“Where is he?” my father asks me yet again.
“I told you…” My words are whispers because my mouth and throat are so dry. It’s been hours of questions like this each and every day. I can’t remember exactly how many days it’s been since I’ve had anything to eat. I’ve been telling myself it’s a good thing to lose those last, stubborn ten pounds.
I’m not even hungry anymore. I’m just weak, living off of water from the faucet. I’m so weak I have to be held up by two men when my father comes to “visit” me in the groundskeeper’s storage building he’s keeping me locked in on the edge of the property. Even if I had the energy to try to run, there are always guards watching me. I have to wash off and drink from a utility sink and use the bathroom in a goddamn bucket.
“He’s not at the school! He’s nowhere to be found in the whole goddamn state!” Yuri exclaims. “Not a soul has seen him in days!”
He sent people to search for Cole on campus the first day he brought me here. By then, he had already used my fake name to hack my bank account and track down Cole’s school from my tuition payments.
“Where the fuck is my grandson!” Yuri roars.
“I haven’t…talked to him in…weeks. I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. I have the phone records!” Either his fist or the back of his hand slams into the left side of my face. All I know is that my jaw and lip hurt worse than before. I taste copper on my tongue a moment later. I’m just glad that Dante made Cole and the others leave their phones behind before leaving New York so my father couldn’t track them.
“You’re keeping my grandson from me on purpose. But I’m going to get it out of you one way or another.”
It turns out that getting my father alone, gaining his trust, was impossible from the start. I never even got to step foot in the mansion I grew up in. He’s always with at least four guards, and they’re all heavily armed. I haven’t been able to even get my hands on a fork since I got here. If I die before I get out, Dante will be so pissed. Thinking of him, I decide to spin a new lie. One that has a ring of truth to it.
“Dan…Salvato has Cole.”
“Bullshit!”
“He does. He really does,” I assure him. And that much is true. Dante knows where Cole is even if I don’t. “You think…Salvato doesn’t have his own…torture techniques? He’s even more vicious…than you.”
That’s not a lie either. Dante is more vicious when it comes to getting vengeance for someone he loves. And he loves me. He loves me so much he asked me to marry him. No planning. No prenup. He fucked me while we said our vows before the officiant in the lounge. It was crazy hot and sort of romantic having him inside me when he promised to love and cherish me for the rest of our lives. I, on the other hand, refused to say I would obey him, which resulted in my ass getting a slap. Dante may wish I was more subservient, but he would get bored with a wife who always agreed with him and did everything he asked of her.
“You love that bastard, don’t you? Admit it!” my father bellows, followed by another hit to my sore cheek. This one hurts even my neck from the whiplash. Probably his fist that time. I don’t know why he hates the idea of me loving Dante so much, but he does.
“He didn’t want you before; he doesn’t want you now.”
“I know,” I agree.
It’s true. Dante doesn’t want me. It’s more than a simple want for the two of us. He needs me, just like I need him. He’s a necessity, a basic requirement like oxygen. I need him to survive.
And I need him now more than ever before I starve to death.
But I would rather die than have him barge into the compound guns blazing and get killed on a suicidal rescue mission. His girls need him. Cole…he’s all grown up. Dante will take care of him for me.
“What’s Salvato planning for me, huh? Tell me the truth this time!”
Each day I give him another lie to keep him good and paranoid of his own people.
“Poison.”
“Poison?” he repeats. “Did she say poison?”
“Yes, boss, that’s what I heard,” one of the men holding my arm replies.
“How the fuck does he think that will work?”
“Kitchen. Supplies. Retailers. I dunno. Give me food…and I might remember.” There, that’s enough suspects to keep my father busy. I just hope he doesn’t kill anyone he finds suspicious. He probably will. But he would do that even without my nudge because he’s a goddamn monster.
“You don’t deserve to eat, you filthy whore!” That’s right, now that I’m all grown up, I’ve graduated from being a spoiled little bitch to a filthy whore.
He’s so certain that Dante and I were fucking like bunnies, and I have no clue how he knows. Someone must have heard about us or seen us at the resort. But he still doesn’t know I’m married to his enemy.
Dante paid people to keep it out of the public record for now, for exactly this reason.
I use what little strength I have to try and lie better. “Fine! He used me, okay? I didn’t want him to touch me at first. Then…then he got what he wanted…and moved on to other women right in front of me. I hate that asshole!”
