was familiar with. I’ve dealt with a lot of it in my life, both physical and emotional. But getting Tased? That had to be one of the worst. That shit hurt.
I coughed and groaned, licking my dry lips. My eyes slowly opened and dread instantly filled me when I realised I was strapped down onto a table. Thick, leather bands were cuffed around my ankles and wrists, making it impossible to move an inch.
Oh, this is not good. Not good.
I looked around the room, trying to get a sense of where I was. The last thing I remembered was chasing after Franco…and running right into the taser in his hands.
Fuck, how could I be so fucking stupid?!
One of the first things they taught in the Bratva training was to always be aware of your surroundings, and to always check before running around a damn corner. Especially if you were chasing someone.
I was in a dark room. It smelled foul, unclean. Kind of like a cross between a moldy bathroom and a portapotty. There were another two tables beside me, both with the same restraints as the ones that currently held me captive. Dry blood coated both of them and I tried not to think about the fact that the same was probably underneath me. A variety of torture implements sat on a tray in front of me, rusty and crusted with blood. There was a single light bulb dangling from the ceiling, casting shadows throughout the space. Shadows that put me in instant distress.
I didn’t like the dark.
A huge metal door was directly across from me. It looked like it would take a damn battering ram to break the thing down.
I’m so fucked. The only upside was that I was still wearing all of my clothes.
I pulled at my restraints, hoping they would somehow magically pop open and I could make my escape. They of course didn’t, but I kept trying nonetheless. Pain flared in the back of my neck and it made me hiss. Did I get some sort of injury during the fight and the adrenaline had kept me from feeling it?
Why did Franco kidnap me? It made no sense. I wasn’t anyone of value. I held no ranking in the Bratva. There was nothing I could offer him. I wasn’t privy to any information. The only person who gave a shit about me was—
Nikolai. Shit. I had to get out of there. I had to. More for him than me. The moment he found out what happened, he’d lose his fucking mind. I could picture it as clearly as the night sky. Nikolai freaked out when I got a damn papercut. Hearing that I’d been kidnapped by the Don of the Chicago Outfit was liable to give him a heart attack.
The heavy, metal door groaned as it swung open, snaring my attention. Franco strolled in with two men at his back. He had shoulder-length light brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was an average looking man. A little short and a little pudgy, but average. He looked nothing like Nero. I never would have guessed the two were siblings, to be honest.
“Good. You’re awake.” He moved further into the room. “You’ve been out for a while. I was worried you wouldn’t wake up.”
I wasn’t naïve enough to think he actually cared about me, or cared if I died. I was some sort of bargaining chip to him. That was the only reason he was concerned.
“You’ve made a really big mistake, taking me.”
Out of the two men who’d come inside with him, one of them sent my danger radar blaring. His eyes ran the length of my body in disgusting appraisal, flaring with heat. He adjusted himself behind Franco’s back, his tongue practically lolling out of his mouth like a hungry dog.
A woman instinctively knew when she was in the presence of someone who posed a threat to her. It’s this feeling we get. A cold, dreading feeling that makes our whole body shiver.
That’s the feeling I got when I looked at that man. Like he was the type you didn’t want to be left alone with.
Franco stopped in front of me and studied me. “I don’t believe I have. You see, I’ve been watching you.”
“Because that doesn’t sound creepy at all,” I muttered under my breath. I had to pick my words carefully. I was at a serious disadvantage there. Franco could literally do anything to me and I wouldn’t have the power to stop him.
The vulnerability I felt made my heart pound in my chest with panic, but I tried to ignore it.
“Well, not you specifically. You just happened to be around. I’ve been watching the Volkovs.” He leant forward. I tensed but he did nothing threatening. He just pushed a button on the side of the table. All of a sudden, I was moving. I went from lying down, staring at the ceiling, to being completely upright.
Gravity tried to pull me down and the restraints dug painfully into my skin. I didn’t know if this new position was better or worse. My gaze flicked around the room, searching for something—anything—that could help me get out of that mess. “Still pissed about what happened to your brother?”
The man scoffed. “Please. You guys did me a favour. Nero wasn’t fit to lead. Never was. It was always meant to be me.”
That surprised me. I thought the reason he’d been causing so many problems for Arturo and the Cosa Nostra was because he was trying to avenge his brother.
