31. Chapter Thirty-One #2
“Like I said, I’ve been watching the Volkovs. Closely. I see how the second oldest looks at you. How he treats you. He loves you.”
I didn’t bother denying it. If what he said was true and he’d been watching the Volkovs, he would have seen everything. Nikolai wasn’t exactly discrete about his feelings for me.
“If he wants you back alive, he will get the Bratva to back off. My confrontation isn’t with them.
It’s with Arturo and the Cosa Nostra. I don’t want any more problems with them.
What my brother did—his transgressions—died with him.
I want a clean slate. I’ll even agree not to harm the daughter, Arturo’s wife. You know, as a show of good faith.”
I tried to hold back my laugh. I really, really did. A man like Franco wouldn’t like someone laughing in his face. But I honestly couldn’t help it. “You signed your death warrant the minute you took me. Nikolai will kill you. He’ll find me, come here and kill you all.”
“Will he now?” His smirk put me on edge. “I’m curious, how do you think he’ll find you without that little tracker in the back of your neck?”
I stiffened. That was the pain I’d felt earlier. He’d cut the tracker out of me. How the fuck did he even know about it? There was no way Nikolai was going to find me without that tracker. Oh, I was super fucked.
“Yes, I know all about that,” he continued. “I think it’s pretty much common knowledge now that you Bratva folk have a thing or two for trackers. I mean, where do you think I got the idea to track Arturo’s cars from?”
“He’ll never make a deal with you. Nikolai will kill you for laying a hand on me.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on hurting you.”
Whether he hurt me or not was irrelevant. Nikolai would slaughter him on principle alone. For taking me. That, I was sure of.
He placed the knife back on the tray and straightened the lapels of his jacket.
“I’ll wait a few days, let the worry build to the point that he’d do anything to get you back.
Then, I’ll let him negotiate for your release.
Until then, I hope you’re comfortable. For the foreseeable future, this is your new home. ”
The groan of the metal door slowly swinging open woke me from a very uncomfortable sleep.
After Franco left, I had expended all of my energy trying to get free.
It was completely useless. I was never getting out of there.
He’d done a very good job in ensuring my capture.
My head hung forward, a painful ache shooting up the side of my neck when I tried to lift it.
Time was distorted in that room, and I had no idea how much of it had passed.
All I knew was that my entire body hurt from being suspended like that.
The restraints dug into my skin so painfully, I could feel the bruises.
Any time I so much as twitched, pain shot through me, enough so to make me suck air in between my teeth.
My eyes drifted up to the men who’d walked into the room. I blinked, trying to clear the haziness of my vision and see through the darkness.
“I don’t know about this, Dario,” a male voice whispered. “You heard what Franco said. She’s not to be harmed.”
“Relax, Fabroni. We’re not going to hurt her. We’re just going to have a little fun with her. What Franco doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.” Footsteps echoed around me, getting closer and closer. A face stepped into the light and my whole body ran cold.
It was the man I’d seen with Franco—the one who had been staring at me like he was mentally undressing me with his eyes.
Dread filled me. There was no good reason why he was in there—especially without Franco.
I tried to keep a hold on the panic that coursed through my veins but it was almost impossible when that thick, metal door slammed shut, locking me in the room with them.
Two men appeared behind him, one on his left and one on his right.
The one on the left looked like he didn’t want to be there.
His eyes kept darting to the door and back, unease literally wafting off him.
He was young, with short, red hair, pale skin and deep brown eyes.
The other man was older, and seemed perfectly fine with what was about to happen. And I knew what that was.
“You don’t want to do this.” My voice was strong despite the fear running through me.
The thing that scared me the most was that there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to fight back.
If I wasn’t restrained, at least I could make it hard for them.
Fight them. Hurt them. But all I could was lie there, completely helpless.
“Oh, I think we do.” Dario licked his lips. “It doesn’t have to hurt, you know. If you don’t fight, you could even enjoy yourself.” He ran his finger down the side of my face. His touch repulsed me. “Such soft, pretty skin.”
I turned my head and latched my teeth down on his finger, biting hard. Blood filled my mouth and he screamed out a curse. He tried to pull it away but I just bit down harder, trying to fucking bite it off.
