Chapter 3

Kristin’s POV

I gulped visibly when he uttered that word, that word alone got me hot, scared, and terrified, I wondered what he wanted to talk about. He had this look in his eyes, it was vicious, cold, distant, and wicked. I mean I've heard stories of him but sitting here on this cold floor looking at him, something tells me he holds a grudge for me or more specifically Khloe. "Whatever I tell you now, I'll only say once so be careful not to miss anything" he spit out his stare not wavering. "You're here as my prisoner, and no I don't want or demand any Ransom from your husband for your return, you'll be here for as long as I want you to be" he begins still looking at me "Of course, you know what happens to prisoners since you've had your fair share of taking some for your former Don" he grits out a very dangerous tone to his voice, it's like he's hinting at something but I don't know what. "You will remain in this basement without any food or water, unless of course, I'm in a good mood, of course, you'll be tortured from time to time" he adds making me fucking scared, I can't handle mafia torturing "Have it in mind that I'll document some of these torture as a souvenir for your dear husband" he tells me still keeping a hard glare on me He stops as if waiting for me to say something but all I do is just lower my head, his stare scares me, it unnerves me and puts me on edge. I have never had to face anyone like this, not in my entire life. Khloe is the brave, bold, and witty one I'm just the silent, shy, and naive of both of us. I don't want to tell him that I'm not Khloe because if he knows, then he'll realize he has no use for me and probably kill me Men like him have no room for compassion or pity, they shoot first and ask questions later and I'm not willing to put my life at risk. "I expected more of a fight from you, this is not the famous assassin I've been hearing so much about for the years" he mutters out tauntingly, of course I'm not her dumb fuck, but of course, I don't have the nerve to say that out loud. "I can say I'm very disappointed" he spits. "Where am I"? I ask after minutes of watching him talk, at least I should know where I am in case I escape, which is most likely not going to happen but let me hope. "You should know by now," he says smirking at me "You're in Russia" he whispers, I suspected it but now that he confirms it my blood runs cold. How will Khloe ever find me? I'm in a foreign land with no means of reaching anyone I know, worse, they think I'm someone else. What will happen to me if he finds out I'm not Khloe but the exact opposite of who he wanted? "Maxim will make sure you're comfortable as much as a prisoner should be," he says with an evil smile and sinister look in his eyes He gets up from the chair and starts making his way to the door, but my voice quickly stops him. "If I'm going to stay here for long, the least you can do is let me have my bath, I stink" I mutter the last part out, I see his shoulder tense before he turns around and faces me "You want a bath, Anastasia"? He asks giving me a weird look, at this moment I don't even know what I'm doing, I just nod like an idiot, which isn't a good idea. "Maxim" his voice booms out through the whole basement and within seconds, The man from before enters as if he's been standing outside, he bows in front of Aleksandr in respect. "Our little Anastasia wants a bath," he says in a mocking tone and as if the man understands, he just nods before going back out again. Aleksandr has his eyes dead set on me, glaring, staring, studying, and watching me, it's making me uncomfortable, I feel small sitting here. I feel like he's going to squash me with his eyes or worse, he's going to kill me. I squirm a bit, the floor is cold and hard and I've been in this position for hours it's getting hard to get blood moving all over my body. Suddenly the door opens again to reveal Maxim, I believe is what Aleksandr called him, but this time he has something with him... A bucket, I assume a bucket of water. He hands it to Aleksandr before taking two steps back, Aleksandr takes it from him before inspecting it and looking at me with the same glare. He starts walking towards me "You wanted a bath, Anastasia"? He asks tauntingly, and I shake my head trying to move back, I don't know what he wants to do but I know it's not something I'll like at all. Before I can even get a chance to say anything he turns the bucket in his hands upside down and empties the whole content on my body, as soon as the cold water comes in contact with my skin I can't help but squeak and yelp out loudly. I tense at the contact, my whole body is drenched in cold water, very cold, and my dress is wet completely, in fact, my whole body is dripping with water. He hands the bucket back to Maxim, who quickly takes it from him. He bends down to my eye level moving some of my hair out of my face. "Do you feel clean now, hmm? Or do you want more baths"? He taunts making me shut my eyes before opening them back and glaring at him hard He doesn't even seem fazed by my anger or glare, I don't even have any words to say to him because I can already feel my whole body covered in cold spots. I'm definitely going to catch a cold, he gets up abruptly and walks out the door with Maxim tailing behind him and locking me inside.

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I don't know how long I've been sitting here but I know it's long enough to know that I've officially caught cold, my chapped lips are trembling from the cold, my teeth clattering against each other. I tried moving from my former position so I wouldn't be sitting directly on cold water, it'll be hard for my dress to get dry No one has come inside since Aleksandr left me here after drenching me in cold water because I asked for a bath, I should have just kept my mouth shut. My feet and my hands are numb, I can't even feel them properly, they're very cold. I don't know what Aleksandr wants with me, but I'm sure as hell it's not something good, I just pray Khloe or Dante find me before I get the chance to find out. The metal doors of the basement open up and Maxim walks in with a plate of food and a bottle of water, my mouth instantly waters at this. It's been days since I've had any form of food or water in my mouth, he looks at me for a while before dropping the food and the water in front of me. I look at the food and up at him contemplating if I should eat or not, what if it's poisoned, as if reading my thoughts the Russian's voice cuts my thoughts. "If the boss wanted you dead, you wouldn't even have made it this far," he says "Eat, you might not see anything like this in the coming days" he warns me as if he's looking out for me. I sigh, not wanting him to see that starving me for days affected me, I slowly and steadily reach out for the water first, at least if they poison the food they can't poison a sealed bottle of water. And plus, I'm more thirsty than I'm hungry, I gently open the bottle before slowly taking it towards my lips, the moment a drop of the water went down my throat I realized how thirsty I'd been the last few days I've had to go without water or food. I quickly chugged down the water with a loud gulp, saving some for later, by now Maxim had already left. I reach out for the plate of food, it's a bread loaf and an apple, I go for the apple first, there's less chance of it being poisoned. I take a bite and savour it, God I've missed food so much, an involuntary moan leaves my mouth. Who knew an apple could be this good and refreshing? I take another bite and within minutes the apple is almost finished, I look at the plate again and eye the bread warily, the apple will have to do for now At least I have a little strength in me, I discard the apple stem on the plate before gently pushing it away from me. I take a sip from the water to quench my thirst, I cover it up and drop the rest close to me. I don't know when next I'll get to have water again, I'll manage this one while it lasts.