Russian Mob Boss’s Captive
Chapter 1
Olivia admired herself in the mirror as she reapplied her make-up. Running her hand through her thick, curly, jet-black hair, she looked up in surprise as a man walked into the women’s bathroom. Before she had the chance to ask what he was doing in there, he wrapped his arm around her and covered her mouth with a cloth in his other hand.
Screaming into his hand, she began swinging her legs wildly to kick him, but he merely lifted her off the ground while she kicked at the air. She could feel herself growing weak while her vision became blurry. Panic filled her as she made one last attempt to get free before everything went dark.
Two hours before…
“Olivia, please tell me that you aren’t wearing that to the club,” her friend Tanya demanded, as she looked at Olivia from head to toe with dismay.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, if you’re going to a funeral,” Tanya answered as her friends laughed.
“It’s not that bad!” She looked at herself in the mirror. It was that bad. She only knew how to dress conservatively. After all, she was a politician’s daughter.
“You must have something,” Tanya commented as she followed Olivia back into her bedroom.
“I am not cut out for clubs.” She slumped onto her bed.
“Nonsense. We just need to get you out of your comfort zone.” Tanya walked over to Olivia’s closet, opened it, and began pulling clothes out. She muttered a running commentary as she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Too old. Too much fabric. Wrong era. Needs burning.”
As Olivia’s closet was quickly emptied of all her clothes, she stared at her friend in dismay. “Tell me there’s something usable?” Tanya gave her a disappointed look as Olivia shook her head.
Olivia needed to change the subject. “I can’t believe that we finally graduated,” Olivia said dreamily as she flopped onto her back. She had just graduated with her Master’s in Education.
“Yes, neither can I. It felt like we were never going to finish. Wait a minute…” Tanya leaned into the back of the closet, as she balanced on one foot. Pulling out a dress still in its garment bag, she pulled the zipper down and drew a red cocktail dress out. “You have this dress and you never wear it?”
Olivia jerked her head up and looked at Tanya. She eyeballed the mid-thigh-length halter dress that Tanya held up. “Oh, that dress,” she mumbled before flopping her head back down. Tanya raised her perfectly threaded eyebrows.
“I can’t believe that you own such a dress.”
“My aunt Carla bought it for me, but it’s too promiscuous.”
Tanya laughed. “No, it’s not.” She threw the dress on the bed. “It’s settled, you are wearing this one.”
“Red is too bold.” Olivia was not confident enough to wear red. She was simply not daring enough.
“It’ll suit you.” Tanya winked. ”Now, hurry up and change.”
Olivia slowly got up and picked up the dress. Holding it up to her, she stared at herself in the mirror. Why not?
Slipping the dress on, she fastened the halter clasp around her neck and frowned into the mirror. Sighing, she slipped her hands under the skirt to pull off her panties before removing her bra. Rubbing her head in irritation, she looked at herself again and turned slowly back and forth.
The dress hugged her curves in all the right places. But could she pull off no undergarments? Opening her dresser, she sifted through what she had knowing that nothing would work under the dress, the material was simply too clingy.
“Olivia! Hurry up!” Tanya shouted from the other room.
Tugging at the length, she looked down at her feet. With a sigh, she kicked off her sensible shoes and reached for the shoebox on the top shelf. Opening it, she stared down at the strappy sandals her aunt had bought her to go with the dress. She teetered on unfamiliar heels when she put them on.
She took a deep breath. I can do this!
“Where have you been hiding those curves?” Tanya teased, as Olivia reappeared in the room. Their other friends giggled.
“You look gorgeous,” Tracy told her as Melanie whistled.
“Do I? It’s not too revealing?” Olivia shifted uncomfortably. The other girls narrowed their gazes at her.
“No!” they replied together.
Not giving Olivia a moment to change her mind, Tanya quickly looped her arm through hers and escorted her to the door.
Olivia was both nervous and excited about going out with her friends. At her age, she had spent her life always taking the safe route, preferring to stay home and study instead of going out clubbing with her friends. But tonight was different. She was finished with school and she was determined to celebrate her graduation. She was going to have fun for once. The only problem was that she did not know how.
Thanks to some name-dropping, Tanya had managed to get their names on the guest list for the hottest club in New York City – Club Deranged. Barely open for a few weeks, it was the current go to spot for every A-lister from the Upper East Side to Battery Park. Olivia walked in cautiously and looked around at the industrial-looking interior.
The server led the girls up the stairs to the VIP section, where they clustered along the rail as they looked down at the mass of bodies twisting and turning to the latest beats. Flashing lights danced around the club, lighting up the club goers as the black lights gave everyone an eerie glow.
Olivia looked down at the dancers wishing that she didn’t have three left feet – if there was ever such a thing. She was a terrible dancer; at least, she assumed she was, having never ventured past her bedroom mirror with any attempts to dance.
