Page 17 of Captivated By the Bratva

“What—” She screamed, but not for long. I lifted my finger to my closed lips as I shut the door beyond me. With my gun in my other hand, aimed at her, she caught on quickly. The universal signal to shut up worked.

Trembling and wide-eyed with panic, she stared at me and froze.

“Sit.” I pointed at the couch. “And don’t scream.” Keeping my gun trained on her, I followed her toward the single sofa. “Where is Nadia?”

“What… what do you want with her?” she asked, every other syllable butchered with stuttered sounds.

“Where. Is. Nadia?” I could already tell she wasn’t here. As elusive and careful to hide as the damn woman was, and likely had been for years, she wouldn’t have let her roommate answer the door to just anyone.

“She took off.”

Fuck.

“Where?”

Tears welled in the woman’s eyes. “Please, please don’t hurt me.”

“Where is she?”

“Don’t hurt her.”

“Where is she?” I repeated. If I echoed that question once more… I gritted my teeth and tried to keep a lid on my impatience and frustration. This day and night had already turned to shit and I didn’t want to deal with any more hiccups. Now that I’d found Nadia and had her for a handful of minutes, I was doubly determined to get her back again, peeved that she’d slipped away.

“She asked me to book a flight for her.”

Now we’re getting somewhere.Still, I had to prompt her to spell it out. “Where?”

“I can show you…” She reached for her phone on the low table, and as she stretched her hand out toward it, I brought the gun closer to her.

“Slow. Do not call anyone.”

Nodding like a freaked-out bobblehead, she paused and then moved even slower. Without any rushed actions, she picked up the device and unlocked it. Her fingers didn’t press any emergency buttons, and within seconds, she showed me the screen of an email. “These… these are the details.”

“Hold it up.” When she did, I took a picture of it with my phone, keeping my gun trained on her. “And when did she leave?”

“An hour ago?” she guessed.

“Anyone with her?”

She shook her head.

“Anyone follow her?”

A frown marred her face. “Um. No? I didn’t look.”

“You didn’t take her to the airport?”

“No. I offered, but she insisted that I stay here. No matter how many times I asked her what was going on, she wouldn’t tell me a single thing. I’m clueless, Mister. I saw how… how worked up and scared she seemed, so I figured she really needed to just get away for whatever reason.”

How sweet. Nadia wanted to try to spare her friend by keeping her ignorant.

After looking Zoe over for a long moment, I decided that she’d given me all that she could tell me. Nadia likely wouldn’t have told her friend the truth. No one would willingly be a roommate to the bride promised to a Mafia lord.

“Do not call the cops,” I repeated as I moved toward the door.

I didn’t wait for her reply. Outside, I hurried to track Nadia’s flight information. “Mexico?” I scowled and began making arrangements to chase her there.

Why Mexico?

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