Page 8 of Bought By the Bratva

I waited impatiently for him to respond. ‘Evening, what have you found?’ he sent back.

Feeling my anger and stress taking over, I sent my question again. ‘Did you sell me to Abram for life? Vadik, what is going on?’ I felt relieved that we were texting only as I wouldn’t have been able to contain the concern from filling my voice.

‘Calm your horses,’ he replied. ‘It’s just until the job is done. Once we take them out, you will be back home. Now get us the intel! The quicker you do, the quicker you can come home.’

Frustrated, I chucked the phone to the top of the bed. How dare they? What if things go wrong? I felt a sudden flurry of tears and shoved my face into the pillow as they flowed. Once I felt calmer, I washed my face and decided it was time to get the job done.

Chapter 5 - Abram

Having placed Nadia in one of my guest rooms just down the hall, I entered my bedroom. I stood by the door listening for a moment but didn’t hear any movement. Walking to my closet, I opened the door and moved the clothes aside.

Reaching to the side, I found the release lever and pulled. The panel at the back popped and opened, revealing the secret room behind it. Entering the surveillance room, I pulled the clothing back into position before closing the door.

Taking out my phone, I dialed Alexandr’s number. It barely rang when his charismatic voice came blaring through the phone.

“Abram,” he said loudly. “It’s odd for you to call this time of the day. Is there an issue?”

I smiled at the walls as I replied in a calm and even tone. “I just wanted to update you on the events of the day. Things went well at the auction. Yet, there was a small adjustment.” Pausing, I thought back to my new agreement with the auctioneer.

Before I could continue, Alexandr spoke. “You did something, didn’t you?” I heard him taking a deep breath before continuing. “Spit it out, man, come on, what happened?”

Shaking my head, I answered in the same tone. “Yes, I did do something. But before we get into that, I wanted to tell you more about the auction.”

“Sure, go ahead,” he replied.

“There were quite a couple of items on auction. But the most interesting one was a young woman.” Before I could explain, Alexandr interrupted.

“No, Abram,” Alexandr huffed. “Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”

“Wait, let me finish. This girl is a Vasilievs. We can use her to bring down her family and the bratva they work for,” I reported in my defense.

There was a long silence before he came back. “Does this mean you brought her home?”

“I have,” I said plainly.

Alexandr breathed out heavily before speaking. “Alright, then, we have to move forward. Do you know which family her family works for? And please don’t mess things up, and keep me updated. Don’t do anything like this again. I know you can contain yourself.”

I was surprised at his reply but appreciated his support. Not wanting to keep him longer than needed, I answered swiftly. “I don’t yet, but I will get it. I won’t mess it up. Then I have one other thing to ask.”

Alexandr sounded slightly irritated with me as he replied. “Ask, let me hear what it is you want?”

Grinning, I spoke calmly, knowing I needed him to think about things. “I want to keep Anton and Akim out of this operation for now.” Taking a deep breath, I continued before he could reject my proposal. “Anton is volatile at times. He doesn’t know how to work with people. And Akim, well, he is a mini version of Anton and tied to his hip. I just want to keep this under wraps for now. I know I can get what we need.”

My big brother burst out laughing. Grinning, I wondered what I said to bring on such a reaction. But it was good to hear him relaxed.

“Alright,” he said once he stopped laughing. “So, only Tasha, Mila, and I will know everything, right?”

“Yes,” I replied quickly. I wanted this conversation to be over. I wanted to start my study of the woman named Nadia.

“I will let you go now, but please be careful, Abram,” Alexandr added.

Nodding, I replied, feeling relieved. It went better than I expected. “Yes, always, I might not come in for a day or so. But I will let you know, or Tasha will. Have a good night.”

I sat down in my chair before the monitors and watched Nadia on the surveillance system. Nadia was unaware that she was being watched. For a bit, she just sat on the bed. Stretching out, I was about ready to call it a night, sure that she would go to sleep soon.

My eyes were closed for less than a second as I stretched, but looking back at the monitor, I saw she was gone. Searching the monitors, I found her sneaking down the hallway to the stairs. Grinning, I felt relieved that I had cameras throughout my mansion.

She moved slowly down to the bottom floor. In the foyer, she glanced through my mail lying on the table by the door. She checked behind the paintings and moved to the dining room to do the same. I assumed she was looking for a safe or something similar, as there was no other reason someone would look behind a painting.

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