The only way out: Death

NINA

I woke up to the sensation of cold seeping into my body. When I blinked my eyes, my cheek was pressed on something cold and hard. Concrete. Rough, unyielding, and damp. My head throbbed, my body a twisted coil of aches and bruises. And the air around me was thick with something pungent—coppery, metallic, the scent of rusted iron and dried blood.

Darkness pressed in around me, thick and suffocating. My fingers twitched against the floor, searching for something, anything, to anchor me. But all I found was the sharp bite of chains wrapped around my wrist and ankle.

Panic tore through me.

No. No, no, no.

I tugged, yanking hard, but the metal didn’t budge. It only cut deeper, biting into my skin. My breath shuddered out, my heart raced in my chest.

Think. Think. Where am I? What happened? The last thing I remember—

The park. The woods. The chase. Lachlan.

But it wasn’t Lachlan who had caught me. The masked man had manhandled me and then... drugged me.

My hand went to my neck, the puckered flesh there evidence of what had happened. It wasn’t just a nightmare.

My stomach plummeted as fear gripped it in its merciless grip.

I tried to stand up in the dark but the chains around my wrist and ankle stopped me. “Help! Anyone, please, help!!” My voice just echoed around me, there was no sound of any living being except my own breathing in the eerie silent.

My shoulders slumped in defeat and I was left to the mercy of darkness and whoever had kidnapped me.

After what felt like hours a loud clang echoed somewhere making me flinch. I slid against the wall, frozen in wait as I heard the loud footsteps in the dark coming closer and closer.

A light turned on over my head, illuminating me and my surroundings but not anything beyond. The air shifted, and a moment later the cell door was pushed open.

Then, he stepped in.

Lachlan.

For a brief moment, relief flooded me to think he'd come to save me. I jerked up, but the chains rattled pulling me down. “Lach—” But then, the expression on his face revealed what I didn't want to acknowledge.

He wasn’t the same Lachlan who'd looked at me with soft gaze and a tender smile. This was a man I hadn’t met until now. His green eyes were unreadable, void of warmth I’d often seen in them. The way he looked at me sent ice down my spine, like I was someone he didn’t know what to do with.

He was the reason I was here. “W-what did you d-do?” I asked, betràyal making it hard for me to speak.

His green eyes remained unemotional, his face stoic.

I tried to stand up again, but couldn’t as the short chain around my ankle pulled me back. I fell down, hitting my knees hard and a sharp cry of pain left me.

His jaw clenched and he bit out, “Stay.”

“Fuck you.” I cursed at him, my eyes burning with tears. “Where am I? Where did you bring me? And what the fuck is this?!” With each word I screamed, my panic increased.

But he seemed unfazed. He said, “You are here to fulfil a promise. And to pay for the sins you committed with your family.”

“What?” Silencing the panic trying to overwhelm me, I glared at him. “Are you fucking crazy? I told you I d-don’t remember my past and what the fuck it means you want me to pay—”

Suddenly he was there, grabbing me by the jaw. His fingers digging into my cheeks. “Listen, Innessa.” I sucked in a breath. I haven’t heard that name since my mother died, she was the only one who sometimes used my name from my forgotten past.

His green eyes glared down at me. “You don’t have a choice.”

And as I stared into his eyes, this close, I saw the sympathy in them like he didn’t want to do this. Like he was forced to do this.

“Lachlan, p-please...” I pleaded, tears trailing down my cheeks.

A soft brush of his thumb on my cheek was only softness he offered before he pushed back so hard I fell on the concrete floor. He said, “I didn’t tell you to speak. Now, listen carefully. A year, and as long as it takes for you to get pregnant and provide us with an heir. We’ll set you free.”

“W-what?”

He pulled out a piece of faded paper from his jacket and held it out to me.

Black dots danced in front of my eyes with each word I read.

A contract.

Innessa; past me, had promised her first born to the Sokolov family, as their heir.

No. No. No.

My fingers tightened around the paper but before it could tear apart, Lachlan took it from me. “I d-didn’t... You are lying!”

He didn’t react.

