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“No,” Caterina says, her voice firm and cold. “I want to stay.”
Sasha lifts her chin, her eyes meeting mine without a hint of reticence. “So do I.”
“Very well then.” I glance towards the door, where Luca is carrying Sofia out, flanked by a few of the men we brought as backup, for protection. “Where is Ana? You said Anika and Yelena are upstairs, is she there too?”
The look on Caterina’s face changes instantly to one of such grief, tears springing up in Sasha’s eyes as well, that I know the answer.
“She was sold?” My voice is tight and hard, the fury that I’d momentarily quelled when I’d gone to my wife rising up hot and fierce again. “To whom?”
“I don’t know much,” Caterina says quietly. “He spoke French, with what sounded like a native accent, and he dressed very outrageously. He was wearing a velvet suit. He seemed to be a collector of some kind—he looked at Ana…differently.” She frowns. “I don’t know how to explain it, exactly. It wasn’t lecherous. It was like he could have been buying a priceless antique or piece of art just as easily as a human being.”
“Shite,” Liam curses. “You’ve got to befeckingkidding me. How long before we got here?”
The look on Caterina’s face is beyond grief-stricken. “A half-hour, maybe,” she whispers softly. “No more than that.”
“Fuck!” Liam swears again, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “Mary, Jesus and Joseph, I’m going to find him if it’s the last fucking thing I do—” He’s pacing, his hands clenched in fists as he swivels abruptly, turning towards Alexei. Before I can say anything or even guess at what he’s about to do, he crosses to the stage where Levin has Alexei sitting in two long strides, a grimace of pure rage on his face.
“Fucking piece ofshite!” Liam snarls, grabbing a fistful of Alexei’s hair in his left hand and yanking his head back, delivering a blow directly to the man’s nose with his right. “You don’t deserve a quick death, youfucking—”
“And he won’t get one,” I say curtly, striding towards them and interrupting Liam before he can get in another blow.
Alexei spits at me, grimacing, and I backhand him across the face, hard enough to split his lip open. He rocks backwards and Levin grabs his shoulder, pushing him forward to take the next blow, my fist smashing into his jaw.
“You’re going to pay for what you’ve done to my family,” I tell him coldly through gritted teeth. “You thought, in your arrogance, that you could take what’s mine. You were wrong. And now you’ll live long enough to regret it.”
“I didn’t touch them,” Alexei snarls, narrowing his eyes at me. “You can punish me for disloyalty all you like,Ussuri,but I didn’t touch your cunt of a wife or the other girls—”
“He’s lying.” Caterina steps forward, her face very pale, but her chin lifted defiantly as she glares venomously at Alexei. “He forced me into his bed the first night that we were here, made me go down on my knees for him and then fucked me. It wasn’t the only time either.” Her voice shakes slightly, but she doesn’t stop, her hands fisted at her sides. “He raped me,” she says, clearly and coldly, the words ringing out between us. “He threatened our children, tried to sell them to men who would have done the same. I want him to hurt for that. I want him to bleed.”
“He beat me.” Sasha steps up next to Caterina, her gaze equally as vicious as she stares Alexei down. “He hung me blindfolded from the ceiling and beat me with a belt until I nearly couldn’t walk. Ana too. He did it to punish Caterina, because she attacked him when he frightened Anika and tried to touch her.”
It’s not even the red-hot, fierce rage that I feel now, as I absorb what my wife and Sasha are saying. I see Liam tense next to me, his hands curling into fists as he rocks forwards, every line of his body screaming that he wants to beat Alexei to a bloody pulp. But I have other plans for the man, and Liam knows it.
The rage I feel now is cold, chilling me down to the bones with the dead certainty that I will take this man apart piece by piece, until he’s paid ten times over for what he’s done. And I won’t feel guilt or regret.
He deserves it.
“Levin,” I say calmly, glancing towards my right-hand man, who I trust above all else. “You have the tools?”
Levin nods. “Of course,Ussuri. As requested.” He pushes a black bag towards me with his foot, sliding it across the hardwood floor, a cold smile on his lips as we both see Alexei start to pale with the realization of what’s about to happen.
“You can’t do this!” Alexei cries, twisting as he tries to stand up. “Iwas your enforcer, Viktor, your left hand. They’re lying, the cunts, I—”
I nod to Liam, who pauses long enough to roll up his shirtsleeves before stepping forward and punching Alexei hard enough to send him reeling to one side, blood spurting from his mouth as a tooth comes loose.
“Again?” Liam asks, and I nod, rolling up my own as Levin stands to one side, watching.
“There’s a rigging, there,” Levin says, nodding to the center stage. “Should we restrain him there?”
“Excellent idea.” I grab his wrists, hauling Alexei to his feet as Levin strides in front of me. When we reach the stage and drag him onto it, Levin pulls Alexei’s wrists over his head, lashing him to the rigging so that he’s standing with his hands bound above him. There’s rings on either side of the stage, and Levin takes more rope, running it through the rings and then looping it around Alexei’s ankles so that he’s standing spread-eagled, unable to move.
“Strip him,” I order, and Levin moves forwards with an anticipatory smile on his face, a hunting knife in his hand.
“You can’t do this!” Alexei tries to twist away, but there’s no moving. “Viktor—”
“Ussurito you,” I snarl, pacing as Levin begins to cut away Alexei’s clothes.
“Wait!” Sasha steps forward, to the edge of the stage, and holds out her hand. “Give the knife to me.”
