Page 16 of The Bratva's Hostage

“You remember your lines?” I asked her, filling the silence in the car.

She nodded. “I do.”

“Remember… they can’t suspect that you were under duress or that we kidnapped you. As far as you’re concerned, you arrived at this decision by yourself, and you approached me about it. Think you can manage that?”

A frown creased Elena’s brow. “For the hundredth time, yes. I can. I still don’t know how to explain my absence. Can I have my phone? I’m sure they must have been trying to reach me.”

“You have nothing to worry about as far as your absence is concerned,” I said. “But here you go.” Fyodor, who was sitting in the passenger seat, passed her the phone back without turning around.

She took it and stared at me with a cautious look on her face. “My phone must have been blowing—huh. That’s strange.” She scrolled through her phone, and I suppressed the urge to laugh.

“What’s wrong?” I asked innocently.

“That’s weird,” she replied, still puzzled. “Nothing is wrong. It’s almost like no one has reached out to me in days. Just the one voicemail from Lucas.”

She put the phone to her ear and her frown deepened after a few seconds. “What the fuck?” She turned to me. “He’s asking me when I will come back from my trip. What’s he talking about? What trip?”

I smiled and pulled out my phone. I hit play and Elena’s voice sounded on my phone. “Uncle Lucas, I’m out of town at the moment, but I'll be back soon, please look after Papa for me.”

Her face contorted in anger. “What the hell is that? That’s not me! I never recorded a voicemail message. How did you get that?”

I grinned. “Ever heard of artificial intelligence?”

Her eyes widened and I laughed. “You Italians are behind on technology. This recording was AI-generated using your voice sample. You see how it sounds very much like you? Except, it’s not you. Brilliant, huh?”

Her mouth stopped open, and she vigorously waved her hand, which was holding the phone, through the air. “This… this was how you managed to shut my people off after kidnapping me. You are a fucking asshole! My family thought I'd gone away and abandoned my sick father, but I was a prisoner in your house the whole time!”

The humor fell from my face like a discarded mask. “They don’t need to hear that, now, do they? Repeat that bullshit you just said, and a lot of people could get hurt. You included. Now… call your dear uncle Lucas and let him know that you are on your way for a family meeting.”

She glared defiantly at me but dialed the number. From the hatred in her eyes, I did not doubt that this woman would stick a knife in my back the first chance she got. I didn’t plan to give her such an opportunity. Fyodor was right. She was fucking dangerous.

The only way to curb her wild temper was to make her mine. I was sure that if I treated her body like no one had ever done before, she would eventually succumb to me.

“Uncle,” she said into the phone. “Yes, I’m alright. I just got back. Listen, I’m on my way to the meeting now. Mhmm, yeah. Everyone’s coming, great… Sure… of course. One more thing,” she glared at me, “I will come to the meeting with someone… special. I'll see you soon.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Elena sighed and sank into her seat, rubbing her hand over her eyes. She was tense. The tension was bleeding out of her like water through a sieve. She wore a mask of confidence and control, but the signs were clear for me to see.

Her hands shook and she kept twisting a ring on her left hand. She was anxious. It’s her old man, I realized. Don Armando’s condition is worsening in the hospital, and he’s in a fight for life or death. Meanwhile, she must keep it all together, and get through our forced arrangement.

The car pulled up outside the famous Moretti Corporation building, located in downtown New York. The building where they cleaned seventy percent of their crime money. I knew it was a very well-run business with an airtight internal control and compliance system.

The government was not harassing them any time soon. That was another encouragement for me to make a play for the partnership. They had certain infrastructure that could be useful to my operation. It wasn’t the easiest task convincing Fyodor and Nikolai that this was a step in the right direction, but I managed to make them see the bigger picture.

Fyodor held the door open for me and Elena and as we walked past a mirrored wall, I noticed that we looked like the perfect power couple. The image made me smile. It wasn’t such a horrible picture after all.

He handpicked three other men to come with us, and the other men waited on the street, watching the cars and our backs. Without hesitation, I took Elena’s arm and led her into the building, flanked on either side by four of my men.

If Elena was under duress, she didn’t show it. She flowed naturally through the building like she belonged. And when security tried to bar us access, she said, “They are with me,” with more authority than I’d ever seen in a woman before. It made me proud and instantly hard.

Not a head turned while the posse filed into one of the elevators. I was certain that someone had called up to inform the Italian bosses that the enemy was on their turf, and worse, that Elena was with them. It promised to be an interesting morning.

The elevator bell dinged, and Fyodor and his security team filed out first, the two of us following closely behind. She led us towards a conference room at the end of the hallway, where a dozen men stood waiting outside. From their posture, it was clear they were armed.

“They wait outside,” a hard man that I knew to be Francisco said. He eyed me and I just glared at him.

I turned to Fyodor. “Zhdi zdes'. Wait here. I can handle myself.” I turned to Elena. “Shall we?” Her face was pale like she would have a heart attack and I felt a little tug at my heart.

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