“All this time you were playing with me.... Making me trust you so you could break it one lie at a time.” I pointed a finger at the paper in his hand. “I don’t believe this... I don’t care about this! Why would I even trust you that this is real?!!”

I was frantic but he just crouched in front of me and said in a soft whisper, “It’s real. And, I still want you to trust me and do as I say...”

I laughed in his face and in a fit of rage, I spit at him.

His eyes darkened as he stared back at me. Then in a surprising move, he tore my blouse open and used it to wipe his face.

I cowered back, wrapping my arm around myself, afraid of the payback.

Instead all he said, “Don’t try this again. The people here will eat you alive and want extras. Just do as I say.”

“No. Let me go, you asshole. I’m not going to listen to you. My friends will be looking for me.” I was bluffing but Riley had to know that I wasn’t at home. And... I bit out, “Antonio Rossi will know and get me out of here.”

His eyes narrowed telling me he knew who and what Antonio Rossi was.

I said, “Just let me go, Lachlan. Please.”

He stood up. Pulled out another set of papers. “Sign these. And you’ll be able to leave this cell.”

“What are these?”

“A marriage contract.”

I recoiled back, horrified. “No.”

His green eyes accessed me. “You don’t have a choice, Innessa.”

“My name is Nina.”

“Sign the papers.”

“What if I don’t?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped forward, slow and deliberate, until the tips of his shoes touched the tips of my bare feet. Then he said, his voice hard and deliberate, "I’ll leave you here. It has already been forty eight hours since I brought you here. How long do you think you can survive without food and water?”

As if my body was waiting to be acknowledged, my stomach grumbled with hunger pains. His eyes dropped to my stomach.

Something flickered across his face, so quick I almost missed it. Then his hand moved, fingers wrapping around my jaw, tilting my face up. His touch wasn’t gentle but still I flinched back, and his grip tightened in response.

I shrunk back, my body pressed against the cold wall. “Why are you doing this, Lachlan?”

“Make a wise decision, Innessa. You can fight all you want but you should do it out of this cell, right?”

I sat there, glued on the spot, unbelieving of my faith.

But as he started to walk out, I stopped him. Fear of darkness getting to me. I didn’t know when he’ll return. I was hungry and thirsty. I have a son... my Juhan... What the fuck did I do? He needs me and I am here. I've to get out of here. And first step will be to get out of this cell, chained and forgotten.

“Wait! Where are we?”

“Russia.”

My eyes widened. “W-what?”

“You’ll know more about your past and future when you get out of this cell, Innessa.”

I hated my name on his lips. “What will happen if I sign this?”

“You’ll be married. You’ll become a property of Pakhan of Sokolov Bratva.”

“You're part of Russian mafia?”

Amusement danced in his eyes like I’d said something funny. In answer he tilted his head in a nod.

I looked at the papers in his hand. “Can I read it?”

A flash of something darkened his eyes but finally he gave me a nod. He brought the papers to me.

As I went through the papers, each word was like an anvil waiting to be dropped on my head

It was a standard marriage contract except the stipulations. I will be the Sokolov Property. I will pay for whatever I had done in the past by following their each and every demand. Sexually, physically and emotionally I'll be my husband’s to toy with. Whatever he wanted I’ll have to do. Unless, I want to forfeit and want out. And the only way out will be death.

I swallowed. “I c-can’t...” I looked at him. “I don’t know what you think I did, but I've no memories, Lachlan. You can’t really want me to pay for the things I don’t remember doing.”

“It doesn’t matter. You're in Russia, this is Sokolov’s playground. No friend of yours, not even Rossi could save you here. The only way out is to sign those papers and try to survive.”

“You want me to survive this cruelty?”

“It won’t be bad.” I scoffed. He said, “When you get pregnant it'll all stop.”

I turned the page and saw another agreement, the copy of the contract he'd showed me earlier. My first born to be given to Sokolov family.

“What if I ran away?”

A small smile touched his lips, almost sad. “You could try, little kitten.” He walked back to me, cupped my face, this time his touch was gentle as he said, “And fuck this contract, all these rules, if you managed to run away, I promise I’ll set you free. No one will come after you. I'll make it happen."

