30. Danil
30
DANIL
My entire family is dead if I don’t find some way of getting the hell out of here.
I can’t bear the thought of my brothers walking straight into Igor’s trap unprotected, but there’s no way I can get a message to them when I’m tied to a fucking chair.
I’ve put plenty of people in this situation, but I never expected to have been stupid enough to end up like one of them.
Igor has been gone a long time and from the sinking feeling in my stomach, I have a feeling he is with Emily.
I can barely stand to think of what he might be doing to her right now.
Igor is a sadistic man, and he would think nothing of torturing and abusing Emily to get me to break.
I’ve played right into his hand. I let myself get close to Emily, despite knowing the risk. I always knew something like this could happen, and yet I put my own selfish need for her above her own safety.
I deserve to fucking rot in this hell for what I’ve put her through. And if we somehow make it out of this situation alive, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to her.
There are no windows in this room except the little one on the door, so I have no idea what time it is.
If Zara and Dimitri went to bed without waiting up for Emily to get back, it’s likely they wouldn't have even realized we’re missing, and might not for a few more hours. Which means it’s up to me and me alone to get Emily out of here alive.
I’ve been spending what feels like hours pulling against the ropes that bind my hands behind my back, hoping to loosen up the knots. My hands are covered in blood from where the rope has torn my skin, but I can barely feel the pain anymore due to the insane amount of adrenaline that is currently making its way around my bloodstream.
I’m running out of time.
If I somehow can’t get my hands free, I need to come up with another way to warn my brothers of Igor’s plan. If any one of us makes even the slightest move out of line, it could cost us the lives of the entire bratva.
We need to all play our parts very carefully if we want to get out of this alive.
Sweat is dripping down my forehead and into my eyes as I fight against the restraints.
The rope has started to loosen up, but it’s not getting any easier.
I could be fighting a losing battle, but I have to at least try for Emily.
I grit my teeth. “Come on.”
The muscles in my shoulders are throbbing from being bent backwards for hours on end. But I have no choice but to keep going.
I focus on the pain. My entire body is aching from the beating I took from Igor’s henchman, and the pain in my head has turned into a dull throbbing. But if I can feel pain, it means I’m still alive, so I keep working on loosening the restraints.
Eventually, after what feels like hours, the knot loosens and when the tension breaks and the rope falls, my entire body sags. But it doesn’t last long.
My hands might be free, but I’m still locked in this godforsaken room.
I have no weapon or any way to contact my brothers.
I promised Emily I would get her out, and I have every intention of keeping that promise. I just have to rely on my bare hands and quick thinking to get Emily and me out of the situation.
Unless, of course, I’m too late…
Fuck, I need to get out of this room. Now!
“Open the door.”
Igor .
The sound of his voice has me snapping out of my thoughts.
I quickly reach down and pick the bloody rope off the floor and loosely tie it around my wrists. If I have any chance of saving Emily, Igor can’t know that I’ve managed to break free of my restraints.
I’m barely back into position when the door flies open and Igor storms inside.
I try to read his expression, but his face is so heavily lined, and his eyes are so dark that it’s hard to truly tell what he’s thinking.
Which only makes him all the more dangerous.
Igor takes a seat opposite me once more. “Your little girlfriend is fine in case you were wondering. Though of course, you were wondering. It’s not like you’ve got anything else to do in here.”
Emily is alive.
It takes everything in me not to react. I don’t want to give this asshole any more power over me, especially with Emily. She’s already been through hell because of him.
“She’s a sweet little thing. The way she tried to get me to kill her instead of you is admirable. I didn’t think she had it in her.”
No .
Why would she do that? Why would she offer up her own life in exchange for mine?
“I can see why you’re so taken with her.” The feral grin that tugs at his lips has me grinding my teeth. “Such pretty lips… I bet she’s great at sucking cock.”
Rage courses through my body as I fight the urge to lunge for Igor.
How dare he fucking talk about my baby girl like that.
My malishka. I love you …
And because of this fucker, I might never get the chance to tell her that.
Fuck that!
He must see the anger in my eyes as he only laughs.
“Maybe I’ll keep her around for a little longer just so we can have some fun together.”
