CHAPTER 11 #3
The other men shift restlessly in the background, disappointed predators denied their prey. But I barely register them now. My focus narrows on Viktor, on the ice in his eyes and the subtle tells that appeared in his expression when I mentioned his bad intel.
But before I can push further, Viktor straightens, adjusting his suit. “We’re done here.” He gestures to one of his men. “Make sure she stays secure.”
He and most of the others file out one by one, and I see the man with the large biceps nodding slightly at the one with the goatee. The goatee slams the heavy door shut and clicks the lock with devastating finality, leaving me alone with the bicep guy and my racing thoughts.
He’s about six-foot-two. Muscular build beneath the expensive black suit. The sleeves of his suit jacket must have been adjusted to the size of his biceps. Blond hair, cropped military style.
“Where am I?” I demand as he circles the bed like an animal. One thing I’ve learned in my life is that if I don’t speak up, I let them decide on the next step. And I’ll be damned if I do that. “You always this chatty, or am I getting special treatment?”
He pauses mid-stride, his eyebrows lifting a fraction. A micro-expression of surprise. Good . He expected fear, not sass. Fear I have in spades, but right now, fear won’t save me.
“American women,” he says in his strange accent. “Always talking.”
I smile, the kind that I know never reaches my eyes. “Actually, I’m an excellent listener. Why don’t you start? Your name would be nice.”
The corner of his mouth twitches. Not quite a smile, but close. “Igor. And you’re in Washington DC. Not that it matters.”
One small victory. “Nice to meet you, Igor. Do you know how long I have been in here?”
“Two whole days. We hit your head harder than we should have.”
“I’m a tough nut to crack, Igor.” I smile. “I’m Maisy.”
“I know who you are.” He resumes circling, but slower now. More deliberate. “Maisy Slavinovich. The genius girl who plays with the New York dogs.”
The thought of Orion, Logan, and Kai sends a pang through my chest. “And you’re Viktor’s brother?” I ask casually. I need more information.
He nods.
“How many of you are there? Three? Four? You, Viktor, and…remind me of the others’ names?”
“Zoran, he’s the one with the goatee.” Igor snorts. “He thinks it makes him look tough.”
“And the fourth?”
“Dejan. The youngest.”
Viktor, Igor, Zoran, Dejan. Four Slavs, with resources and guns.
“You’re a long way from home,” I say. “Where is that exactly? Russia?”
His face darkens. “North Macedonia. Skopje.” He pronounces it with pride. “Not that Americans know the difference.”
“I do, actually.” My photographic memory flashes through images of maps and geopolitical histories. “Beautiful country. Torn by corruption and nepotism. Economic struggles recently.”
Something shifts in his eyes—recognition, maybe. The realization I’m not just another pretty face.
“Is that why you came here? Economic opportunity?”
Igor laughs. “You could say that.”
He sits on the bed next to me, which makes my heart jump into my throat. I have to be focused. “Must be an adjustment,” I say. “Washington’s a long way from Skopje.”
“Washington is just temporary,” he says. His fingers start trailing along my leg, from the ankle up. “New York is the prize.” He’s not even looking at me. He’s focused on my leg.
My stomach tightens. “New York’s taken,” I say carefully.
Igor smiles, showing teeth. “Not for long. Your men—they are soft. Americans .” He spits out the word. “Viktor says you are the brain behind them. Without you…” He makes a dismissive gesture with his hand, removing his vile touch from my skin, but only for a moment.
I force a laugh. “Viktor’s giving me too much credit.”
“No.” He looks at me with interest. “I don’t think so. My brother is many things. Stupid is not one of them.”
A new tactic, then. “Why New York? Plenty of other cities.”
“Viktor wants it.” He shrugs as he continues trailing his fingers up my leg. “And what Viktor wants…”
“The brothers provide,” I finish. “Family loyalty. I understand that better than most.”
His eyebrows rise again. “Do you?”
“I have six children at home. And men who would burn the world to get me back.” I say it matter-of-factly, not as a threat. Just the truth. “Tell me about Skopje. About your people there.”
“What is there to tell? It’s home.” His face hardens. “ Was home. Now, we are here.”
“All of you?” I keep my tone casual. “Your extended family, friends?”
