Chapter 15

"Shut the light off, I want to go to sleep," Jaya demanded, doing her best to be as annoying as possible.

New strategy.

Annoy Ivan until he sends her back to the dungeon. At least she had more space down there, she got to go out to the pool patio once in awhile and she didn't have to suffer through Ivan's presence during the night. So far her strategy wasn't working even a little. Ivan seemed incapable of being annoyed. He was like a robot, turning his emotions on and off, ignoring her most of the time and then deciding when to pay attention to her.

Jaya lay on her back counting the bars of her cage. Twenty-five across the top, thirty-three along each side. She'd abandoned Wuthering Heights almost as soon as Ivan entered the room, not wanting him to catch her reading the book he recommended. He was right though, the dark gothic romance did appeal to her. The vivid scenery and character drama helped her mentally escape from her own predicament. And she so badly wanted to see if Cathy ended up with Heathcliff. She doubted it, given Ivan's earlier comment. But for some reason Jaya found herself as helplessly attracted to the dark, villainous character as Cathy was.

Rolling onto her side, Jaya thrust an arm under her head and stared absently out the open balcony doors leading outside of Ivan's bedroom. She could smell fresh sea air, like her home in Portugal only it was a slightly different scent, more humid. And she seriously doubted she was anywhere near Portugal. In her time with Ivan she'd seen very little of his home, or wherever he was keeping her, beyond the dungeon room, the pool patio and her current cage. When she'd arrived there was a bag over her head.

"Ivan?" she asked softly. "Where are we? Like where on a map are we located."

Her tone of voice must have captured his attention because he looked up from the book he was reading and, for the first time since entering his room that evening, gave her his attention. She glanced out the window into the dark night, a question clear on her face. He seemed to understand. He sat up, swinging his long legs over the edge of his bed and leaning his arms across his knees.

He studied her for a moment before answering. "We're on my private island, a few hundred kilometres northeast of Jakarta, Indonesia."

Her jaw dropped in surprise. She'd known they must be on some kind of coastline, had even batted around the idea of an island, but had not in a million years considered that she'd been brought this far from her home. She thought back to the terrifying ordeal of her kidnapping and frowned. It couldn't have been more than a few hours. She'd been moved from a van to a helicopter and then the helicopter to an aircraft of some sort. Her head had been covered through most of the trip so she hadn't known where she was going, not that she could have oriented herself had she been able to see, everything had happened in such a dramatic rush.

Ivan must've caught the drift of her thoughts because he interjected. "You were brought here on my Citation X, one of the fastest light aircraft available. It took eight hours. You were given a sedative; you probably don't remember much of the flight."

"I was not!" she protested, frowning. "I would remember being sedated."

He studied her dispassionately. "It was done under my orders."

Jaya squeezed her eyes shut and thought back to that horrific day. She'd been shoved around and grabbed so many times, it was actually quite likely someone had managed to drug her without her knowledge; poked her in the arm with a needle while hustling her from vehicle to vehicle. And that would explain how she'd managed to lose several hours of flying time. But the thought of being alone and incapacitated in the company of so many immoral, rough men was utterly horrifying. She simply couldn't go there. Instead she opened her eyes again, took several deep, calming breaths and concentrated on the sea air.

There was a reason she'd chosen Portugal for her home, beyond her need for privacy. She usually chose small out of the way places in seaside towns to settle for a few months to a few years at a time before moving on. She was trapped by her own insecurities and thus used the ocean for escape. It always felt so wild and free to her. When her small home and internet community became stifling she would wander down to the beach and breathe the air into her lungs, feel the sand between her toes and think about how small she really was in comparison to mother nature.

"Can I please go outside, Ivan?" she asked tentatively, hopefully. "Just for a few minutes."

He watched her intently, devouring the hope on her face and sucking the need for freedom from her. Gradually she watched the cold calculating Ivan that she'd spent weeks battling with take hold. She knew what his answer would be.

Still, she had to try. "Please, Ivan," she begged, curling her legs underneath her so she would look as defenceless as possible. "I'll be good, I just want to smell and feel the fresh air on my skin."

