Page 7 of Forced Bratva Wife

Landing another blow across his cheek, I relished the way Pavel flew back in his chair. When he righted himself, I grabbed him by the hair.

“If you so much as think about crossing us again, you won’t be so lucky again.”

I tossed his head back, addressing my men in the room. “Get the car ready. It looks like we’ll be making a trip downtown.”

***

Tension filled the car as we drove to the address given by Marcus’s contact. The silence before a job took over the interior of the Escalade, and my men studied the floor intently as they psyched themselves up for what was about to happen.

Snatches were always an interesting part of the job. Hell, they were fairly common, but you never knew just what was going to happen. Some people went along pretty well with it, taking orders and reserving a healthy amount of fear for their captors. Others, however, put up a hell of a fight and made things get…messy.

I didn’t want messy. I needed this operation to go quickly and clean. We’d avoided real damage at Pavel’s office, leaving nobody to clean up, and I didn’t want to lose this string. No money, no kid, and nothing to hold over Pavel would be a shit way to end the night.

The sound of guns being loaded and anxious men checking and rechecking their mags filled the cab to burst. I checked my own piece, a nervous habit of all of ours. There shouldn’t be any need to unload, but it never hurt to be prepared. Silence was the most appropriate approach, but there was bound to be a bit of commotion when we first got into the apartment.

“Check the perimeter before we head in. I don’t want anyone to know we were here. You got it?”

“Of course.” Pietor nodded, then looked over to the others, landing his hard glare on them to drive home my point.

With the crunch of gravel beneath the tires, we pulled to a stop in the alley just off Parker Kozlovsky’s apartment. The Escalade was black, and when the driver shut off the lights, it disappeared into the shadows. Knowing well enough to pause, the crew waited a solid minute before sliding out of the car and leaving the trunk cracked and ready for the driver to peel out fast.

“Silence.” I made eye contact with each of my men. “You see a witness, you let me know. We don’t want a trail leading back to us.”

They all nodded, already obeying my command for radio silence.

“Go.”

Booted footsteps blended into the sounds of the street behind us, and we moved forward as a unit to the back of Parker’s apartment. There was a window, and I gestured for someone to investigate. A second later, my man came back with a report.

“Bathroom. We can slip in only one at a time. May need to use the front.”

Dammit. A front entrance would be pretty exposed. I didn’t like it, but if there was no other way…

“Get someone inside the window. Open the front from inside. Quickly.”

The smallest of the guys, perfect for tricky entrances, got to work, sliding the lock on the window over with his pocket knife and crawling inside. The rest of us hurried to the front, waiting at the door for him to come let us in.

When I heard the lock on the other side of the door, I pushed in, my crew tight on my heels. They flanked the living area, making sure we weren’t being set up by Pavel. I wouldn’t put it past the guy to have a tiny collection of rented men inside here as a stupid attempt to enact some vengeance or some shit.

Pietor came back with the others. “Clear.”

“Bedroom?” I cocked a brow at him.

“Back there. She’s asleep.”

I smirked. I always did love an easy mark. “Perfect.”

We all padded slightly down the hall. Pietor had left the door cracked so that we didn’t have to risk the knob twice, and I appreciated his attention to detail. As I slipped into the dimly lit space, I was surprised to still see a lamp next to the bed on. I gestured with my head at it, and one of my men quickly turned it off by yanking the chain.

The room plunged into darkness, the light from the street lamp just outside the windows the only thing keeping us from being completely blind.

Parker stirred in her bed, rousing to roll over, and then suddenly, she was awake.

“My light.”

When she reached for it, the man standing just out of sight by her nightstand stuck on my nod, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of bed. His hand quickly clamped around her mouth to stop the yell that shot out.

There was a moment when I considered that it was turning the light off what triggered her, until I stepped forward into the glow of the window light.

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