He pulled out a pen from his pocket and said, “Sign it, Nina. Let me get you out of here.”

Do I have a choice?

I was god knows where in Russia and no one was here to save me. I will have to save myself and the man standing before me seemed the only way out. And signing this contract.

I took the pen from him with shaky fingers. And finally signed the contract.

When I finished scrawling my name on the last page, someone clapped from the darkness outside the cell.

I stiffened.

My eyes searched the dark.

And then a man detached himself from the dark and prowled in.

I sucked in a breath, a horrified gasp left my lips.

The man before me has blonde hair, almost too bright to look at. His eyes were steely grey, apathetic. But it was his face that had me taking a step back as a horrified gasp left my lips.

Half of his face was burnt. But whereas the lower part of his left cheek and jaw had healed, the upper part around his eyes remained unhealed and it seemed the skin had melted off his face. But it’s his eyes that paralyzed me.

Steely gray, empty of anything human.

While the fire had marred one side of his face, it had left the other untouched. On profile, his unscarred side was like of a golden angel.

My eyes raked over him.

He was tall and somehow his physic looked familiar. As if conjured up by my thoughts, he dangled a mask from his fingers as he asked, “Are you afraid, Lisichka?”

The nickname slammed into my chest like a knife.

He was him. The man in the forest. The one from my nightmares.

“Y-you...”

He laughed, a sound so cruel it made my heart shrivel. “Me. Back from the dead.” In a flash he was in my face, his fingers wrapped around my throat. “Now, let’s see how you’ll fair in the fire of my vengeance.”

My stomach knotted. “Why are you doing this!"

His lips curved into a cold smile. “Because I can, lisichka. Didn't I promise you that I’ll reward your loyalty, but if you betrayed me, I’ll punish you to death.”

__

‘Don’t betray me, Lisichka. And I’ll make it all go away.’

__

A sharp pain exploded behind my eyes, and for a second, something flashed through my mind—

A dark bedroom.

Rough hands.

Pain.

Pleasure.

Forest.

And then—fire.

I jerked as if the memory itself slapped me in the face, but the fragments of my lost memories slipped away too fast for me to grasp. My breathing turned ragged, fear clawing up my throat.

“Who—” My voice breaks. “Who are you?”

His smile widened, slow and cruel. “You don’t remember me?” His head tilted, eyes gleaming with something sharp, something wicked. “What a convincing lie. But unlike Lachlan, I don’t believe you.”

My pulse pounded against my ribs. “I don’t know you.” I turned to Lachlan. “Lachlan, tell him, I don’t remember-"

“You will,” he murmured. His fingers brushed over his scarred cheek. “I will make you.”

A sick feeling twisted in my gut. “I—”

His hand moved so fast I barely registered it before his fingers were around my throat.

Squeezing. Choking. Suffocating.

He leaned closer, his nose brushing against mine. “You’ll burn for me, Innessa. I’ll make sure of it, just the way you burnt me.”

My blood turned to ice.

I have no memories of what he was talking about, but the maliciousness in his grey eyes told me that he’ll make me pay.

“P-please,” I choked out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His grip tightened to the point black dots danced in front of my eyes. “Lie to me again,” he murmured, “And I’ll remind you.”

Something inside me snapped.

“I’m not lying!” My voice broke, raw and desperate. “I don’t remember anything,” My fingers clutched at my hair. “I didn’t even remember my own name after the accident! I don’t even know who you are!!”

For a long moment, he just watched me. Then he exhaled sharply as he pushed me, slamming me into the wall. He said, “Doesn’t matter, I’ll make sure you remember.”

Lachlan stepped forward, his expression unreadable. “She needs time.”

Jeremiah’s gaze flickered to Lachlan. “You’re soft.”

Lachlan didn’t react.

Jeremiah finally stepped back, his eyes trailing down my body in a slow deliberate move that felt like a warning. A promise.

“You’re in my world now, Lisichka.” His voice dropped to something quiet, something final. “And I'll make sure you won’t survive it.”

Darkness started to crowd my vision, and I welcomed it. Letting it take me into its embrace that smelled like leather and amber.

__

A. Gupta