Thankfully, my father’s lips curl up, believing me. His shoulders even relax as if he’s not quite as concerned about Dante coming after him for me. He still believes he’s a playboy.
“Why did he agree to give you back to me, huh? He could’ve asked me for money, property, anything.”
My father would’ve given anything, not to get to me, but to have a strong, male heir to groom into a manipulative bastard like himself.
“Business,” I say simply. “He cares about his business…more than anything. Money. Greed. He was…furious about the warehouses.”
“Good,” Yuri replies with a broader grin. “Let her go. I’m done with her for now.”
“Food?” I ask, hating myself for begging him for anything.
“Not until you tell me where Cole is.”
“If I die…”
“You won’t die. You have enough meat on your bones to make it at least another week or two without food.”
“Asshole,” I mumble as the guards lower me gently back down to the ground. An old towel is the only cushion between me and the cold concrete floor. My body aches all over from sleeping on the hard surface and my face constantly throbs from the beatings.
Despite what my father thinks, I don’t know if I can survive another week or two here. But I’ll try my fucking best.
“We’ll get you out of here tonight,” it sounds like one of the guard whispers while lowering me.
“What?” I ask, blinking up at him. He looks familiar. I think he’s the one who patted me down the first day. But then again, all the guards are tall and bulky with face tats and military crew cuts.
The guy looks to the door. As soon as my father walks out he says, “He’ll be occupied all night. We’ll get you into the house. Find you some food. Let you get a bath and sleep a few hours in a bed.”
“What? Why? Why would you do that? If he finds out…”
“He won’t find out. And I’m doing it because he’s a dick who got my brother killed when he tried to kidnap you,” is what the man says before he slips out with the other guard, the two nodding at each other.
I don’t want to get my hopes up, but with a little food in me, maybe I can come up with an actual plan to get out of here.
Dante
“Do you really think Eli and five other grapplers can take out all the guards around the entire parameter?” Titus asks as we wait in an SUV a mile away from the Petrov estate.
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
For a million dollars each, Eli and his buddies are knowingly risking their lives sneaking up and silently choking out the guards. They’re working in pairs, coming from three sides of the property, before they all meet up at the front which has the heaviest security presence.
Our IT guys are running a replay of last night on all the security cameras rather than taking it out completely. That way, anyone watching the feed will think everything is fine.
“Well, I guess this is better than going in hot, losing as many men as we take out,” Titus says as he stares down at his phone, waiting for updates.
Since he’s in charge of the guards, he’s closer to the guys than I am or ever will be. He’ll send them into danger if I order him to, but he doesn’t like watching men die for bullshit. I don’t either. But sometimes, violence is the only thing that works in this lifestyle.
Before I met Vanessa, I probably would’ve always gone with the quicker, bloodier route. But she makes me want to be a better person. She also showed me what it is to love someone with your entire heart and soul. Knowing what that feels like, hell, I don’t want to risk the lives of my men, taking them away from their wives, sons, or daughters. And part of me doesn’t even want the men who follow my enemy to endure that kind of fate either. Yuri’s crew deserves to keep living their lives even after he’s dead. That man isn’t worth dying for, and I plan to give them a chance to change sides once he’s been dealt with.
The screen of Titus’s phone lights up as he reads a text. “The gate is clear. Security has been dropped and zip tied. Eli’s corralling them all into the guard house.”
“Good. Let’s go. Get everyone in position,” I tell him as we all jump out of the row of SUVs to go join the party. I knew the first step, getting into the estate without raising the alarm, was going to be the biggest challenge. They’ll never see us coming now.
“Make sure everyone waits for me before going inside the main house, and not to fire a single shot without my permission,” I tell Titus when he catches up to me.
The last thing I need is for Vanessa to get hit by friendly fire. She barely escaped the bullets during the car chase and shootout with Kozlov’s crew. I’m not taking that chance again. This time of night, I’m betting on Vanessa and Yuri being asleep in bed, without the slightest idea that we’re taking over the house.
We pass the guard house which is exactly as described. A man in all black, including his face mask nods to us as we walk through the opening in the gate of the ten-foot-tall fence.
There’s not a single guard on the property as we cross the fake grass and decorative hedges. Flood lights are already on, helping us find our way to the front of the mansion.