“Don’t fucking touch her.”
“You’re not exactly in a place to stop me, Danil. So, I can stick my cock wherever I like, starting with your girlfriend’s puss?—”
“Enough!”
I almost lose my balance as the rope loosens, but thankfully, Igor is too preoccupied with getting a rise out of me that he doesn’t seem to notice.
“Do you want me to stop?”
I say nothing. I might be able to take Igor down with my bare hands, but his henchmen would take me out before I could do any real damage.
I need to wait for the right moment to make my move. I’ll only get one chance to get out of here, and I need to make it count.
So, if that means sitting here and listening to Igor talk about Emily, then so be it. If I play this right, the bastard will be dead within the hour, anyway.
“As much as I would love to sit here and spend the night talking through my plans for Emily, there are other things we need to take care of, Danil.”
When he pulls my cell phone out of his back pocket and flashes the screen at me, my stomach bottoms out.
There’s a sea of notifications flooding the screen.
“Now, are we clear on what you have to say, Danil? Because if you say so much as a word wrong, I will put a bullet between your eyes and make your brothers listen to the whole damn thing.”
Sweat breaks out on the back of my neck as I look at my phone and see all the missed calls from Dimitri.
The time reads almost four A.M. which means Emily and I have been here for at least five hours. While I had no intention of taking Emily back to my brother’s penthouse after our date, I did intend for her to message her sister to let her know that she would be staying the night with me. So, when she didn’t come home, it’s likely that Zara alerted Dimitri, and now all hell's breaking loose.
“Are we clear?” Igor barks.
“Yes.”
“And before you get your hopes up, I had the location tracker in your phone disabled.”
Fuck.
“They could trace the call. My brothers are smart. They’ll think of everything.”
“Oh, I’m relying on that, Danil.”
Of course, he is.
Igor holds the phone up to my face to unlock it before opening up my call log and scrolling through the list of contacts until he finds Dimitri’s name.
“It’s showtime.” He presses the call button and puts the phone on speaker.
I forget to breathe as it rings.
This is my one shot to warn Dimitri about what’s about to happen.
But how the hell am I meant to do that when one wrong word leads to a bullet between the eyes?
Think, Danil.
When the call connects, I have to fight against every instinct that is screaming at me to tell Dimitri the truth.
“Danil?” Dimitri barks.
I’ve never been so relieved to hear my brother’s voice in my entire life. “Dimitri. Liste?—”
“Where the fuck have you been?”
I catch the sound of the twins crying in the background, and my heart feels like it’s being ripped out of my chest.
I can’t let Igor take them too.
My eyes flick to Igor, who silently shakes his head in a silent warning as if he can read where my thoughts are going.
“I…I need you and the others to come to my apartment.”
“It’s four fucking A.M., Danil. Zara has been up all night worried sick about Emily, and the twins have barely slept.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“You’ll be much more than sorry when I get my hands on you, little brat .”
You have no fucking idea.
“And where’s Emily? We’re unable to track her phone, and I’ve had Alek and Reid out half the night looking for her. Everyone is worried sick, Danil.”
Fuck. I had hoped that Emily’s phone would somehow be on her, but of course, it isn’t. She put it in the pocket of my jacket, which must have been left behind when Igor’s men took us.
I need another plan.
“Danil,” Dimitri barks.
“Emily is fine, I dropped her at Jana’s. Her phone must have died or something.”
“The tracker would still work. That doesn’t make sense.”
I look at Igor, and he narrows his eyes at me.
He’s expecting me to fix this mess that he’s somehow created for me.
Fucking great.
“Knowing Emily, she probably dropped her phone in the bath or something, and it fucked up the tracker.” I glance at Igor, and he nods. “I’ll make sure to replace it tomorrow.”
“You better, Danil. After all, you're the one who insisted that you can protect her.”
If only he knew…
“Dimitri, I need you to listen to me.” I try to ignore the painful thudding of my heart in my chest. “I need you, Alexei, and Mikhail to come to my apartment. Now.”
“Danil—”
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
“What’s this about, Danil?”
My eyes flick up to meet the man my brothers and I have been chasing for the past decade.
