Page 6 of The Bratva’s Captive Flame

She shifts uncomfortably in the chair, wincing as the movement pulls at her bruised body, and then she glares at me again. "Why should I trust you? You chained me to a bed. I need help, Mr. Roshin, not another taskmaster."

I tap my fingers on the desk again, studying her for a moment. She's no pushover, which I like, but she's not going to make this easy for me, either. Which I don’t like.

"You created this situation when you hijacked my shipment. Now you want my help, but you offer nothing in return. Tell me about Solano's security… Something useful. How do you expect me to go in and get your father if I know nothing?"

"I don't know those details," she says sharply, though something in her expression suggests she knows more than she's admitting. "I wait tables and I live on a compound where I'm basically their prisoner."

"But you hear things," I counter, leaning forward again. "You live in the compound. You see the men coming and going. You know who Solano trusts. Give me names. Give me schedules. Anything that helps me reach your father without unnecessary complications."

She sighs and covers her face with both hands. Those bruises look so painful, I'm finding it hard to keep my hard edge with her. I feel pity, and I never feel pity or sympathy. This poor woman has been through hell.

"I just…"

I feel anger stirring at how frustrating this is, but I understand her not wanting to bring her father into another mess. I was quick to the draw when I proposed that. I should've played her first, and that's my fault. It's too late to backpedal now, but I have to try something.

"The Roshin family rewards loyalty. Your father would be protected. Far better than the beatings Solano gives him. But I need information first. Start with the man who handles the formula transfers. Who is he?"

Isabela stays quiet longer this time, her breathing shallow as pain and anger war across her features. When she finally speaks again, her voice is low and bitter. "I will help you when you give me your word that you will not force him to work for you—ever."

I rise slowly from my chair and walk around the desk, stopping a few feet from her so I tower over her seated form. "You have two choices here. Help me extract your father cleanly using what you know about Solano's operation, or I put you back on a plane to Spain with a message painted on your clothes detailing your betrayal. Solano will make an example of you, and your father will watch. Which is it going to be?"

Her head snaps up at that, eyes blazing with fury as she snaps again, louder this time. "Go to hell! I risked everything to save him. I should never have come here."

Sucking in a breath to push the tension out of my chest, I gesture for Mishka and he walks over, grabbing her by the bruised arm. She winces but she goes along with him. At some point, she'll break. I just have to be patient.

"Oh, and you'll join me for dinner. Maybe with food, you'll be more agreeable…"

I watch her go, scowling at how difficult this will be. But I enjoy a good game of cat and mouse now and then.

If she wants her father out, I'll get him out. But it'll take her giving me information. Otherwise, I don't even dare risk going onto that compound. The war that would start if I weren’t successful…

5

ISABELA

Demin's men are total jerks, dragging me around at his whim. I try to tell myself all day that I have to remember what those bastards in Madrid are probably doing to my father right now, but it's hard when I know the sort of place he'd be dragged to. It would be out of the frying pan and into the fryer for him. I know that's not a life he would want to live. But Demin's threat's to return me to Solano and tell him what I've done scare me more.

The obvious solution is for him to back off and just help me, but I didn’t think this through at all. Of course a man buying drugs my father cooks would want to get my father here to do it for him. It makes sense, and it's good business. But that's not why I came here.

"Miss?" I hear and turn to see a petite woman with short, dark hair standing in the open door. I never heard them unlock it after having been locked in here for hours again. She stands with some clothing in her hands and a towel, sporting a warm smile.

"What," I grumble, not in the mood for company. I'm under no illusion that I have freedom in this place. When Demin told me I'd be joining him for dinner, he wasn't requesting.

"I've brought you some better clothes, and a towel to shower." She steps closer, holding the things out, and I sigh.

I feel gross after having lain in my own urine for days, and a hot shower would feel amazing. So I turn in the wide bed where I've been curled up sulking and sit up. She is not my enemy, and she's a hell of a lot nicer than any of the men who've been in and out of here.

"Thank you," I mumble, reaching for the clothes. It appears to be a pair of black slacks and a white blouse—boring, but not horrible. And there is a pair of panties there too, just my size. They probably used the tags off my other clothes to know what size to get me.

"My name is Danya, sweetheart," she says in a thick German accent, but her English is impeccable. "If you need anything, you can ask any one of these men for me."

My body still aches in every nook and cranny, but the warmth of seeing how affectionate and compassionate this woman is comforts me. It's a very motherly way of speaking and smiling, adding a new twinge to the pain I feel. I've never had a mother.

"Thank you," I repeat, nodding at her as if I don't know what she's saying, but I'm not sure how to respond to this warmth in such a hostile environment. Solano didn't have kind maids or house servants. He had gruff, ugly men who made demands and used weapons to enforce them.

"Dinner will be ready in one hour."

She bows at the shoulders before backing out of the room and leaving me to it. So I struggle to the bathroom, grateful the IV is no longer necessary, and set the clothes on the counter by the sink while I turn on the water. The instant that hot flow washes over my skin, I start to relax.