Page 12 of Captivated By the Bratva

The cooler air heightened my senses. I felt more clear-minded, ready to act. Away from the stale and overcrowded bar, I was more at ease to move quickly.

Nadia dug her heels in, though, clawing at my fingers to pry them off her arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Yes, you are.

“Stop!” The other man hurried outside after us, and Nadia changed her tactic. She ran, almost matching my pace as she raced forward.

I didn’t let go of her arm, refusing to lose her, but her actions told me that she feared this other man more than she did me. She focused on running, on getting away, but she no longer concentrated as much on breaking free from me.

I wasn’t disillusioned to think that she was accepting that I’d caught hold of her, but it seemed that I was the lesser evil.

Was he an ex? Someone who hurt her before? Again, immediate spikes of anger and frustration struck me, and I fought them back.

Nadia was a job. A means to an end. She didn’t matter, but I despised the idea of her so desperate and frantic to get away from that stranger.

“Please.” She tugged on her arm as we pumped them, sprinting hard down the street. “Please, just let me go.”

I gritted my teeth, wondering if I’d need to gag her too. Once I explained where I needed to take her, she’d rail and beg even more. As sexy as her voice was, I didn’t need more complications to seeing this through.

Instead of replying, I maneuvered her to turn down an alley. We skidded, slowing on the slick pavement from the recent rains, but we managed the abrupt change of direction.

“Stop!” The man shouted as he pursued us, chasing us all the way down here. His accent sounded foreign, yet not, as if he was a man used to living and being all over the world. Indistinguishable.

I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t care. I was expected to get this woman and bring her to her fiancé and that was what I’d fucking do.

He could find another random woman to harass or stalk.

Not this one.

But he wasn’t giving up. All the way down this alley, he chased us.

At the first sound of a gun being fired, my irritation from his persistence morphed into anger.

“You motherfucker,” I growled under my breath.

Panting hard from the run, I halted so quickly that Nadia squeaked in alarm. She flung back to me with the sudden stop in our momentum, but I made sure to pull her to me as I veered to the side.

I couldn’t have her shot at. I had to deliver her safe and sound, if sassy and stubborn.

“Stop! Let her go!” The man just wouldn’t quit.

You interfering asshole.

I gritted my teeth as I turned to face him. His footsteps pounded closer and closer, and I knew I had to settle this and get rid of the threat. I didn’t want to deal with outrunning him and giving him the chance to stay on our tail.

At the same time I spun to fight him, I pushed Nadia to the side. She’d be safe next to the dumpster while I handled this pest.

Her back slammed against the brick wall, and I had just enough time to catch a glance of her stunned expression. She was still afraid but fighting to show it. Alarmed. Worried. Bewildered. And she only had herself to blame for it. Had she not resisted me, we could’ve easily left this fucker in the dust behind us.

“Let her go?—”

I punched him at the same time I grabbed my gun. His order would stay unfinished. I’d robbed him of speech with that jab to his jaw, but he wasn’t a weakling to fall back easily.

We engaged in combat, and with every deflected punch, kick, and hold, I realized this was no amateur asshole trying to snatch a woman from a bar. He was trained, skilled, and practiced at fighting.

I’d knocked his gun to the side, but he produced a knife just as quickly. Shooting him would’ve been quicker, but I didn’t need to pull any more attention to us out here. This wasn’t like back at home where guns were so common. A gunshot caught too much attention.

This was supposed to be an in-and-out sort of operation, but it was already turning upside down.

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