Obsession Mine

Chapter 3

3

Sara

I don’t speak to Peter for the rest of the flight. Instead, I pass out, my brain turning off as though to escape reality. I’m grateful for that. The headache is relentless, the drummers beating inside my skull every time I try to open my eyes, and it’s only when we start our descent that I wake up enough to drag myself to the restroom.

When I return, I find Peter in the seat next to mine, working on a laptop. I think he might’ve been there throughout the flight, but I’m not sure. I do remember falling asleep while he held my hand, his strong fingers massaging my palm, and I recall him tucking the blanket around me at some point when the cabin got extra chilly.

“How are you feeling?” he asks, looking up from the laptop as I step around him and sit down in my plush leather seat. Now that the initial shock of the abduction has passed, I realize the jet is quite luxurious, though not very big. Toward the back of the plane, there are two more rows of seats besides ours, each seat big and fully reclining, and in the middle is a beige leather couch with two end tables attached to it.

“Sara,” Peter prompts when I don’t answer, and I shrug in response, not inclined to soothe his conscience by admitting that I feel better after my long nap. The effects of the drug must’ve fully worn off, because the nausea and the headache that tormented me are gone.

I am hungry and thirsty, though, so I reach for the bottle of water and the bowl of peanuts sitting on the small table between our seats.

“We’ll have a real meal soon,” Peter says, pushing the bowl toward me. “We weren’t expecting to leave the country so suddenly, and this is all we had on board.”

“Uh-huh.” Not meeting his eyes, I gulp down half of the water bottle, eat a handful of nuts, and wash them down with the rest of the water. I’m not surprised to hear about the lack of food on the plane; the wonder is that he had a plane on standby, period. I know he and his team get paid ridiculous sums of money to assassinate crime lords and such, but the cost of this mid-sized jet must be well into eight figures.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I glance at my captor. “Is this yours?” I wave a hand to indicate our surroundings. “Did you buy it?”

“No.” He closes the laptop and smiles. “I got it as p*****t from one of our clients.”

“I see.” I look away, focusing on the dark sky outside the window instead of that magnetic smile. Now that I’m feeling better, I’m even more bitterly aware of what Peter has done—and how hopeless my situation is.

If I was at my tormentor’s mercy at home, where I was afraid of what might happen if I went to the authorities, I’m now doubly so. Peter Sokolov can do anything to me, keep me captive until I die if he’s so inclined. His men won’t help me, and I’m about to enter a country where I don’t speak the language and don’t know anything or anyone.

I love sushi, but that’s as far as my familiarity with Japan extends.

“Sara?” Peter’s deep voice cuts into my thoughts, and I instinctively turn to look at him.

“Buckle up.” He nods toward the seatbelt lying unfastened at my side. “We’ll be landing shortly.”

I pull the seatbelt over my lap before turning my attention back to the window. I can’t see much in the darkness—we must’ve flown long enough for it to be night in Japan despite the time difference—but I keep my eyes on the sky outside, both in the hopes of seeing something and out of the desire to avoid conversing with Peter.

I’m not going to act like we really are lovers going on a trip, to pretend that I’m okay with this in any shape or form. The leverage he had over me—his threat to steal me away if I didn’t play along with his domestic bliss fantasy—is gone, and I have no intention of being his compliant victim again. I was beginning to give in, to fall under his twisted spell, but that’s all over now. Peter Sokolov tortured me and killed my husband, and now he’s kidnapped me. There’s nothing between us except a f****d-up past and an even more f****d-up future.

He might have me, but he won’t enjoy it.

I’ll make sure of that.