Chapter 3 #2
Fucking little liar. “I saw the videos, Renata. I know what fucking I saw.”
We come to a stop outside of the LSD headquarters. Renata shoves her chin in the air and presses her lips together. Are her eyes watering? I look harder, but when she blinks, I think I’ve just imagined it.
“You’re in big fucking trouble for this, woman. You’ll pay for your betrayal.”
“Betrayal?” she scoffs. “When did I ever give you the impression I was loyal to you? I owe you nothing.”
We’re wasting time. Her fate, at least for now, lies in the hands of her former best friend, who just happens to be the most ruthless, cutthroat, cunning and loyal woman I’ve ever met. She’ll easily handle the intricacies of this.
Someone opens the door. I step into the rain and drag Renata with me. She keeps up with my long strides, and if she’s afraid, she doesn’t show it.
Isabella’s men stand guard on either side of us, weapons drawn. One of them spits on the ground in front of him.
All of them are loyal to Isabella and Lev, we’ve seen to that. They believe Renata betrayed them, and for good reason. But none of them will harm a hair on her head.
I keep my face impassive as we march down the brightly lit hallway to the antechamber.
“Traitor,” one growls in Spanish.
“Fuck you,” she snaps back. I don’t respond, but my pulse quickens. I grit my teeth.
These are Isabella and Lev’s men, not mine. We’re associated, but they’re not under me.
“Lying whore,” another snaps.
My face burns with fury. I clench my free hand and swivel my gaze to the men beside us to see who said that, when she glares at a short, stocky man. “At least I didn’t suck Carlos’s dick to get to where I fucking am.”
He lunges at her, and I shove her behind me. I grab him by the shirt and throw him back. He falls back, screaming in Spanish. He knows better than to throw a fist at me.
“What is going on here?” Isabella’s sharp voice cuts through the commotion. She stands in the doorway of the office in front of us, her hands on her hips.
“Some of your men don’t know how to shut their fucking mouths.”
“She’s a traitor!” one of them screams.
“Enough!” Isabella’s voice rings with authority.
Lev materializes beside her, his voice harsh and merciless. “Ollie has brought Renata here for questioning. Her fate lies in the hands of your leader. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with me.” He stabs a finger in his chest.
And me.
“Into the office,” Lev snaps, jerking his chin at me and Renata.
I yank Renata in front of me, push her through the door, and follow behind her. Isabella gives orders in rapid-fire Spanish, and they all disperse. The door shuts behind us with a loud bang.
It smells of whiskey and old wood in here. I’m told it once was her mother’s sewing room, and she converted it into an office. Her father’s old office has been made into a bathroom. She smiled when she told me and shrugged. “I can be petty like that.”
I silently push Renata into a chair and watch her reaction. She stifles the wince. Yeah, she’s hurt.
“My friend,” Isabella begins in a tone of voice that is anything but friendly, it’s downright serpentine.
“We have some catching up to do.” Isabella Morales Romanova is a force to be reckoned with, utterly, irascibly feminine and as cruel and vindictive as a king cobra. In other words, she’s got this.
“Is she hurt?” Isabella asks me.
“Yeah.”
Isabella nods and lifts her phone. I expect her to call a medic, but instead she sends a text. “Where is she hurt, Ollie?”
“Not sure yet.”
Isabella’s eyes cut to mine. “Find out.”
Renata’s eyes grow wide. I won’t strip her in front of my brother. I’d cut his fucking eyes out if he saw her naked, but I can be discreet. I’ll have to.
I reach for Renata and draw her onto my lap so she’s facing me.
The memory of her with me, alone when she was under my watch back in The Cove, floods me.
I thought she was on our side and only had to keep her under observation as a matter of protocol.
I had no reason to believe she wasn’t loyal to us.
I got to know her. It felt sacred and secret, our friendship.
And then she left and ruined everything.
“Ollie,” Lev snaps. “We don’t have all day.”
Renata swallows, and her eyes meet mine. She feels it too.
Good. I hope she knows what she lost. I would have burned the fucking world for her.
“Where are you hurt?” I ask her. “Tell me where it hurts, Renata. And if you fucking lie to me, I’ll find every bruise, every mark, and make you confess where each one came from.”
She stares at me through gritted teeth. “Go ahead, Romanov. Find out for yourself. Why don’t you strip me?”
I narrow my eyes and begin.
First, I run my hands through her hair and press my thumbs to her scalp.
Nothing. I run my hands along her shoulders next.
Her skin is warm, her lithe, curvy body evident beneath the tattered, form-fitting clothes she wears.
I run my hands along the length of her spine, and she winces when I get to her side.
“That hurt?” I ask. She flinches and nods. I press harder, and she cries out. “Right there?”
“Yes, you asshole,” she hisses out.
I slap her ass hard. “Behave yourself,” I say in a low drawl. “You wouldn’t want me to have to punish you in front of my brother and his wife, would you?”
Her narrowed gaze tells me she would not like that.
Too bad. I would.
Next, I run my hands down the length of her legs, ignoring the way my dick hardens at the feel of her skin on my palms. With her facing me, I grasp her hips, circling her inner thighs.
I note the way her breathing hitches and the way she bites her lip with a scowl as if she’s angry at me for turning her on here, in front of her former friend and my brother, when we aren’t friends, and she’s being interrogated.
I stroke my thumbs over her breasts, lean in and whisper in her ear. “Does that hurt? Did they hurt you there?”
She squeezes her thighs on my body as if she wants to squash me to death and doesn’t respond. I chuckle and keep on investigating. When I get to her belly, she cries out in pain.
I lift her shirt and grit my teeth when I see a mottled mess of bruises on her abdomen and sides.
“She’s fucked up all around here.” Looks like someone kicked and punched her.
“Good,” Isabella snaps. “That’s where you’ll hold her while I ask her questions.”
“Bella,” Renata cries out, her voice shaking. “You think I betrayed you? Why would I do that?”
“I know you did. Don’t ask stupid questions,” Isabella snaps. “Keep your hold, Ollie.”
I hold Renata firmly, feeling the tension in her body as Isabella steps closer, her eyes cold and calculating. Renata’s breaths come in sharp gasps, her fear tangible despite her efforts to conceal it. Isabella crouches down to eye level with Renata, anger and sadness etched on her face.
“Why do you think you can lie to us?” She grabs Renata’s chin and forces her to look at us. “Tell us the truth now, and maybe we’ll consider not making this worse for you.”
Renata’s eyes dart to mine in a silent plea, but she has no ally there. I’m not immune to the look, though, no matter how hard I try to pretend otherwise. I squeeze her side as a reminder to tell the truth.
“I didn’t do anything, Bella,” Renata whispers, tears brimming in her eyes. “I was the one who told you everything I knew. Please. You have to believe me.”
“Then why did you escape?” Isabella snaps.
“I didn’t! I was taken!”
Isabella nods at me. I tighten my grasp and press my fingers into her bruised skin. She gasps, a sheen of sweat breaking out on her face.
“We found the messages, Renata. We know you’ve been in contact with our enemies.”
Renata’s face pales, and her eyes widen in surprise. “That’s not true! Those messages weren’t from me! Someone framed me, Bella.”
Isabella and Lev share a look. “We saw the footage,” Lev says in a low voice that rings with authority. “We know you escaped and want to know why.”
“You have to believe me,” she says, shaking her head. Isabella raises her hand as if to slap her. I feel a surge of anger but force it down. Now is not the time to intervene. I can’t let a pretty face, and a plaintive plea sway me from the truth.
“Hold her tighter, Ollie,” Isabella commands, her voice ice-cold.