Page 75 of Virgin Bratva Hostage

“Dammit, Ruslana. I’m so bad at saying no to my wife and now you’re asking so nicely, how am I supposed to say no to you?”

He looks genuinely frustrated and that makes me feel a tiny bit guilty for putting him in this position—but I’m just happy that my negotiation tactics are working on him.

“So, I’ll go get ready and we can go to the mall.” I stand up, excited. Not leaving any more room for him to change his mind.

“No, not the mall. We can go to another, smaller, less popular shopping area I know,” he sighs, giving in.

I jump up and down, all my pent up energy bursting out of me.

“I’ll be five minutes,” I declare, running from the living room to get my things.

I feel a little guilty for pushing Dex into a corner like this, but hey, I don’t see what the problem is. It’s just a little shopping. Avraam and I were going out in public often enoughand nothing happened—we didn’t even have extra security with us. As far as I know, nothing has changed and the only thing different is that Avraam doesn’t want to spend time with me. He’s bored with me or something. It doesn’t mean I should be locked up like a prisoner again.

Upstairs, I put on my sneakers and grab my oversized boho handbag. Perfect for keeping my little shopping bits and pieces in. Then I bolt downstairs and call out for Dex. He’s not in the house anymore though, so I run to the front door and peak out.

Dex is waiting in the car for me. He still looks a little mad about this. I climb in and grin at him. “Thank you so much for taking me. I really appreciate it,” I say, honestly grateful. “Yeah, yeah-“ he sighs, pressing the button to start the engine. The car growls to life and I click my safety belt into place.

“You won’t actually be in trouble will you?” I ask.

“As long as nothing goes wrong and you do as I say. If anything does happen—youwilllisten to me right, Ruslana?” he turns to shoot me a serious look. “No funny business?”

I nod, “One hundred percent—I will listen to you—I promise.”

“And we are only going for an hour,” he says sternly, turning the wheel and pulling through the security gate, off the property.

An hour is good enough. I just need to get out. And besides, if this hour goes smoothly, then tomorrow I can probably convince him to take me out for longer.

I settle into the passenger seat, super happy to be out of the house, watching the world pass by through the window. It’s anice afternoon, the sun is out, and people are wandering around the city doing people things.

“Where are we going?” I ask, only knowing of one small shopping district nearby, the one where Avraam originally took me. But we aren’t headed in that direction.

“You’ll see when we get there, but I think you’ll like it. It’s quite unique. There are lovely little markets stalls, and my wife adores the place. I take her there on weekends—“

From one of the side streets, a car flies across two lanes and slams into us.

I scream, jolted against the safety belt, the thick black strap cutting into my skin painfully.

The car skids and spins, then slams into a street sign. I can’t get out of my door because it’s folded around the signpost.

Dex, somehow less disoriented than me, moves quickly to unclip my safety belt to safely pull me out of the car from his side. “Come on, that was a deliberate attack, we need to move, Ruslana!“ he shouts, dragging me through the buckled door.

I blink my eyes several times, trying to push away the dizzy nausea and panic building in my chest. The world is spinning.

Dex grips my arms and glances up and down my body. “Are you hurt?” He asks.

“Um—uh—“ I feel his hands patting over my legs.

“Ruslana, focus. Are you hurt?” he asks again.

“No, no I think I’m ok.”

“We have to run.” He looks into my eyes and suddenly I know how serious this situation is.

I nod.

He pulls me along next to him, his gun drawn and his eyes watching every direction. We run through the street, down an alley, around the back and into another street. We keep moving. Dex checks around each corner before we take it, he is doing an excellent job getting us out of here, but my leg is hurting, and I know I’m slowing him down.

“Who was it?” I ask, breathless, when he pauses to sweep the area again.

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