“I see your confusion, allow me to explain.” Oh, he was one of those. The type who liked to explain his master plan in some long, grand speech. Kill me now. “Nero was the oldest, so tradition dictated the role of Don fall to him, even if he wasn’t suited for it.”
“You guys are annoyingly set in your traditions.”
He smiled. “We are. And I agree, it is incredibly annoying. Anyway, despite the fact that my older brother was absolutely clueless, had zero business sense and threw tantrums like a toddler, our father still passed the role of Don to him. But that was in title only. I’ve been the one doing everything, ensuring our empire didn’t crumble. It was just behind the scenes.” He ran his fingers over the instruments on the tray. “Loyalty is something that is absolutely crucial to The Outfit. Something that holds the foundation of our organisation together. If I made a move against Nero, no one would support me. Not the advisors, not the capos, not the soldiers. No one. So, when he was killed, I celebrated.”
The man who sent chills down my spine hadn’t taken his eyes off me, and it made me nervous. I could see him in the corner of my eye, watching me with a leery gaze. His hair was a dirty blonde colour that looked like it hadn’t been washed in months. In fact, he looked like he hadn’t been washed in months. His skin was dirty. His teeth were yellow. I wanted to throw up just looking at him.
“Although Nero’s death was extremely beneficial for me, I couldn’t let the transgression slide. Honor and the survival of The Outfit demanded I punish those responsible. Otherwise, what’s to stop others from trying to do the same thing?”
He had a fair point. The Bratva would never allow someone who’d killed one of their own to live.
“So you’ve been trying to humiliate Arturo by destroying his business?”
He raised his brows slightly in surprise. “Yes. Humiliation is far more entertaining than outright destruction, wouldn’t you say?”
“Where do the Volkovs come into this then? They weren’t responsible for Nero’s death. It was Arturo who killed him.”
“With their aid.” He pointed, head tilting to the side. “Without their interference, I highly doubt La Cosa Nostra would have been able to pull it off. Not only that, but they took our leverage.”
Leverage? Was he talking about Drea?
“It was your idea to kidnap the Cartel Queen?”
He winked. “As if my useless brother would ever think of something so cunning. So grand. I dropped enough hints for him to think he was the one who came up with the idea, but it was really me. Turns out, one of the cartel members wanted the little bitch gone, so he sent feelers out to see who would be interested in taking her life. He didn’t plan on us keeping her alive. With her dead, the leadership of the cartel fell to some guy he was seeing, which is why I think he wanted to get rid of her. But I figured, why waste the opportunity to have the Los Zetas under our thumb? With the added numbers, we were ready to annihilate La Cosa Nostra forever. I was the puppet master pulling all of the strings.” The smugness on his face was unbelievable.
“Was it also your idea to kidnap the daughter of the Pakhan?”
That smugness vanished in an instant.
I’ll take that as a no.
“Do I seem like a stupid man to you, Tatiana?” If I was being honest, no. He seemed very smart and very capable. Two qualities that absolutely worked against me in that moment “Nero assumed that because the leverage plan had worked on the Los Zetas, it would also work on the Bratva. By the time I learned of his plan, it was too late to stop it. It was already set in motion. There was nothing I could do.” He picked up a knife from the tray, studying it admiringly. “I knew what would happen. Word of the Bratva’s ruthlessness has spread far and wide in our little circle. Especially Dimitri Volkov. The rumours of him being The Bratva Butcher were enough for me to proceed with caution. So, when Nero took her to his little house in the middle of nowhere, I made sure I wasn’t there, sat back and hoped he was killed in the crossfire.”
“So what’s your plan now? You’ve got what you wanted. You’re Don. You’ve humiliated Arturo. What the hell do you want with me?”
He tapped the tip of the knife against my nose. “You will be my salvation.”
I frowned. That didn’t sound like me.
“Like I said, I’ve been watching the Volkovs. Closely. I see how the second oldest looks at you. How he treats you. He loves you.”
I didn’t bother denying it. If what he said was true and he’d been watching the Volkovs, he would have seen everything. Nikolai wasn’t exactly discrete about his feelings for me.
