Unfulfilled Promises (Shattered Vows #3)

Prologue

Regan - Six years ago

I heard screams coming from outside the room the men who’d taken me from my apartment threw me into, and no matter how hard I pressed my hands to my ears, I could still hear the horrid sounds. My roommate, Elsa, was taken with me, and I was terrified the sounds were coming from her.

I didn’t know who the men were or what they wanted, but I knew whatever their plans for us were, they weren’t going to be good.

I’d seen enough in my twenty years to know when someone had nefarious plans, and after being around my brother and James for the last few years and seeing them help women recover from this kind of situation, I feared for myself and Elsa.

The sounds outside grew softer until they finally stopped, and tears fell from my eyes as violent tremors wracked my body.

Huddled against the wall in the darkened room, I didn’t know what to do.

There was no way I would get past the people outside, and I wouldn’t know how I was to escape even if I could.

Time seemed to drag on, and I had no idea how long I’d been in the room when the door finally opened.

I lifted my hand to cover my eyes from the bright light shining through as someone walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

As he got closer, vomit rose in my throat, and when I looked up at him, I immediately knew who he was.

Sergey Lenkov.

Father to Devlin Callahan, my cousin, James’s, chosen brother, and from what I’d read online and heard in the whispers around my brother, Rhys’s, house, , he was the mobster turned informant for the FBI.

Why was he here? The last thing I’d heard was he was going to testify against another family soon, and that he was in the Witness Protection Program to keep himself safe.

He smiled wickedly as he stopped in front of me. “Do you know who I am?” he asked, and I nodded my response.

His face grew hard, and he didn’t need to say anything for me to know he wanted my words. “Yes, sir.” I added the ‘sir’, hoping the respectful term would sooth his apparent anger toward me.

“So, there’s no need for me to give you a lesson in what will happen if you try to disobey my commands?” he inquired as he took a chair from a small table, turning it to face me before sitting down and crossing his leg over the other.

“No . . . no, sir,” I responded and cast my eyes down.

“Do you know why you’re here?” he asked as he pulled a fat cigar from his inside jacket pocket and lit the end.

The stinky smell of the cigar was overpowering when I answered, “No, sir.”

He chuckled, like kidnapping two girls from their apartment was a normal occurrence, but after meeting Stella and Grace and hearing their stories, I’d realized it just may be. Crossing my arms over my chest, hoping to fight the cold, I waited for him to explain.

There were a few things I knew about survival, and the first was to gather as much information as I could. The more this monster spoke to me, the less likely I was to be hurt, or worse, and the more I could learn about where I was and how I could get out of here.

He drew in another mouthful of smoke before blowing it out into the room.

“Your brother is becoming a pain in my ass, and if he keeps destroying my deals, he’s going to ruin my plans.

” I had no idea what he meant, but I nodded like I understood.

“I had an associate bring you to me, so maybe he’ll be preoccupied with trying to find you that he’ll give up his silly crusade.

But seeing you in person, I’ve decided you may be of use to me. ”

I knew my confusion was evident on my face as he stood from his chair and walked directly in front of me, allowing him to loom over my huddled form. “Stand up,” he barked, and I flinched from sheer panic before reacting to his command.

The hand he was holding his cigar in came up and brushed some hair from my cheek as he observed me.

“I’m going to give you one rule, and if you follow it, you won’t be harmed.

But if you disobey me in the slightest, you’ll wind up like your friend outside.

” Tears fell hard and fast down my cheeks, and one side of his lip lifted in an evil smile as he asked, “Do we understand each other?”

“Y-yes, s-sir,” I stuttered.

“That rule is you are to always be by my side when I’m not fulfilling my obligations. During that time, you’ll be secured by an associate who will be given instructions to keep you protected. Don’t make me rescind my kindness toward you.”

“T-thank y-you, s-sir,” I returned, and when he turned to walk out of the room, I hesitated to follow him.

He snapped his fingers and pointed to his side, like I was a dog meant to follow him.

But I guess that’s exactly what I agreed to be.

When I was next to him, he shook his head and went to open the door.

