Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
JAGGER
Blood trickles from my fingertips as I try to work the nail loose. It would probably hurt more if it weren’t for the cold. It has to be close to freezing, and it’s only going to get colder.
Footsteps approach, and I quickly move to my feet, the chain around my wrist clinking as it's pulled taut. The other end is secured to a U-shaped anchor in the ground at the back of this shed, or storage building, or whatever the hell this tiny ass shack is.
Whatever it had been used for before, it was empty now, apart from me. The chains on the door rattle before the door is yanked open, and the end of an AK-47 is pointed directly at me.
When Roman enters, he steps aside as the other guard, Nikolai, steps inside with a tray of food.
“Don’t move,” Roman warns in Russian as Nikolai moves forward, placing the tray on the ground halfway between us. The first few times they’d brought me food, I tried to fight them and paid with the butt of his gun to my head.
The next time they came, Roman warned me that if I tried to do anything, he’d take it out on Wren instead of me. That had stopped any further attack.
I didn’t even know that she was actually here, wherever here was.
The last thing I remembered was holding her tight as smoke surrounded us, then something sharp pierced the skin at the back of my head, and I lost all control of my body.
Right before my eyes shut, I saw her being dragged away from me.
When I woke, I expected to be in police custody, not Ivan’s.
At least the men told me it was Ivan who was holding me here; I hadn’t actually seen him myself yet.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
And being left in the dark, unable to know what’s going on, where Wren is, or if she’s being harmed, has been unbearable.
The guards leave the room, and I step forward, grabbing my tray and pulling it back toward me, where I have more room to move. On it is a bottle of water and some meat patties. Unfortunately, they have never given me any utensils, which is a shame, as I’ve been hoping to use them to help me escape.
I study the label on the water bottle, once again, it’s in Russian. My stomach tightens with what that might mean.
Eating my food quickly, I move back to the nail I was working on. I’m hoping that if I can pull it free, I can use it to pick the lock on the metal cuff on my wrist. I know they chain up the outside of the door, but step one is getting this chain off me first.
This day ends up being the same as all the days before it.
I’m brought food twice a day by the same two guards.
I try to work on an escape plan while trying to remain calm, not knowing what’s happening to my girl.
Then I end up falling asleep with nightmares filled with terrible images of Ivan and what he’s doing to Wren, only to wake and repeat it all over again.
When the door opens and Roman steps in, I expect them to bring me breakfast, but this time, when Nikolai enters, he’s not holding any food.
“I’m going to unlock your chains and put these on you,” he says, holding up a set of handcuffs. “Try anything, and Roman’s been instructed to shoot you in the foot.” Roman aims as if ready to shoot the second he sees me do anything wrong.
Deciding I like my foot, hole-free, I nod and hold out my wrists. I let him remove the chains and handcuff me instead. This was better; I could run in these if I found the opportunity.
I’m led outside, with the sharp head of the gun pressed to my back, and I try not to show any surprise at my surroundings when I see where I am for the first time since I woke up in this shed.
There are a few inches of snow covering everything, and I gaze around, seeing I’m in some sort of fenced property.
It’s not too dissimilar from Robert’s compound in Montana.
A large home stands at the other end of the property, but what captures my attention most is its distinctly Russian architecture—its ornate woodwork around the roof line and windows, not to mention the Russian flag waving proudly from a forty-foot flag pole.
I’m in Russia.
The Russian water bottle label had already warned me that it might be the case, but now I had a sinking feeling that I was right. Fuck, this is bad. How did he get me here? Is Wren here, too? The feds and the guys would never find us, nor would they even be able to get here.
No, if we truly are in Russia, there is no help coming. If I want to escape, it’s on me to do so. But first, I need to know if I’m alone or if my girl is somewhere on this property, too.
I’m nudged in the direction of the home and make sure to take note of everything. How many guards and where they’re stationed, the building's entry and exit points, the perimeter, and anything else noteworthy.
Once inside, my eyes catch on a discarded newspaper on a side table, confirming that I am, in fact, in Russia.
This definitely complicates things.
If I can manage to escape, navigating myself to safety would be difficult. My mother spoke Russian and taught me, so it’s not that I wouldn’t understand people; I could even read a few words, but I don’t think I could communicate effectively in written Russian.
There seem to be guards everywhere inside, making the chance of escape grow smaller and smaller.
