My Russian Nightmare Read Online Free PDF Page A

can’t explain, I’m filled with a sense of guilt. Maybe it’s because he’s shown kindness, the tiniest bit of compassion, and I’m searching for a weapon to use against him. There’s just something about the way he’s looking at me that has me thrown off kilter.
    “Eat,” he says as he approaches the bed with a buttered bagel.
    “Why?”
    “So you can regain some of your strength.”
    “Isn’t it better for you if I’m weak and unable to fight or struggle against you?”
    He arches an eyebrow as a sarcastic grin forms on his full lips. “Depends on what you have in mind.”
    Heat surges through my body from my head to my toes. My face is especially hot which, with my pale skin, means it’s a bright shade of red. I’m embarrassed, mortified at the implications of his words.
    “I’m sorry,” he says, placing the dish on the night table and sitting on the edge of the bed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
    “You said that already.” I’m shocked that I’m comfortable enough to snap back at him. “And yet you held me trapped in your arms, and now I wake up tied to this bed, and you still look me in the eye and claim you don’t want to hurt me.”
    “I don’t.” His eyes drop to the floor, his words dripping with emotion. “So don’t put me in a position where I have to.”
    “You’re not in charge, are you? You have no say about anything. You just take your orders like a good soldier.”
    Anger flashes in his dark eyes. His jaw tenses and his hands ball up into fists as he stands. “You have a lot to say for someone with very few options,” he growls. His voice is cold, emotionless.
    “I’m sorry,” I say as I swallow down the fear racing through me.
    “Eat!” He lifts the bagel off the dish and hands it to me.
    I take the food in my hand and look it over. I turn it around in my hands and look between it and the man watching me with hawk-like intensity.
    “If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it already.”
    I nod. He has a point. But poison isn’t the only thing I’m worried about. They stuffed pills down my throat. I don’t remember much of anything after it.
    “No. I didn’t rape you.”
    He’s reading my thoughts again. I wonder how he does that. How can he possibly anticipate what I’m thinking? Unless he’s so experienced in kidnapping that he can predict what’s wrong based on what his other victims have told him.
    “Kiera.” This dark-haired man that I want to be an angel but fear is the devil bends down and strokes my cheek with his thumb. I feel a strange sensation where he touches me and assume it’s nothing more than the friction of his calloused finger against my smooth skin. Either way, it unnerves me because it almost feels nice, and I’m looking forward to that kind of gentle contact again.
    I see something soft and kind in his eyes as he examines my face. He confuses me so much. He’s mean one minute and kind the next. Cold and unfeeling in one breath, yet warm and compassionate at the same time.
    Tears burn and prick my eyes. I turn away. I hate him. I hate this man that wouldn’t let me escape. This man that helped drag me away from the only person left in my life. The one person that means everything to me. I hate him for hurting my brother and holding me hostage, bullying me with threats of violence. I hate him for showing kindness. I’d rather he stay the monster I already know he is in my mind.
    “I know you have questions. We don’t have much time before we have company. Eat.”
    Company. I know who’s coming, and my stomach churns with thoughts of the other men. My other abductors. I know that as much as I dislike this man, I’d much rather be his prisoner than theirs.
    I bite into the bagel and take my time chewing. As I swallow my first bite, my stomach growls and reminds me how hungry I am. I don’t know the last time I ate. I take another bite and barely chew it all before taking the next. The last meal I remember is breakfast before