Chapter 3 #2
All the dogs sat down, their barking cutting off in an instant. He had complete and total control over the dominant animals. They didn’t move a muscle without his say so.
He locked eyes with me, a taunting challenge in his eyes. “You can either come willingly, like a good little girl, or I can throw you over my shoulder and drag you, kicking and screaming. The choice is yours.”
“What do you want with me?” I hissed in frustration, my eyes darting left to right, looking for a way out.
I was surrounded on all sides by either dogs or armed guards.
Movement in my peripheral vision made me stiffen.
A tall, lean man with long dark hair that was up in a man bun was pulling people from a black van, each of them cuffed with zip ties.
I recognised him from when that barbarian dumped me in the trunk.
He had similar features to the mammoth standing before me.
Were they related somehow?
“I told you before, I want to know who you are,” Big Guy said, drawing my attention back to him.
“And I told you before, I’m nobody. Nothing. Just a high-class hooker in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I thought you preferred the term ‘escort’?” he asked, one brow hiking up.
“Whatever,” I scowled. “The point is, I’m not who you think I am.”
“I don’t know who you are. That’s the problem.”
“Well, who are you, huh? What’s your name? I’m the one who’s been kidnapped here. If anyone deserves fucking answers, it’s me.”
He stared at me for a long moment, as if debating whether or not to answer my question. I honestly didn’t think he would, which was why I was surprised to hear him grunt, “Aleksandr Volkov.”
I tensed, nervous energy filling my body.
Volkov? As in the Bratva Volkovs? Shit .
I knew who they were. Anyone involved in the world of organised crime knew who the Volkovs were.
There were plenty of rumours floating around on the streets about them.
About their brutality, their mercilessness.
They were tough sons of bitches. Vicious.
Strong. Fearless. Not to mention the fact that they had the best guns.
My dad warned me about them before he died. Told me to steer clear of them at all costs. That they weren’t to be fucked with.
And now I was in the lion’s den.
“Your turn,” Aleksandr inclined his head towards me. “Your name?”
“Mary Smith.” It was the first name I could think of that wasn’t my own.
He knew it was fake though. He gave me a ‘Do I look stupid to you?’ look and I just smiled.
He was never getting my real name, my real identity.
Especially now that I knew who he was. If he found out who I was, I was as good as dead.
“Kabluk!” Aleksandr thundered. The six Rottweilers bolted to him, standing tall at his side. He took a step towards me and the dogs followed, mirroring each of his steps.
Unease gripped my chest. I backed up, keeping my distance. It was a menacing sight. This big, hulking figure, surrounded by his vicious beasts. Like Hades and his guard dog, Cerberus.
I loved Greek Mythology. Anything to do with the Gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo— I was all for.
That shit fascinated me. Especially Hades.
I couldn’t tell you how many Hades and Persephone-inspired books I’d read.
It bordered on obsessive. And right now, the way Aleksandr was stalking towards me with his dogs at his side, reminded me of the countless images I’d seen of Hades and Cerberus.
“Belka, Boris, Igor, stado!” Three of the dogs peeled off and ran at me, nipping at my heels.
They forced me in a completely different direction, herding me around the side of the house. Aleksandr and the other three dogs stayed close, tracking me across the yard.
“What’s this? I thought you were gonna toss me over your shoulder, caveman style?” I asked, walking backwards, forever conscious of the dangerous predators circling me, keeping me from running off.
The tiniest smirk graced his lips. It was so minute I questioned whether or not I actually saw it. “Is that what you want, malyshka? You want me to throw you over my shoulder?”
Yes.
“No,” I scoffed like the idea was utterly ridiculous, when really it made my whole body fucking tingle. “You kidnapped me. Why the fuck would I want that?”
He gave a small shrug. “Some women are into that kind of thing.” There was a certain tone in his voice. One that said he had personal experience with women like that.
I was suddenly envious of all the women who’d been lucky enough to be trapped beneath that mammoth of a man.
You could just tell by looking at him that he knew his way around a woman’s body.
That he was the type to leave a woman completely and utterly satisfied.
It was always the cool, calm, collected ones that were complete savages in bed.
“Yeah? Well, not me,” I said, shuffling my feet to the side.
I was lying through my teeth. The idea of being hunted by him, chased and thrown over his shoulder and dragged to his bed, turned me on more than it should have.
