A bright ray of sun fell through a window and lit Anna's face, slowly waking her up. It seemed to take her ages to just become aware of it... What a headache! It felt every bit like a serious hangover. Athletes don't make a habit of drinking much or staying up late, and *when* it happens the effects are usually substantial...

She turned her head a little to get the bright sun out of her eyes, and slowly tried to open them. The big blur in front only cleared up very very slowly, and with a lot of blinking.

A long winded moan escaped from the Russian's lips while she stretched her arms. Not only her head, but her whole body seemed to hurt. When she managed to sit up, yawned, and rubbed with her left hand over the painful spot on her butt, the feeling of bare skin caught her attention. That's when she finally realized that she was not wearing her night gown, but still a running jacket and pants. And the pants and panties were dragged down!

"What the f...??"

More wasn't needed to speed up her heartbeat and let her green eyes open wide. A sudden feeling of panic took possession of her. This was NOT the kind of state in which a girl likes to wake up! Not that Anna didn't fancy showing some skin from time to time, or that she was prudish (hell, NO!). But combined with the painful muscles, the headache and the fact that she couldn't for the life of it remember what had happened the night before, it rang her female alarm bell.

"Think, Anna.. THINK!! What happened last night?"

Every symptom was pointing clearly to a 'date-rape'. But surely, this couldn't happen (or rather: happen AGAIN...) to a girl like her who had everything under control?

"Who was I with? Was Enrique there? If only that black hole inside my poor hurting head would open up a bit..."

She quickly raised and pulled up the pants. With her heart beating in her throat, she checked herself out... Thankfully, the 'most important' part of her body did not seem to hurt particularly. The fog around her mind was still not cleared up though. Like when you wake up during a nightmare. An uncontrollable crisscross of thoughts whirled through her head, until she got to step one in the international guide for amnesia patients:

"Where are you, anyway?"Only now, Anna noticed that she wasn't in her own room. Her bed was standing in a small corner surrounded by four bare walls. It had much the feeling of a cellar. There was one small window, the one where the sunray fell through, and it was too high to reach. It seemed like she had spent the whole night on top of the covers. Like someone laid her down while she was asleep (or unconscious?) and just left her. The whole situation left Anna completely disoriented. In fact, she kept questioning whether she was already awake now, or still dreaming a bad dream!

Walking a bit shaky still, she left the secluded corner and entered what turned out to be the actual room, of which the corner with the bed was just a part.

If possible at all, what she saw made the mystery even bigger and weirder! Things looked strangely familiar here. On the one hand because the whole flat breathed a distinctly Arabian atmosphere. Anna noticed the arabesques, Arabian ornaments, white walls everywhere with the typical beige tint, furniture in traditional Middle Eastern style... It was familiar in the sense that it slowly reactivated her short term memories of the Dubai visit. But mostly the familiarity was caused by some of the other items put on display here. A familiarity which, paradoxically, alienated her and even freaked her out!

What made Anna's head spin, was that the room also seemed to attempt a cheap imitation of her own one, back at home. Starting with an exact match of the type and number of pieces of furniture. The pastel colourscheme was clearly chosen to match her taste. There was a PC, just like at home, and the desk that stood against one of the walls even had family pictures on top! The walls themselves featured a few posters and smaller pictures. They included some of her own posters, and pictures of dolphins. There was a top-of-the-line stereo... with a couple of Enrique-CD's positioned to catch her attention.

"What...???"

The Russian couldn't make head or tail of it. It was kinda spooky, even ... She had never had lucid dreams like this before, she thought! But all the objects felt pretty real when she reluctantly touched them.

Behind the desk, a big mirror decorated the wall. It gave Anna the opportunity to check herself out. (which, apart from the messed-up hair, turned out to be "ok", considering the hangover) Then there was another secluded area next to the small bedroom, and a fitness bench, which not only looked totally out of place, but also brand new.

Overall, the room was actually quite vivacious, with bright sunlight falling through the rather big windows. It would have helped to give Anna a comfortable feeling... if they wouldn't have had grim bars in front of them.

