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“I’m a big girl,” I grumble, pissed off at the situation. “That fragile little girl is dead. You have no idea what I’m capable of now, Dmitri.” I turn and walk out the door with him right behind me.
Jogging up beside me, he sighs. “You’re right. I know nothing about you anymore,” he murmurs, a sad look crossing his face when I glance at him.
“That wasn't my choice,” I remind him as I open the car door and give him a pointed look across the top. We both slide in, buckling up quickly, and I look down at my phone.Four hours.
Chapter twenty-three
Declan
Openingmyeyeswitha groan, I blink rapidly trying to refocus my eyes against the harsh fluorescent lighting. My arms are chained to the wall above my head. I yank down on them, wincing as the metal cuts into my skin harshly. My whole body aches as I work to not sag against the chains, preventing my shoulders from being ripped from their sockets.
“It’s no use. They’re fucking strong as hell,” a tired voice to my left says. Whipping my head to the side, my eyes grow wide as I recognize him.
“Finn?” I gawk, my head swimming with more confusion.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he jokes halfheartedly, a cough hurtling from his mouth. He has a cut along his cheek, a busted nose, and a split lip. As I scan over my best friend, I notice that his shirt is ripped open. Without it buttoned, I see the various marks across his chest and stomach, he has heat patches covering his abdomen. I can only imagine what his back might look like. All of his injuries indicate he has taken a good beating, that’s for fucking sure.
“You look like shit,” I observe out loud, and he laughs before cringing.
“Don’t make me laugh, it fucking hurts,” he groans, leaning his head back against the wall as he works to calm himself.
“What happened?” My eyes roam over his injuries once more with a prominent frown.
He lifts his shoulder in a half shrug. “I was leaving my office. I turned to lock the door and something jabbed me in the fucking neck. Bastard couldn’t even face me head on. The next thing I know I’m waking up in this stupid ass room, hands above my head like a bitch in the red rooms.”
“At least you didn’t get knocked out,” I frown as my attention flashes to the pounding in the back of my head. “They found the fucking safe house! Is Natalia here?” I ask, hopeful that she wasn’t taken as well. I survey the room, realizing it’s just us here.
“I haven’t seen her, yet. She probably already initiated the protocol.Fuck,” he hisses, eyes pinching shut. His response sends a wave of relief through me, but also sends another chill down my spine in fear.
His girls.
Just as I go to open my mouth again, the answer to my next question walks right through the door.
“Dad?” I stare at him incredulously, trying to figure out his angle here.
“Don’t look so surprised,” he spits, pure anger radiating from him. “I know she told you about the deal we made so you are well aware that she broke her end when she crossed back into the state.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I hiss, yanking on the chains again, ignoring the harsh bite against my skin.
“Don’t act fucking stupid!” He screams, his feet propelling him forward before he stops suddenly. He takes a deep breath, a dirty smile covers his face. “She has less than four hours to find you, or you’re both dead. She doesn’t know you’re here…” he gestures to Finn, “but she’s a smart girl. I have no qualms that she’s probably put two and two together by now. Though, she was fairly stupid to come back, which I am working on taking care of.”
I hear Finn take in a sharp breath and can only imagine we’re having the same thoughts. I’m worried sick about Natalia, and he’s worried about Skylar and Ava. Like Finn said earlier, I can only hope that Natalia initiated the safety protocol for his girls. My girl can hold her own, but I refuse to put a child in the line of fire.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. She will never come close to finding you. I have men searching for her right now,” he shrugs nonchalantly. Looking at the man who was supposed to protect and love me as his child, hatred flows through my veins. This man taught me everything I needed to know about running my mafia. He taught me how to ride a bike when I was 5, taught me how to shoot a gun and pull a bow and arrow. The man before me is not my father. He’s just a man that looks like the man I used to know.
The potential harm to Natalia sends a rage through me like no other, heat coursing through my veins as I jerk on the chains as hard as I can. The metal continues to cut into my wrist but I don’t give a fuck at this moment. Groans from the steel ring around us, yet it doesn’t budge. I grasp the cuffs to try and keep from potentially losing my hands, working to free myself. All I know is I need to get out of here and get to Natalia before she is found. While I believe in her ability to protect herself, I don’t trust my father. To be honest, I haven’t trusted him since the night all those years ago when he forbade me to see the love of my life. I’d never taken him for an honest man. He always has shit tucked away in the back of his mind for a rainy day of torture.
My father laughs openly, grabbing a knife off the table before walking over to me. He twirls it around his hand, tossing it between his palms. “She said I couldn’t harm a hair on your head…” he admires the lights glinting off the knife, a wicked grin taking over his face. “She didn’t say anything else about the rest of your body,” he muses.
Running the tip of the knife along my bicep, he drags it down my pec, traces the she-wolf tattoo where he presses harder, slicing my skin open right over the ink. He drags it entirely through the work, corner to corner. Blood seeps gently out of the cuts, crying from the mutilation of our beloved woman.The irony.
Biting my tongue to keep from making a sound, I glare at him. I can handle pain. What I can’t handle, is knowing that Natalia is in for a death warrant and there is nothing I can do about it currently.
Trying his best to conjure some sort of reaction to the pain from me, he makes two more long, but shallow cuts. He drags the end of the blade down my sides, meticulously scarring my tattoos. Still not giving him a reaction, he doesn’t look as upset as I’d hope he would.
“You’ve always been a disappointment to me, boy. Don’t you fret, though. We will see if you’re still quiet when I make you watch me kill your wife,” he gleams with an egotistical smile. Stepping back, he admires the work completed over my body, watching the small trails of blood ooze from my opened flesh. Nodding in satisfaction, he turns to face Finn, his expression pulling one of disgust while looking over at my best friend. “Your blind loyalty is going to get you killed too, boy. You’re too young not to think about your family. Think about Skylar and Ava, don’t you want them to have their provider still? Maybe I’d take your pretty wife for myself, have her tied up as my little sex doll. Use her as I please over and over again. It’d be a shame if you didn’t turn me down, but I’ll give you one more chance to side with me, Finn. If not, I may just make my dreams come true.”
Finn yanks on the chains, screaming at Rian to not touch Skylar or Ava. I try to get out of them too, but Rian laughs at our failed attempts. “I’d kill you before you have the chance to fucking touch them,” Finn growls, blood coating his wrists against the restraints. Finn doesn’t take time to contemplate before spitting in Rian’s face. “I’d rather die than work for you.”
