Page 67 of Captivated By the Bratva

When the van slowed, I tensed and perked up to pay attention. It stopped completely, and the second the engine turned off,I sat as still as I could, straining to hear. Breathing faster in anticipation, I roved my gaze back and forth, as if I could guess which of the double doors in the back might open first.

I heard nothing but the pounding of my pulse. I felt nothing but the tension of anxiety and dread. I had no means to fight back, tied up and gagged. My odds weren’t looking good, but I still refused to surrender to the fear or panic creeping up my spine and threatening to take over me.

Erik flung the doors open and didn’t waste time reaching inside and grabbing me by the ankle. He’d only tied my hands, so it was with great force that I kicked at him and bucked on the floor to escape his grip.

He won. Of course, he did. He was bigger and stronger, not tied up and wounded. The cut on my cheek bled quicker the more I screamed from behind my gag, but it did nothing. All I did was tire myself out more.

With a rough hold, he carried me into what looked like a huge warehouse. Bruises would litter my flesh from how harshly he brought me in here. He transported me so swiftly that all the details of the location merged in my mind like a dizzying blur.

“Stop fighting it,” he snarled.

I screamed, cursing him out behind the gag silencing me. He tossed me to the ground, and I didn’t wait, slamming my leg out to connect with a hard kick at the back of his ankle.

“Fucking bitch!” He doubled down, grabbing the wounded area, then stood and kicked my thigh.

I breathed through the pain. My nostrils flared. Snot ran out as tears burned in my eyes. Taking the toe of a boot to the leg would never feel good, but it really hurt. Bad.

He spared me any more injuries, though, stalking out of the room and slamming the door shut.

I blinked through the ache and scanned the space I’d been deposited in. It wasn’t much. Like an abandoned office. A table stood to one side, and the chairs looked like they hadn’t been moved in a while. Dust still floated up from the floor in the wake of Erik storming out and slamming the door shut.

Eventually, my exhaustion overcame me. I was so scared, mad, worried, and stressed that I didn’t think I could get tired. I was wired up and locked in a panicky survival mode, but my body was beat. I was too damn tired.

Sleeping with my arms behind me didn’t feel great. My hands went numb. My shoulders ached. I didn’t sit in the chair, afraid I’d fall out of it, but I kept my back slumped against the wall with my legs sprawled out ahead of me.

I drifted in and out of consciousness. It was hands-down the single worst night of rest. When I woke, giving up trying to close my eyes again, I prayed there was a god in the universe that would get me water. My stomach clenched with hunger pains, but I was so dehydrated that I doubted this headache would ever go away.

After several minutes of stretching my legs the best I could with that hard kick from Erik, the door opened. I tensed, immediately nervous at who could be coming in. Two men walked in with Erik. One held water bottles and the other had a bag of food. Erikwas on the phone, and he stayed on it as the men set the bag and water on the table.

I glared at the taller one who smiled at me. He smirked as he put containers of food on the table, and as they all sat divvying up the meal, I knew they were pure evil. Taunting me like that. Eating in front of me and not offering anything. They were terrible, sadistic torturers.

Erik propped the phone up and continued to talk to whoever had an even thicker accent.

“We have another location, Erik,” the other man said.

“Uncle,” Erik replied with a roll of his eyes at the tall man who kept checking me out. “That’s not smart.”

Uncle?He was talking to Lev!

“If we keep moving around, it’ll give our enemies too many chances to follow us.”

“Nonsense,” Lev yelled. “I am the boss. You listen to me.”

The shorter man seated with them laughed, chuckling under his breath. Erik mouthed,Not for long, fucker.

I blinked, watching and listening to it all.

Erik planned to take over the Avilov name? I couldn’t wait to share this with Maxim. His brothers, especially Alek, would want to know.

“We have the location the Kastavas are using,” Lev said.

“In New York?” Erik asked, smirking.

“Yes. They are using it to hold their other hostages.” Lev coughed a wheezy, then hacking, sound.

Kastava!I recalled the name. I didn’t know much about them, just the little that Maxim had told me. Sergei Kastava tried and failed to take over the Valkov Bratva. And more recently, Sergei captured Maxim’s brother, Dmitri.

My God, they’ve got to be talking about him.I tried not to look like I was listening in to everything they said, but I was riled up with newfound excitement. If they were discussing Dmitri…

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