“If he wants you back alive, he will get the Bratva to back off. My confrontation isn’t with them. It’s with Arturo and the Cosa Nostra. I don’t want any more problems with them. What my brother did—his transgressions—died with him. I want a clean slate. I’ll even agree not to harm the daughter, Arturo’s wife. You know, as a show of good faith.”
I tried to hold back my laugh. I really, really did. A man like Franco wouldn’t like someone laughing in his face. But I honestly couldn’t help it. “You signed your death warrant the minute you took me. Nikolai will kill you. He’ll find me, come here and kill you all.”
“Will he now?” His smirk put me on edge. “I’m curious, how do you think he’ll find you without that little tracker in the back of your neck?”
I stiffened. That was the pain I’d felt earlier. He’d cut the tracker out of me. How the fuck did he even know about it? There was no way Nikolai was going to find me without that tracker. Oh, I was super fucked.
“Yes, I know all about that,” he continued. “I think it’s pretty much common knowledge now that you Bratva folk have a thing or two for trackers. I mean, where do you think I got the idea to track Arturo’s cars from?”
“He’ll never make a deal with you. Nikolai will kill you for laying a hand on me.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on hurting you.”
Whether he hurt me or not was irrelevant. Nikolai would slaughter him on principle alone. For taking me. That, I was sure of.
He placed the knife back on the tray and straightened the lapels of his jacket. “I’ll wait a few days, let the worry build to the point that he’d do anything to get you back. Then, I’ll let him negotiate for your release. Until then, I hope you’re comfortable. For the foreseeable future, this is your new home.”
The groan of the metal door slowly swinging open woke me from a very uncomfortable sleep. After Franco left, I had expended all of my energy trying to get free. It was completely useless. I was never getting out of there. He’d done a very good job in ensuring my capture. My head hung forward, a painful ache shooting up the side of my neck when I tried to lift it.
Time was distorted in that room, and I had no idea how much of it had passed. All I knew was that my entire body hurt from being suspended like that. The restraints dug into my skin so painfully, I could feel the bruises. Any time I so much as twitched, pain shot through me, enough so to make me suck air in between my teeth.
My eyes drifted up to the men who’d walked into the room. I blinked, trying to clear the haziness of my vision and see through the darkness.
“I don’t know about this, Dario,” a male voice whispered. “You heard what Franco said. She’s not to be harmed.”
“Relax, Fabroni. We’re not going to hurt her. We’re just going to have a little fun with her. What Franco doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.” Footsteps echoed around me, getting closer and closer. A face stepped into the light and my whole body ran cold.
It was the man I’d seen with Franco—the one who had been staring at me like he was mentally undressing me with his eyes. Dread filled me. There was no good reason why he was in there—especially without Franco. I tried to keep a hold on the panic that coursed through my veins but it was almost impossible when that thick, metal door slammed shut, locking me in the room with them.
Two men appeared behind him, one on his left and one on his right. The one on the left looked like he didn’t want to be there. His eyes kept darting to the door and back, unease literally wafting off him. He was young, with short, red hair, pale skin and deep brown eyes. The other man was older, and seemed perfectly fine with what was about to happen. And I knew what that was.
“You don’t want to do this.” My voice was strong despite the fear running through me. The thing that scared me the most was that there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to fight back. If I wasn’t restrained, at least I could make it hard for them. Fight them. Hurt them. But all I could was lie there, completely helpless.
“Oh, I think we do.” Dario licked his lips. “It doesn’t have to hurt, you know. If you don’t fight, you could even enjoy yourself.” He ran his finger down the side of my face. His touch repulsed me. “Such soft, pretty skin.”
I turned my head and latched my teeth down on his finger, biting hard. Blood filled my mouth and he screamed out a curse. He tried to pull it away but I just bit down harder, trying to fucking bite it off.
The older man came rushing over and placed a blade right at my throat. “Let him go,” he hissed.
I bit down harder. Is that bone I feel against my teeth?
I’d rather they fucking killed me than do what they were about to do. Dario screamed out again, took the knife from the other man and hit me with the bottom of the hilt right in the face.
I cried out, and his finger slipped from my mouth.
“You fucking bitch!” He struck me again, his fist connecting with the side of my jaw. Pain rocked me and I groaned, my body sagging.
Dario started pulling down my pants.
“I-I don’t think we should do this,” Fabroni whispered, shaking his head and stepping back.