"The windows!"

Anna rushed towards the daylight, and with her hands clamped around the steel bars, she looked outside.

As far as the young woman's eyes reached, an endless landscape of sand dunes stretched itself out. Fading into a blur of fata morga like twirls near the horizon. Absolutely nothing else was to be seen! There were no birds singing, no wind was blowing through tree leaves. Just sand. And more sand. A yellow-orange frozen ocean. The tranquillity and unworldly perfection of it all, made it look like a surrealist painting. A dream, after all?

"What the water is to Alcatraz, the sand is to Al-Qae-Traz."

The sound of the sharp voice behind her startled Anna, and she quickly turned around.

"I see our young lady is already up and running!"

Through the only door in the room, a man had entered. He reminded Anna of some kind of pasha; a slim, tall figure wrapped in a heavy-looking long gown. On his head he was wearing a huge turban. He had black hair, tanned skin and a goat-beard. And didn't look particularly friendly, Anna thought... Nevertheless the mystery man made a deep bow for her.

Although more memories were coming back all the time, Anna's mind was still in the process of putting two-and-two together. Thus, she quickly decided to go for the 'confident' pose. The one she had used to intimidate opponents on the court (with mixed results...). She put up her best arrogant expression, raised her chin and fearlessly faced the stranger.

"So, is anybody going to tell me what the hell is goi..."

Anna's voice broke off in mid-sentence when two big black men appeared from behind the 'pasha'.

Their appearance had a remarkable effect on her. The confidence in her posture melted like snow in the sun, and she backed off like an surrounded. Step by step she withdrew, until her back and hands were resting flat against the nearest wall. Her heaving chest indicated her wildly bouncing heart and rapid breathing.

The three men didn't say anything, but watched her with interest.

With her head slightly tilted down, Anna's frowned forehead accentuated the predatorish look of her eyebrows. It may have looked like she was going to attack them with a tiger-jump, but her eyes couldn't hide the fear deep beneath them. They were shooting around panicky, looking for an escape route.

The young Russian was trying to take on the human equivalent of the hedgehog pose, as all-too-vivid memories about a rather unhappy experience flooded her mind. The view of these two 'hairless gorillas' transported her back to her short, but memorable, stay at Shaq Palace. [Note from the author: read 'A Perfect Match' for better understanding]. A reminder that caused mixed feelings, to say the least! Undoubtedly it had been an important night in her sexual development. But certainly also an experience that had deeply confused Anna. Because although she knew full well what she was *expected* to think of it (being traumatized? Feeling guilty?), she had not found it entirely unpleasant. One thing was for sure though; she would not repeat anything similar voluntarily! So what worried her most about her current situation, was that the two black giants right in front of her gave the distinct impression that they cared just as little about Anna's personal opinion as Shaq and his friends had. Surely the precursor of some rough times for the Russian cockteaser.

The man with the turban grinned at the young woman's unease. Their first appearance never failed to intimidate the inmates!

"Please calm down Miss Kournikova, calm down," he finally broke the silence. "I can assure you there is absolutely no reason to fear for your safety."

Anna looked the man in the eyes, but was clearly not convinced to believe him right away.

"May I introduce myself to the lovely young lady? My name is Rashid."

Rashid indicated with his hands that the two guards should stay where they were, while he himself moved a bit closer to Anna. She sure would have liked to back off a bit further, but was blocked by the wall behind her.

"First and foremost, let me welcome you to our little exclusive community. I'm sure that, just like all the other guests, you have many questions at this moment. They will undoubtedly all be answered, over time. And time, sweetheart, we have in abundance. A new life, full of servitude and self-deployment has started for you today. A new and very satisfying chapter, after the emptiness of your superficial tennis life. Over the next couple of days, you will become familiar with the house rules, willingly or unwillingly. May I suggest you leave your stubbornness to a minimum; it will greatly assist in making this a pleasurable experience for all involved."

Rashid paused, taking a few seconds to enjoy the total confusion that came over the new ”guest.”

"Good, good... I'm hopeful that our cooperation will go smoothly and without major problems."

