Chapter 4 - Anatoli
It was funny how well you could get to know someone when they were torturing you.
And of course, Masha Fokin had been on my radar long before she got her ruthless hands on me.
She was a force to be reckoned with, despite her young age and distracting beauty.
I’d kept myself apprised of her movements and whereabouts even while I was in Mexico, and by now, I knew every move she would make before she did.
I was surprised to learn she’d taken a low-level security job, and wondered if she’d been demoted after losing me. It had to be a severe blow to her considerable pride, and as soon as she knew I was back, I was positive she’d act rashly out of fury that I’d escaped her.
Oh, I was just as furious, but I was managing to stay cool and keep my emotions out of it.
For now. There’d be plenty of time for that once everything was in place.
It went exactly as I figured it would. She left Silicon Valley like a bat out of hell and rushed to try to capture me.
I hadn’t imagined the blonde wig, and I didn’t like it.
She was prettier with her own dark hair falling across her shoulders.
But the scowl on her face was the same once she realized my guard had been playing her, only pretending to drink her drugged coffee once he saw her dosing it.
There was no time for self-congratulation once I heard gunshots.
As soon as Masha was locked in the trunk, kicking and screaming, I hurried over to the back of the coffee shop to see that it was one of her men who’d gotten off the shots.
One of mine had a bloody shoulder, but they’d managed to incapacitate them and were hauling them into the back of their getaway van as I arrived.
“Take them somewhere no one will find them. Keep them alive, they might be useful.”
They weren’t too pleased with that, especially the one who was shot, but every link I had to the Fokins was one I might use as leverage, and I needed as much of that as I could get. My first priority was Masha, but I still had a bone to pick with her family as well.
I had a pretty good thing going in Silicon Valley before her cousin Mat showed up and started swinging his dick around.
I was making good headway on my program and had a lot of other lucrative things going on.
I didn’t want any competition. It was bad enough that there was a Fokin in San Francisco.
I considered the Silicon Valley area mine and wasn’t giving it up without a fight.
Just because I’d lost the first battle didn’t mean the war was over. Far from it.
Heading back to my car, I could hear Masha screaming from twenty feet away. It was a miracle that the place wasn’t swarming with cops yet after the gunshots. Grabbing a roll of duct tape from the backseat, I opened the trunk long enough to slap a wide piece across her mouth.
Her whiskey brown eyes shot daggers at me as she continued to try to muffle out her rage through the tape. The ridiculous red dress was bunched up around her hips, revealing her long, smooth legs.
Tearing my gaze away, I slammed the trunk shut again and took off, purposely barreling over some speed bumps to jostle her. Petty, maybe. But I couldn’t wait to see those brown eyes of hers flashing with the same hatred I felt, magnified tenfold by being my helpless captive this time around.
Especially when she found out the manner of her torture.
I almost had everything in place, but I was going to toy with her a little bit before I let her in on my plan.
I took a roundabout way to the hiding spot, hoping she’d be good and worried by the time we arrived, and not about to underestimate her capabilities.
When we arrived and I pulled her out of the trunk, I made sure she got a good look at the place I’d be keeping her for the moment.
The shack would have been alarming enough on its own, but the fact it was in the middle of nowhere was the icing on the cake. The rage that had burned in her eyes was doused by a flash of fear as I dragged her toward it.
“Nothing or no one around for miles,” I said.
She didn’t answer, only glared at me. I felt her tugging on the zip ties around her wrists and understood how badly she wanted to lash out at me.
Understood how desperate it made her that she couldn’t.
It was a little disappointing that she wasn’t already begging me for mercy, but not surprising.
Masha was strong and full of pride. She’d rather suffer than let me see her break, and that was something else I understood.
This woman had tried hard enough to break me, after all.
The moment I cut the zip ties, she was on me, swinging wildly, swearing under her breath when her arms wouldn’t work properly after being tied behind her for so long.
As she shook off her first failed attempt and lunged at me again, I only shook my head and quickly had her on the only piece of furniture in the shack.
Holding her on the rickety bed, I rattled the chains as I clasped the cuffs that were attached to them around her wrists, then did the same to her ankles. It might have been dramatic and was probably overkill, but this was Masha Fokin. Overkill still wasn’t enough.
“I’m going to kill you,” she hissed.
“I’m sure you’d like to try,” I told her, leaning close. There was the flash of fear again, as she once again tried to headbutt me. “But rest assured, you won’t get the chance. Not this time.”
I could have bathed in the intense, impotent anger that radiated off her in waves.
I had been waiting for this moment for so long.
Too long. And it was clear she despised me as I stood and glared down at her.
A lock of hair fell across her face, and I reached to push it aside, risking getting bitten.
Her cheek was soft as velvet, her lush lips twisted with rage.
Good. I left her to wonder what was in store for her while I put the finishing touches on my plan.