Chapter 4: Mine

We then go out of my parent’s house, I find that five black SUVs are waiting for us outside.  Each SUV has a driver that awaits by the vehicle for the passengers to go in. Irina, Dimitri’s mother, and Nikolay hop on one of the SUVs. Other guests from the party, who I assume are Dimitri’s relatives because they all look alike, hop on the other three SUVs, leaving the last one for Dimitri and me.

“Thank you, Oleg,” Dimitri says to his driver as he opens the door for us.

I take a last look at my family and my house, a mix of fear and sadness runs through my veins. I can still hear Dimitri’s warning in my head “Give your parents a big goodbye hug, Victoria, who knows when you’ll see them again.”

The driver turns on the vehicle and we get moving. My family waves me goodbye as we drive away. Tears well up, I am going to miss them every minute until I see them again and the fact that I don’t know when that will be makes things a million times worse.

“Give me your cellphone,” Dimitri orders me the second we lose sight of my parent’s house.

“Why?” I ask confused as I hold on to my purse.

“I said, give me your cellphone,” he repeats as he gestures for me to give him my phone with a scowl on his face.

“Not until you tell me why,” I reply firmly.

“Do you think I am joking?” Dimitri asks angrily, he then turns to me and snatches the purse out of my hands.

“Hey!” I protest as I try to take back my purse but it is useless, he is already taking my cellphone out.

He then opens the window and throws the cellphone outside.

“What are you doing?!” I yell infuriated.

“What does it look like? I’m getting rid of your phone,” he replies like it is the most natural thing in the world.

“That was my phone! Stop the car I need to go get it!” I order.

“Control yourself, Victoria, you don’t give orders here, only I do,” Dimitri replies.

“You idiot! Why did you do that? You are a douche!” I exclaim angrily.

“Watch how you address me!” Dimitri warns me. “You owe me respect, I won’t tolerate you speaking to me that way.”

“What did you expect?! You just threw my phone to the street!” I yell, I am so mad that my body is shaking with anger.

“So?” He says shrugging.

“So? You had no right! How am I supposed to call my family now?”

“If your family wants to contact you they can call the number my father gave them. By the way, from now on, all communications between you and your family will be supervised, just so you know,” Dimitri informs me.

Supervised? He means they are going to spy on me! This is outrageous!

“You can’t listen to my private conversations!” I exclaim in disbelief.

“Watch me,” he says defiantly.

“You can’t do that! I’m not your prisoner,” I remind him.

“You are my wife, in case you already forgot,” he mutters, shrugging again as if that gave him the right to take away my privacy and the power to destroy my cellphone.

“That doesn’t mean you get to choose who I talk to and when, and it doesn't give you the right to spy on my conversations,” I say.

“It means you are mine,” he says, his eyes looking straight at mine, making me shiver. “You better start respecting me and doing everything I say, because you are not going to like the consequences of disobeying me.”

What kind consequences does he mean? I don’t think I want to know the answer. The coldness in his stare makes me know he is capable of unimaginable cruelty and that is best for me not to test him. I turn to face to the window, I don’t want Dimitri to notice the fear in my eyes. As I look outside I try to make sense of what is happening. My father gave me away to a monster, I knew that, but I never imagined he would take away my cellphone or supervise my calls. What else is he planning to do? I feel like I am headed for a prison instead of a home. I don’t understand why Dimitri pretends to treat me like this. He doesn't even know me, there is no justification for his actions. The worst part is that there is no much I can do about my situation. I can’t go to the police, if I tell them what is going on they would probably detain my father too for forcing me to marry against my will; I can’t run away because that would put my family’s life at risk; I am at the mercy of my husband. If he wants to control my calls or anything else I do, I can’t stop him.

