuri, I swear they didn’t make love.”

“You are right, Mika. They weren’t making love.”

My vision has adjusted to the gloom just enough to make out the gleam in Yuri’s eyes. My body goes cold.

If I ever had any doubt that Yuri was a maniac, it’s gone now.

“Only old maids who still believe in fairy tales call it that. In the real world, it’s called fucking.”

I hear footsteps. But they’re not running.

And no one tries to open the door.

When I open my mouth to shout for help, Yuri grabs my jaw and uses that grip to slam my head against the tractor he has me pushed up against.

Stars explode in front of my eyes. My mind tries to flee.

I try to claw it back, but I can’t.

My body sags, and my mind slips away into the dark of that small shed that stinks of grease and fear.

He is right, of course.

Love is just a fairy tale.

And I am the furthest thing from a princess.

Cole

Three Weeks Later