The Russian

Everything was dark and cold when Dani opened her eyes.Pitch black darkness. It was useless thrashing her head about, for only nothingness stared back at her from every corner of this frigid space. Had she gone blind? Everything felt dull and hazy when she tried to recollect her thoughts. Think, Dani. Think. Right, she’d been partying with friends in a club in Melbourne. It had been a warm summer night, far from this dark freezer she was in right now.Unless she was in some kind of freezer. That was ridiculous of course, because that would mean she was either dead, or soon to be.Her next instinct was to wrap her arms around herself. Except she couldn’t.Her hands were bound behind her back, and her fingertips could feel the cable tie around her wrists. Only then did she become fully aware of her position, of how she was seated on some chair—heavy, wooden—and tied down to her ankles.“What the fuck…?” The words left her cracked lips and grated in her dry throat. At least she wasn’t g

Dani was given a drab grey dress and black tights for her to wear. She looked like a convent nun but it surprisingly fit her well, and it unnerved her that her abduction may have been planned well ahead of time. Elena brought her a tray of biscuits and tea, but despite not remembering when she had last eaten, Dani left it untouched. She restlessly paced in her bedroom, tempted to find Alexei, but what would she say to him?Ten million dollars in ten days. There was no way her father would be able to cough up that much money so quickly. Dani chose to be oblivious to many things where the family business was concerned, but she knew enough to know her father had to be in dire straits to start dealing with the Russians.Dani chewed on her thumb. She had to come up with a game plan. Perhaps steal a car and drive far enough to get in contact with her father? She didn’t know a single word of Russian, but it was the largest country in the world, wasn’t it? Surely there were plenty of places to

Dani’s eyelids were heavy when she awoke on a cold Tuesday morning. The room felt chillier than usual, until she noticed snow falling outside her window.She was still in her clothes from last night after crying herself to sleep. The reminder of her possible fate loomed over her like a cloud more dismal than the one outside, but there were no more tears left for her to cry. Perhaps it was the grogginess that lingered in her body, but she found herself staring at the window for a long time until the snow grew thick on her windowsill.The sound of a car pulling over drifted from the outside. There were male voices speaking Russian. A dog barked.Dani walked over to the window. A big black dog was running through the snow. Nearby, Alexei was speaking to one of his guards. He looked up and caught her eye.Her impulse was to shirk away from the window, but she held his gaze as he gave her a nod. When she left the room and headed downstairs to the foyer, the main entrance doors were wide ope

Despite reading the same line over and over, Dani couldn’t absorb what she was reading. She’d finished Anna Karenina last night and had started on Crime and Punbishment as per Alexei’s recommendation, but for the life of her she couldn’t get past this current chapter.Her mind kept drifting to yesterday’s events when she’d done that preposterous finger errand. For a captor, Alexei was being a little too nice for comfort. It was one thing to feel lucky she wasn’t being tortured in some dirty cell with one of her fingers missing, but after yesterday, things just felt... weird. It continued to confound her no matter how many times she mulled it over, and now she was too distracted to read.Dani shut the book and tossed it aside on her bed. It was only eight in the evening and much too early to call it a night. Perhaps it was the seriousness of the book that made it difficult to concentrate. Maybe there was lighter material like a romance novel, though she highly doubted the likes of Alexe

The scrambled eggs on Dani’s plate had turned to mush from being poked around for too long.Well, not that it mattered anyway. She didn’t have the appetite to begin with the moment she woke up this morning. Today was supposed to be her last day in this house, and yet she felt like throwing up.Excitement should be thrumming in her veins. Instead, something cold was forming in the pit of her stomach, and it had nothing to do with the steady snowfall that hadn’t stopped since this morning.Dani’s fork clattered to her plate as she gave up and leaned back to her chair with a sigh. A breakfast good for three people was served, but she was the only one dining as usual. Come to think of it, not once had she seen Alexei come down for breakfast before. Perhaps he wasn’t a morning person.Her fingers danced around her glass of orange juice. Alexei had done everything to make sure her stay had been comfortable, and yet the thought of her father coming here to fetch her himself was unnerving. She