Page 82 of Isle of Beauty

Igor, Andrea, Nico and I watch in horror from the shadows as half a dozen men move naked women to a small plane. We’re all tense, ready to jump and help them but we still haven’t located Lana. I exchange a gaze with Andrea and we silently vow to help everyone on that godforsaken plane.

“On my signal, you shoot them all,” Andrea commands his men.

We don’t have to wait too long. A man roughly drags my beautiful wife by the forearm. She’s naked as well and looks only half conscious.

Fuck.

Only Andrea's hand on my shoulder keeps me in place. I’m ready to bolt and choke the motherfucker who dares touch her with my bare hands. I clench my jaw and my knuckles whiten on my firearm. I focus on the man.

Dimitri Barychev.

He keeps moving her so I can’t get a good angle to shoot him in the mother-fucking head. “Now Andrea.”

The five men around Dimitri fall, shot clean dead, but he removes a gun from his side and presses it at Lana’s heart, moving behind her and using her as a shield. She barely responds to the threat, obviously drugged. I force air through my lungs and blink the tears of fear and rage away. If I lose it, she dies. If she dies, no one will be safe until I get my hands on Misha Petrov.

“Drop your weapon. You’re surrounded,” I yell to Barychev.

“If I die, she dies with me.”

We’re at a standstill until my phone rings in my pocket.

“You better answer that call, Bartoli,” Barychev says.

A cold sweat lines my brown. They know.

I take the call and put in on speaker, confident all the other men, including Andrea and Igor, have the fucker who holds my wife captive in their sights.

“Mr. Bartoli. What a way to get acquainted,” the voice drawls with a thick Russian accent, taking pleasure in the situation.

Igor’s eyes widen and I don’t need him to tell me who’s on the line.

“You see, Mr. Bartoli, your wife is my collateral. If Dimitri dies, she dies and I guess you don’t want that.” He sounds like he’s talking to a child and I want to squeeze his throat until his eyes pop out their sockets and leave empty holes I can spit in.

“What do you want?”

“You have something I want. I have something you want. We exchange.”

That was his plan all along. The realisation hits me like a ton of bricks. He never cared to do business with my uncle. Or to sell Lana. She’s just the bargaining chip. I should be relieved but the price I’ll pay for her will be steep. I’ll pay it ten times over but I also know I’ll regret it every day of my life.

“I’m not exchanging shit with you.” I’m stalling and everyone knows it but I’m trying to give time for Andrea’s men to move. I look at him and he shakes his head slightly, regret lining every angle of his face.

“You don’t really have a choice, I was just being polite. Now, let’s not waste each other’s time. This conversation can go two ways. You give me what I want and I give you what you want. Or I kill Miss Moretti.”

A red dot appears on her forehead and I stop breathing. I barely hear the sharp intake of breath of the men next to me and of Giulia’s on the other end of the earpiece. I focus on the red dot and gulp.

I can’t speak. If I do, she can die. Petrov must take my silence for approval. “I knew you’d be a reasonable business partner,” he dismisses me before addressing someone else. “Hello, bratishka. Let’s get on with it, we’re busy people after all. Igor, you’re going to get to Dimitri and you’ll leave on the plane with him and the women.”

“Leave the women alone,” we both say at the same time.

“They’re not part of the conversation,”he retorts.

I clench my jaw and close my eyes. How am I going to live with myself when we sacrifice dozens for Lana? But I can’t live without her. My heart breaks inside my chest and I hear the pieces collapse to my stomach. Igor claps my shoulder and gives me a long agonising look. A single tear trails down his cheek. He straightens and walks to Dimitri and Lana before stripping his shirt and covering her with it.

She falls into his arms and he clutches her to him, helping her stay standing. I can’t hear what he says in her ears but she immediately collapses onto her knees and wails. I jump to get her but Petrov stops me.

“Do not move, Mr. Bartoli. You’re going to wait until the plane is gone and then wait some more. You’ll get your wife when I’m ready for you to get your wife.”

“How do I know you’re not going to kill her anyway?”

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