His lip curled up in a cruel semi-smile and he stared coldly down at her for a moment then shook his head. "A slave doesn't need fresh air."

She clenched her fists in the bedding and glared at him thrusting her chin out. "The moment my cage door is open, I'm out of here." They both knew she meant figuratively, as in, as soon as the opportunity arose she would attempt escape, since she was let out of her cage a few times per day. Her guards were always present though, never allowing her the opportunity to escape.

He nodded, his eyes flicking back to his book. He reached for it and settled back on the bed. "I've no doubt you will try."

Jaya lay back on her bed and fumed until he finished reading and begin his bedtime ritual. She tried really hard not to peek when he rolled off the bed and strode toward a walk-in closet. She sighed in defeat and allowed herself to linger on the deeply tanned skin of his back, stretched taut over sculpted muscles and moving in beautiful concert as he yanked his T-shirt over his head. She bit her lip as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his sweatpants and started sliding them down just before disappearing into the other room. She got to see a tiny bit of ass and then he was gone.

Jaya realized that she'd pushed herself up on an elbow to get a better look. She fell back with a groan and covered her face. "Pull yourself together. Don't drool over the criminal warlord."

"You need something?"

Jaya pulled her hand away and looked guiltily up at Ivan who was standing right next to her bed on the outside of her cage. Her eyes widened when she realized he was wearing nothing more than a pair of tight men's boxer briefs. And they left nothing to the imagination.

Without thinking she blurted out, "Why on earth do you need to resort to kidnapping women? Look at you! Holy hell, Ivan, you are built! You should be dating Scarlett Johansen or some other super hottie, not locking someone like me up in a cage." Then her brain caught up with her mouth and she felt her face begin to flame. She was thankful then for her darker skin tone.

Ivan merely raised an eyebrow, looked down at her for a moment and then turned away giving her a stunning view of his backside. He turned the light off, saving her further embarrassment at her inability to tear her eyes from all that spectacular male flesh. She'd been in the same room with him the evening before but had been so freaked out and upset by her new prison that she'd buried herself under the blanket and ignored him.

Now it felt like every move he made, every breath he took was a shock right through her system. Like she was somehow attached to him. To her captor. How had this happened? Was it Stockholm? Because she was dependent on him for her survival? She thought about it and then decided there was no way she had that particular syndrome because she still intended to leave first chance she got, and she was going to knife the asshole too if she got a chance.

Feeling better, Jaya yanked her blanket up and made herself comfortable by tucking it between her legs and under her chin. She was about to drift off to sleep, Haty snuggled warmly against her stomach when Ivan's deep voice reached out to her through the darkness of their shared bedroom.

"I think you're very beautiful, Jaya," he said, his voice sounding oddly husky. "I've wanted you from the moment I saw you in Athens and the feeling has only grown stronger. I've fought it and I've failed."

She held her breath, squeezing the blanket hard against herself and staring into the night. She sensed he had more to say, but he hesitated. It was so unlike Ivan. He always seemed to know what he wanted and where he was going. Ivan was ruthless and deliberate. But navigating his actions seemed to be a slippery slope into the unknown.

"I don't know what to say to you, Ivan," she whispered honestly.

"Don't bother," he said gruffly.

Because anything she said wouldn't change the outcome. Wouldn't change his mind. He was still going to keep her locked up in a cage, possibly forever. The unspoken words hung heavy in the room, separating them with more than metal bars. She clung to the blanket as though it were a lifeline, feeling the weight of Haty against her. She forced her mind away from the bleakness of her imprisonment toward thoughts of freedom. She knew her world was narrowing around her, mentally and physically. Ivan's patience was running out and she had nowhere to run. The only thing keeping her going, keeping her from giving in to compete despair was the knowledge that she could and would escape the moment fate gifted her the opportunity.

"Go to sleep, Jaya, there's nothing you can do," Ivan's deep voice touched her through the blackness, sending a chill through her despite the warmth of the evening.