“All who matter.” He gestures vaguely, his hand now at my hip. “Viktor brought everyone. There is nothing left for us there.”
So the force we are facing is finite. Not an endless stream of reinforcements from overseas, but what they have already brought.
“And why Viktor?” I ask. “Why aren’t you leading? You seem capable.”
I see a flash of something dangerous in his eyes. “Viktor is eldest. It is tradition.”
“Even if you disagree with his methods?”
His jaw clenches. “I did not say this.”
I smile softly. “You didn’t have to.”
We stare at each other, the air between us charged, and I realize I pushed too far, too fast. He must have read my mind because he grins wickedly and pulls a large knife from his pocket.
“Hey! Wait! What are you—” Terrified, I scream and start jerking against my restraints. I’m not ready to die here and now.
Completely ignoring me, Igor hooks his fingers into the waistband of my panties and cuts with the knife. He does it on both sides and pulls them fully off.
“Fuck, yes!!!” He takes them and stuffs them under his nose, inhaling deeply in a perverted, horrific way.
My cries must have been heard, or maybe Viktor realized that Igor was missing, because I hear the sound of footsteps, the lock clicking, and the basement door flying open.
Viktor strides in, every movement containing controlled rage. His eyes lock on mine first, then snap to his brother, who pulls my dress down over my naked cunt in a rush and straightens up.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Viktor’s voice is quiet, which somehow makes it more threatening.
Igor straightens, shoulders squaring. “She had questions.”
Viktor steps closer to his brother. “And you gave answers?” Though they are similar in height, Viktor seems to tower over him.
“She knows nothing important,” Igor mutters.
“You don’t decide what’s important.” Viktor’s voice is ice. “Go upstairs. Deal with other problems.”
For a moment, Igor looks like he’ll argue. His eyes flick to me, then back to his brother.
“As you wish, brother.” He pauses at the foot of the bed, and our eyes meet briefly before he moves toward the door.
“And leave her panties, you freak!” Viktor shouts, which makes Igor throw my cut-up panties onto the bed.
Igor disappears from the room, and Viktor turns to me.
“You can try all you want, but you’ll be dead before you know it.”
ORION
We’ve been tearing the city apart for two days straight, hunting for any trace of Maisy.
We have eyes on Ma Molly’s house in D.C.—every hour, every shadow, just in case someone’s reckless enough to bring her there. But nothing. No movement. No slip-ups.
We hit the streets, chasing down every name, every whisper. We lean on our contacts, we threaten, we torture, we kill. And still, she’s gone. It’s like she vanished into smoke.
By the time we drag ourselves back to the penthouse on day two, the city is just starting to wake up. The adrenaline that kept us going is almost gone now, burned out and brittle. All that’s left is raw nerves, empty rage, and an exhaustion that’s begun to rot us from the inside out.
We’re running out of leads. And worse—out of time.
Kai drops onto the sofa first, slumping back with a heavy exhale. Logan heads for the kitchen, pours himself a glass of water he doesn’t touch, then walks to the far end of the sofa and sits there, on the opposite end of Kai. I drop in the chair. Elbows on knees. Hands steepled. Thinking.
It’s been forty-eight hours and we need sleep. We need to be able to think again. To stop the worst-case scenarios from running on repeat through our heads.
At six in the morning, we’re just starting to shut down—each of us slipping into our own spiral—when my phone rings and vibrates against my thigh.
A sharp buzz in the silence. And then ring. Just like that, I’m wide awake.
I pull the cell from my pocket and see an unknown number.
“Carte.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.” The voice is thick with an accent. Fucking asshole. It’s him.
My blood runs cold. I glance up at Logan and Kai, tap the speaker button, and place the cell on the table. “What do you want, Viktor?”
A low chuckle crackles through the speaker. “I’m calling because I have something of yours.”
I’m gonna kill this motherfucker.
“Do you, now?” I try to sound calm but inside, my heart has stopped.
“Yes. Maisy. But you knew that already.”
I press my palms flat against the cool table to stop myself from crushing the cell. “If you touch her—”
“Touch her?” Viktor laughs. “I’m afraid we’re well past that, Orion. Your little genius isn’t as smart as everyone says. Walked straight into my hands like a lamb to slaughter.”