Dario turned and pointed the knife at him. “Don’t be such a fucking pussy! You want to die a virgin? Huh? Look at this.” He cupped my pussy and I thrashed angrily, ignoring the bite of pain from the restraints. “It’s right here, Fab. Right fucking here. You can take it, and finally see what it feels like to come in something nice and warm and tight.” He turned back to me. “You’re tight, aren’t you?” Then he shrugged. “You don’t have to answer that. I’ll find out in a second.”
“You’re all going to fucking die!” I roared as he cut my underwear off my body. My bottom half was now completely bare.
Dario laughed, beginning to undo his belt. “What can you do, huh? You’re all tied up. You can’t even stop us, let alone kill us.” He stepped forward, his body pressing against mine. His lips were at my ear and he whispered, “From the moment I saw you all tied up on this table, I knew I’d have you. You’re just too pretty, I can’t help it. Especially when you’re all tied down like this, just begging to be taken.” His tongue ran over my skin as his hands gripped my thighs, pushing them further apart, no matter how much I tried to fight it. “You’ll like it. Trust me. They all do.”
Prepare yourself, Tatiana. I refused to cry. I wouldn’t give him the fucking satisfaction. And fighting seemed to do nothing but turn him on more, so I stayed perfectly still.
Prepare yourself.
I turned my head away and closed my eyes. Think of something else. Anything else. Don’t—
Boom!
My eyes snapped open. Was that…an explosion?
Gunfire and screaming came next. Dario growled in frustration and turned to look at Fabroni. “Go see what’s going on.”
The young man nodded and bolted out of the door, shutting it behind him.
“Maybe we should stop,” the older man said, looking a little uneasy.
“Fuck that,” Dario spat. “I’m getting what I came for. It’s probably nothing. Just the soldiers fucking around or some shit.” I felt something hard wedge itself between my legs. I screamed out in anger and disgust. Repulsion was a thick, heavy pressure, swimming inside of my stomach. I was going to throw up. I was sure of it.
Dario laughed. “I won’t be long. Then you can have a turn—”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Dario spun to look at the door. “What now?! Can’t a man fuck in peace?!” he growled.
The door swung open with brutal force, slamming into the wall. In the doorway, stood Nikolai.
He found me.
He was covered head to toe in blood, so much so that it literally looked like he’d bathed in the stuff. It dripped down his face. It drenched his hair and clung to his clothes. The rage burning in his eyes made my breath hitch. I’d never seen him so angry. His chest rose and fell with deep, hard breaths, his teeth bared and face contorted with so much fury, I thought he’d burn the whole room down with just that look alone.
He took in what was going on—me tied to the table with my bottom half completely bare, Dario pressed up against me with his pants down—and then he roared, his whole body shaking as he let loose this beastly, ear splitting scream. He lunged. The older man ran to meet him head on and Dario cursed, quickly tucking his dick back into his pants.
The older man swiped his knife and Nikolai dodged, spinning out of its path. He swung his leg in a roundhouse kick to the back of the man’s legs. He crashed to his knees. Nikolai rammed one knife deep into his back and then reached around to slam the other knife into his chest. He ripped them out just as fast and kicked him away, turning to face Dario.
Dario had picked up one of the weapons from the tray and held it up, crouched and ready to attack. Nikolai was far too angry to play any sort of game with him. He charged forward and picked him up in a running tackle, slamming him into the wall.
Dario groaned, his weapon clattering to the ground. Nikolai threw him over his shoulder, raised his knife into the air—
“Stop!” I screamed as loudly as I could.
Nikolai froze, the blade hovering right above Dario’s eye. His gaze snapped to me. I was surprised he was even able to comprehend anything, given how much anger was blazing in his blue eyes.
“The kill is mine.” I pulled on the restraints. “Please, get me down.” Despite how thankful I was at him for showing up before anything more happened, despite how much relief was flowing through me, I couldn’t stand another moment being tied up like that. I needed to get down. I needed to cover myself.
Distress flashed across Nikolai’s face. He pulled Dario’s arm out straight, flattened his hand on the ground, palm up and drove his knife deep through it, pinning him to the floor. Dario screamed. Nikolai did the same thing to his other hand, effectively keeping him trapped right where he was.
“Lukyan!” he called out.