As they settled in their sitting area, Tracy ordered a round of shots as the girls excitedly looked around. When the server returned with their drinks, Tracy passed them around, as the girls toasted to their graduation.
Olivia inspected the small glass with the amber liquid. She was not much of a drinker and only ever sipped on expensive wines and champagnes at the political parties her parents forced her to attend.
“On the count of three.” Tracy said. “One, two, three!”
Taking a sip, Olivia made a face and watched as her friends quickly downed their drinks. They stared at her waiting for her to do the same. She held her breath, opened her mouth and downed the shot, telling herself not to cough as the burn from the tequila worked its way down her throat. She shook her head and opened her eyes to the approving looks of her friends.
Before she knew it, two more rounds found their way across the table as the girls toasted each other.
Tanya stood and grabbed her hand. “Come on, time to hit the dance floor,” she told her as Olivia pulled her hand away.
“I think I’ll stay here.” Olivia wiped her now sweaty palm on a napkin.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Melanie scolded as her friends pulled her to her feet and dragged her to the stairs.
“Come on, it will be fun,” Tracy called out as she bounced down the stairs.
“You’ve seen me dance, right?”
Tanya laughed. “No one will see you out there, it’s too dark. Come on, live a little.”
With a dubious nod, Olivia joined her friends out on the dance floor as she attempted to copy their moves. The music was infectious as she soon found herself swaying to the beat. Closing her eyes, she let herself go. While the alcohol didn’t make her fearless, she was enjoying herself as she whipped her black curls from side to side.
A tall pale man dressed in all black came and asked her for a dance. Olivia giggled as she shook her head in refusal. She would not even know how to dance with him. He stood there, waiting for Olivia to change her mind before Tanya pulled her away from him.
“He looks creepy,” Tanya warned as Olivia nodded in agreement.
They shifted to another part of the dance floor, having a good time. During a break, they headed back upstairs, but Olivia held back.
“I’ll be right back,” she called out as she pointed to the bathrooms. Waiting in line, she continued to tap her foot to the music as the line gradually became shorter. When it was her turn, she walked inside and was surprised to see it was relatively empty. As she washed her hands, the last of the other women left to return to the club, and she was alone in there.
She brushed her hair out before replenishing her lip-gloss. Staring at herself in the mirror, she was impressed with the young woman staring back at her.
So, this is what I look like when I’m having fun, she thought. Olivia looked up when she heard the door open and was surprised when a man walked in. Staring at him, she realized that he was the same guy who had asked her to dance earlier. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her and covered her mouth with something as she fought to get away, but he was too strong for her and easily lifted her small frame and held her in the air while she kicked uselessly at him. Reaching her hand up, she managed to scratch his neck, but instead of letting her go, he only tightened his hold on her mouth. As panic set in, Olivia’s vision began to blur as her legs slowed down. She knew something was seriously wrong before she blacked out.
Chapter 2
Olivia first became aware that she was in some sort of moving vehicle before she opened her eyes. Blinking her eyes slowly, she stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. At the sound of male voices, she rose to a sitting position, groaning as her stomach lurched in response.
How much did I drink last night?
She realized that several pairs of eyes were looking at her. When she raised her hand to rub her eyes, she stared confused at the restraints on her wrists. Wriggling her hand, she followed the chain down to see that she was chained to a low bench.
“Where am I?”
“Samolet,” came an answering reply.
“What?”
“Airplane.”
Closing her eyes, Olivia fervently wished that this was some sort of over the top joke or a really bad alcohol-induced nightmare. When she opened her eyes again, she looked around with interest and could see she was in some sort of cargo plane. The other passengers were all male and dressed similarly in black.
“You’ve finally woke up.” She watched a tall man walk toward her. Recognizing him as the one from the club, she tried to jump up.
“You! Who are you? What do you want with me?”
His response was to laugh as Olivia frowned. “Why won’t you answer me?” she spat out in frustration. “Where are you taking me?” She panicked when she tried to stand up, but realized that she couldn’t.
“Russia,” the man said simply as he stood in front of her. By the smirk on his face, Olivia could tell he was amused.
“What?” Olivia began fighting the restraints, trying to get out of them, but it was useless. They were on too tight. Letting out a frustrated scream, she was caught off guard when the man backhanded her across the face, sending her crashing down and hitting her head against the wall.
“Sit still!” he shouted at her. He positioned today’s copy of USA Today in front of her. “Hold this,” he barked at her, and she grasped the newspaper. Stepping back, he snapped her picture, before taking the newspaper from her.
Olivia rubbed the back of her head. “Why are you doing this to me?” She felt tears welling up in her eyes, as she swiped at them.
