Eight
"Inmate 203!"
I shot up in bed, blinking away my daze. Right on cue, my stomach growled with hunger and I wrapped my arms around my middle. The hunger of the past few days had been horrible and at this point it felt like my stomach was eating into itself.
Hard labor with limited food was horrible, but it was made worse by the fact that Jean-Ray had decided that my suffering wasn't enough for me. She stole my food, and bullied me even worse than before the incident.
Wasn't it enough that I was now going through punishment in her stead?
"Are you in trouble again?" My cell mate laughed, "Serves you right. I wonder what you did this time around? They'll surely throw you into the mines this time around."
The mines were the part of the prison were the truly dangerous inmates were tossed into. From what I had heard, it was dark, cold and damp and the horrors that went on down there could make you retch.
I shuddered and climbed out of bed, moving toward the cell gates.
"I'm here," I croaked.
Seconds later, bright torch light poured into the cell, almost blinding me.
"You have a visitor," the guard barked at me.
My eyebrows rose almost to my hairline. A visitor? Who would come to visit me? I doubted that my parents or brother had any interest in seeing me again and my husband was probably too wrapped up in his mistress to remember I existed.
It could only be Mira.
Elation made my lips spread into a smile. The smile withered a little when I wondered how she had managed to arrange a meeting outside of visitation times. It didn't matter though, I was just glad she was here.
The keys rattled in the lock and then the gate creaked open. I stepped out of the cell and my hands were immediately cuffed behind my back. I followed the man down the hallway, ignoring how the other prisoners' eyes slid over me menacingly.
Finally, we made a turn in the direction of the offices and stopped at a door.
The guard knocked and waited then turned the knob of the door and pushed me inside.
I stumbled into the room, almost losing my footing and face planting but managed to recover my stance on time.
"Take the cuffs off," a deep voice rumbled, the sound sliding over me and causing nerves to tingle down my spine.
My gaze landed on shiny wing tipped Ferragamo shoes and then rose up and up, following long, muscular legs encased in tailored pants and up to a trim waist, a broad chest and shoulder wrapped in a double breasted suit and finally to the most gorgeous face I had ever seen in my life.
My husband was a good looking man. I could still remember how breathless I had felt the first time I saw him, but somehow, the memory of him managed to pale beside this Adonis.
Brown hair was pushed back from his face, revealing high cheekbones, a high forehead, an aquiline nose, full pink mouth,a square clefted jaw and a jawline that looked as sharp as a blade.
The man towered over me at several inches over six feet and looked as pristine and untouchable as a god.
"But_" the guard began.
"Take the cuffs off, now," he said in a low voice that brooked no argument.
The guard's jaw ticked and he looked like he was going to refuse for a second, but then he pulled out the key and undid the cuffs.
"Leave us," the man said again, and this time, the guard didn't hesitate to walk out, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Who are you?" I asked the man.
"My name is Dimitri," and it was only then that I noticed that he had a Russian accent. I had been in too much of a haze to notice it earlier but now it was impossible to miss the way his vowels and consonants traipsed over each other.
"Why are you here? What do you want from me? Did he send you to finish me off?" Wouldn't that just be the icing on the top of the cake.
At this point though, I doubted there was anything my husband wasn't capable of.
His expression didn't change, but I didn't miss the way he tensed, the atmosphere in the room dropping down another degree.
"I will be the one asking the questions here, Zahra," he said coldly, "You're coming with me."
I opened my mouth to ask why but promptly snapped it shut.
"From now henceforth, your life belongs to me."
I scoffed, "I'm not handing myself over to yet another asshole. I'd rather rot in jail."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you," his green eyes flickered over me disinterestedly, "You may have gotten away with talking back to people in the past, but I'll only warn you once against it. I'm not a man that appreciates being talked back to. There's only one thing I expect as a response."
I swallowed, my throat feeling too tight at the aura of danger wrapped around him as immaculately as his tailored Hermes suit, "What?"
"When I give an order, I expect to hear you say yes sir. I deal with disobedience swiftly and brutally. Is that clear, Zahra?"
I had two choices, I could say no, give him the metaphorical middle finger and face whatever consequences he would mete out or I could hand my fate on a silver platter into the hands of another monster.
It wasn't really a choice, it was the difference between death and life and I knew which one I would pick every single time.
"What do you want from me?" I finally said.
Triumph lit up in those cold eyes, the first emotion I had seen in them since I had walked into the room. It was even more startling than his stoic demeanor and I staggered back warily.
"You are going to be my wife."
My jaw dropped open in shock.