Page 52 of The Fixer

“Oh, I’m sure he does. But by the time he finds you—if he finds you—you’ll be long gone.” He laughs as he stuffs me into the back seat.

As the world goes black, I realize that this is the beginning of the end for me. The Russians aren’t going to let me live for the perceived disrespect I threw at them.

I just hope they make it quick and painless. It’s the least those misogynistic pricks can do.

When my eyes open again, I’m in a car—no, an SUV, because the back seat is in front of me. I wouldn’t be able to spread out like this in a sedan. My head feels as if it’s about to split open, and I dry heave. Fuck. Rather than try to sit up right away, I take in my surroundings. My hands are tied and my mouth is gagged, but my legs are free. When I try to wiggle my toes, I don’t feel anything. It’s pitch black outside, so it’s nighttime. The car isn’t moving, and I’m alone.

I shimmy around enough that my one foot can hit the window, but no matter how hard I kick, it doesn’t open. My foot isn’t even making a crack in the window because my legs are asleep. Before I can think of another plan, the front doors open, and people get into the car.

“I can’t believe he fucking lost her.” I hear my brother JC. He sounds exasperated. “Like we need this on top of Papà being in surgery.” I guess it’s too much to ask him to give a fuck about both things at once.

“He says someone broke into his home and abducted her, but I don’t buy it. I bet the Russians hired The Brigade to kidnap her, and he was playing the long game…” Gabriele dangles the worm in front of him, and my brother, being the gullible fish he is, takes it hook, line, and sinker.

“I bet they see us as competition. We’re the most powerful crime family in the country. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that everything is falling apart as soon as he comes into her life. But Franco and Max trust him.”

“I mean no disrespect, but between us, your brothers aren’t as smart as you. Their trusting nature makes them weak. It made your sister a target.”

I feel like I’m going to puke. JC is such a moron to not see what’s right in front of him. We were raised by the same family, with the same values. How did he get so twisted? How can he not see Gabriele for the slimy, traitorous bastard he is?!

“I told Papà the night she was made that I didn’t think Maddie had what it took to be in Nuova Notte. At first, I thought it was because she’s a woman. But now I think it’s because she’s not cut out for this life. She put her trust in someone outside the family because he was able to worm his way up her skirt. I thought she was better than this.”

The cart starts to slow down, but my tears ramp up. I can’t believe my brother feels that way about me. Maybe I’m not cut for this life, because while I was sitting here, praying he’d turn around and see me, he was busy shit-talking about me to the man who’s delivering me right to the devil’s door.

I hear the door open, then a tapping sound. “Thanks for the ride, Gabe.”

“No problem. Get some sleep, we’ll find her tomorrow.”

The car keeps driving, but it’s hard to tell how long because we keep hitting traffic and stopping. Then he starts driving faster, at a more constant speed, probably on the highway. The whole ride there, I grow increasingly pissed off. How dare he say that shit about me? JC is the family fuck up. He probably loves that I’m finally out of the way so he can shine. Well, fuck him. I’m going to escape, just to rip that asshole to shreds.

As we make turns and wind through what I assume are busy city streets, I pull myself together, building my defenses brick by brick until a fortress is erected around me. JC aside, Garrix is worried sick about me. I can’t feel him the way I feel Max, but I know my heart is hurting because I’m without him.

And I know he feels the same way, because my psychotic guard dog is obsessed with me. Gabe did get that one detail right.

When we finally stop, and I hear the stick shift locking, I pretend to be sleeping still. After the hatch door opens, I hear deep voices speaking Russian. Rough hands pull my feet until I almost fall out of the back. My backside hits the ground hard, but I stay silent.

“Be careful, he wants her in one piece,” Gabe barks at the man. “When can I expect my payment?”

“Yes, payment,” a baritone, accented voice replies. I crack my eyes just in time to see him draw a gun on Gabe. Before my ex can defend himself, he’s shot once in the head and a second time in the heart.

Can’t say I feel too bad for him.

“Take her to the house and lock her in the basement,” he orders a thinner, taller man.

I’m thrown over his shoulder, and carried through a back door, into an elaborate mansion home. Whoever decorated it probably thought it was classy, but it looked like a toddler’s craft station blew up in here. The competing patterns, colors, and textures are making me even sicker than I was in the car. When the man climbs down the basement stairs, I open my eyes, scanning the room for weapons. It’s a clean space, with nothing on the walls and no furniture.

Dmitri stands in the center, his cold blue-white eyes fixed on mine. “I see you’re awake, Maddie. Welcome to my humble home. We have so much to discuss.”

Garrix

“Maddalena? I need you to come up here!” I shout downstairs.

I found tracking bracelets for us in my closet, in case we get separated or someone intercepts her during our travels. Everyone thinks flying a private jet is safer and it makes you untouchable. But private airstrips are barely monitored, and I wouldn’t put it past a rogue air controller to give our location away to the highest bidder.

Everyone has a price—it’s the way of the criminal world.

“Kitten, get moving, we have to go!”

I don’t hear anything. A feeling of dread slithers down my spine and settles into my gut. Something is wrong. As I run down the stairs, taking them two at a time, I know I won’t see her sitting on the couch when I get to the bottom.

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