My temple tingled at the sensation of cold lips, carrying a faint aroma of patchouli, rosewood, and smoke. "Rest, Schmetterling. We're almost there," spoke a deep and haunting voice that seemed dangerously familiar. Despite my attempts, my heavy eyelids and body refused to respond. I struggled to speak, yet my mouth remained paralyzed.Gentle and strong hands guided me to rest upon a smooth and warm surface. My head was positioned on something elevated, feeling the presence of firm muscles beneath me - someone's lap. My heart rate quickened, and amidst my slow and confused thoughts, I realized this was not a normal situation. A vague memory reminded me of additional details—darkness, a needle, and return of my nightmare.My body immediately sensed the threat, and my mind not functioning properly. My heart rate intensified as adrenaline surfaced in my veins. With great difficulty, I blinked and opened my heavy lids. Even though my vision was blurry, I couldn’t miss the dark features hov

I froze, my blood turning cold, body trembling at his proximity. I resisted the only way I knew. Instead of standing there and letting him look at my naked body, I tried and failed to push him away. Alexei was stronger and taller than me and taking a woman like me down was nothing to him. His muscular arms seized my bare waist in a death grip as he pushed me back against the wall opposite the door. Alexei growled maniacally. “You had two years, Rara, now I can’t fucking wait.”“I-I don’t want this!” I gasped for air, adrenaline rushing in my veins. His lips twitched in dark amusement. My skin felt more icy and glacial and my pulse jacked up even more. “No? Guess what, возлюбленный,” he tilted his head quizzically. “It doesn’t matter.”(Beloved.)“You destroyed my life! You killed my family! You killed Stefan!”“You didn’t want that bastard,” he said as killing a young harmless innocent man was nothing to him. That killing his cousin was nothing to him. “He could never give you what

PRESENT TIMEShe woke up with a pounding headache. As soon as she opened her eyes, the events of the last evening rushed back into her mind, accompanied by a scalding feeling of both humiliation and anger. He molested her, and she shamelessly let herself get played. She vaguely had any idea what Alexei did after she passed out in the shower, cause she exerted herself too much, but she couldn’t feel any pain between her legs. Did that mean he didn’t… rape her? She swallowed thickly. She better get out of here before he-or-any one of them decided to reverse this situation. She still couldn’t feel any clothes on her. Without wasting any other second, she gathered the sheets she was wrapped in, around me before tying them around her torso. Raising to her feet, she walked towards the door with mild steps. Her hands trembled as she placed them over the knob and twisted it. Please god! Let it be-Click. Her eyes widened. D-Did they forgot to lock it? Or, it was intentional. Whatever the rea

TWO YEARS AND THREE MONTHS BACK“Benny proposed last night saying I was the only woman he could ever imagine as his wife. Can you tuck inagine? The fucker dared to say it to my face while fucking that Bitch-are you even listening? Hey! Rara!” I jolted forward when someone shook me by the shoulders. “Huh?” Aurora gave me a delusional look as I looked around. The startling bar lights twinkled in my eyes. She shouted over the loud music as I gulped down my fourth drink. “Benny is a jerk.” I didn’t remember what we were talking about, it mentioned Benny, and he was a big jerk. “Yeah, men are a bunch of a-holes,” Andy, Aurora’s cousin and my close friend said with a grin, her blonde curls dancing as she sways her curvy hips in tune with the music. “Besides, it’s not like we have any freedom when it comes to men.”Aurora giggled, her circular earrings jiggling. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. I’m getting engaged this summer, to a man fifteen years older than me.”“He is old,” Andy said before I c

“She still thinks she can run.” The fear inside her tightened into a sharp needle, chills ran down her spine at occasional brushes of Alexei’s hands over her neck. “I should break her legs.” He laughed, the dark rumble of his voice raising the bubbling tension. Rara clenched her thighs tightly as her widened eyes stared at Ralph. He was as deadly as two years ago. Same hypnotic green eyes she fell for, the straight pointed nose that’d put models to shame, the prominent cheekbones with a long scar running down his left cheek to dread behind his ear. It added masculinity to his hardened features. Rara remembered falling for him a first glance. The same tingling butterflies that she buried two years ago, resurfaced. But this time there was the startling tsunami of overflowing terror that had her body stiff. The white t-shirt he wore was soaked in red, and the khaki pants hung low on his narrow hips. He was as muscular as Killian and Alexei, but his body was sculptured gorgeously. The s