I’m so absorbed in my own thoughts that it takes me a while to realize where we are going. I’m surprised to see that we are driving out of the city and into the suburbs. I look to the front, the other four black SUVs are going in the same direction as we; at least that gives me comfort, where ever we are going, we are going together, it’s not going to be just me and Dimitri when we arrive at our destination. We drive and drive, and with every street we leave behind I get more and more anxious, this place seems to be really far. I feel like we have been driving all night. We get to a remote area, few houses and a lot of trees. We drive into a residential complex isolated from everything else by a tall wall, the complex has five white identical large houses with several floors. The five houses share one big garden that is located in the middle of the complex, it would be a nice place to spend an afternoon reading or to have a picnic with friends, except that scattered across the garden there are armed guards with unfriendly looks and big guns. Each SUV parks in front of one of the houses. We park in front of house number 5.

“Home sweet home,” Dimitri mutters.

“Where are we?” I ask with a trembling voice.

“Are you dumb? I just told you, we are home,” he replies with a rude tone.

“I mean, where is this place located? We drove for a while, I don’t think I’ve ever been in this part of the city…” I mutter.

“That is because we are not in the city anymore,” he says mockingly. “And I assure you, you’ve never been here. My father chose this place because it is remote and safe.”

Dimitri steps out, then he walks to my side of the SUV to open my door for me and offers me his hand to help me step out. I reluctantly take his hand, his skin feels cold, just like his heart must be.

“Oleg, take my wife’s suitcase to our room,” Dimitri orders the driver.

“Right away, sir,” the driver replies as he opens the trunk to take out the suitcase.

“All the residents of the complex are members of your family?” I ask as I look around us, his relatives are stepping out of their vehicles and going into the other houses.

“Yes, that is correct. My parents live in that house in the middle, my uncle Stefan and his family live there, my grandparents on that one on the corner, my uncle Vlad and aunt Sofia live in that one with my cousin Kirill…” he explains to me as he points to the houses. “You’ll meet everyone in time. And this one right here, is ours,” Dimitri points to the house in front of us. He then gestures me to go in.

As soon as I approach the front door, I hear a dog barking inside. Dimitri has a pet. The dog runs to the door and starts to sniff thru the bottom of it. Dimitri opens the door and moves to the side to let me in. As I cross the doorframe, I meet face to face with the furry pal that is making so much noise: a brindled Boxer with a prominent jaw. The dog is staring at me in a tense pose like it is ready to attack me if I make any sudden moves. I gasp and the animal growls at me. I take a step back, afraid to get bitten, and my back bumps into Dimitri who is standing right behind me.

“Bolt won’t hurt you and you better don’t do anything to him or you will have to deal with me, understood?” My husband says in a rude tone.

“I would die before I harm a dog,” I reply furrowing my brow. Does Dimitri think we are all criminals like him?

“Good, then I guess we won’t have a problem,” he replies. “Bolt, quiet!”

The dog approaches me carefully and sniffs my pink dress, I slowly reach its head and pat it gently. The second I do this, the dog stands on its two hind legs and leans over my chest wagging its tail. Bolt then licks my chin and I smile.

“Down, Bolt,” Dimitri orders. The dog obeys him instantly.

I think Bolt likes me, I think I like him back. I never had a dog in my life, this is a pleasant surprise.

I look around the house. Right next to the foyer there is an ample living room with brown couches and a grey bookcase filled with books. Crossing a crystal door in front of us, is the dining room with a white table that seats twelve people and a china cabinet of the same color. There are several paintings on the walls, mostly modern art, which I don’t love, although I have to admit they go well with the house. The place is big and modern, the pieces of furniture are very elegant and look expensive. Everything seems new, unused. I wonder if they furnished the house recently for us to live in. The driver comes in and takes my suitcase upstairs. It takes him a few minutes and then he goes out the door leaving Dimitri and me alone.

“Victoria, the rules of this place are very simple: do everything I say and you will be fine,” Dimitri says with a firm voice. “If you don’t, I’ll get angry, and trust me, you don’t want to see me when I get angry.”

The threat implied in his sentence makes me shiver. I’m so vulnerable right now, in the middle of who-know-where, surrounded by the Russian mafia… no cellphone, no way of running away. I’m at the mercy of this ruthless man.

“Follow me,” Dimitri says before he starts to climb up the staircase.

I feel a shiver of cold prickle my scalp. I can imagine what is coming, Dimitri intends to take me into his bedroom. As much as I don’t want to follow Dimitri, I don’t think I have a choice.