I’m led down a hallway, and near the end, a guard pulls open a set of double doors for us as I’m nudged inside.
My eyes instantly find Ivan sitting at the head of the table, and my entire body grows taut at the sight of him. He grins at me, as if knowing a secret I’m not privy to.
“Ah, there you are. I’m glad you could join us for breakfast this morning.”
I realize there’s someone else sitting at the table, a few seats down, with their back to me. With the high back chairs, I hadn’t noticed them at first. But as they turn their head, my eyes grow wide with surprise, relief, and fear all at once.
“Jagger!” Wren yells, shoving her chair back and running to me. I quickly move forward, closing the distance between us. I lift my arms so she can wrap herself around my front, then lower my cuffed wrists behind her head and hold her to me tightly.
“Dios mio! I can’t believe you’re here! Have you been here this whole time?” she asks, pulling her head back to look up at me. I nod in response, and her eyes start to look me over, as if looking for damage, and I do the same.
“They haven’t hurt you?” she asks, and I shake my head again. I dip my head as if to ask about her, and thankfully, she understands. “No one has touched me,” she says quietly.
But it’s still loud enough for Ivan to hear. “Not yet,” he adds, making me pull her tightly to me as I turn us sideways and glare at him, which only seems to amuse him to no end.
“Ah, young love, so beautiful, isn’t it?” He gestures to us as he looks at one of the guards stationed around the edge of the room.
“Da,” the guard responds in Russian.
“It would be such a shame for something to come between them.”
“What’s your problem?” Wren asks angrily, surprising me with her venom.
“My problem?” Ivan asks mockingly. “I assure you, I have no problem. In fact, everything is exactly where I want it, thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?” she asks, the anger in her voice tinging with worry.
“Well, thanks to you, kukolka, Robert is out of the picture, and you’ve reunited me with my son.”
My body tenses, wondering how she’ll react. Had he already told her, or was he waiting for this moment to see how we would respond to the news in person?
Watching her face carefully, I see a frown pinch her brows together in confusion.
She doesn’t know.
“What do I have to do with your kid? I’ve never even met him.”
Ivan’s smile is that of a man who has just been given the best news in the world. This is what he was hoping for. He was betting on the fact that I hadn’t told her my connection to him, and he could watch the shock and betrayal play out in front of him.
Is this why we were both here? So he could play out some sick fantasy of breaking my heart all over again, just like he did when he killed my mother.
“Hmm, are you sure about that?” Ivan asks her, almost mockingly.
She continues to hold me tight as she shakes her head. “What is this all about, Ivan? If you have something to say, just say it, stop toying with me.”
His amusement cracks a little; her unwillingness to go along with his little game clearly upsets him.
“I just thought you’d want to know who you’ve been spending all your time with,” he says a little more seriously now.
“If it were me, I’d want to know if the person I cared for lied to me.
In fact…” He slowly pushes his chair back and gets to his feet as he takes a few steps closer, watching me the whole time.
“I’ve been in the same position as you are in now, Wren. I loved a woman once, a long time ago. She betrayed me and ran away to America. It took me a long while to find her, over thirteen years, in fact.”
Wren flinches in my arms, and I know she’s smart enough to sense where this is going now.
Ivan’s grin starts to return as he continues, his eyes bouncing between us. “Imagine how surprised I was when I showed up at her house to not only find her, but our thirteen-year-old son she hadn’t told me about.”
Wren’s fingers dig into my back, and I’m unsure if that’s a good reaction or a bad one.
“I don’t handle betrayal well, so I got rid of them both.” His eyes move to the scar on my neck. “At least I thought I had. Can’t say I wasn’t shocked to see my son not only alive, but clinging to the woman I was supposed to marry.”
I hold her tighter as Ivan watches her carefully. I know what he wants to happen, and I’m worried he’s right, that she will feel heartbroken by the news. I was stupid to keep it from her as long as I did. She was so kind and understanding; I should have given her the benefit of the doubt.
My fear of her rejection has landed us both in Ivan’s clutches, with him revealing my biggest secret to her in the most brutal fashion he could conjure up.
She shifts in my arms, her beautiful blue eyes turning in my direction with a look of confusion etched in her face. I hold my breath as tightly as I hold on to her, afraid that at any second she will pull away as everything between us comes crashing down.