With that, he beckoned one of the servants, who came forward and draped a small bundle of clothes over the chair by the desk.

"We will leave you now for a short while, as experience has shown us that most young ladies need some private time to settle down. Let it all sink in quietly, and you may also want to exchange your current rather unflattering uniform for something more comfortable in the meantime."

He tapped the chair, before continuing with his closing statement:

"Once again, welcome to Prince Uday's Harem."

Anna remained completely silent. Her jaw had dropped, her face was a mixture of perplexity and disbelief. Then, all of a sudden, a smile appeared on her pretty little face. First reluctant, then blossoming into a loud burst of laughter.

"Hahahahaha... HAHAHAhaha..."

The trio of men had clearly not anticipated this kind of reaction and didn't know what air to adopt.

"Hahaha.. Ok, so where are those cameras? You guys almost fooled me! 'Prince Uday', hilarious! Hahahaaa... And which of you is Ashton? You're such a cool guy and I always wanted to tell you that you could have so much better than that old tart."

Now Rashid was clearly daunted. They were trained to handle disoriented, scared young girls. Not joking, self-confident blonde women like this one. There were even visible signs of concern, but he quickly recovered and fell back into his role of 'Maître d'Harem'.

"I can assure you that the sole purpose of the cameras is to ensure your safety. They aren't but a necessary evil. You will get used to them after the initial feelings of shame and inhibition."

"Hahahaaaaaa... Stop it!! I need to breathe HAHAHA."

Still, neither of the men gave any sign of giving up an acted pose. Their confusion was all too apparent on their faces.

Anna's laugh and smile slowly died away now. Also because she started to realize that the abduction part of the suspected 'setup' (another part of her memory that had returned) would be way off-limits for a TV program.

"Wait a minute... You... you guys can't be serious? What is this anyway? Where am I?"

Rashid got back his grin and motioned the two black men to leave.

"Very well; I can see your acclimatisation process has started. Please remember to put on the obligatory two-piece. We will be back shortly with a roadmap towards your first companionship with His Highness on Sunday."

With that, he turned his back to the flabbergasted Russian beauty and left the flat without saying another word. The door closed, and Anna noticed it had no handle on the inside.

Anna flopped down in the chair, her stare focussed at infinity. Rashid was right: the process of becoming aware of the whole situation had only just started. She had been too confused, and too many impressions had come to her in too short a time, to properly register and compile it all at once. The more she thought about it now, the more improbable it became that all this was just a prank. There was no way that anyone would have bad taste like this. It would cause a major scandal! What was the alternative? In any case it was way scarier than a setup for one of those candid camera TV shows! In what kind of nuthouse had she ended up? 'Prince Uday's Harem.' That sounded like some fucking third class backstreet bordello! Something told her that it could actually be worse still... To abduct a worldwide celebrity like this, you needed resources. And to stick her in an 18-carat golden cage, you had to have even MORE. Power and influence. And the mastermind behind it all was absolutely unscrupulous, as already illustrated by that brutal and fraught with danger abduction. As more and more details of that humiliating scene were coming back to her, Anna shivered involuntarily... And her butt cheek hurt again, even more so when she recalled the groping hands on her ass.

"Oh well," she finally thought,"let's not panic too soon. At least they haven't started raping me, even though they had plenty opportunity, or chain me up on the wall and torture me. Let's just wait and see." She wouldn't present herself to them on a plate, that's for sure!

There was a positivism in Anna's thinking, brought to her since her early teens by years of psychological training for her matches and tournaments. It had helped her through some tough moments, and it would again! As she was drilled to do, she kept feeding herself positive thoughts. And she was trying to convince herself that this was one of those politically inspired abductions to put pressure on her country, or to get a ransom. When they were as well-organized as this one seemed to be, people were usually treated well. And they were released after diplomatic intervention or when money was deposited. She was pretty sure that neither would be a problem. The Kournikova family didn't exactly have financial problems, and they had a foot in the Kremlin as well.

