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Iinsert my key into the lock and open the door. I flick the lights on, and the bare apartment greets me. I had to get away from my father. As soon as the doctor told me I was pregnant, I knew that if he came back into the room, he would yell at me. I couldn’t take that, and I knew I couldn’t call Dima. His focus needs to be on his opponent. This was the only place I could think of that has security, and I knew he would come here to look for me. I move to the bathroom to splash my face with water.
Pregnant.
The doctor wanted to do an ultrasound, but I couldn’t let him do that. So I signed the papers to discharge myself and snuck out through the employee exit. I’ve been to the ER numerous times because of Clare’s House. I’ve been in the back before.
I open the door, and standing there in the hallway is a large bald man with colorful Chinese dragon tattoos on the back of his hands. The rest must go up his arm. The pause in looking at his tattoos is enough for him to jump at me. I scream and push back on the door. But he’s bigger and stronger than me. I scream and yell, hoping someone hears me. He plants his feet and pushes hard on the wood, gaining access to the bathroom. He pushes me against the wall, and I cry out. I have to protect my baby. I keep myself from falling.
“You will come with me.” His voice is thick with an accent, and all I can think of is the Triad man from the night Sparrow and I were kidnapped. He’s not him, but his accent is the same.
“No, I won’t.” I hold my chin up, and his big fist hits me. My eyes roll back and my body falls.
* * *
Iflex my jaw that hurts so bad. When I try to reach up to touch it, my hands won’t move. They are tied behind my back. My eyes fly open and I find that I’m lying on a cot in a small wire cage. There are other women in other cages around me. I use my hands to push myself up, and I see that I’m in a warehouse. Tears immediately spring to my eyes. I don’t have my phone. I have nothing to save me from this. No way to save my baby. I’ll never see Dima again.
“You married him, but that’s okay. I’ll sell you for your pale complexion to one of my many contacts. I was going to keep you.” A man I don’t know is standing at the wall in front of the cage.
“My husband is going to kill you.” I spit the words at him. “Do you know who he is?”
“I’ve heard he’s a pussy-whipped Bratva. He’s nothing.”
I can’t stop the laugh. “Keep thinking that.”
He leaves me, and all the bravado leaves my body. I can talk big, but I don’t know how Dima will find me. Even if Lyric helps him, he’ll have a hard time. I don’t even know where I am. I know I’m still in Vegas. I can see the light pollution of the Strip filtering in through the upper windows.
* * *
Dmitri
As soon as we pull up to Clare’s House something doesn’t feel right. There are police cars out front, and the guards look at me nervously as I make my way to them.
“We swear we didn’t know she went up to her apartment. We thought she was in her office until a tenant swore they heard screaming,” the guard says.
I turn to Lyric, and she sits down, tapping away at her laptop. That’s one of the reasons I have her here. Alek sits with her, and they bounce ideas off each other.
“How long ago was she taken and how?”
“About an hour ago. He took her out the loading dock.” He points to a sheet wrapped body. “He killed that guard, and that one is going to the hospital.” He points at another.
I walk over and flip the sheet back. There’s a large handprint on the man’s neck. He was strangled to death. The second guy is being sedated.
“He was huge. He honestly looked like a sumo wrestler, but he spoke Chinese. I’ve been overseas and know the difference in the languages.”
I nod at him and then head up to her apartment. Her bathroom door handle is embedded into the wall. There is a drop of blood on the floor, and I know I’m going to kill.
I storm out of the room and back downstairs.
“Anything?” I growl. My voice is so gruff sounding that people step back in fear of me. Andrei puts a hand on my arm, and I spin, ready to attack.
“Easy,brat.” He calls me brother in Russian, and I nod.
“We got the van,” Alek says as he nods at Lyric. “My girl is good.” His voice is full of praise, and it makes me angrier.
“Let’s go.” Mikhail leads the way out.
Alek tells us the van went to the Triad restaurant first, but then left a bit later.
“Go to the restaurant first,” Andrei orders.
