Page 50 of Brutal Bratva’s Owned Hostage

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dmitri

The attack was over by the time I made it back to the safe room sector of the penthouse, though the aftermath still moved around me in fragments, security reports coming through my earpiece faster than I could fully process them.

Containment achieved. Casualties minimal on our side, five of Vale’s men down, two more detained for questioning before they’d likely be found dead in some quiet corner of the city within the week. Rapid response had kept the damage contained to structural, salvageable losses rather than the catastrophic breach it could have become.

I’d moved through the aftermath mechanically, checking every corridor personally before allowing myself to head toward the safe room, confirming with my own eyes that the perimeter was actually secure rather than simply trusting reports relayed secondhand through an earpiece. Broken glass littered half the main hallway. A section of the east wing had taken enough gunfire to need structural review before anyone used it again.

None of that mattered to me the way it should have.

Vale hadn’t come to destroy the house. He’d come for Val, and the fact that he’d gotten as far as the safe room, that he’d stood in the same reinforced space I’d sworn was impenetrable and put his hands on her, tightened my chest like something physical, heavier than any structural damage the estate could have sustained.

I sat beside her now, watching her sleep, exhaustion having finally overtaken the adrenaline that had carried her through the past few hours. Her face had gone pale, her breathing still uneven even in sleep, the involuntary tremors passing through her occasionally like her body hadn’t fully accepted the danger was over.

I watched her for a long time without speaking, something I rarely did in the middle of a crisis.

Roman stood near the doorway, giving me updates in a low, steady voice. Information about perimeter reinforcement, about the detained men already being processed for whatever intelligence they carried, about Nikolai’s preliminary assessment of how Vale had managed to breach systems I’d trusted completely.

I barely listened. My attention stayed fixed on Val.

“Dmitri.” Roman’s voice finally cut through enough to reach me properly. “You really need to hear this part.”

“Go ahead.”

“The safe room locks weren’t bypassed through force. Someone had the actual override codes. That system was installed three years ago, updated twice since, and the list of people with legitimate access to those codes is short enough to count on one hand.”

“Varley.”

“Almost certainly. He’d have had access during the original installation, and there’s no indication the codes were ever changed after his removal from operational duties.” Roman’s jaw tightened, his expression becoming grim. “Which means Vale has had a blueprint of this penthouse’s most secure systems for longer than we’ve understood, possibly since before the raid on the lounge even happened.”

I digested that with detached clarity. The same clarity that had carried me through every dangerous realization of the last several months, each piece of information landing less like shock and more like confirmation.

“Change every code in this building,” I said. “Tonight. Not tomorrow, not once things settle. Tonight.”

“Already in progress. Nikolai’s overseeing it personally.”

“Good.”

Roman studied me a moment longer, something careful in his expression. “How is she?”

“Sleeping. Physically unharmed, apart from where he grabbed her.” I kept my voice level, though the words affected me more than I wanted to show. “He was in this building for less than ten minutes, Roman. Ten minutes, and he found his way into a room I built specifically to keep her safe from exactly this kind of scenario.”

“You couldn’t have anticipated Varley compromising that specific system. Nobody could have.”

“I should have changed those codes the moment I confirmed Varley’s betrayal. I didn’t. I was too focused on the immediate threat of Vale’s retaliation to consider that Varley might have left him a door already open. That’s on me.”

“You’re a man who’s been fighting separate fires at once for weeks, and something was always going to slip through the cracks eventually. You can’t catch every variable, Dmitri. Not even you.”

“Get some rest yourself,” I told him. “Once the perimeter is fully secured. I’ll need you sharp for whatever comes next.”

“And what does come next?”

I looked back toward Val, still sleeping, her hand curled loosely against her chest like she was holding onto something even in unconsciousness.

“We’re leaving,” I said. “For a few days. Somewhere Vale can’t reach.”

Roman’s eyebrows rose slightly. “The island?”