(IVANNA)
The dream just won't let go. I struggle to wake up. My brain feels as though it's swimming through a thick cloud of fog. Thick. Where the hell am I?
I hear people murmuring and rumbles beneath me. Am I in a car? My body feels heavy, and my limbs feel like bags full of sand. My eyelids seem too heavy. I can't open them no matter how hard I try.
What is my problem?
Slowly, the memories begin to resurface. The wall. Sergio. The needle. The struggle. Shit! That asshole drugged me.
I try to concentrate and keep my breathing in check. It is better than to start panicking. I will the drugs out of my system, as if it is possible. I need to fight the haze the drugs are putting me into.
"Great. You're awake."
If I were able to lift my limbs, I would have started fighting in an instant. Was he spying on me when I was out? Just my luck to get kidnapped by not only a murderer, but also a creepy stalker! Nice.
I'm on a mattress with crisp sheets and a cool beneath me. "You… kidnapped me!" I force out. "Y…you drugged me."
Large fingers brush my hair off my face. "I retrieved my son's fiancée by any means necessary. Let that serve as a warning to you."
A shiver courses through me. Sergio, with all his power and influence could get any woman to marry his son. I know of so many women who would die to seize the chance, even if they were offered nothing in return. He had the choice to go for a woman who would come willingly. "Why me?"
"You know that you and your sisters are legendary, Ivanna. Your mother was a very beautiful and famous model. Tales of her daughters who take after her spread far and wide around the globe."
I swallow thickly against my throat that feels dry like sandpaper. My mother hadn't wanted this for any of us. My sisters were young, so they probably didn't understand her reasons, but I was grown enough to. According to her, my father ruined her career and life, and she didn't want that for any of us. Any sane mother wouldn't.
"Have your life. Ivanna. Don't let any man ruin it for you."
I know that we are strikingly similar. I get it from everyone. I have also seen more than enough of her modeling pictured online. Still, that isn't reason enough to ruin my life. There are tons of beautiful women, and I don't understand Sergio's obsession with me marrying his son. Someone I don't know and have never once met and have absolutely no desire to even meet.
I blink rapidly and my eyes finally pry open. Sergio's face fills my vision. I notice how his lips are twisted into an evil smirk, as if there is something amusing about this situation that we are in. As if my resistance was nothing but a joke to him. I hold his gaze. "I will never marry your son, Sergio."
That smug smile drops in an instant. "Never is a long time, Ivanna. And don't forget that you are at my mercy. It would be wise of you to not make an enemy of me."
The threat rolls so easily off his tongue. I don't doubt him even for a bit. Even so, I still won't give him the satisfaction by bending to him so easily. He can try and break me or even force me into a marriage that I don't want. But I will fight him to the very end.
"What will you do then? Threaten me? Shoot me? Torture me?"
"Well, that depends on you, Malishka. Because if you dare to refuse, I will consider it an unsettled debt. Then I will be forced to retaliate against your family. That's not what you want, now do you?"
Asshole. I know that word, one I had been called before Pa's men. "You will not hurt my sisters."
He shoots up a dark brow. "You think so?"
We glare at each other as I try to see what's going on in that brain of his. Trying to figure out whether he is being serious or he is just bluffing. I can't tell. The man is so good at concealing his thoughts. But I can't trust him because even if he promised to not hurt Alya and Dasha, he might hurt Pa. "Tell me, what does your wife think of you kidnapping a woman to marry your son?"
"My wife died several years back."
A knot forms at the pit of my stomach. Had he killed her? Or was she killed by a rival mafia? The mafia is a cruel, violent world. That's why my mother did her best to keep us away from it. "I'm sorry." I say quietly.
He avoids my eye and pushes to his feet then adjusts his cuffs. "That was a long time ago. Karlen is my only son. Which is the reason I chose the best wife for him. The daughter of the famous Polina Sidorova. A woman who will make all the other men jealous of him."
"And what if I don't marry him?"
"Don't make me answer that, Ivanna." He strides to the door. "Two hours until we land. You should get some sleep."
Sergio has a lot to learn about kidnapping if he thinks that I will sleep now. I can't have that level of comfort knowing that I'm being shipped wherever to be forcefully married to his son. Who I'm certain is mafia too. "I need to use the bathroom. And I need my satchel."
"Through here." He motions to a small door in the rear of the bedroom. "I will tell the hostess to bring you a tray. I'm sure that you're hungry."
I'm not about to thank him. What's there to be grateful about anyway? So I repeat. "My satchel."
"Until you cooperate, none of your things will be returned to you."
I glare at him so hard that if I could burn holes into his skin, I would. "There are people who will be worried about me. I need to at least assure them that I'm okay."
"You mean Alexei?" he sneers, something that sends a jolt of shock through me. How the hell does he know him? "He's not worried, Ivanna. You don't matter to him anymore."
"Oh my God! You killed him?"
He has the audacity to look down his nose at me. "You watch too many American shows, Ivanna. He is breathing, for now. But you will not see him ever again." He pauses at the door and pins me with a dark stare from head to toe. There is no feeling in those eyes. No sympathy. Nothing. Just a man used to getting things done his way and who doesn't take no for an answer. "And Ivanna…don't bother looking for a weapon. I made sure you won't find any."
I wait until he is out of sight and ignore his advice. I jump off the bed and start searching around. There has to be something in the bedroom or bathroom that I can use as a weapon once we land. At least I learnt a thing or two from Pa's self defense classes, and the instructor said that anything can be modified into a weapon in the face of emergency.
The bathroom yields nothing. The medicine cabinet is empty and the shower only has plastic bottles. I quickly use the facilities and wash my face and once I'm done, I head back to the bedroom where I find a tray waiting for me. I dig in, knowing that hunger strike will only make me weak and slow me down. I have to muster enough strength to fight once we land. I hardly taste the food. Haste and fear override everything else at the moment. Unfortunately, the provided silverware is just plastic, and so is the wine glass and water bottle.
I keep looking. The desk has nothing but blank paper. The nightstand only has condoms. Extra large ones, naturally. Annoyed, I slam the drawer doors shut and drop to check beneath the bed.
Luckily for me, there is a pen tucked into the carpet along the wall. I snatch it and slip it into my jeans pocket.
For a weapon, a pen isn't much. But I just have to wait for the opportunity to avail so I can use it.