Page 35 of Twisted Cage

Four, with four I’ll break her. I’ll leave no part of her inexperienced cunt unclaimed. And she’ll never run from me again.

“Jesus Christ!” The words escape on a harsh gasp. I clutch the edge of the tub, fucking my fist until my balls seize up so tight, the tension grips my throat, choking out my ability to make a sound. My release sweeps violently through me, robbing me of all sanity and reason.

My head falls back, my chest heaving… the echo in my head so loud I don't hear Grigori pushing open the door to the crypt.

“Uh, boss,” he says, his eyes landing on me in the tub and sliding away as quickly as possible.

They already question my sanity most days, seeing me folded up in a waterless claw-foot tub, my gasping breaths leaving no doubt as to exactly what I’ve been up to.

He is just smart enough to pretend he doesn’t know what I have just done.

“What?” I bark, my hand covered in cum that will definitely go to waste. Grigori definitely doesn’t want to see exactly what I would have done with it.

“We found her.”

“Another spotting by someone who doesn’t know just what she looks like?”

“No. Not this time,” he says, daring a glance at me, a smile curving his lips. “She used her credit card.”

I shoot up, my fucking cock still in my hand. “Fuck.”

Grigori holds up a hand, shielding his eyes. “How about I meet you in Nikolaj’s office in ten?”

“Yeah, shit.”

He slips out the door and I hurry to clean myself up and right my pants. In a matter of minutes, I exit the crypt and make my way along the catacomb to the false wall connecting a series of newly built tunnels. Nikolaj paid a small fortune and bartered a lifetime's worth of favors to build the intricate system. Snaking it as far up as the financial district where his bar, Evolutions, hosts some of the most successful businessmen in the city.

At any given moment, we can retreat underground through any one of our forty entry points, and move over about half of Manhattan.

The refuge made up of catacombs and tunnels offers stealth protection when the odds stack against us. Until about six months ago, his army practically lived entirely underground. However, with alliances comes wealth and Nikolaj has an uncanny ability to draw even the most skeptical of the influential elite into his inner circle.

The connections allow him to secure five different safe houses throughout Manhattan. The thirteenth floors no one knows exist in high-rises, all with private concealed entrances.

Despite having one of those safe houses all to myself, with every luxury I can possibly want, I still spend the majority of my time underground.

In exile.

Torturing myself.

Clinging to a past I can’t change.

But maybe today I’ll find a way out of my purgatory once and for all.

Clinging to the steep metal stairs that lead to the storage closet of Evolutions, I pull myself to the narrow space tucked behind the hot water heater. Smoothing my jacket, I cross the hall to Nikolaj’s office. My men stand on either side of the door, their hands folded in front of them, the absolute picture of calm.

Deceptive that view. Tension fills the room as Nikolaj paces with his cell pressed to his ear. When he hangs up, he glares up at me. “About fucking time, Malikov.”

I’ll let him get away with that because he fears for her as much as I do. “Where is she?”

“About four hours north of here. I called the store where she used her card. The pharmacist who checked her out said she was nervous. Looking over her shoulder a lot.” He flattens his palms against his desk, his rigid shoulders rippling with tension. “She had no reason to think we’d found her so she’s not worrying about us, but she’s worried about someone.”

We’ll need more men than I took to Pennsylvania yesterday. If she is in danger, there is only one way to go in… with an army. “Do we have footage to be sure it’s her this time?”

“Yes, and it’s her.”

“You’re positive?”

Nikolaj’s head snaps up and he shoots me a steely glare. “She’s my fucking sister. What the hell do you think?”

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