"Besides, would they give me fresh clothes if they had bad intentions? More than likely, the team that kidnapped me consisted of a bunch of undisciplined morons, who didn't follow their code of conduct. Their boss is not going to be pleased when I tell him what happened!"

Still deep in thoughts, Anna had taken the little bundle of textile, left behind by Rashid, from the armrest of her chair in order to check it out.

"Oooooh... They can't be serious!"

The Russian's eyes grew wide when she held the bottom of the 'bikini' in front with both hands. She was known for putting on a show from time to time by appearing on-court in scanty textile, but THIS was of another order still!

"If those perverts think I'm going to wear THIS!"

Apart from the white waistband, just about everything on this minuscule piece of clothing was filmy. Design-wise, it looked like a Tarzan skirt: cut out over the hips, and just a piece of cloth in the front and another one hanging at the back. Suitable to perfectly accentuate a girl's behind. It was made of the finest woven silk, and although it would undoubtedly keep out the mosquitoes, hungry eyes had practically free access. An early morning haze looked impermeable in comparison.

Anna didn't catalogue this under 'clothing'. The only comparable piece that she had in her personal wardrobe was ordered from a mail-order company for open-minded adults. And it would never go public for sure, not even via sneaky paparazzi shots.

The Russian kept turning it around, and all the while her face looked increasingly worried.

The 'top' of the outfit perfectly complemented this slightly upgraded loincloth. Anna's peeking-through nipples would be the only features to break the uniform, finely rastered look.

She was speechless.

If there had been any doubts left in her mind, they were now soundly eliminated: you didn't have to be a genius to work out that first and foremost, the mysterious Uday who seemed to own this place, was interested in *her*. More specifically in her female charms. Any ransom or political pressure was probably considered no more than a bonus. If he even bothered to exploit her abduction that way at all, that is. There were other things to 'exploit.' It all left Anna with mixed feelings. On the one hand she didn't really feel any longer as if her life was in danger. After all, it made absolutely no sense to destroy your favourite toy. The whole situation didn't smell like another decapitation video. That caused an unmistakable feeling of relief. But once this worst-case scenario was out of her mind, some other possible alternatives started to materialize, and those were no picnic themselves! Was this going to be her personal Guant-ANNA-mo? Although technically speaking no longer possible, it could still become a 'defloration'-video instead, Anna pondered.

The prospect of figuring as some Middle-Eastern Sheik's personal sex toy didn't exactly appeal to the Russian. Her immediate future suddenly looked pretty daunting indeed...

To such a degree in fact that, for the very first time in her young life, she found herself questioning the career choices she had made together with her mother and agency. Overall, it had looked like a wise move, thus far. Fully exploiting her Lolita-like qualities had been great fun, and had come about almost completely naturally for Anna. She had probably sacrificed about ten places on the world ranking in return for added exposure and easy money. But it was a sacrifice she had gladly made, as the devotion by millions of drooling fans had flattered her vanity and spiced her bank accounts. Both of which she had plenty.

But, as she now experienced, there's no such thing as a free lunch. When you're in the teasing business, wrapping the public around your finger with the help of unfulfilled promises, there's always the danger of overplaying your cards. Overconfidence leads to arrogance. Arrogance leads to an unwarranted feeling of being in control and setting the rules of the game.

As her current situation seemed to prove, Anna had unconsciously manoeuvred herself into a bigger game that was completely outside her control. The kind of game she would never have thought likely or even possible. The proverbial switch that she used, to turn into a teasing sex-kitten whenever required or feeling like it, was now operated by someone else. And there was no question in her mind whatsoever, that she would be pushed beyond the empty promises this time... Her female intuition couldn't be wrong on that one! Considering the scale of this whole operation, that Uday bloke was after the Real Deal. Occasionally exposing a butt cheek or showing some cleavage while tying her shoelaces wouldn't be enough! Sure, she had an extensive repertoire beyond that; possibly even more extensive than her kidnappers expected. The Russian was as open-minded as they come. But that was PRIVATE, reserved for her own bedroom or occasion and company of choice.

=> CHAPTER 3

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