“You’ll know when you get there.” As he walked away, he stopped to talk quietly with some of the other men. They looked at her and laughed.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she wished that she were more conservatively dressed and rubbed at the goosebumps on her arms. She felt so alone as she stared at the men. She wished Tanya were there. She was as tough as nails and would definitely handle the situation better. Olivia wondered what had happened to the girls, if they were okay. Were they worried about her?
Hours later, she could feel the plane begin to descend and the rumble of the landing gear as it lowered. The cargo plane touched down with a heavy bounce and rolled for quite some time before it eventually came to a stop. The man from the club walked toward her, and she stared up at him in fear. Releasing her restraints, he grabbed her by the elbow, dragged her to her feet, and began walking to the ramp that had dropped down at the back of the plane. As she stumbled along next to him, she didn’t have much chance to look around before she was hustled into the back of a car.
She was surprised that they didn’t bother to blindfold her for the drive, but then again, she was in an entirely different country and it wasn’t as if she spoke the language or could find her way around. They drove for quite some time and while Olivia tried to keep track of where they were going, all the highway signs were in Cyrillic and the landscape was nothing but snow. She was surprised when the driver turned and began making his way up a winding road.
A massive estate unlike anything she had ever seen came into view out the window. When the vehicle slowed to a stop, her abductor opened the door and didn’t bother to wait for her to slide out before reaching in to grab her arm and drag her out. Olivia was still in her dress and heels and her ankle twisted painfully as she tried to stand upright. Not stopping to see if she was okay, he walked quickly toward the heavily guarded house.
Once inside, Olivia was dragged down a long hall. She tried to take in her surroundings as they went and was surprised at how opulent the house was. Everything was massive, from the vaulted ceilings to the over-sized portrait paintings lined up along the walls like a receiving line.
Walking down a spiral staircase, her abductor stopped in front of a massive door. He shoved Olivia through it ahead of him before reaching for the light switch. With a blink, she looked around. The room was large and held nothing more than a bed.
Olivia rubbed her arms and winced at the tenderness from where he had dug his fingers into her. She turned when she heard the door close and a lock turn. Rushing to the door, she began pounding on it.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Come back! You can’t just leave me here!” she cried out, but he did not return. She kept pounding on the door until she was too tired to lift her arms. Sliding to the floor, she leaned against it. She stared at her prison cell and hopelessness overwhelmed her as she dropped her head onto her knees and began to cry.
Exhaustion overwhelmed her as Olivia forced herself to her feet. Staggering, she went over to the bed and sat down. She felt herself drifting off to sleep where she sat. Before she could fully fall asleep, she heard the door open. She sprung to her feet as a different man walked it. He was not amongst her captors.
Olivia watched as he strode into the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him. He was taller than the other men were, which was saying a lot, and his presence was intimidating as the back of her legs hit the mattress and she found herself sitting back down. He had short dark hair that curled around his collar. His dark eyebrows framed his face and his rough beard appeared only to be a couple days old. He looked her up and down with piercing gray eyes that sent shivers down her spine. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stared up at him.
“Who are you?” He reached behind him and swung the big door shut with a bang that made Olivia jump in fear. She was acutely aware of his large frame – he was built like a mountain. Dismantling her would be an easy task for him.
“Sergei.” His voice was so deep, it seemed to vibrate down her spine as she closed her eyes in response.
“What do you want from me?”
“From you? Nothing. From your father, two million dollars.”
Olivia’s eyes flew open. So that’s what this was about. Money!
She ran her hand through her hair. “My parents do not have that kind of money.”
“Yes, they do.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and slowly studied her.
“You have a lot of money, it seems. Why do you need more? Why from my father specifically? Why fly me all the way to Russia?”
“You have a lot of questions.”
She frowned. Of course, she had a lot of questions. Who in that situation would not? Sergei sighed.
“Your father has made some poor choices and aggravated the wrong people. It is time he was taught a lesson,” he said calmly. As he explained, Olivia noticed that he was very well spoken and his accent wasn’t as deep as her abductor’s.
“So, this is more to do with something my father did and less to do with money?”
“Precisely.”
“I do not see why I have to pay for his decisions.”
“It is the only way to get his attention.” Sergei opened the door.
“Wait, where are you going?” She wasn’t done speaking to him. She still had questions that needed to be answered.
“I have other matters to attend to. You must be tired, rest.” He nodded towards the bed and then shut the door behind him. “Sergei! Wait!” Olivia shouted as she rushed to the door and banged on it, but he did not come back, nor did he respond. She kicked the door and cursed under her breath.