One of the dogs barked, snapping its teeth an inch from my ankle, and I cursed, jumping back.
“Hmm,” Aleksandr ran his eyes up and down my body in a slow, sensual caress, his tongue running across his lips. “Pity.”
He and the dogs steered me towards a large industrial-style warehouse a little way from the house, herding me like I was a flock of sheep. Any time I stepped too far in another direction, the dogs would snarl and bark, biting the air in warning.
Behind Aleksandr, Man Bun stepped into view, another man equally big and imposing as him at his side, helping usher a row of prisoners towards us.
When I locked eyes with one of the prisoners, my whole body stiffened.
I tried to hide the flare of recognition from my eyes, but it was too late.
Aleksandr caught it. His narrowed gaze studied me suspiciously before he glanced over his shoulder, somehow managing to keep me in his line of sight at the same time.
“Lukyan!” he barked, his voice ringing in the air. “Bring them over here.”
The long-haired guy—Lucas, or whatever the fuck he called him—came right over.
I locked down my emotions, blanketing my face.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out Aleksandr was incredibly astute.
He seemed to have a real knack for assessing situations and reading between the lines.
For seeing what others didn’t want him to see.
I couldn’t give him anything to go off. I couldn’t let him figure out I knew each and every one of the prisoners personally.
With a rough hand, Aleksandr grabbed Javier by the back of the neck, making him wince. He dragged Javier so he was facing me, his back to Aleksandr’s chest.
“Do you two know each other?” he asked softly, his eyes locked on mine.
“Never seen her before,” Javier answered a little too quickly.
Aleksandr shoved Javier to the ground and put a heavy boot to the side of his face, smashing his cheek into the tiny stones that made up the pathway.
Javier grimaced, a painful grunt falling from his mouth.
“Care to try that again?” Aleksandr asked, grinding Javier’s face deeper into the gravel.
“I don’t know her, man! Argh, Jesus, stop! I swear, I don’t fucking know her!”
“I don’t believe you,” Aleksandr growled. He removed his boot and pulled out a hella impressive Beretta, holding the barrel right against Javier’s temple. “Tell me the truth or you die, right here, right now.”
Javier swallowed. “I already told you the truth. I don’t—”
Aleksandr pulled the trigger. A loud bang cut through the air, ringing in my ears. Blood spattered across Aleksandr’s face, staining his skin bright red.
Anger thundered through me, as violent as a torrential thunderstorm.
I clenched my fists to refrain from raking my claws down that ruggedly handsome face.
On the inside, I was fuming. Boiling with rage.
But on the outside, I was cool as a cucumber, acting as if what just happened didn’t affect me in the slightest.
Aleksandr straightened, running a hand through his hair. He stepped over Javier’s lifeless body and grabbed another prisoner—Roberto—dragging him before me.
“How about you?” Aleksandr thrust his gun against the base of Roberto’s skull. “What do you have to say?”
Roberto locked eyes with me. A silent message passed between us. “Don’t know her,” he grunted out, his voice heavy with a thick Spanish accent.
Aleksandr shook his head, lines of frustration marring his face. He cocked his gun.
Roberto closed his eyes, resigned to his fate. He didn’t try to move. Didn’t try to fight what was coming. He knew there wouldn’t be any point.
Anger and despair coiled around my heart.
I felt trapped. Trapped between wanting to save him and keeping my real identity a secret.
In the end, I knew what I had to do. I knew there was only one option.
I couldn’t risk them finding out who I was.
They would use me the same way Nero did. But I could offer Roberto reassurance.
“Tu familia será cuidada.” Your family will be cared for , I whispered in Spanish for Roberto’s ears. Of course, I knew Aleksandr could hear me. He was right there. But I highly doubted the big oaf spoke Spanish.
Roberto’s eyes opened, glistening with unshed tears. He already knew his chances of getting out of this situation alive were slim to none. It was the price you paid for living this kind of life. But his loyalty to the cartel would be repaid ten times over.
Aleksandr watched me closely. His gaze flicked between Roberto and I, a calculating look in his eyes. Whatever he saw, whatever conclusion he’d come to, made him switch tactics.
He charged towards me, his grip still tight on Roberto’s nape as he forced him to scuffle along.
I didn’t balk. I didn’t retreat as he ate up my personal space, standing nose to nose with me, and placed the barrel of his gun under my chin, threatening me instead.