Page 54 of Deadly Oath

“I’m gonna give it to her,” he says, and the boss nods, a small smirk on his lips as Billy approaches me.

“Just don’t hurt her,” the boss warns. “You can be a little rough if you want. God knows her boyfriend fucked you up bad enough. But just remember what we’re doing here.”

What is that?I want to yell the question, but I’m too preoccupied with the way Billy stalks towards me, unscrewing the cap of the water bottle. His beady gaze is fixed on me, and the pleasure he’s going to take in whatever he has planned is obvious.

I struggle against the ties wrapped around my wrists, more out of instinct than any real belief that I’m going to get free, and Billy laughs. It’s a rough, delighted sound, and before I can even take another breath, his hand wraps in my hair, pulling hard enough to make me cry out in pain as he yanks my head back and forces the open mouth of the water bottle against my lips.

My first instinct is to tighten my mouth against it, but the water just drips over my lips, spilling onto my jeans and the floor. “Open up, girlie,” Billy sneers. “Or all this water is gonna go to waste, and you won’t get any more.”

That thought is enough to make me take the bottle between my lips. Billy thrusts it lewdly against my mouth, a gleam in his eyes that tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing, tipping the bottle up so that it pours into my mouth so quickly that I have to swallow rapidly or choke.

“Swallow it all,” he rasps, his gaze fixed on mine, hot and angry. I know exactly what he’s going to be doing after this, when he’s alone again, and I shove the thought out of my mind before I throw the water back up. It’s bad enough as it is—it’s lukewarm and slightlymetallic, but I’m so thirsty that I almost don’t care. And I don’t know when I’m going to get more.

It occurs to me too late that I also don’t know if they’re going to let me go pee. I can feel that I need to go as it is, which tells me I was out for a good bit of time. The water isn’t going to help.

But passing out from dehydration isn’t a good option either, so I gulp it down.

Billy finally pulls the bottle away when it’s empty, stepping back as I sputter. The boss looks towards the door, clearly impatient. “Get going,” he tells Billy flatly. “You had your fun. Now take off and do your job.”

I can tell that Billy is none too pleased with the orders—he clearly doesn’t think he’s had enough fun. The other men look restless, too, and I press my damp lips together, hoping against hope that Kian gets here before they can start to think about ways to circumvent their boss’s orders.

“How long have I been here?” I manage, looking directly at the boss.

He raises an eyebrow, rocking back on his heels as if considering whether or not to answer my question. “You were out for a little over a full day,” he says finally. “Whole night and the day after that.”

My stomach twists, as I try to estimate if that’s enough time for Kian to find me. If I have any hope of rescue at all. “You said you’d get to what you want with me,” I continue, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “You should know I’m not a virgin any longer. So if you’re hoping to traffic me, I won’t be worth nearly as much.”

I feel my face flush as I say it. It’s a gamble—the loss of my virginity doesn’t necessarily make me unsaleable, from what little I know of that dark part of the mafia world. It just means I’m unworthy of a high bidder, more likely to be sold to someone cruel, who wants to play terrible games with the women he buys instead of someone who would pamper me and treat me like a treasured possession. Neither is a good fate, in my opinion. But I also don’t think these men are running in the kinds of circles that the Bratva back in Chicago do—unless they’re go-betweens. If they’re not, then they might not be interested in selling a girl with limited value.

The boss starts to laugh at that, a deep, full-throated belly laugh that catches me off-guard, as if I’ve said something hilarious. He wipes at his eyes, shaking his head as he looks at me bemusedly.

“I don’t think the man we’re selling you back to is all that concerned with your virginity,” he says with a chuckle. “At least, I would hope not. Or maybe he is, in terms of knowing what his little girl’s been up to. But I don’t think it’ll matter when it comes to the terms of the sale.”

I blink at him, suddenly realizing what he’s getting at. “You’re going to sell me…back to my father?”

The boss nods. “We know exactly who you are, Sabrina Petrova. And who your father is.Pakhanof the Petrov Bratva, up in Chicago. And he can give us money. Lots of money, to know where his baby girl went, and get her back. We’ve fallen on some hard times, you see, and we just need to settle that. No harm done to you, just collecting a ransom and sending you back where you came from.”

“And if he doesn’t want to pay?” A dozen scenarios run through my head, each more frightening than the last. My father not believing that these men have me. Him believing, paying, and them killing me anyway, or selling me twice. Them sending me back to Chicago, only for Kariyev to steal me away again. Caldwell said that there was movement with that, something that would make me safer, but he didn’t say I could leave witness protection. That must mean that it’s not entirely safe.

The boss smiles, and it’s not a pleasant expression. “Then I suppose we’ll find out how many pieces your daddy is willing for us to send him from his daughter before he’ll pay. We’ll start with ones you can easily live without. A toe, maybe. A finger. A back tooth. And then we’ll move on from there. Eventually, he’ll pay—or you’ll die. The loss will be unfortunate, considering how much you’re worth, but I doubt your daddy will let it go for more than a piece or two. That should ease your mind,” he adds, grinning maliciously at me.

My stomach turns, threatening to send the water back up. “You wouldn’t dare,” I whisper, and the man laughs.

“Oh, we would. We already have.”

My heart pounds against my chest, sick fear flooding me. I feel like I might pass out after all, until a sudden, familiar voice echoes from the door, and I wonder if I’ve already gone unconscious, and I’m just dreaming.

It’s Kian’s voice, loud and sharp, followed by the click of guns being readied.

“If you wanna die clean, you won’t lay another finger on her.”

22

KIAN

It’s far easier than it should have been to get into the fucking warehouse. In the back of my mind, I’m half disgusted at how sloppily this place is ran, even as I drop the two guards at the door with bullets to their heads before they even see me. In seconds, I’m inside, hanging back in the shadows, as I assess how to get to Sabrina.

It took me a full day to find out where she was, which pisses me off in and of itself. A full day that she was off my radar, out of my sight, somewhere that she shouldn’t be in the control of men who shouldn’t get to fucking come near her. I put the wheels in motion as soon as I got the call from Marie that something had happened, forcing all of my officers to work overtime shifts as we looked for her. I have four of them waiting in a squad car as backup, in case I need them.

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