Chapter 3
Olivia curled up on the bed and stared out at the empty room. She had been so exhausted earlier, but now her mind was filled with nothing but questions. What could her father have done to anger someone so much that they would kidnap her? She so rarely paid attention to anything he did. She didn’t find politics particularly interesting and when he would talk about global matters, her mind would shift to other things. She wished now that she had paid more attention.
Her eyes began to lose focus as she found herself blinking slowly. The next time she opened her eyes, there were two maids in the room. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up as she watched them set up a table while two others came in with chairs. “What is going on?” she asked, but no one replied to her.
“They’re preparing supper.” Olivia turned towards the voice and found Sergei walking into the room. She quickly jumped out of bed.
“Supper?”
“Yes, you slept through lunch.”
She felt slightly disorientated. “What time is it?” Sergei looked at his watch – a silver Rolex.
“Just after six.” She raised her eyebrows.
“Then, when did I get here?”
“You ask too many questions.” He sat at the table as the maids brought in trays of food and placed them on the table.
“I am just wondering how long I’ve been in this place.” She folded her arms over her chest.
“Come and eat,” he ordered. She reluctantly got to her feet. Straightening out her dress, she left her heels where she had dropped them on the floor by the bed and walked barefoot to the table. She didn’t realize how hungry she was until the smells from the different platters hit her and her mouth began to water.
Sergei poured himself a drink as he gestured to the empty chair. “Sit.” Olivia sat down across from him and stared at all the food. Reaching out, she scooped up what looked to be some sort of stew and placed some on her plate. She skewered a piece of meat and potato on her fork and placed it in her mouth. She was surprised at the explosion of flavor, and she closed her eyes and chewed slowly. With a swallow, she reached for her glass and took a tentative sip. The wine was heavy, but it went well with the stew.
“Just what did my father do?” she asked him as she continued to eat.
Sergei studied her face as he ate. “Your cheek is bruised.” She touched her face, wincing when she hit the bruise.
“One of your men hit me. He was not exactly a gentleman.” He took a sip of his drink.
“I apologize for that. I did tell them not to harm you.”
Olivia laughed sarcastically. “Not to harm me, but apprehend me by force,” she answered bitterly.
“I would like to return you in one piece.”
“Why take me in the first place?”
“I have already explained that to you.”
“You explained, but you did not really explain.”
“What more do I need to say?”
She sighed with frustration. “While I understand that my father’s position in the House may have pissed off a lot of people, I don’t see what influence he could possibly have outside the US, much less how abducting his only daughter would solve the issue. I am an innocent party in all of this.”
He allowed her to speak as he stared at her with a blank facial expression. She felt his icy gray gaze pierce through her. She pressed her knees firmly together under the table to stop them from shaking. She couldn’t help but notice that despite his domineering size, he was an attractive man. Definitely someone she would fantasize about if she wasn’t completely terrified.
“I do understand your position,” he responded conciliatorily, “but this is the best way to get to your father.”
“You are a cruel man.” She fought the tears that stung her eyes.
“The world is a cruel place, Miss Lockheart.”
She did not even know how to respond, and she was the type of person that was never speechless. She sat there quietly and carried on eating. She struggled to hold back the tears and swallow. A tear rolled down her cheek. Sergei reached out and wiped it off with his thumb.
“Your father simply needs to send the money and all will be well,” he told her as he seemed fascinated by her tear on his thumb.
“So, if he does not send the money, you will kill me?” She had seen enough television shows to know that when your abductors let you see their faces that usually meant you weren’t going to live to turn them in.
“I never said anything about taking your life.”
“But death is inevitable in this situation, isn’t it?”
“Why do you have perilous thoughts?”
“Isn’t this situation already perilous?”
He did not respond and returned to his meal. Olivia did the same, now more confused than before as they finished their meal in silence.
After Sergei finished eating, he picked up his cloth napkin and wiped his mouth. He looked at Olivia, as he had been doing throughout the meal. “Was the food to your liking?” he asked her. She narrowed her gaze at him.
“As if that matters.”
He shrugged his shoulders. Standing up, he looked down at her as if he would say something, but instead, turned and stalked to the door. Key in hand, he unlocked it, opened the great door and stepped through, shutting it behind him. She heard the lock turn. “Bastard!” she called out in frustration, knowing he could no long hear her. She sat back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. Grabbing the half full wine bottle by the neck, she took a long swig, coughing as she choked it down, then stood up to survey her cell.
Walls. Nothing but walls, she thought as she took smaller sips from the bottle. Wandering around the room, she stared up at the windows. They were much too high for her to climb up to, although given that she had walked down a flight of stairs to get here, maybe she would end up on ground level? But then what? All she had was her cocktail dress and heels. Not exactly winter wear for the Russian countryside. She sat back down on the bed with a sigh and swung her feet in agitation. Downing the last of the wine, she threw herself backwards on the bed and let the bottle tumble to the floor.