The man who murdered our parents in cold blood.
“Igor Ivanov.”
“If this is about what happened at Alexei’s, let it go. You have nothing to prove here, Danil.”
Fuck, he’s not listening to me.
“Dimitri! I’m being fucking serious here.”
“Are you, Danil?”
My one hope of my family surviving this is slipping through my fingers.
“Do this for me, Mitya. Please.”
There’s a pause, and I glance anxiously at Igor as I wait for Dimitri to reply.
“I’ll gather the family, and be there in thirty minutes,” Dimitri answers before the phone goes dead.
I release the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding as Igor shuts off my phone.
“Mitya?” Igor narrows his eyes at me. “An interesting nickname.”
“It’s what I’ve called him ever since I was a child. It’s just stuck.”
The lie slips out easily, but the truth is I’m not even sure if it will work. If Dimitri will even remember.
Igor gets to his feet and pockets my phone. “Well, let’s hope that your brothers decide to listen to you for once. They have thirty minutes.”
The moment Igor leaves the room, the panic sets in.
In thirty minutes, my brothers could all be dead because of me.
What if Dimitri doesn’t remember?
I could never forget that night when my inability to ask for help almost got me killed.
That night, after everyone else went to bed, Dimitri came into my room. “If you ever need my help again, all you have to do is call me.”
“But what if I can’t tell you I’m in trouble? What if next time, I…”
“If you ever need me but can’t talk or ask for help for any reason, just call me Mitya. Can you do that?”
“Like a code word?”
“Exactly. That way, I’ll know that you need help, but no one else will know you asked for it.”
“And you’ll come and help me? No matter what?”
“No matter what. I Promise. I’ll always be here for you, little brat .”
The memory is burned into my soul.
I’ve done my part, kept my word. And all I can hope now is that he keeps his.
But no matter what, Emily is still in danger, and I can’t just sit tight and wait for someone who might or might not remember something that happened over ten years ago.
I just can’t trust anyone else to save the woman I love.
So, I have to move. Now.
I catch the muffled sound of Igor talking to the guard outside the door before his footsteps disappear. The second they do, I get to my feet and take each end of the bloodied rope in my hands.
Igor might think he just outsmarted the Koslovs, but little does he know that he just gave me the ultimate weapon.
He didn’t lock the door.
I sneak across the room and peer through the tiny window to look at the guard standing outside. I don’t recognize him as one of the men who beat the shit out of me before, but he seems to be of a similar height and build.
This is not going to be easy.
My body hurts, and the blow to my head is making me a little lightheaded on my feet. I just have to hope that the adrenaline gets me through this, otherwise I am well and truly fucked.
Before I can think too much about my lack of odds, I throw open the door and wrap the rope around the guard’s neck.
Strangulation is the perfect way to kill him without drawing any attention. It’ll be quick, but more importantly, it’ll be silent. I don’t want to alert any of Igor’s men that I’m free before I at least have a gun in my hands.
Instantly, his hands go to his throat as he fights against the rope.
He might be bigger than me, but his oxygen is going to run out soon, and that’ll weaken him enough to make this an even fight.
He tries his best to elbow me in the ribs as he claws at the rope, and he manages to catch me a few times, but I take the hit without so much as a grunt.
I tighten the rope even more to try and speed this up.
We look to be at the end of a long corridor with no other doors, which means that Emily isn’t here. I’m likely going to pass a few more men as I search for her, so I need to conserve my energy.
“Fucking die already, will you?” I grunt as the guard continues to try and hit me.
But eventually, his attempts become feeble, and he starts to sway on his feet.
“That’s it.”
It doesn’t take long for the guard's legs to give out, and I quickly grab him under the arms to break his fall.
His lips have turned blue, and his eyes are open and unseeing.
I eye the angry red mark around his neck from the rope, but I feel nothing.
Anyone who stands in the way of me getting to Emily deserves to die.
With one quick look to make sure I’m still alone, I quickly pat the guard down and pull out his handgun.
I check the magazine.
Full. Perfect.
I pocket the gun as well as the bloodied rope and get to my feet.
Now I just have to hope that I can get to Emily in time.