Page 60 of The Bratva's Innocent Bride

What a fucking coward. To go after someone smaller, younger than you. To drug her and tie her up because you might not come out on top without that advantage.

“Got it!” Anton says. “It’ll be on the screen in just a second.”

“Something is happening,” I say, pulling the tablet toward me and looking closer. “What is that?”

“Hello, Milovs,” James says, his voice coming tinnily through the screen. “Welcome to today’s live stream, featuring your favorite little kidnapped queen—Fiona Chase. Or, should I say, Fiona Milov? Appears not, since Boris failed to complete even the most basic of forced marriages. Anyway—”

James walks across the room, picking something up from the table. I watch him turn the knife over in his hand, moving toward Fiona again.

“No,” Anton breathes.

“Fiona has been kind of a shitty employee,” James says. “Colluding with our competitor. Breaking a whole host of non-compete clauses. It’s time for her performance review. Unless, of course, she wants to swear her loyalty to the Corsica right now and give us information on how to find Anya, your precious little mafia princess.”

I see Anya stiffen in the front seat, and I don’t know if it’s from being called a princess or from being targeted.

Through the screen, I watch Fiona’s eyes track across the room, looking as clear and focused as ever.

“Boris,” she says the second James removes the gag from her mouth. “I love you.”

James growls and hits her, knocking her to the floor, and grabs the knife.

“Hopefully, he loves you, too,” James says, “because that will make torturing you even sweeter.”

I suck in a breath, and Anton swears softly. Anya and Viktor are silent from the front seat, and I’m glad Anya can’t see what’s happening on the screen.

With the knife in his hand, James reaches down, grabbing a handful of Fiona’s hair and pulling it up so hard she lets out an involuntary cry of pain. Before he can shear the hair off, a figure appears in the corner of the frame, holding something.

The figure is a woman, and she hits him in the head with what appears to be a fire extinguisher.

“Oh my god!” she cries, falling to her knees beside James. “Oh, god, Daddy! Did I kill him?”

When she moves, she must kick the tripod over because the video flips to the side. A shot of Fiona trying to get out of her ties appears before the video cuts out altogether.

Anton and I sit there quietly for a second, feeling whiplash. I wish the video would start again. I need to know what’s happening right now.

“Anya,” Anton says. “Step on it.”

“Okay,” Anya says when the navigation finally appears on the screen. “Guys, I know this is not a great situation, but it feels so good to be included for once, and I was thinking—”

“Is Anya saying something mushy right now?” Viktor shouts.

“Anya?” I say, “Now is the time for the pedal-to-the-metal.”

“Got it,” she says, grinning wickedly before sending the SUV into overdrive. “But we’re definitely doing the mushy stuff later.”

Chapter 26 - Fiona

I stare at Olive, who’s kneeling over James, crying and breathing so hard I think she might be hyperventilating.

“Olive,” I say, “if you don’t untie me now, he’s just going to keep hurting me.”

Olive nods shakily and crawls across the floor, her fingers trembling so hard that for a second, I think she might not be able to cut me free with the knife. Once she gets my hands free, I take the knife from her, cutting my legs free yet again.

My ankle hurts like hell from when I fell on my side, and it was smashed between the chair leg and the floor, but I ignored it. I grab a gun from the table and scramble over to James.

“No!” Olive screams. “Don’t kill him—Fiona, please.”

She’s crying harder than I’ve ever seen. I get it—I understand this flavor of daddy issues more than she could ever know.

---