Two men in black wearing the same attire as the one at the guard house are leaning their backs against the columns as if they’re hanging out on a smoke break. Under the portico, four brawny men are on the ground, faces absolutely furious. I would be too if I were hogtied. I doubt these guys could bend in such a way if they even wanted to. Not to mention they’re also gagged with…belts. Possibly their own since I only provided Eli’s crew with zip ties.
One of the lounging men steps forward, peeling their mask up. Eli.
“The grounds are secure. No unnecessary bloodshed as ordered,” he says. “And if there are any guards inside, they haven’t come out to check on these fuckers.”
“Nice job,” I tell him. “It’s good to have you back.”
“Good to be back,” he replies with a wicked grin. I bet the bastard did miss inflicting pain. Unless he was doing that in his free time. “Now what?” he asks.
“Now we go find Vanessa and deal with Yuri.”
Walking up to the double front doors, I try one of the knobs…and it opens with a faint creak.
“Huh,” I mutter.
“Why would the door be locked if the guards are constantly coming in and out?” Titus remarks.
“True. Let’s go. Quietly.”
Our footsteps on the marble floors are soft and slower than I would’ve liked, but necessary. Since I would assume the man is too paranoid to sleep on the first level, I take the lead up the marble stairs.
The second floor seems to go a mile in each direction. So many doors to try until I find Vanessa.
When I hear sounds coming from the far end on the left, I head in that direction, gesturing for Titus to halt the men behind us. On the off chance they get trigger-happy, I don’t want it to be when they open a door and find Vanessa.
I twist each doorknob I come to, finding them all unlocked. Some were even open, and of course empty. The closer I get to the one on the end, the louder the noises get. Grunts and groans. A woman’s high-pitched moans and shouts for god. No wonder Yuri didn’t hear us coming. He was too busy getting some ass.
The doorknob of the last door, as expected, is locked. I could either try to bust it down with my shoulder, which may or may not work, alerting him to my presence. Or I can shoot the lock for quicker entry. Here’s hoping I can get the drop on the old man before he pulls out his own gun. I have no doubt he sleeps with one close to him. I just pray he doesn’t keep one in his hand while he’s fucking.
Thanks to the silencer I put on my gun, it doesn’t make much of a sound, but it’s definitely noticeable when it blows a hole through the locking mechanism. I kick the door open with my foot and steady my gun with two hands, ready to pull the trigger again.
“Hands up!” I yell in warning to the occupants of the bedroom. All…three of them. “Wow.” That’s the only word I can say when I take in the scene.
Yuri doesn’t lift his hands, but I’m not too concerned. He doesn’t have a gun in them. The only thing he’s currently holding is his dick. And when he lets it go, it’s small, shriveled, and limper than a wet sock.
To make this even more embarrassing for him, he’s not even in the bed with the naked brunette who was yelling for god. No, he’s sitting in a brown leather chair beside the bed, watching. A young, also naked, twenty or thirty-something guy with a flabby dad bod is frozen in place in the middle of the king-sized bed. The woman in front of him is on her hands and knees, getting fucked from behind. Both of them crane their necks to look at me standing in the door, holding them at gunpoint.
“Trouble getting it up, Yuri?” I can’t help but ask, unable to hide my smirk. Serves the bastard right. To the man and woman, I say, “Get out.”
They don’t have to be told twice. The couple scrambles off the bed, not even bothering to try and pick up any clothes before rushing out the door past me.
“Where’s Vanessa?” I ask first and foremost.
Even in the compromising position he’s in, he still manages to scowl indignantly at me. “That’s not her name.”
“Where is she? Which room is she in?”
“She’s not here.”
“What?”
“I knew I couldn’t trust that little whore.”
“Watch your fucking mouth. My wife isn’t a whore.”
He snorts. “Your wife, huh? So, you finally think she’s good enough for you?”
“It was never about that. She was a child before. Now, well, you finally got what you wanted. The two of us are going to rule this city from now on, you just won’t be there to see it.”
“Dante,” Eli says stepping up behind me. “I just saw Vanessa.”
“She’s not here!” Yuri exclaims again.
“Yes, she is,” Eli replies.
“Where?” I ask.
“She’s standing at the other end of the hallway.”
“Restrain him,” I say to the fighter, as I turn to go find her.
