The same can’t be said for Nikolai. He looks a little lost—kind of like me.A weird sensation is bristling in the air. It could be because a new monarch just seized his throne as my brother tried to do years ago, but in all honesty, it feels more than that. It’s a strange sensation but highly addictive.
I stop at Rico’s side just as he offers for Nikolai to leave business to us. “Go take care of Justine. Trey and I will get everything under control down here.”
My lips quirk into a smile, smug-as-fuck Rico sees me as an equal. I doubt he will if any of the rumblings out of Nikolai’s crew the past eight hours reaches his ears. Supposedly, we’re each other’s biggest competitors. I thought our placement in Nikolai’s life would make us more allies than enemies. It appears as if Rico agrees with me.
With that in mind, I lock my eyes with Nikolai and say, “We know where to find you if we need you.”
He lifts his chin at our suggestion. “Take care of everythingbuther.” He strays his eyes from me to Malvina sitting wonky on a single-seater couch since her arms and legs are still bound. “We’ve got a few matters to discuss before she returns to Russia.Ifshe returns to Russia.”
With three sets of murderous eyes on her, Malvina’s throat works hard to swallow. It appeases Nikolai’s worries in an instant.
Confident we’re more than capable of holding down the fort, Nikolai commences leading Justine to the stairwell. I wait for him to disappear down the corridor on the top level of the compound before shifting on my feet to face Malvina. The quicker I get her into lockdown, the faster I can return to K, who I’m hoping like fuck is still waiting for me in my car.
My steps to Malvina halt mid-stride when Rico says, “You appear to have your hands full, so why don’t you leave Malvina for me.”
When I peer at him, lost as to what he means, he nudges his head to the door I walked through only thirty seconds ago. K is peering through the spotlessly clean glass. It’s clear from the expression on her face she’s scared, but her fear isn’t high enough for her to place it above the person she’s seeking.
It’s that side of her that intrigues me—her strong side.
Even from a distance, I can’t deny my body’s response to her fragile, broken appearance. I don’t want to fix her. I’m fascinated as fuck to discover if she can fix herself. If an abused sex slave can claw her way back from the brink, who’s to say I can’t do the same.
Upon spotting Rico and my gawking stares, K’s eyes pop so far out of her head, I’m certain they’ll feel the burn of her dehydration for days to come before she pivots on her bare feet and dashes down the stairs.
“Shouldn’t you go after her?” Rico asks, concerned she’s running.
I shake my head. “She isn’t going anywhere. I have something she wants.” And for the first time tonight, I’m not referencing the woman she wouldn’t let out of her sight.
Broken people attract broken people because they know better than anyone that only when you’re at your best, do you attract your worst. K doesn’t trust me any more than the man standing next to me, but she isn’t scared of me. That’s why she hit me.
You can’t fear someone who lives in the same shadow as you.
Needing to end one injustice before taking up another, I dig a sheet of paper out of my pocket. It’s covered with dirt, but its importance is highly notable, even more so since a sex slave wrote a single letter into the fog of her heated breaths.
“While you’re tucking Malvina in for the night, perhaps you could ask her about this.”
Rico’s dark brows stitch when I hand a sale docket I found in the room Malvina was hiding out in during our raid. If I were to believe what it says, Nikolai purchased a whore by the name of Kristina Svoboda for one point two million dollars earlier this week—days after falling dick first for Justine.
“Is this legitimate?” Rico asks, his tone pitched with annoyance.
It’s obvious I’m not the only man in the room with a dislike for the sex-trafficking industry. I get it makes a lot of money, and to some men, that surpasses anything, but you’ve got more issues than a fucked-up head if you need to force someone to sleep with you. You must have a dog’s ass for a face, or worse, a limp dick. There’s no other explanation. Clarks is swamped with whores willing to do anything to become one of my brothers’ old ladies, and they don’t get handed a dime, so if you’re paying for it, it’s time to check yourself.
When Rico arches his brow, prompting me to answer him, I shrug. “I had Mikhail take a quick look at it after the raid. A matching set of funds left Nikolai’s bank account hours after Kristina’s sale.”
Rico works his jaw side to side before telling me to leave it to him. “Even dead Vladimir is still fucking with Nikolai’s head.”
I jerk up my chin, agreeing with him. “There’s something murky going on here. Nikolai is—”
“As pussy whipped as the rest of us, so he’d never pay for a side-whore? Yeah, I get that.”
Although I agree with most of his comment, I scoff about my inclusion in his equation. I’m as free as a birdand itching like fuck to get back to my car to check if K is back inside.
Pretending his rile has no basis whatsoever, I play it cool while Rico guides Malvina toward the ‘dungeon’ half of the mansion. The instant he’s out of earshot, I hotfoot it to my car.
I’m not surprised to spot K sitting in the passenger seat. However, I am as smug as fuck.
With my cocky smile hidden by an angled chin, I slide into the driver’s seat of my Shelby and fire up the ignition. K keeps her eyes front and center when I tell her to put her seat belt back on, but I hear the nervous bob of her throat. She isn’t fearful she was busted being disobedient, she’s uneased about me calling her Kristina. That can only mean one thing. Either she isn’t Kristina, or she hates the name.
Whatever the reason, I won’t use it again.
