Page 84 of Captivated By the Bratva

And he never would expect her to come to him again. Ironically, Erik had taken care of that.

“Nadia!” I staggered back as a truck pulled to a rough stop.

The passenger door swung open, and I widened my eyes at the sight before me. Smoke stung me, though, and I blinked through the tears this hazy air caused.

“Dmitri?”

He coughed, staring at me through one eye. “Get in!”

I ran, amazed. Nadia had found him in there, and with the state of his bloody, beaten body, it looked like she’d dragged him out with her. There was no way he could have escaped on his own.

“Brother!” I climbed in, shoving him further to the middle of the bench seat. He slumped, looking like a limp body with no energy.

“Hurry. Hurry!” Nadia didn’t wait. She slammed her foot on the gas pedal before I could shut the passenger door. Gunshots peppered the vehicle, and I crouched over my brother. Clutching the dashboard frame, I held on to avoid sliding out and also to keep Dmitri inside with Nadia’s wild, curving turn.

The door smacked into a parked truck, and as it snapped off the frame, I ducked and gripped the dash hard. Air whooshed in faster, and without the metal panel keeping the passenger side secure, bullets could hit faster.

Nadia swerved, though, almost in a full circle as she sped down the road in the opposite direction of where the rest went. The Avilovs fled to the north, seeming to head for the boats bobbing at the nearest docks.

We left heading south.

“Sweetheart,” I said, grinning at the sight of her so focused and determined as she sped away.

“Maxim,” she replied, almost bossy, “I love you.”

“I couldn’t love you more,” I said as I leaned over Dmitri and kissed her hard.

He groaned, and I retreated right away, hating that pressing on his side to reach her behind the steering wheel could have caused him that much pain.

“Later, Maxim. Later. Get me to a fucking hospital first, huh?”

I stared at my woman, proud and awestruck that she’d done this. She hadn’t run away from me. She’d been waiting formeto run toher.

From now on, I vowed as my heart beat easier, we could never be apart like that again.

30

NADIA

For the first three days that we recovered and relaxed at the Valkov mansion in New York, I wondered when the meetings would ever end.

Alek Valkov wasn’t as frightening as I thought he might be. I met him first, and my initial impression of thePakhanwas that he was younger than I thought he’d be. He’d have a long time to grow into his position as the head of the family.

He was tough, though, as evident in his thorough interrogations in the aftermath of all that went down after I was taken to the place Dmitri had been held captive.

“You didn’t see Erik near him, though?” he asked.

I got it. This man cared about his organization. His love was obvious for his brothers. He seemed to circle back to questions about the interactions between Erik and Dmitri, but I had nothing to tell him, not really.

I shook my head. “No. Not in the time that I was at that second place near the water. He argued with someone named Andre,and that was the last I saw of Erik. I escaped and looked for Dmitri, and when I found him…”

I fought back the memories of that horrible room. The stink, the blood, the first sight of such a tortured man. “It seemed that Erik had already done his worst.”

Alek glowered at the table. Maxim shifted in his seat next to me. He was there for all the meetings and questions, and I appreciated his presence. Even though I wasn’t afraid to satisfy Alek’s need to interview, I preferred to always be near Maxim.

“The reports we’ve collected suggest that Erik had a routine of torturing him.”

“But he was sent by Lev to find me,” I replied.

---