Page 41 of Innocent Bratva Virgin

Pointing down the hall, I gestured toward my room and shook my head. Emory wasn’t there, and if she were hiding somewhere, she would have come out by now. Adley’s brow creased as she frowned, her eyes meeting mine with a worry that wasn’t just sympathetic.

“I was just talking to her not too long ago. We’d…dammit, it was really nice. What will they do with her?”

It was strangely comforting to know that Adley was upset about potentially losing Emory, and not just because she felt bad for me. It looked like the women had actually connected, and fuck, did that make my heart ache. Emory was so fucking nice that she’d even wooed Adley with her subtle charm.

And now the damn Italians had stolen her.

Rage bubbled up from my guts, and I turned on my heel, beelining for my bedroom. I was squeezing my fists so tightly it hurt, and I was ready to fucking go apeshit and start throwing things across the damn room.

But everyone was hot on my heels.Dammit. I just want to be alone. Go away!

I was ready to slam the door in Abe or Ivan’s face, but sure enough, Adley was there, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her. I’d always liked her—right away, in fact—and we both knew it.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m sure that—”

Pulling my arm out of her grip, I shook my head, pointing out of the room and then shutting my eyes. I just needed to be alone for a minute.

“Hey, that’s not going to help you. You can’t just shove us away because…”

But Adley’s words drifted off, and it wasn’t because of anything I’d done this time. She pushed past me and toward my bed. Before I could stop her or grumble again, she reached down to my pillow and pulled up a small piece of paper.

My heart surged, and I snatched the thing from her grip to reach over the words.

Want her back? Then, the Unholy Trinity gives themselves up. We want to know everything you do about the Vadims. Then you can have her back.

Beneath the hastily scribbled words was an address. Based on the street, it was downtown near the industrial district, and I had a feeling it was another one of the Italians’ abandoned warehouses.

“What does it say?”

Ivan was right behind me, and when I turned and handed him the note, I shook my head, slumping onto the bed. I could tell he was reading it over as the room dipped into silence for a moment. When I glanced up again, Abe stood next to Ivan, reading over his shoulder.

“Umm, yeah, we can’t do that. We can’t just turn ourselves into the Italians and give up everything we know about the Vadims. Even if the Italians didn’t kill us on the spot after we told them everything—which they most certainly would—the Vadims would just kill us afterward.”

Abe had a point. I mean, of course, he did. We all knew that it was a trap. The Italians wanted to both get information and take us out.Two birds, one stone.

But I wasn’t about to let Emory stay there to get killed by those thugs when we didn’t show up. Because she was on the chopping block just like we were.

This fucking sucks. Goddamn it!

I shoved up off the bed hard and started pacing back and forth across my room. This was the longest either of my brothers had ever been in here and the first time ever for Adley. They were in my space, the area that I kept locked up just for me. The place that I had absolutely zero problem letting Emory into.

Because I trusted Emory, IlikedEmory. And if I wasn’t going to admit that now, then when the fuck was I?

My entire body thrummed. We had to get her back. I couldn’t stand the idea of something happening to her. I felt dimly like being flayed alive, except without the light at the end of the tunnel being death or unconsciousness.

It was a damn risk. Everything about this situation was weighted against us, and I knew that the Italians would have their base fortified and set up for taking us out. They couldn’t expect we’d give them information, but they had to keep it on the table because that would be invaluable.

God, is there some way we could use that to our advantage?

My steps paused, and I pulled up in front of Ivan, meeting his stare without blinking. The good thing about our relationship was that I knew I didn’t need to speak right now. He knew exactly what I was thinking.

He sighed, cocking his head, and he sucked in a breath with his eyes closed. “Are you sure? We’re risking a lot to go in there and get her. It would be just as easy to send the cops an anonymous tip.”

My eyes flared, and I shook my head emphatically.No, we fucking cannot. The Italians would just kill her and dip out.

I tried to say as much with my stare, gesturing at the note and then dragging a finger across my throat to drive the point home.

“Yeah, yeah. They’ll probably kill her and run. Dammit.” He frowned, shaking himself hard. “I fucking hate these pricks. All right, I think that we—”

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