His brother came running into the room, a machine gun in his hands. Nikolai pointed to Dario on the floor and Lukyan nodded, running over. He kept his gun aimed at him as Nikolai sprinted over to me.
“Tati,” he breathed, eyes running up and down my body. His jaw clenched as he pulled my pants back up and then his hands were gripping the sides of my face, holding me tenderly. He lay his forehead against mine and let loose a deep, relieved sigh.
I closed my eyes and leant into him, breathing him in. He was there. He came. Somehow, against all odds, he’d found me.
My Knight.
He kissed me softly on the cheek, reverently, with all the love and care in the world before he quickly cut the restraints away. I fell forward and he caught me, his strong arms wrapping around my waist. My limbs felt weak, my wrists and ankles aching with pain. He supported my weight as he dragged me away from the table and down to the ground.
“I’m okay. I’m alright,” I reassured him, but he continued to sweep his hands over my body, needing to see for himself that I was unharmed.
“I was so worried. So scared. Fuck, Tatiana.” He held me tight, burying my face into his shoulder, squeezing me so hard, I struggled to breathe. “Ty v poryadke. Ty v poryadke.” You’re okay. You’re okay, he whispered into my hair. He wasn’t saying that to me. No. He was saying that to himself, like he was trying to reassure himself that I was alive. I hugged him back, the comfort and support he was providing instantly putting me at ease.
For one horrible second, I thought I was done for. I thought Dario was going to rape me, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. I’d never felt so powerless. So helpless. I didn’t fucking like it.
My eyes snapped to him, pinned to the ground with knives in his hands, still crying out in pain.
Vengeance surged in my veins, this overwhelming desire to make that despicable human being bleed and suffer all but consuming me. I wanted him to see what it felt like to be fucking powerless, to have someone do something to you that you had no way of stopping. I wanted him to feel helpless, like I had.
“Do we have time?” I asked, never taking my eyes off Dario.
Nikolai watched me closely. Because he knew me so well, because he was my Nikolai, he knew without hearing the words what it was that I wanted. What I needed.
He looked over his shoulder at his brother. “Lukyan. Time?”
Lukyan glanced at his watch. “Two minutes.”
Nikolai nodded. He helped me get to my feet and then walked me over to Dario, despite my protests that I could do it myself. His hands never left my body, like he was afraid that if he stopped touching me, I would disappear.
“Hold him still,” I commanded.
Lukyan threw his machine gun behind his back, the strap it was connected to stopping it from falling to the ground, and gripped his ankles, holding him down. Dario fought, screaming and thrashing, cursing and spitting, but every time he moved, the knives in his palms would cut more into his skin, making him cry out in pain.
I dropped to my knees at his side. “Help me with his pants.” Nikolai didn’t hesitate, yanking his pants down.
“What are you doing?! Stop! Stop it!” His voice was filled with panic, and it made me smile.
Good. Let him fucking panic.
“Don’t! DON’T!”
Nikolai didn’t listen, pulling his underwear down next. The material pooled around his ankles and Lukyan adjusted his grip, making sure to keep his legs still.
I held out my hand and Nikolai slapped the hilt of a blade into my palm.
Dario’s eyes widened. “Wait, just wait. Please, don’t do this,” he begged, crying.
A sadistic smirk curled on my lips. I gripped his jaw roughly, holding the knife up for him to see. “How many times were those words uttered to you right before you raped someone? Hmm?” I carved into his cheek and he screamed, blood trailing down his face. I forced him to look at me, staring him dead in the eyes. “This is for all of those women who didn’t have a knight of their own to come and save them.”
I clutched his flaccid dick in my hands and cut it off right at the base. Dario screeched so loudly, it hurt my ears, his whole body thrashing and convulsing. I pried his mouth open and shoved it inside. Nikolai darted to the tray in the middle of the room and grabbed a roll of duct tape. I kept my hand over Dario’s mouth, making sure he couldn’t spit his dick back out as Nikolai wrapped the tape around his head and over his lips.
Dario cried, whimpering and moaning. He was losing a lot of blood. I didn’t think he would last much longer.
I kicked him in the side and spat at him. “Svoloch.” Motherfucker.
I looked up at Nikolai, my heart so full of love and gratitude. He stretched his palm out in offering and I took it, placing my hand in his.
