Page 50 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

I’d seen her around for a while after, and that was when my suspicions about Luca crystallized. There was no way shehadn’t suffered something while with him, but at the time, I just figured he was a giant asshole who wore her down with insults. However, at about the same time, there were quiet mutterings among starlets about not getting too close to him, so other people were starting to be aware. Leave it to Hollywood to keep his tendencies under wraps, because God forbid a movie of his might net a few billion less.

And, of course, there was never any proof, because no one ever spoke out.

It didn’t take too long to find her name, from searching old premiere pictures until I found one with her in it. Her social media was still active, and she seemed to be trying to get a break in the acting world. Fat chance of that, since Luca was anything if not vindictive once he’d tired of a plaything.

I messaged her on every platform I could find, and put in a call with her agency, begging for a callback, and promising to make it worth her while. We had met once, briefly, in my diner, when she was having her moment of fame at Luca’s side, and I was hopeful she’d remember me.

A few more restless hours passed with no news from Dima or anything useful from anyone on the search teams. The cameras at the hotel had been conveniently disabled from the time shortly after I left that morning until about an hour before I returned, so that gave us a window of when Brooke had disappeared, but it was a wide one. She had been away from me for far too long, and not knowing anything was killing me.

My phone rang, stopping the frantic pacing that was starting to wear me out, along with the stress and fear. I had eaten a sandwich that tasted like ash to keep my strength up, knowing I might have to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I saw it was an unknownnumber, and I prayed it was someone with information, or better yet, the kidnappers with their demands.

“Is this Max Fokin?” a woman’s curious and quiet voice asked when I barked a greeting.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“Danielle Freeman, you messaged me? You said it was—”

“Urgent, yes.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you for calling me.”

“It’s been years,” she said, still sounding nothing more than curious and maybe a bit hopeful I had a lead on a job for her.

“I’m sorry I have no time to catch up,” I said, interrupting her once again. “I need to know some things about Luca. Specifically, where he is.”

There was a long silence, and I checked to see if she’d hung up. “I haven’t seen him in ages,” she finally answered. Now, there was no more hope in her voice. “I don’t keep up with him.”

“Look,” I said. “I know you went through some things with him—” she hissed out a breath, and I waited, but she didn’t say anything more. “I don’t want to make you relive any of that, but I think he’s finally snapped. And he has my wife.”

Once again, Danielle lapsed into silence, and I checked again to see if she hung up on me. The last thing I needed was for her to block me. Not that it would stop me from eventually getting information out of her if she had any, but it would be quicker if she cooperated.

“I can protect you,” I said. “You must know who my family is.” Still nothing but silence, and I clutched at my last straw. “I can give you however much money you want.”

There was a soft sob on the other end, letting me know she was still there. “I don’t want your money,” she said. “Yes, I know who your family is, but I don’t believe even they could protect me. If Luca’s got your wife, I’m truly sorry, because she’s in trouble. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“I’ve known him since we were in college together,” I replied, thinking back to those days with regret. “I should have taken care of him back then.” Not going with my instincts where that low life was involved was an oversight on my part that I meant to rectify. “I will move heaven and earth to find Brooke. If that means one less movie star on the face of this planet, so be it. He won’t hurt you anymore,” I swore with all the vengeance I felt bubbling up inside me. “Help me so he can’t hurt her.”

It might have been hearing Brooke’s name, making her a real person to Danielle, or maybe it was my growling promise that I’d take care of Luca once and for all, but she eventually opened up to me.

And it made my stomach turn to lead. There had been a place in the Pacific Palisades that Luca had managed to keep completely off the radar.

“He had a…” she trailed off, making a choking noise. “I don’t want to describe it, or what went on in there. But if he still has that place, that might be where he took her.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” I breathed.

“Just don’t make me regret this, please. I’m not the only one who knows about it, but that doesn’t mean he still won’t suspect me.”

“He’ll never know you had any part of this. Just tell me the actual address.”

“I don’t know it,” she said bitterly. “I was never… he had ways of keeping me from knowing exactly where I was whenever he took me there.”

Fucking hell. I already wanted to get my hands on the vile piece of garbage, but now I was ready to tear his throat out the moment I saw him.

“That’s fine. You’ve been a huge help, Danielle. I’ll stay in touch.”

I hung up before she could answer, already on my way down to my car to head to the airfield. After ordering my pilot to be ready when I arrived, I called Dima to apprise him of what I learned.

“Are you sure you want to divert so many people on a hunch?” he asked. “There’s no reason to think he has her at all, for one thing, and if he—”

“It’s more than a hunch,” I snapped. My brother was entirely trustworthy, but until Luca was neutralized, I was going to keep Danielle’s name close to my chest. “We’ve still got a team looking here, but I need you to go with me on this.”

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