Following behind him, I feared what I was going to see when I walked out of the room, and what I saw would stay in my mind forever.

Elsa was tied to a bed in the next room, her body covered in welts, bruises, and blood as some man used her for his pleasure.

I wanted to help her, but when the man jostled her too hard, her head flopped to the side, and from her eyes, I could tell she was already gone.

The vomit that threatened to erupt earlier came rushing to the surface, and I turned my head, allowing it to fall from my mouth onto the floor of the filthy room.

Sergey looked down at me and shook his head again before he walked through an open door, and I followed him, wiping the vomit from my chin and lips with the back of my hand.

With one final glance into the room, I saw the man rutting into her and I briefly closed my eyes, apologizing to her for bringing her into this madness.

If she wasn’t my friend, she would be alive and healthy now, instead of some kind of sex doll for demented perverts who didn’t care if she was dead or alive.

Sergey kept walking, and I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to hide my pajamas as I stayed close to him.

The people in this house were messed-up in ways I couldn’t begin to explain.

Some were injecting drugs into their arms, some were having sex or masturbating in the open, and others looked like they were on the brink of death.

The smell was indescribable, and it was no mystery what the yellow stains on the carpet were.

Sergey looked over his shoulder at me just before we walked out of the house. “I guess you’re used to this kind of stuff. You’re welcome to stay if you want.”

I shook my head, and he let out a raucous laugh as he walked into the dark night with me right behind him. How did he know about my past? No one, not even James or Rhys, knew about the house I’d lived in for a few years with my mother, or what went on inside the walls of that horrible place.

As Sergey got into the backseat of a black SUV and I got in beside him, I remembered something I’d once heard Devlin say to James. He said his father had a way of knowing things about people and he used their weaknesses against them.

I could only pray that whatever plan he had for me, I would be strong enough to survive. Rhys and James would find me eventually. I just had to stay alive and sane long enough for them to rescue me from this madness.

One year later

“I went over all the records you gave me this morning and I think I found another potential member,” I remarked to Sergey, and he reached over, stroking my chin with a smile.

“That’s my good girl. Have you had a chance to look over the books I had Kelly bring last week?”

Kelly was the woman who believed she was going to be Sergey’s queen, but I knew different.

Over the last year, I’d become Sergey’s confidante, his black book, his password keeper, and the one he shared his secrets with.

He never hurt me. Instead, he made sure I was protected from his .

. . business endeavors, and when he was near, I felt strangely safe.

Kelly was serving her purpose on the outside while he continued to keep his word by testifying against the various members of the now-defunct Syndicate.

He planned to rebuild his new Syndicate into something more powerful and more profitable than before, but he had to finish his obligations to the government before he got his second chance.

“I went through everything and . . .” I paused, not wanting to give him bad news, but I knew he would be pissed if I kept anything from him.

“And?” he asked, and I turned to look at him.

“And I believe she’s being . . . inappropriate with Ricardo.”

I cast my eyes down, and he lifted my chin until I was looking at him. “Tell me why you think that.”

I swallowed and began to explain. “Call it a hunch, but something’s off with them. When they’re here, they look to each other more than she looks to you, and I may be wrong, but it seems like they’re too friendly with each other.”

He shrugged as he stood from the chair in my bedroom.

“Her only job is to get Sergey Junior to his initiation and to keep him safe. If she wants to fuck Ricardo, or half the men who frequent her whorehouse, I frankly couldn’t care less.

” He leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of my head, the most amount of affection he ever showed me, as he added, “I wasn’t planning on keeping her around after I’m finished with my testimony. ”

He went to walk out of my room when I asked, “You weren’t?”

He turned back to face me as he replied, “She’s never going to be the queen she thinks she is, and soon, she’ll realize she was just an end to a means.”

He smiled at me, and I returned the gesture before he walked out, leaving me alone in my room.

We’d been in this safehouse for a few days, and it was nicer than the last place we were in.

The FBI allowed me to be with Sergey after he told them I was his daughter and that he needed to keep me safe while the families were still hunting for him.