Page 24

Delaney

Day 180

I’ve been here six months, and I feel as though I am just moving through life devoid of emotion or any real thought of my own. I haven’t written to Talon in weeks because I no longer see the use. He’ll never read it and all it does it drag up memories that hurt. I decided a while ago that if I wanted to survive, I had to just give in to him. I broke willingly to make the pain go away. I still have the urge to leap out of the windows, but I don’t. I just sit at the window and look out. Shit, I haven’t even left this property. He always says he’s going to take me somewhere, but he doesn’t. In fact, he’s been gone until late at night for days now. He comes in smelling like another woman, so the fact that I can hear some bitch moaning tells me that he brought someone home this time. I don’t know why that makes me mad, but it does. I was beaten bloody so many times, water boarded, electrocuted, choked, slapped, and threatened with every weapon in this house. I went through all of that to see a shred of compassion from him so why does some other whore get what I have nearly died to obtain? I don’t even want it, but I keep finding myself seeking him out. He is the only person I have talked to for six months, so maybe I am just dependent on him for human connection.

I walk into the living room, and he has some blonde girl bent over the arm of the couch. I ignore him and grab her by the hair. He laughs and backs up so I can shove her toward the door. “Out!” I yell at her. She looks at Sergei in confusion. He says something to her in Russian and she leaves without hesitation.

“Jealous, Kukla?” he asks, running his thumb over my bottom lip.

“Get it out of your system?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” he asks with a smirk.

“You keep coming home smelling like a cheap whore came on your face and you haven’t touched me at all,” I say. “Should I expect another woman to be moving in?”

“You’d share me?” he asks with a grin.

“No,” I frown. “I went through a lot to get your trust. Unless you plan on breaking her, don’t bring her here, please.”

“Okay,” he laughs as he kisses me. “I have a present for you.”

“Oh?” I ask.

“Mhmm. Boris found it,” he says. “Come. Your present should be in the basement already. He brought it in through the tunnel.”

“Alright,” I shrug. He leads me to the basement door and goes first as we descend. When I get to the bottom, I am frozen. “Master Sergei…”

“They must have enjoyed by video so much that they wanted to come and visit,” he remarks as I stare at Talon, Jude, Chris, Adam, Tony, Ashley, and a man I don’t recognize. They’re on their knees with their arms restrained. Ashley looks like she’s been sobbing. Boris probably fucked her. They are all silently watching me and I don’t know what to say.

“I don’t understand,” I say.

“This is your present, Kukla,” he says. “This is your time to leave the past behind you and move forward with me.”

“You mean…”

“I’m going to marry you, Kukla. You will be my wife and give me beautiful babies. You want a family, don’t you?”

“I mean, yeah, but…”

“No buts,” he says softly, lifting my chin. “Get rid of your past and I promise I’ll make you the happiest bride. You want to be happy, right?”

“I do,” I say quietly. He gently kisses me, and I sigh. “What do you need me to do?”

Sergei pulls a pistol from his waistband and lays it in my palm. “Get rid of your past, Delaney,” he says with a sweet smile.

“Will I actually get to leave the property?” I ask.

“Once they’re dead, we are leaving on vacation,” he says. “I thought you’d love to visit Fiji.”

“Really?” I ask. “Tonight?”

“Yes,” he says with a smile, stroking my cheek. “I believe in you, love. Center of the head. It will be quick and painless. No more nightmares to wake you at night. Just me, you, and the whole world to explore.”

Nightmares are the one thing I haven’t gotten rid of. I see Talon get shot over and over again, only we don’t have a chance to save him. He dies in my arms, and I wake up. “Okay,” I say with a small voice. I pull the slide back to make sure there is a round chambered before I turn to Talon. He must go first. I’ll do Ashley second. I stare at him blankly, trying to decipher what he is thinking right now. I lift the pistol and press it to the center of his forehead. He doesn’t flinch, and that alone nearly knocks me off my feet. None of the guys are fighting this. Why?

“You aren’t trying to save yourself,” I say simply.

“I don’t want to live my life without you, Little Flower,” he says gently. His voice forces a rush of memories into my mind, and tears slide down my cheeks. “If you are happy here, I am happy to die for you to keep it.”

“We have to leave soon, Kukla,” Sergei says.

“It’s okay, Little Flower,” Talon says, smiling softly. “I don’t blame you.”

Talon seems eager to die for me and a sliver of the happiness I once had with him sneaks it’s way back into my brain. It suddenly sprouts and I realize what I’m about to do. I have my finger on the trigger, but I don’t want to kill him.

I want to go home.

Home…

I squeeze my eyes shut and pull the trigger. The blast is deafening, and I refuse to acknowledge the sobbing. All I wanted was to be saved, but they came too late. It’s too late for me. They don’t deserve to live a life of pain. If I’m not the one to do it, they will be killed slowly. I go from person to person, avoiding looking into their eyes. Each time a body hits the floor, I feel my humanity slip further away from me.

Seven bullets.

Seven bodies.

Seven ways to free me.

This is what my master wanted. He wanted me to prove myself. He wants loyalty.

“Good girl, Kukla,” Sergei praises. “Kneel beside Talon.”

“Yes, Master,” I say softly.

I kneel beside my husband, and his eyes are open, but the life that once danced in his eyes for me is gone. Everything is gone. I have nothing left but my master. He kneels behind me and pushes me forward so that I am laid across Talon’s lifeless body.

“What do you want, Kukla?” he asks as he pushes my dress up and starts working my pussy with his fingers.

“To please my master,” I groan as he forces his fingers inside of me.

“Are you going to come for me, Kukla?” he asks.

“Yes, Master,” I say.

He pulls me up and positions me so that I am having to look down at Talon. I gasp when he grabs my hips and slams deep into my pussy and starts to fuck me hard. Looking down into his dead eyes reminds me that this isn’t happiness. I had happiness. I had Talon, Jude, Chris, Tony, and Adam. I had a friendship with Ashley. I had everything, and he stole it. Sergei stole my life away from me, and now he has stolen my humanity.

I am so lost in the past that I forget that I am supposed to be coming. I am moaning and making all of the right sounds, but my body doesn’t match. I am so fucking dry that I am not surprised when I feel the gun press against the back of my head.

“Now we can be together again,” I say as I lay my cheek on Talon’s chest. I think Sergei is yelling at me, but I am finding comfort in what I know are my final moments. I realized it too late, but I’d rather be dead than without my men. When he pulls the trigger…