Logan moves closer to the phone. “What do you want, Mrozovski?”
“Logan Vitali…I was wondering when you’d join the conversation.” Viktor’s voice drops an octave. “What do I want? Right now, I’m just enjoying the moment. You should’ve seen how she fought when my brothers dragged her in.”
Kai’s eyes lock onto the cell as if it were Viktor’s throat.
“She’s quite the prize,” Viktor continues. “Fertile, too. I think my brothers enjoy her company as we’re speaking. Maybe I’ll keep her for a few years, you know. I want a bunch of kids from her bloodline. She has a thing for multiple men, doesn’t she?”
Kai explodes. “You fucking touch her and I’ll rip your throat out with my bare hands! You hear me? I’ll fucking kill you myself!”
Viktor’s laugh concerns me as much as his words. “I’d be careful, Delgado. Anger clouds judgment, and you’ll need all your wits about you if you want to collect what’s left of her at some point in the future.”
I feel something crack inside me—the devil himself just entered my body. “This isn’t a game, Viktor.”
“No? Everything is a game, Orion.” His voice hardens. “You can collect her body from Hillandale Gate House, Berkley, Washington DC. She’ll be quite busy today all day, so perhaps… come in a couple of days? That’ll give us sufficient time with her.”
The line goes dead, and for a while, none of us moves. Then Kai erupts with a roar, throwing—and breaking—everything he can get his hands on. Logan turns away; I can tell he’s trying to contain his rage, but the way he looks, it would frighten anyone approaching him right now.
“He’s fucking dead,” Kai spits, pacing like a caged animal. “I’m gonna tear him apart.”
“We need a plan,” Logan says, already moving to the cabinet where he keeps the weapons. “We’re not waiting until tomorrow. They might…Fuck! I’m not gonna say it because it ain’t happening. Not while I’m still alive!”
My mind shifts into overdrive, analyzing the whole situation.
“We need to be smart about this. Viktor’s compound is in what used to be Ma Molly’s place, and we know that’s fortified.
Guards at every entrance. Security systems. He wouldn’t have told us to go there if he wasn’t confident we couldn’t get in. Plus, it could be a trap.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Kai says, grabbing his jacket. “Maisy’s in there.”
“And we’ll get her out,” I snap, grabbing his arm. “But not by charging in blind. That’s exactly what he wants.”
Logan returns, not with weapons but a laptop. His fingers start flying over the keyboard. “Let’s look at what we’re dealing with. There’s a service entrance on the east side with minimal security cameras.”
I nod. “He’ll expect us to come in with force. Every single person in our syndicate.”
“So we don’t do what he expects,” Logan concludes, eyes never leaving the screen. “We go in small. Just the three of us.”
Kai stops pacing, quickly switching from fury to strategy.
“Three points of entry. I take the roof. Logan, you take the basement. There’s likely an access point through the parking garage.
” He points to the schematic. “Orion will go through the service entrance. We coordinate by earpiece. Strike simultaneously at midnight.”
“Weapons?” Logan asks, already pulling out his medical bag, which I know contains more blades than anything else.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea. I’d rather we have backup,” I say, but Kai’s already decided.
“Non-lethal for the guards,” he rumbles on without acknowledging that I spoke. “We need to move quickly, quietly. Save the bullets for Viktor and his inner circle.” He meets my eyes. “This might get personal.”
“It’s already personal,” Logan growls, checking his phone. “I can have Martin bring us night vision gear and flash suppressors in twenty minutes.”
They both stop and look at me. “What do you say, Orion?” Kai asks.
I feel the weight of my decision and clench my fists. It’s a bad idea, but I agree. “Viktor thinks he knows us. Thinks he can predict our reactions. But he doesn’t understand what Maisy means to us.”
For men like us, with our complicated, blood-soaked histories, family isn’t about DNA. It’s about who you’d die for. Kill for.
“We move at dusk,” I decide, already reaching for my cell to arrange surveillance on Viktor’s building. “Won’t call our usual contacts. He’ll have ears everywhere.”
Kai nods. “When we find her, I get the first shot at him.”
“We’ll see who reaches him first,” Logan says, checking each blade before packing it away.