From Russia With Loathing

Part 17

Viktor

As soon a the elevator closes I rush to Anastasiya. She is still tied to the chair. I run inside as fast as I can, grab the kitchen scissors out of their drawer, and run back.

The knots around her wrists are tied as tight as possible. I try to cut at the rope. She is shaking to hard, I'm afraid to accidentally cut her.

"Anastasiya, you are going to need to stop shaking. I need to cut the ropes and I don't want to cut you." I say calmly. But she continues to shake.

I stand and walk around to face her. Her eyes are closed, and she must of run out of tears because they no longer Streak down her cheeks. I crouch down so I am face to face with her.

"Anastasiya, look at me." She doesn't open her eyes.

"Anastasiya, open your eyes and look at me. Please, Anastasiya, look at me." I beg her.

I cup her face with both hands and wipe away some of the moisture with my fingers.

"It's me. They are gone. They are all gone. It's just you and me. Open your eyes and look at me. Please, malyshka." I continue to plead.

This time it finally works. She slowly flutters her eyes open. I wipe away the tears still left on her eyelashes.

"I'm going to cut you free. But you need to stop shaking. You need to be as still as possible. I don't want to accidentally cut you. Okay?" She doesn't respond. "Anastasiya, do you understand what I'm saying?" She nods her head this time. "Okay. I'm going to cut the one covering your mouth first."

A wait a few seconds for her to calm herself enough to stop shaking. Carefully I start to cut away at the thick fabric. After a few cuts I cut through. I slowly peal the fabric away from her cheeks and out of her mouth.

The skin under the restraints is rubbed raw. It doesn't look to bad, but it will definitely leave a mark for a day or two.

I move around to cut the restraints around her wrists. They are more of a struggle to cut. It feels like forever, but eventually cut through. The skin around her wrists is worse then what I was expecting. It's completely raw, a few spots were already bleeding.

"Don't move your arms too quickly. Your shoulders are going to be stiff and hurt when you move." I tell her.

Her arms don't budge. She's probably to scared to move them. Slowly and as gently as possible I move her left arm and rest it on her lap. She lets out a small whimper. When I move her right arm she lets out a small wail.

"I'm going to cut the ties on your legs. Don't rub your wrists, it will make it worst."

She looks down at her wrists. The moisture in her eyes returns.

I make quick work of the ties around her legs. She's wearing jeans so the the ties weren't rubbing against her skin. When I stand she remains seating.

I stand there looking down at her. Dazed and helpless. I've never felt like this in my life. I hate this. I hate all of this.

I can feel the rage slowly begin the rise.

Warily I bend down and pick Anastasiya up. She doesn't protest. I carry into the apartment and up the the bathroom. After I set her on the counter, I open the bathroom closet and pull out one of the medical boxes. I rub some of the clear jelly stuff I have all over her wrists. She makes a few hissing and groaning noises.

"Sorry. I know it hurts. But this will numb it and help it heal faster. It will tingle and feel a bit like you are being poked with needles. But that's a good thing, it means it's healing." She doesn't answer me. She just stares blankly at me.

I wrap her wrists with gauze and then put tape over all of it.

She is still staring at me blankly. I take her face in my hands and look her in her eyes.

"You are safe Anastasiya. They are gone. It's all over. You need to get some sleep. You are okay, I promise. I need to go back downstairs and make a few phone calls. If you need me I'll be downstairs. I'm not going anywhere tonight." I reassure her. "You're okay. Everything with be okay. Do you need anything before I go downstairs?"

"Is what he said true?" Her voice is soft and horse.

"Yeah." I tell her. "It didn't happen exactly as he said. But yeah, what he said was true."

"Everything he did to me he did because of my father?" She looks down at her bandaged wrists.

I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. " Oleksandr is an unstable person. He has been for a long time. Greed mixed with being power hungry when you are powerless, it does horrible things to people."

She doesn't say anymore. I take it as a sign that this conversation isn't going to continue.

~*~

Two and a half hours later and the apartment and terrace have been cleared and cleaned. The body has been disposed of, and a meeting has been called for tomorrow.

I smashed the chair Anastasiya was tide to into tiny pieces. So I also had to order a new dining room set.

It's past midnight and Sasha and Gregor haven't left.

"Fuck, Sasha, are you trying to modulate me?" I growl.

"Shut the fuck up. I asked if you wanted me to numb it first and you told me no. It's not my fault you have thick ass skin." Sasha talks back.

One of Oleksandr's men got me in the back when I was on the ground. It hasn't stopped bleeding. Normally I would stitch myself up, but I couldn't reach this one. Sasha is shit at stitching, but he is a hell of a lot better then Gregor.

"If you were doing it correctly it wouldn't hurt so much." Sasha pulls the thread tight at my comment. "Ahh, fuck man." I roar.

"I told you to shut the fuck up. I can't concentrate with all your whining. One more word and I'll rip them all out and make Gregor do it."

I don't say anymore till he is done.

"So what's the plan boss?" Gregor asks me.

"I'm going to kill him." I tell them flatly. "Other then that I have no fucking idea."