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I can’t lose focus now, and Mischa’s old mantra returns to haunt me.Breathe!I inhale raggedly, and through a screen of tears, I watch Sergei stand and rummage through a drawer.
“Now for the other.” He looks at the man behind me. “Retrieve the boy—”
“No!” I lunge to my feet, but I barely go a step before a hand latches onto my arm from behind, locking me in place. “No! Don’t you dare touch him!”
Oblivious to me, the tattooed man ascends the stairs. Seconds later, he returns—but my knees buckle with relief.
He’s alone. He doesn’t have Eli.
“The woman said they are ‘playing’,” he tells Sergei.
I fight to smother any reaction I might reveal, despite how my heart hammers. Mouse listened. I can only pray that she can stay out of sight long enough.
“Playing?” Sergei wrenches me around to face him. Whatever he sees makes him grunt in appreciation. “Make sure he’s found.”
“What do you want with him?” I risk asking. “He’s a child. He’s too young to inherit anything regardless—”
“Is that so?” His jaw clenches. He doesn’t want to tell me, and I half expect another slap. But he sighs. “By tomorrow, I’ll have him in Moldova, nestled away in a family compound—”
“Why?” I place my hand on his shoulder imploringly. “Why not let him stay with me? His mother—”
“Why?” He smooths his hand along my cheek. “And let you plant foolish ideas in his head?”
Pain bites into my jaw as his nails flex against the skin, robbing any kindness from the gesture.
“So that you can mold him the way you’ve twisted Mischa—”
“Let go of me!” I cringe out of his reach. “Don’t touch me!”
He releases me so suddenly that I trip and fall to my knees. Then he sinks into a crouch and meets my gaze. “You haven’t asked, but I know you’ve considered it: How could I let you go back if you could easily tell Robert all you know?” He raises a brown bottle that I didn’t realize was in his grasp and shakes it. “Mischa has an associate who likes to use unwitting innocents as drug mules. To keep them silent, he had some unethical physicians concoct a poison that paralyzes the vocal cords, rendering the victim unable to speak.” He cuts his gaze to Eric. “Hold her.”
The man grabs me from behind. I struggle, but it’s no use. Together, the men pry my lips apart and Sergei pours the liquid down. It’s bitter, like copper. Or blood.
The second it hits my tongue, I put all my energy into choking, spitting out every drop.
“Swallow,” Sergei demands. His hand encircles my throat, squeezing until my eyes water. When he finally releases me, I instinctively swallow, gasping for air.
Fire sears down my esophagus. Any noise I make comes out hoarse and broken.
It’s like he struck a match inside me and chased it with gasoline.
“Get her in the van,” Sergei commands loudly enough to rise above my wheezing.
The man grabs me, dragging me to my feet. My eyes stream as he ushers me from the manor and unceremoniously shoves me into the enclosed space minutes later. I scramble to get my bearings and reach for the door, but it’s already locked. I’m in the back. I feel around for an emergency lever or anything I can use as a weapon, but I find nothing.
Seconds later, the van begins to move, pitching me forward. To protect myself as much as possible, I curl into a ball and try to steady my breathing. My only hope is that Mouse got Eli away. Just long enough…
For what?
It terrifies me that I didn’t think that far ahead.
But now…
I have to find my own way to keep them safe. Even if it means dropping to my knees before Robert. Even if it means selling my soul in the process.
I’ll do whatever desperate, dirty thing required to prevent Sergei from getting the upper hand.
But in the meantime, he has the last laugh; all I can do at the moment is suffer and wait.