The older man came rushing over and placed a blade right at my throat. “Let him go,” he hissed.
I bit down harder. Is that bone I feel against my teeth?
I’d rather they fucking killed me than do what they were about to do. Dario screamed out again, took the knife from the other man and hit me with the bottom of the hilt right in the face.
I cried out, and his finger slipped from my mouth.
“You fucking bitch!” He struck me again, his fist connecting with the side of my jaw. Pain rocked me and I groaned, my body sagging.
Dario started pulling down my pants.
“I-I don’t think we should do this,” Fabroni whispered, shaking his head and stepping back.
Dario turned and pointed the knife at him.
“Don’t be such a fucking pussy! You want to die a virgin?
Huh? Look at this.” He cupped my pussy and I thrashed angrily, ignoring the bite of pain from the restraints.
“It’s right here, Fab. Right fucking here.
You can take it, and finally see what it feels like to come in something nice and warm and tight.
” He turned back to me. “You’re tight, aren’t you?
” Then he shrugged. “You don’t have to answer that. I’ll find out in a second.”
“You’re all going to fucking die!” I roared as he cut my underwear off my body. My bottom half was now completely bare.
Dario laughed, beginning to undo his belt.
“What can you do, huh? You’re all tied up.
You can’t even stop us, let alone kill us.
” He stepped forward, his body pressing against mine.
His lips were at my ear and he whispered, “From the moment I saw you all tied up on this table, I knew I’d have you.
You’re just too pretty, I can’t help it.
Especially when you’re all tied down like this, just begging to be taken.
” His tongue ran over my skin as his hands gripped my thighs, pushing them further apart, no matter how much I tried to fight it.
“You’ll like it. Trust me. They all do.”
Prepare yourself, Tatiana. I refused to cry. I wouldn’t give him the fucking satisfaction. And fighting seemed to do nothing but turn him on more, so I stayed perfectly still.
Prepare yourself.
I turned my head away and closed my eyes. Think of something else. Anything else. Don’t—
Boom!
My eyes snapped open. Was that…an explosion?
Gunfire and screaming came next. Dario growled in frustration and turned to look at Fabroni. “Go see what’s going on.”
The young man nodded and bolted out of the door, shutting it behind him.
“Maybe we should stop,” the older man said, looking a little uneasy.
“Fuck that,” Dario spat. “I’m getting what I came for.
It’s probably nothing. Just the soldiers fucking around or some shit.
” I felt something hard wedge itself between my legs.
I screamed out in anger and disgust. Repulsion was a thick, heavy pressure, swimming inside of my stomach.
I was going to throw up. I was sure of it.
Dario laughed. “I won’t be long. Then you can have a turn—”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Dario spun to look at the door. “What now?! Can’t a man fuck in peace?!” he growled.
The door swung open with brutal force, slamming into the wall. In the doorway, stood Nikolai.
He found me.
He was covered head to toe in blood, so much so that it literally looked like he’d bathed in the stuff.
It dripped down his face. It drenched his hair and clung to his clothes.
The rage burning in his eyes made my breath hitch.
I’d never seen him so angry. His chest rose and fell with deep, hard breaths, his teeth bared and face contorted with so much fury, I thought he’d burn the whole room down with just that look alone.
He took in what was going on—me tied to the table with my bottom half completely bare, Dario pressed up against me with his pants down—and then he roared, his whole body shaking as he let loose this beastly, ear splitting scream.
He lunged. The older man ran to meet him head on and Dario cursed, quickly tucking his dick back into his pants.
The older man swiped his knife and Nikolai dodged, spinning out of its path.
He swung his leg in a roundhouse kick to the back of the man’s legs.
He crashed to his knees. Nikolai rammed one knife deep into his back and then reached around to slam the other knife into his chest. He ripped them out just as fast and kicked him away, turning to face Dario.
Dario had picked up one of the weapons from the tray and held it up, crouched and ready to attack. Nikolai was far too angry to play any sort of game with him. He charged forward and picked him up in a running tackle, slamming him into the wall.
Dario groaned, his weapon clattering to the ground. Nikolai threw him over his shoulder, raised his knife into the air—
“Stop!” I screamed as loudly as I could.