Page 80 of Captivated By the Bratva

If I could help get Dmitri out of here and to safety, then I would.

I’d never had a chance to be someone else’s hero, and I relished the chance to step up to the challenge now.

Without a weapon, I used my busted zip ties to fiddle with the crack between the door knob and the wood. The metal wobbled more and more, and with a racing pulse, I hurried.

Any minute, someone could come. Lev could come for me. Someone could notice that I was messing with the handle. Any number of things could backfire, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

My knob jimmied just so, and several minutes later, I could pull the door inward.

I slowly opened it, holding my breath and tense for anything to jump at me. For someone to notice and rush at me.

No one came.

Once I had the door open a few inches, I peered out and watched down the hall. It was empty, but further out, I heard the sounds of children crying, men shouting, and machinery like trucks being moved.

Here goes.I nearly shook with nerves as I stepped out of the room. They were criminals who’d done this before. They wouldn’t have locked me up so carelessly, I bet, if there weren’t multiple layers of security around this place. But no one waited in this hall. I had no guards posted at this door.

I slipped out, wincing at the throb in my leg from Erik’s kick, but I ignored it. Creeping down the hall, I breathed as quietly as I could and stepped as lightly as possible.

Still, no one came.

I reached the end of the hall and tried to search down another. Getting an idea of the layout was my first step. But as I went, seeking an exit, I looked for a weapon.

A hammer lying on the floor became mine, and I held it firmly as I continued to sneak out.

The longer I went snooping without anyone coming, the more convinced I became that something had to be going on elsewhere in this huge building. Something that was distracting the Avilov men and keeping them away from this end.

I sucked in a hard breath and held it when I peered past a closed door and found three dead bodies in a bloody heap.

I hope Dmitri wasn’t in there.

Plowing on, I entered another room.

A man coughed from the dark interior, and I froze.

“Fuck off,” he growled in between rough pants of air.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering who this could be. Multiple hostages had been mentioned. I saw the many children. But this man…

“Dmitri?” I whispered.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Are you Dmitri?”

“Depends on who you are.”

“I’m—” I glanced back and forth in the hall, too nervous to let myself be completely vulnerable here. “I’m Maxim’s fiancée.”

He grunted. Maybe it was a laugh. “Fuck. Another sister-in-law? Already?”

It was him! It was Dmitri! I’d found him.

I hurried in, closing the door but keeping it ajar so it wouldn’t lock accidentally. “Dmitri. Are you okay?”

“No. I’m not fucking okay.”

I walked into something dangling on a string, and I flinched, stopping short. As I reached up, thinking it was a pull for a light, I tugged.

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