Page 28 of Scorch

Nikko marches over to me, tall and muscled and covered in tattoos. Phew. Nice job, little sis. His eyes burn into mine with an intensity that seems to run in this family. My heart thumps in my chest when I remind myself that I’m with Viktor, and he’s already made it abundantly clear no one touches me but him.

“Lydia’s safety is paramount, but she needs to understand the gravity of her situation.”

“Oh, I understand the fucking gravity,” I say, glaring at my new brother-in-law. “I was ripped from safety, drugged, held captive?—”

“Nikko? Is that true?” I hear Vera’s voice loud and clear on the line.

Nikko holds his phone up and shows me Vera’s picture. It’s dark where she is and hard to see her.

“Why would I make that up?” I snap.

“Here. Have a seat,” Nikko says, gesturing to a bench in the small garden outside.

I sit and reach for the phone.

“Vera. What the hell is going on here?” Tears spring to my eyes. I blink them away. “I was marrying Timur. He got all weird at dinner, and this guy—” I stab my finger at Viktor— “says Timur was planning on killing me and has manipulated the entire situation to make it look like a rescue.”

Vera, her large brown eyes magnified behind her round glasses, stares at me. “Do you have any reason to believe he’s lying to you?”

Always pragmatic, my scientist sister. I blow out a breath.

“Do I have any reason to believe he’s telling the truth?”

Vera nods eagerly. “Yes, of course. Because the Romanov family is much more reputable than the Yudins. Timur has a long history of fairly reprehensible behavior, Lydia.”

I cross my arms over my chest. Whose side is she on?

“If that were so, why would Father sign off on my engagement then?”

Vera’s gaze softens. “Because it benefitted him, Lydia. Because Timur may have protected you well financially, and you definitely would’ve been untouchable from any rivals as his wife. But the man has only served time once, and his record shows it was for a vicious assault on an innocent woman.”

I feel like the man who I knew and the man who they are talking about are two different people. But I saw that video. I saw how he treated Mom…

“Nikko, how did he react when he found out she wasn’t going to marry him?” Vera asks.

Nikko blows out a breath. “He took her out to dinner, and we have video evidence of him taking items that made it clear he planned on at least hurting and abducting her.”

“Oh God,” Vera says, her eyes wide.

“We have no way to prove that’s what he planned,” I snap.

“Lydia, these guys aren’t going to hurt you.”

I throw my hands up in the air. “They kidnapped me! Drugged me! Tied me!”

Vera bites her lip and looks over her shoulder. “Nikko?”

“It was essential to move quickly so we could save her,” Viktor interrupts. “Lev thought it expedient to get her cooperation in a way that made sense to him.”

I turn on him. “Is this how you gaslight all your captives? Hmm?”

“No, Lydia,” he says in a low voice. “You have the honor of being the first.”

That shouldn’t tickle me in any way, shape, or form, but I’m not above a certain level of depravity…

“Listen, Lydia,” Vera says. “I just want you—” The connection goes all gritty, and I can’t hear for a moment.

“Vera?”

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