Page 34 of Captured By the Bratva

I grimaced at his voice. Every day, I woke up wishing I never had to deal with him ever again.

“What do you want, Steven?” He wasn’t disguising his voice this time. Knowing he was calling from that same number as before, I now understood that he’d been the one identifying as a Rossini. Falsely.

“Where are you?” Of course, he didn’t answer my question. He never did. Any communication with me was for his benefit, not mine.

“What?”

“Where. Are. You?” He sighed, like I was the problem here.

I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t spoken with him since that time he called when I was at the gallery, when he wanted me to get that envelope at some club.

“Where?” he shouted, and I cringed at the decibel of his order. A glance at Emily napping on the floor calmed me. His shout wasn’t that loud beyond the reach of my phone’s speaker hole, but itfeltlike a bellow.

“Why do you want to know where I am? What’s it to you?”

“Stop playing games. Tell me where.”

Narrowing my eyes, I stood and walked away from the spacious living room with the play pen. I stepped further from Emily, unable to shed this hunch that he wasn’t calling to ask where I was or where Emily was, but to learn the location of Ivan. I didn’t need to be told in a lecture or dissertation about how the Valkovs were enemies of my father. I got it. I understood the rules from what Ivan had expressed in wanting to capture me as bait to make Steven come out of hiding.

Maybe this is the moment he will.

“Becca!” He grew impatient with my silence.

“I’m not telling you anything.”

But maybe you will.As I considered how smart it would be to record this call, I hurried toward the kitchen.

Margie raised her brow as I hurried there, but she didn’t scare easily. She waited patiently as I gestured at my phone as I set it to speaker, mouthing,where is your phone?

She handed her phone over without question. After she unlocked it, I quickly went to the video app to record.

“I’m not telling you anything, Steven,” I repeated as the video rolled.

Doing this showed my loyalty. It felt strange to align with Ivan, but at the same time, it felt too right. Ivan was a stranger. I’d been in his company for three weeks now, but I knew with an instinctive strength that I would side with him.

Ivan was more caring for me than my father had ever been. Ivan wasn’t conning me. He’d told me upfront that I was a hostage in this situation, that he needed me here because he was after my father.

Ivan was more considerate than Dom, too. This Mafia man was honest about his plans, and he was caring, deep down, when he pleasured me.

I wanted to help Ivan and his family, not Steven. No guilt struck me at the thought of throwing my parent under the bus like this. Steven would deserve anything and everything coming his way for his choices, for his mistakes. That was how karma worked. I wasn’t in the wrong, and I felt nothing but wise to lean on Ivan for security despite his claiming I was a thing with a purpose.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, you stupid whore. I know you’re with Ivan. You’ve been taken by the Valkovs.”

I licked my lips, eager to keep him on the line. “Why would you think that?”

He laughed darkly. “I don’tthinkit. I know it. You never called for help. That was the first clue that tipped me off.”

Margie pressed her lips together, watching me as I rubbed the clay pendant on my necklace. I felt it, grounded by the familiar smooth surface as I listened to Steven.

“I know because the Valkovs killed the man I tasked with taking your bastard baby.”

I stiffened, and Margie narrowed her eyes, not seeming to like the sound of that.

Hehad arranged for Emily to be snatched away? I’d never, ever forgive him. He could die a slow death and rot in hell foreverdaring to compromise my daughter in anything dangerous.

“I know because I saw you through the windows of his fucking apartment.” He laughed once again. “Never forget that I have many friends with eyes and ears all through the city.”

But not here? Outside of it?“And just as many enemies,” I snarled.

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