Page 97 of Sapphire
Gracie grabs hold of my arm. I can see the panic on her face.
“Sapphire!” It’s Dmitri.
“No, you can’t take her. I won’t let you.” Gracie tries to protect me from Dmitri.
He backhands her, and she falls to the floor.
“No.” I grab his arm as he looms over her, ready to hit her again. “Leave her.” My sister’s lips are bleeding, and tears are falling down her cheeks as I’m led away.
The other girls huddle around Gracie, trying to comfort her.
My head feels heavy as I walk along the gravel of the driveway toward a beautiful Moroccan home the color of the earth, but we veer off to the side, and I see a set of stairs that lead underground. My breath hitches and my heart starts thumping as my legs refuse to continue walking.
Dmitri grabs my arm, and I have no choice but to follow.Now is the time to be strong. They will never break you, even in death they will not break you. We walk down the stairs that lead to a basement. It is cool compared to the desert heat outside. It is a large, dark room, and my eyes are still adjusting from the glare outside. I can’t see exactly what is waiting for me. When the room comes into focus, I notice rings hanging from the roof, with chains dangling from the hoops.
No. No. No.
My heels try to dig into the cement floor but it’s no use, Dmitri pulls me further into the dungeon. There is no light except for a tiny window. Dmitri pushes me against the cold stone wall, pulls my arms out, and clips the iron cuffs around one and then the other. I try to move my hands around, hoping they are small enough that I could slip out of them, but they’re not. I close my eyes and try to think good thoughts to help me through whatever is going to happen to me.
“I hope you’re praying because you are going to need it,” Dmitri snarls.
He walks away from me, pushes a button, and I start lifting off the floor. My shoes fall with a thud as I move higher and higher. What the hell is happening? I stop slightly off the floor, my arms hurting from holding all my weight. I feel like my shoulders are going to pop out at any moment.
Dmitri grabs my ankles and secures them to iron shackles. My legs are spread wide, and I feel exposed.
He walks away and sits on a chair in the shadows that I never noticed.
The door opens and in walks Nikolai. He stalks toward me, that’s when I notice the knife glistening in the tiny ray of light filtering through the window.
Okay, this is it.
I close my eyes and try to envisage Mateo and Tomas. They are what I want to see before I die, not Nikolai.
My body tenses, waiting for the first sharp cut of the knife.
“Open your fucking eyes,” Nikolai screams at me.
I shake my head. Then I feel his fingers wrapping around my throat.
“Open your fucking eyes, Sapphire,” he demands as he squeezes my throat tightly.
No, I would rather be choked to death than stabbed, so I shake my head.
He squeezes tighter, and I’m struggling to breathe, everything is constricting. Then he stops and lets go of me. The knife trails down my cleavage, the cold metal leaving a shiver in its wake. Then I hear material ripping as the knife sinks into my dress.
My eyes shoot open, and I watch as Nikolai cuts the dress away from me. I’m left exposed in my bra and G-string.
His eyes roam over my goose-pimpled body, then he turns around and stalks back to a table. He flips open a computer and turns it around so the bright light fills the room. My eyes squint, trying to work out what’s on the computer. I watch as he pulls out his phone, presses a number, and puts it on loudspeaker.
“Do you have it? Do we have a deal?” I hear the woman ask through the speaker.
“Yes. I’m now prepared to release it all.” I watch as Nikolai types what looks to be an email, attaches something to it, and presses a button.
“You should have it now,” he tells the person on the phone.
There is silence for a while, then they gasp. “Oh my god, this is … Fuck …” is all the woman on the phone says. “This is Mateo and his best friend. Shit, the rumors are true.”
“No!” I scream. “No!” I thrash around in the chains.