Page 56 of The Bratva's Innocent Bride

Chapter 24 - Fiona

When I first come to, I keep my body slouched, my head forward, relaxed. I listen, breathe, and take a moment to acclimate. It’s humid where I am. The floor beneath my sneakers feels like concrete. There’s the faint sound of water dripping.

“Does chloroform usually last this long?”

It’s James Allard’s voice. I recognize it immediately from countless weeks of him asking me to do “a quick little task” that ended up taking my entire weekend. I bristle at that memory, then remember that I’m literally tied to a chair right now after being abducted.

And this time, it was completely against my will.

“Just depends,” someone says, and though I don’t recognize the voice immediately, it comes to me. The man who would always hang around Olive. Who I thought was her boyfriend—the man who almost stabbed me and who actually did stab Boris.

My fingers itch to cause him pain.

“Look,” James says, apparently seeing my fingers move. “She’s waking up already.”

“Joy,” the other man says, and I promise myself that I’m going to take my time with him when I get my hands on him.

“Fiona,” Mr. Allard says, his footsteps nearing me. “Dear, are you awake?”

I slowly lift my head, pretending to blink against the light, trying to make myself look as groggy as possible.

“Jesus, man,” James says, glancing back at the other man. “How much did you use?”

“Enough,” he says. “I heard the reports on her. I watched the footage of the night she was kidnapped and saw what she did to that guy. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” James says, and then to me, “Come on, wake up now.”

“Mr. Allard?” I say, blinking heavily. “What’s going on?”

I can’t shake the image of him on the dock, kicking that poor woman. It’s hard to reconcile that ruthless man with the one standing in front of me now. With the man who showed up at our dorm with homemade butter cake and peanut brittle. Who brought me into the fold of his family when he realized I didn’t have one of my own.

“Fiona,” he says, his voice in an unusual sing-song. “Sorry about the ties, but my dear Olive said that you may have some misconceptions about our friends, the Milovs, and I didn’t want you getting any ideas. First, let’s just get some things out in the air that I’m sure you’re already pretty aware of, huh?”

I blink at him. I won’t reveal anything. Keeping my cards close is the best play here.

“Well,” he says, taking a deep breath and grabbing a chair, turning it around backward, and looking at me over the back of the chair. “I’m sure you’ve already figured out that I’m not just in the business of finance. I also deal in some…not-so-legal activities. But if you’ve been spending all this time around the Milovs, that surely doesn’t come as a surprise to you.”

I just look at him, trying to look dazed, like I’m still coming off the drugs.

“Anyway,” he says, taking a deep breath. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You can tell me about everything that happened while you were with the Milovs. We can get you some therapy to help you deal with all the awful things they did, and we can work on a plan to get back at them. I’m thinking of the sister, specifically. Seems those boys have a soft spot for her.”

I want to tell him that first, of course, they do—they’re family, and second, they all love one another equally. But I don’t say a thing. I just stare at him.

If what he wants is information, that means he doesn’t have it, and I won’t be the one to give it to him.

“Fiona,” he says before glancing back at the other guy. “Devon, what’s up with this? You give her something else?”

“No, just the chloroform. Should have worn off by now.”

James turns back to me, scrutinizing me closely, before letting out a cold little laugh. He sighs like he’s exasperated with this whole situation.

“I see what this is. You know, Fiona, when you first became friends with my daughter, I had a private investigator do a little looking into your background. You may think the whole G.I. Joe thing was a secret, but it was pretty easy to find out details about your childhood. From your father’s dishonorable discharge to the notes in your high school counselor’s records. At first, I thought it strange that my vapid, air-headed daughter would be attracted to someone like you. Then I saw that you hide all that pretty well, don’t you?”

I blink and swallow thickly.

“After that, I thought—you know, it could be useful to have this black-belt girl with my daughter at all times. I saw how much you loved her. It was obvious you would give your life for her. When the two of you stayed tight throughout college, I started to think about bringing you into my business—my real business. Is that something you would like, Fiona?”

He says it like he’s offering a treat to a dog. I remember the way I’d salivated over Olive’s lifestyle, over her family’s lavish house. If I had known the terrible means they went through to gain that wealth, I never would have thought it so glamorous.

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