Page 3 of Capturing Victory

Suddenly a bag was shoved over her head, blocking her from view. He watched with disinterest as she fought her captors, screaming and kicking until someone slapped her in the side of the head so hard she was knocked off her feet. When she was righted, it was clear the fight had drained out of her. She leaned limply against one of the men her small hand clutching his forearm like a lifeline.

Ivan felt a tweak of annoyance at the way these men were handling his merchandise. The hacker belonged to him. No one else had earned the opportunity to punish her. He wanted to tear the bag from her head and shoot every man in that room for touching her. But she was still several thousand kilometres away from him. There was little he could do, but calmly, coolly wait for her arrival.

Salazar spoke to his men in rapid Spanish. “Load her up. Take as much of the equipment as you can. Don’t damage anything.”

Once the woman was taken from her shadowy basement home and out of view, Ivan placed his fists on the desk and leaned, making absolutely sure his next instructions were clear. “Keane.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No one touches that woman again. Understood?”

“Understood, sir.”

Ivan ended the call, turned to his computer and ended the video feed. He trusted that Keane would make sure his instructions were followed. He glanced at his secretary. She was looking at him, her expression empty and serene, exactly as she knew it should be. She was to have no emotion while in his presence. She lifted her tablet and waited on his next instructions.

He turned his back on her, squared his shoulders and emptied his mind for a moment, attempting to centre himself; release some of the emotion boiling up. “I need you to make some changes for our guest. Circumstances have become different. She’ll be staying for a longer period of time than I was anticipating. Make sure a cell is prepared for her right away. It is to be comfortable, but there will be absolutely no technology in or around her room. That includes light switches, plug-ins, anything she can get her hands on. It all needs to go.”

“Yes, sir,” Anna said, her fingers flying over the tablet as she gave his people real time instructions. They would have a few hours to prepare the room to his specifications.

“I’ll be leaving for home sooner than expected. I’ll have to finish the Ukrainian deal, so Thursday I’ll leave. Arrange it.” Though he wasn’t facing her he could still feel her hesitation. “What is it?” he asked coldly.

“Wh-what about Mr. Kadir? You were supposed to meet with him on Friday about the…”

Ivan turned to his secretary of six months and stared at her, his grey eyes expressing his distaste for her lack of foresight. She swallowed, her face slightly pale. She nodded.

“Of course, sir. I will cancel your meeting and reschedule,” she said in a slightly higher voice.

He jerked his chin in a nod. “If he’s not willing to reschedule, let Keane know. He can take care of the situation.” They both knew how Keane would take care of the client. Anna made a note, keeping her eyes averted. “That’s all for now. You may leave.”

She uncrossed her legs and stood. Though no part of her body language conveyed relief at his dismissal, he could feel the emotion coming off her in waves, see it in every line of her sleek, professional body as she moved toward the door. She was a beautiful woman, had even tried to flirt with her new boss upon meeting him, a few weeks into the job. Instead of harshly rebuffing and firing her, as he’d been tempted to do, he’d instead given her time to get to know him. Given her time to look beyond what he knew was a classically handsome face to the monster within.

He knew who he was. He’d made deliberately, terribly immoral decisions simply to keep business flowing smoothly. Each step forward he’d taken into the darkness throughout his life had been a strategic decision. He’d never questioned the path he was taking, never thought twice about the stain on his soul. Nothing mattered to him except the power, the gain and the ability to crush anything that might be able to crush him first.

Thus, his pretty little secretary learned quickly not to flirt with her new boss. Not in an office where more than one person had disappeared, where being fired could too easily take on a permanent meaning. Instead, she took extra pains to blend in, do her job seamlessly and with the utmost respect. So far Ivan was mostly satisfied with her performance.

He sat down at his desk, pulled the computer monitor closer to him and expanded the frozen picture of his hacker until it filled the screen. The terror and anger in her dark eyes filled his chest, his heart and his lungs with… something. Some kind of feeling. He sat watching her for several moments, tracing her features, bare of make-up and artifice. He touched the screen, outlining her cheeks and lips with a fingertip before tapping her right between the eyes. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, breathing in and out, attempting to rid himself of the feelings, to centre himself once more.

He sat up abruptly, his eyes flying open. He knew what they were, the feelings he was associating with the woman, the hacker. For the first time in a long time, rather than feeling apathy, he felt anticipation, excitement… and desire.

Chapter Three

“Lovely.”

The deep voice echoed through the darkness, penetrating the warmth of what she’d come to think of as her dungeon. She turned, heart beating erratically, knowing it was finally time for her to meet her captor face-to-face.

It had been two days since she’d been taken. The men who had stormed into her tiny, underground place in Portugal and put a bag over her head had hustled her into a car, sped her through the rainy streets and then onto a private aircraft. When she tried to fight and wrestle the bag off her head, a man had wrenched her arms back and ruthlessly zip-tied them. When she’d screamed curses and begged her captors to let her go, the same man had pressed a gun against the side of her head and told her to stop speaking or die. She had chosen silence.

Though she had no idea where she was, she knew who had taken her and why. Katie Pullman’s last call had held a chilling warning. Her voice had screamed out for Source to run. There was only one man connected to Katie with the resources to hunt someone as digitally invisible as XSource. Source had done her best to heed the blond cat burglar’s warning, erasing sensitive files and throwing necessities into a bag at hyper speed.

She hadn’t thought there was any chance Ivan’s people could be so close. He must have a truly stunning amount of resources all over the world to be able to grab her in such a small and insignificant place. There was a reason she’d chosen the small seaside town in Portugal to hang out. It wasn’t for the seafood. The place was gloomy as fuck.

She thought when she arrived at wherever she was that Ivan would confront her and demand again that she work for him. At least that’s what she hoped the plan was. Knowing what a cold-blooded bastard Ivan Vogel was, he might have just brought her here to torture and kill her for turning down his incredibly kind offer of employment. Instead, she’d been left alone for two days, imprisoned in some kind of old-fashioned dungeon with stone walls and barred windows while she awaited his arrival. Granted it was a comfortable dungeon, warm with a large cozy bed, reading materials and plenty of food. But still…

Now it would seem her captor had arrived. And he was in the mood to inspect his newest acquisition.

“You are a pleasant surprise,” he drawled in flawless English, though she still detected an accent. He stepped through the shadows toward her. “I was led to believe you were a man.”

He stopped so close to her she could feel the heat from his body. She’d stood up to greet him, not wanting such a predatory man to have any kind of physical advantage. Not that it mattered, he was still almost a foot taller than her. She shuddered as his grey eyes roved hungrily over her despite the shadows, taking in every part of her. Instinct screamed at her to back away, but pride held her still.

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