Page 6 of Captured By the Bratva

I narrowed my eyes, watching as he showed me the number Murphy often called. “Who is it?”

He shrugged, yawning from a long spell of sitting at the desk down here. “I think his daughter.”

“Daughter?” I glanced at the man. Hearing that Murphy had a kid came as a shock.

“Yeah. Becca Murphy. Here’s what I could find on her.” He handed over some print-outs. As far as a file went, hers was slim. The photo of her was grainy, taken from a security camera at an office, but her driver’s license image was clearer.

Red hair, green eyes. An Irish beauty, even with the unmissable fatigue in her gaze as she tried to smile for her identification photo.

“Thanks.” I skimmed the rest of the information we had on her, committing the slight collection of facts to memory. Yusef found a current address for her, as well as a location of heremployment. Armed with those two destinations, I got ready to follow her until I knew how I could grab her.

After what happened with Amy—when the Cartel snatched her off the sidewalk to sell her to a creepy fucker named Diego—I faced a morsel of unease about planning to stalk Becca.

As a rule, we didn’t sell women. Human trafficking wasn’t a path Alek wanted to take the Bratva down. Guns and drugs were lucrative enough, not to mention the clubs and brothels.

And I wasn’t planning tokeepthis girl. Taking this woman was unavoidable. She was the only clear method I had to get Murphy’s attention. Holding her hostage should do the trick. If Murphy had cared enough to make a daughter and give her his name, then he had to hold her in some kind of high regard and to want her safe and happy.

Seeing Alek and Nik prepare for fatherhood, I knew that the idea of having a child changed a man. My brothers were ruthless killers, but they had good hearts. They would be great fathers, and I assume that might hold true for Murphy as well. People would be quick to consider all of us in the Bratva as bad men, and I was aware of just how corrupt and crooked Murphy was. He really was the villain.

I relied on Murphy to come running as soon as I had Becca, and with that step plotted out in my mind, I got busy figuring out how to make it happen.

For several days, I followed her from a distance. I stalked her until I could get a feel for her predictable routine, for how and when she’d be most vulnerable to be taken away.

It was all too easy. She was a workaholic, always reporting to work at a courier office. For the number of hours she put in, she had to be doing decently for money, yet she resided in a shithole of an apartment in a crappy part of town.

Doubts filtered into my mind.

If Murphy cares about her, wouldn’t he help her move into a better place?

If he’s worried about her working so much, wouldn’t he loan her some money?

I shook my head at that thought. Murphy was a greedy fucker, always trying to get his hands on riches, usually at the cost of the Bratva or another crime organization in the city.

Maybe he’s too selfish to care about Becca being held hostage.

If that was the case, I knew I could push a little harder. Incriminating evidence of her being taken against her will would do the trick. And I was a sick enough bastard to pull that off. Never minding what Alek and Nik teased, I wasn’t going soft for a pretty woman, not anytime soon.

Besides, the redheaded, freckled-skin, green-eyed beauty was notpretty.She was gorgeous in a timeless, effortless way that warned me against getting excited about taking her.

She looked innocent. Soft. Delicate.

Not hardened enough to handle the way I would like to fuck.

Assuming that she was that good and sweet, I planned to set her out of her comfort zone and make it easier for me to steal her away.

“You ready?” I asked Dmitri as he prepared to leave the mansion with me.

He nodded. “Always.”

We rode together for this first step to be put into action. It was all too easy to arrange for a delivery to take place at one of the Bratva’s sex clubs. While she performed her duties as a courier, dropping off a decoy of a small document package there, I’d guide her to a false exit and take her to my place.

The residential complex I owned near Brooklyn was secure enough for holding her hostage. The walls were soundproofed, and the doors and windows were alarmed. No one would get inor out, and I figured bringing her there would be adequate. I wouldn’t need to torture her. I didn’t have to plan on killing her and punishing her.

Keeping her captive would be enough. Murphywouldreveal himself. He had to.

Murphy’s dedication to lying low alarmed me, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking along that line of caution.

“What do you think he’s planning?” Dmitri asked as he drove us to the club. He’d be there as backup, not that I needed it. This club was part of my responsibility to supervise. More than anything, it seemed my brother was bored and wanted in on the case.

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