Page 61 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

I was stunned at his audacity to actually believe he was owed some kind of revenge against all the people he’d been swindling his entire life. That by wanting their money back, they were committing a grave wrong against him.

“That’s not all of the story,” I snapped. “Spit it out, Benedikt, because your death warrant is still on the table until I find my wife.”

He was truly the worst sort of person in the world, unable to take accountability, going so far as selling his daughter to the highest bidder. Then I found out he not only sold her, but sold her out, because he’d told Rurik that Olivia was with me. Not just in hiding, but that we were married, that she was mine.

I told him to stay put where he was. He wasn’t safe until Olivia was, and then I’d see how I felt. Ending the call, I let out a stream of swear words that had Ivan hurrying back into the hall.

“What?” he asked. “Did her father know something?”

“He knows too damn much,” I said. “He told Rurik she’s with me.”

“Fuck,” Ivan said, instantly understanding that this was a very big deal.

The Kuzmins despised our family, our wealth and power always in their sights. They had been fighting us and trying to tip the balance in their favor ever since Rurik arrived on the scene in Los Angeles more than ten years earlier. He’d been young andfoolish, and we squashed every one of his attempts to seize our territory, yet he always regrouped, angrier than before and with even less sense of just going somewhere else.

“You think Aleks will finally let us go nuclear?” Ivan asked, beginning to pace.

“That decision is out of his hands now,” I said.

Our older brother seemed to take some kind of perverse enjoyment in the ongoing war between the families, or maybe he had a soft spot for Rurik since he was young. The cat-and-mouse games were over, though. The man had already hurt my wife, so he was going to suffer. If he hurt her more, every last person who shared his name was done.

My hands curled into fists at my sides. “We need to find Olivia, and fast.” The longer the madman didn’t get what he wanted, the more delight he would take in inflicting pain. “Call Zoey again,” I said.

I watched as he tried to reach Olivia’s friend, realizing that Ivan was the only one I could trust right now. Benedikt might have been able to sell the information that she was with me, but he had no idea where we were. Any of the people I had out looking for her could have been in on it and be thrown off the trail.

“Straight to voicemail again,” Ivan said, looking like he might be sick. “You think she’s still involved?”

“I think she’s in danger just from being with Olivia when they grabbed her,” I answered. “If Kuzmin figures out you have the slightest thing for her, he’ll think he has a two-for-one deal, and it’ll be worse.”

My hotheaded brother whirled around and punched the wall, leaving a dent in the plaster. With a roar, he hauled backand did it again, as helpless as I was. I felt very much like doing the same thing. But all I could do was wait for more information.

Chapter 37 - Olivia

When I woke up, I thought I was in bed at home briefly, but then the pounding headache brought it all back. That and the fact I couldn’t move my arms or legs, tightly bound as I lay on my side, with the scratchy bedspread rubbing against my aching cheek.

When the light snapped on in the motel room, the shock of seeing Rurik Kuzmin looking at me like a cobra hypnotizing its prey had indeed paralyzed me for a split second. I tried to shriek, but my throat was constricted, and I could barely whisper a warning to Zoey.

I tried to tell her to run, to save herself. There was no way she could understand what this man was capable of. The very monster that Dima had saved me from had somehow caught up with me, ready to take me from the rival he could never seem to best. I was the winning trophy, and it hit me hard that I might be facing the end of my life.

Talk about losing your freedom.

Zoey was frozen, either in shock or fear or both, and her hands gripped my arms tight enough to hurt as she was rooted to the floor behind me. Before I could shove her out, drag her away to the car, and a last attempt to get away, Rurik was on me.

His fist lashed out, and my mouth filled with the coppery taste of my own blood. Pain burst as my lip split, and it was followed by another quick blow to the side of my head. A ring on his finger gashed through my scalp, and the room spun as I staggered backward. Where was Zoey? Did she finally realize how bad things were and manage to get away while he was occupied with me?

Another blow to the same spot had me falling to the floor. Training from long ago kicked in, and I pulled my arms over my head while kicking at his ankle, hoping to knock him down. I kicked again, triumphant through the pain as his knee bent awkwardly, giving me a second to scramble back to my feet.

Or try to, anyway. I was grabbing at the desk to pull myself up, attempting to shake off the dizziness from the first two punches to the head. With a sneer, he lunged at me, taking me back to the ground. The force of the concrete under the musty carpeting and the weight of his body sent all the oxygen gusting out of my lungs. As I finally managed to suck in a breath, a hand thrust a damp rag over my mouth. A sweet smell filled my nostrils, and I gagged, but then everything faded away.

And now I was tied up, my head throbbing, and my husband’s worst enemy gazed at me from a chair only two feet away. I got a sick ripple down my spine thinking he might have been staring at me while I was unconscious, what he might have done when I couldn’t defend myself.

Not that I could even move now, except to twist my head away to avoid those cruel eyes.

“Where’s Zoey?” I croaked, wondering if she managed to get away. Maybe Rurik didn’t care about her.

He snickered as if my question was a funny joke. Then it hit me. Zoey was the one who brought me here. It had only taken her a couple minutes in the front office. Was she really checking in or getting a key that had been left for her? All that time, I thought I had been playing my new friend. Had she been the one pulling the strings?

But how? Why? It was all so confusing, with my head still pounding and the creepy feeling of Rurik’s gaze boring through me. I gathered my waning courage and turned back to see himstudying me. Pushing aside the revulsion his cold eyes and sick smile filled me with, I tried to give him a dark stare. He only laughed.

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