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“Oh, and don’t we all want to aspire to be like Emilia,” Viktor mocks.
I shoot him a glare. “I’ll go with you. But my siblings stay here, unharmed.”
“Fine by me. Now, are we going or what?” He shakes his hand at me.
“I’m not taking your hand.”
Viktor sighs and grabs my hand anyway, pulling me farther and farther from my siblings. “We can’t go back the way we came, seeing as the cops have shown up. But I never planned on going out the front door again.” He takes me to the exit at the end of the hall.
“The door is locked.”
He gives me a dark smile. “Not for me, it isn’t.” He pulls out a small black device with a red button on top. “I sure do love theatrics.”
My eyes widen. “It’s a bomb.” I look back at my sisters, who are kneeling next to Antonio. “Get down!” They look at me, their eyes widening in understanding before they flatten themselves to the ground.
Viktor pushes the button. The sound of an explosion is loud in my ears as the wall next to me crumbles to the ground. The force of it knocks me back, but with Viktor’s hold on me, I don’t get far. He doesn’t even look fazed by the explosion. It’s like it’s any other Tuesday for him.
Once everything has calmed down outside, Viktor helps me over the crumbling wall. I take off, running as hard as I can, but Viktor grabs me before I can get very far. I punch his arms, and he still doesn’t let go.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says. “You wouldn’t want me to go back in there and finish what I started.” I stop fighting him. We’re at the back of the hotel. A van is in the middle of the lot, and Viktor carries me to it, opening the back door and motioning me inside.
“And if I refuse?”
Viktor chuckles. “You won’t refuse.”
Damn him. He’s right. If I fight this, my family could die. With a grimace, I get inside the van. Viktor jumps up beside me and nods at the driver, who’s a pudgy man with long hair. “Get going.” The driver nods, and in a matter of minutes, we leave the hotel behind.
“What about the rest of your men?” I ask, crossing my arms.
He waves a dismissive hand. “Ah, they’ll be fine. They were instructed to lower their weapons and let all the hostages go once the explosion went off. They’ll just spend a few years in jail. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
He shrugs. “That’s all.”
“How do you convince men to work for you when they’ll just end up in jail?”
“I offer men freedom. The chance to live life with excitement. No rules. You’d be amazed at how many men want a taste of that, even if it means spending years in a cell to experience it.”
“That’s insane.”
He spreads his hands wide. “That’s life.”
“So … everyone in the ballroom survived?”
“Meaning the rest of your family … yes.” I let out a rough breath in relief. My family’s alive. That’s something, at least.
“Why go to all thatcrazinessjust to take me? Why me?”
Viktor gets more comfortable on the hard floor of the van. “You’re what I like to call a bargaining chip.”
“A bargaining chip?”
“Yes.” He laces his fingers around his knee. “I use you to get what I want.”
God, he’s so cryptic. “And what do you want?”
“Power.”
