Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Riley
The next morning, I woke to golden light seeping through the curtain cracks.
My stomach was growling so loud I couldn't fall back asleep.
My body felt like it'd been run over by a truck. Every finger I moved, every joint screamed in protest. I lay in my old bed, staring at the familiar water stain on the ceiling. Last night kept replaying in my head, scene after scene.
I was supposed to refuse him. In the car, I'd rehearsed every word, each one sharp enough to cut, sharp enough to make him bleed. And what happened? I still let him set the pace, fell right into that bed, called out his name, and begged him to do those crazy things to me.
His marks were still all over me. I pulled the blanket over my head and groaned.
Riley Quinn, you're really something. You haven't even fully trusted him, and you've already fallen into his rhythm.
If Matvey really cared about me like he said, then what about those Russians with their thick accents? They dragged me into that alley and made it crystal clear—"The pakhan thinks you're getting in the way of him and Veronica."
Pakhan. Who else could it be but Matvey? He sent people to kill me, then told me "I love you" in bed... My head was about to explode.
I needed someone who could help me think straight, someone who wouldn't judge me no matter what I said. Evelyn.
She'd been through more than me. She'd see right through whatever Matvey was playing at.
I dragged myself up, threw on a hoodie and jeans, and twisted my messy hair into a knot. In the mirror, I was pale, dark circles under my eyes, looking like I'd just crawled out of a grave.
"Thank God I'm alive." I rolled my eyes at my reflection.
I grabbed my keys and bag, locked the door. That half-broken hallway light was still flickering. Everything was normal.
But walking to the hospital, something felt off. The afternoon block was too quiet, even the old cat that usually sunbathed by the door was gone. I picked up my pace, but that uneasy feeling kept growing.
Right when I turned that corner by the garbage bins, an arm locked around my waist from behind.
Before I could scream, a cloth reeking of chemicals clamped over my nose and mouth.
"Mmph!"
I fought back hard. My bag hit the ground, keys flying. I kicked, clawed at that arm, but the fumes flooded my lungs with each breath. My limbs went limp, my vision blurred and darkened.
In that last second, I saw my keychain lying in a dirty puddle, the little hyacinth charm Evelyn gave me bobbing gently in the murky water.
Then the world sank away completely.
Cold jolted me back to consciousness.
I opened my eyes to blinding white light. It took several seconds to focus. Above me was a towering ceiling, a massive crystal chandelier spilling light everywhere. I recognized this place fast—the place I'd been trying to forget in my dreams. The auction house stage.
Damn it! If I wasn't wrong, I'd been kidnapped.
My wrists were twisted behind me, tied to the chair back. The rope bit into my skin. My ankles were locked to the chair legs. I couldn't move an inch. Tape covered my mouth, forcing every breath through my nose.
I started struggling, throwing my whole body into trying to break free. All I got was a few pathetic squeaks from the chair on the smooth floor. It didn't budge half an inch.
"Don't waste your energy, sweetheart."
A lazy, familiar voice came from my side. Veronica. She stood there elegantly in a burgundy dress, like she was attending a party. Beside her was a man. Thin, with jutting cheekbones. He leaned against the stage edge, playing with a handgun, its barrel pointed carelessly at me.
I didn't know him, but something vicious in his eyes made my stomach turn.
"Mmph!" I made angry sounds at Veronica, shaking the chair uselessly again.
"Look at you." Veronica walked over slowly, that snake-like smile on her lips. "Still think you can break free? How cute."
She crouched in front of me, her red nails lifting a strand of my messy hair.
"Let me tell you a story, Riley." Her voice was light. "Once there was a woman who had everything—breeding, status, a man who obeyed her every word. Then one day, that man turned on her and destroyed everything she had."
"Her assets, her father's family inheritance rights... everything that should've been hers, he set it all up to give to a bastard." Veronica yanked my hair hard. I gasped in pain. "Overnight, she became a joke with nothing."
"Guess who that man was?"
She released me suddenly and stood up.
"Matvey Bykov." She spat the name through clenched teeth. "Your devoted pakhan."
My whole body shook. This was completely different from the story Veronica had fed me before.
"I'm going to make him taste what it's like to lose everything, too." Veronica pulled a tactical knife from her waist, the cold blade against my cheek. "Starting with this face. I want to know if Matvey can still keep that cold expression when he sees his little lover all bloody and mangled."
Every hair on my body stood on end. I glared at her, twisting frantically to get away. But I was bound tight. I couldn't back up an inch.
"Enough, Veronica." The thin man suddenly spoke. "You really cut her face, that psycho will tear this place apart. Pissing him off does us no good—don't screw up the real business just to vent."
Veronica stared at me for several seconds, then reluctantly withdrew the knife.
"Such a buzzkill." Every word dripped with poison. "If I'd known it'd be this much trouble, I should've had those guys finish you off back then."
I froze. Was she talking about... those Russian thugs who threatened to kill me that night? Veronica sent them? Matvey didn't lie to me? God, I'd gotten it all wrong. He'd been telling the truth the whole time.
My chest felt sour and numb. He did care. He was just protecting me from all the danger in that clumsy, forceful way of his.
"If you'd finished her off back then, would we be standing here using her as leverage against him?" The man's bruised eyes swept over me. "She's carrying Matvey's kid now. Whatever we demand, Matvey will fucking agree to it."
My blood turned to ice. How did they know?
"Don't look so shocked." Veronica curled her lip at me. "Think you hid it well? I have plenty of ways to get information on you."
Her mood seemed to improve.
"True, just you alone—some nobody woman—couldn't make Matvey willingly bow his head." She said. "But you've got his twins in your belly. That changes everything."
Fear crawled up my spine like a snake. And I knew this feeling wasn't for me—it was for those two unformed lives inside me. I was sure Matvey would come for me. With his abilities, with how he felt about me, he'd come.
But right now, I hoped more than anything that he wouldn't show up—this was clearly a trap set for him.
Veronica pulled out her phone and took a picture of me tied to the chair.
"There." She looked at the screen, speaking slowly. "Time to send your pakhan a little gift."