Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Mikhail Romanov 

I stared at Marlowe, studying her expression. I didn't have to look to hard to know what she was thinking and feeling. Her disbelief of what I had just said was written all over her face. 

“Mikhail…” she shakily called my name, grasping the hem of the black dress. It looked good on her, but it was not the one I had sent for her. 

I knew she was stubborn, resilient and would always want to make her way through anything. I was not going to let that happen. The dress I had sent was supposed to tell her what her place was.

She meant nothing to me. Absolutely nothing. She was just a slave I had bought from a human auction. It was not my usual gig, but I did not mind it since it was her. 

I didn't enjoy that I was going to have to be mean to her within a day of meeting again, but I needed to set the climate of the relationship we had here. 

Master and slave. That was all it was. 

I smiled at the thought of how badly I would break her. Ruining her and taking that resilience from her was going to be so fun. 

“Yes, Marlowe?” I replied calmly. 

“I don't understand you… I– I thought…” she trailed off, inhaling shakily. 

“You thought…?” I dragged out her torment because I liked it. 

“I thought you… bought me to free me,” she said the last words with agony that almost made me feel bad. 

I shook my head with a small smile. 

“You thought wrong, Marlowe. I bought you to own you.”

Her eyes snapped to mine, wet and blazing as she furiously wiped the tears she did not want me to see.

 “You don't own me,” 

“The way I see it, I paid a good amount of money for a lady that was on stage with a tag number on her. She was put in my vehicle and brought to my house. I fixed the damages on her. How do I not own her?” My eyes met hers and she flinched, a mix of confusion and hurt on her. 

“Mikhail, what are you even doing? What are you saying? This isn't you,” she took a step towards me, reaching for my hand. I took a step back, not allowing her to touch me. 

“Wh–” she sniffled, “what happened to you. You've changed.”

Anger coiled through me but I stifled it. 

“We all have, Marlowe,” I smiled. “You, for example. You're a slave now. Who would have thought?”

“I am not a slave, Mikhail.”

“You're in no position to argue, Marlowe,” I stepped towards her. Her refusal to accept what she was was starting to get on my nerves. 

“I am. I'm a human being. There are laws. I'm going to find the cops and tell them that you and fucking Killian are selling and buying people,” she shook as she said those words. 

“Be my guest,” I sighed and sat at the edge of my bed. The soft but firm feel of it caused an image to flash in my mind. Her tied to the headboard, blindfolded and writhing beneath me. 

I swallowed and looked at her tearful face, trying to hide the reaction that image gave me. 

“I can't believe this. I can't believe we are meeting like this. You left without a goodbye and it was like you took all my stability. Everything fell apart after you left, and you're showing up to do this to me? How dare you?” Her voice rose and she waved her hand at me. 

“Mind your tone, Marlowe,” I sighed. 

“Don't tell me what to do, you bastard,” she glared at me. 

I sighed again. This was starting to stress me out and I did not do well under stress. “Don't make this harder than it should be.” 

I glanced at the maid who had been standing at the door and watching us with fear for two minutes. “Come.”

She scurried towards me and held the dress out to Marlowe. Marlowe looked at her with sad, apologetic eyes. 

My eyes narrowed at the interaction. “Get out,” I told the maid and she nodded in my direction, leaving. 

“Mikhail, I'm the one that caused the trouble. I told her I wanted a different dress. She didn't do anything wrong.”

“Marlowe,” I held my palms together. My patience with her was wearing thin. “You're not going to tell me what to do in my house, where you're under my control.”

Marlowe shakily inhaled, looking down at the dress in her hands. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. 

My eyebrows rose in surprise. I was caught offguard. Marlowe did not give in easily.

“Does that make this better for her now?” She asked and my head tilted to the side with amusement. Of course she wasn't apologizing for herself. 

“Forget her. You cannot help her.”

“Yes I can,” she argued. 

“Marlowe–”

“Mikhail, please. Please stop whatever this is.” She said the words like I was a toddler throwing tantrums. 

The thin thread that was holding my patience snapped and an icy smile curved my lips. 

“Take it off,” I said, walking towards her. She backed away from me a few feet and I chuckled. She did that now? It was too late. 

“What?” She swallowed. 

“Change into the other one.” my head tilted to the side 

“Okay,” she shakily said. “Can I use your bathroom? If you have one here…” she was stuttering and her hands were shaking. 

“You're changing here, Marlowe. Right now. I don't have all fucking night.” I said through gritted teeth. 

“Mikhail…”

“Now, Marlowe.” I stepped closer to her and she looked like she would burst into tears. 

“No!” She backed further away from me till she hit the wall. 

“What the fuck was that?” I asked, unable to hide my fury. She recoiled like a wild animal had just made a threatening move towards her. 

“Say that shit again,” It would be nice to have more reasons to treat her horribly. 

“Mikhail, I can't. I can't do it.” She started to sob and looked down at the floor, shaking. 

“Too bad, I don't give a fuck.” My cool was completely lost, and that was usually a rare occurrence. Of fucking course Marlowe would be the reason I lost it. 

Marlowe looked at me with sadness. I could almost read her mind. Why was this happening to her? Why was I the person doing this to her?

Maybe I could give her an answer later. 

“Please Mikhail,” her teary eyes should have softened me. Instead, they twisted something in me, and I realized that I liked them. They soothed me in a sick way. Seeing her sad, it made me feel good. 

I chuckled, amused at the fact that I was even more twisted than I thought. 

I considered insisting on her stripping here. I could make her do it. But I could not break her once. I would take my time. 

“Get out.” I muttered and headed to my bathroom to cool off.