Page 35 of Captivated By the Bratva

Nadia’s arms remained cinched tight around my waist, and I felt the lowering crouch of her body as she curled around me. I hated that she was exposed at my back, but with this tiny of a bike, it would’ve been much more difficult to steer and manage the ride with her in front of me.

“You okay?” I shouted over the roar of the engine. Wind rushed at our faces, and I squinted to see through the narrowed window of vision.

I felt her nod. Her chin dug into my back, and it was all the answer I needed.

Gunshots popped up behind us, and the resounding roars of more bikes followed. They wouldn’t give up easily, but as I wove down another road and prayed the coverage of the jungle would hide us better, I planned to lose them altogether.

Of course, they knew this area. Obviously, the sound of the bike would be hard to mask.

I drove on anyway, hurrying and testing the limits of this old bike.

Nadia held on without flinching, quiet and alert behind me. We were alive. We were getting away. And after a long length of time passed, I began to relax. Loosening my muscles was the start of calming down from this tension, but I wouldn’t attempt to lowermy guard until we were further from where these locals could reach us.

But she suspected trouble from the Avilovs.If that other man in London was someone from Lev’s organization, I would’ve caused even more trouble in fighting him back. By stopping him from reaching Nadia, I was indicating that I wanted to stand in the way of their arranged marriage, not that I was a third party trying to assist in making it happen.

How could they have reached her here, though?I was tracking her, and I imagined Lev and his men were doing the same. They had to be using the same technology that I was. She just barely used her phone, and that was how I’d reached her. The device must have fallen when she ran from being mugged, though, because I knew for a fact that all she had now were the clothes on her back.

No purse, no credit cards to be tracked. Not even her phone anymore. She was as far off the grid as possible, but I couldn’t shake the notion that she assumed an Avilov would still locate her.

I’d known to come here after her because her roommate told me. Maybe one of Lev’s men could have done the same thing, talking to Zoe to figure out where to fly to. Maybe it was nothing more than a coincidence of timing that we’d both been rushing after the same target at the same time. I wasn’t ready to reject the possibility that the man I stabbed in the alley in London was an enemy, someone else interfering with Nadia and Lev’s supposed engagement.

We needed to talk about this more, and now that I had to wonder whether I’d fought back an Avilov, I was required to update Alek on how I might have fucked up there. It wasn’t my fault. Ihadn’t known. I saw Nadia, and with her as my target in sight, I perceived that other man as a problem to deal with.

The locals we drove away from weren’t the same. They likely tried to mug and terrorize any tourists that came near their reach out here, further from the bustling cities with sunburned vacationers paying tons of money for the Mexican sunshine and beach fun.

One fact remained true. I had to stay alert, and as soon as I got Nadia to a safer location, I would be able to secure her better.

“Where are we going?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. “I think we lost them.”

“I’ll find somewhere to stop.” I wasn’t prepared to give up driving away yet. I wanted somewhere more populated. To hide among the crowds. Sometimes, being remote was a benefit, but other times, it was a hindrance. Staying near a populated area would be better. We needed food. I had to be near a decent reception range to call Alek and also pay for another rental.

Another hour later, likely when this dinky motorbike was about to run out of fuel, I steered down another street. We’d entered civilization. Taller buildings and some resorts lined the way we went, and once I located a public parking sign, I aimed to leave this ugly bike there. It could be dragged away with the keys in the ignition. The sooner someone else moved it, the faster Nadia and I would have less connection to it or the men we’d taken it from.

I parked the bike and held my hand out to Nadia. With how prickly and sassy she was when we first met, I almost expected her to swat my hand away. She didn’t. With a guarded look, she scanned our surroundings, still locked in panic and survival mode as she placed her hand in mine.

This simple show of trust hit me hard. It mattered, somehow. Maybe having sex with her was the ultimate method to get her to loosen up and be more cooperative. Not as stubborn and quick to fight with me.

When she stood and leaned closer to me, I wondered if she sought me as a source of comfort. That was a deeper connection than merely trusting me to keep her alive and not shot up or raped by those locals at the other place out of the city.

And it felt good. I wanted to protect her. I was damned glad she was at my side, walking away from that piece-of-shit bike.

This possessive streak wouldn’t help anything. She wasn’t mine to treasure and defend for any other purpose than keeping her alive to deliver to Lev, as expected.

She was a job, not my woman.

A stubborn bitterness sank into my heart as I reminded myself of that distinction.

Nadia wasn’t mine.

I had no right to want to keep her nestled at my side.

But I hated it. Lusting after a forbidden woman was one matter. Getting my hopes up and letting the lines get blurred between us was just stupid.

I walked up to the nearest hotel with mediocre security. I didn’t want a five-star lodging where the surveillance capabilities would betoogood and potentially announce our position to other players in the area. Instead, I went for a decent place that would hold up to unwanted visitors after hours.

Checking in was a breeze. I hadn’t lost my wallet, and the Bratva’s accounts I had access to were practically unlimited. While at the front desk, I overrode the receptionist’s need for identification. A few more dollar bills of a hefty denomination coaxed the young man to ignore all the forms and deviate from protocol.

He assisted me in obtaining another rental car to be delivered here, and again, tossing out a little more cash greased the wheels of his not asking a single damn question.

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