Page 18 of Captivated By the Bratva

Was she going to someone for help?

Or was she just trying to run further from home?

Once I secured a flight, wondering if anyone like Alek at home would be curious about where I was going next, I grabbed my bag from my hotel room and prepared to leave.

The flight felt longer than it likely was, and the nap that I managed didn’t restore me with much energy. Ever since my brother told me to fetch Nadia, I felt like I was running nonstop.

I landed without any issues, but I felt more lost here. Back to square one, I had to root out where Nadia might be staying. When I went after her in London, I had the starting point of the university she attended, as well as her former apartment. Here, I had nothing.

After I left the airport and arranged for a car, I waited in the pickup line for the vehicle and considered my options.

Scouring her cards was one step. As soon as she used one of the credit cards registered in her name, I’d be able to track her. So far, nothing had been used.

I was limited to using decent software to track her. Having my computers at home was preferred, but in the meantime, I called the tech staff I trusted and left them messages to follow Nadia’s phone. Once she used the device, I’d be able to follow her better. As of now, according to the app I’d installed on my phone, she wasn’t going anywhere. I needed the technological assistance from home to reset my ability to track her here.

Running around and searching all the hotels would be a waste of time. I had no idea whether she’d try to drive away further from this airport. I knew nothing, but I wouldn’t lose hope yet. I’d found her once, and I’d find her again.

As I waited for the vehicle I’d arranged to rent, I wondered again who that asshole was that I’d left bleeding and woundedin the alley. The man who’d interfered with this job being done already.

I hadn’t recognized him, but I was confident he was affiliated with an organization somewhere. He had that look. If he was a Mafia man in someone’s employ, that complicated things a bit.

Could he be an enemy of the Avilovs, aware of how badly Lev wanted to marry Nadia and they wanted her as leverage?For as determined as Lev was to get his bride, that seemed plausible. Alek, Nik, and Ivan had all expressed concerns about being more vulnerable now that they had their women. That if an enemy wanted to hurt them, an easy method of accomplishing that would be to harm or take what they loved most.

I couldn’t see how Lev might love Nadia. It was impossible. How could he? It sounded like he’d never actually spoken to her.

She was a gorgeous, brave, and determined woman, one any intelligent man would fall for. Hell, I battled the fickle figments of attraction still to this moment. From the second I saw her, crushed against me, I experienced a flicker of awareness. Desire, even. Both were ridiculous. She was just a job to finish.

I sighed, looking up the bastard who’d claimed her. I didn’t know much about Lev Avilov or the family he represented. And what I saw of him now, with a cursory search on him, I regretted that such a young beauty like Nadia would be shackled to a sick old fucker like him.

He was sleazy personified, and while he looked fit, he couldn’t escape how damn old he appeared. Sun damage had weathered him badly. The man was three times her age, and in all the pictures obtained of him lounging on his yacht, he clearly preferred them very,veryyoung.

You’re a twisted creep.

One I couldn’t blame Nadia for wanting to avoid.

The more I recalled how good she felt pressed against me, her slender body near mine, the more I realized how ideal she’d be forme. It was stupid to cling to the memory of how we clicked, how she seemed to be made to complement me, but it was difficult to dismiss it, too.

I’d never given much time to considering settling down with one woman. Sleeping around suited me fine. There was nothing wrong with casual sex. Now that my brothers were finding their wives and starting families so quickly, I wondered what it’d be like. What it would feel like to have a partner. That when you saw your woman, you’d just know she was yours and only yours.

God. What the hell am I thinking?It had to be a lack of quality sleep getting to me. This was complete nonsense.

I am not going down this train of thought.I couldn’t fantasize about keeping Nadia for myself. She was promised to another. I’d been sent to deliver her to the old sicko who'd demanded her to be his wife. Besides, I didn’t know her. I barely knew enough to track her down, and that was not a good foundation for sticking with a woman. Nadia, in essence, was nothing more than a stranger to me. A job to complete.

And it’s not possible, anyway.If and when I settled down with one woman who could be the mother of my children, it would be with someone who wanted me. I wanted to marry a woman who chose me. Being forced to unite would be a lifelong obligation.

Before I could lose my patience completely and ask the car rental attendant to get a fucking move on with getting my car, myphone rang. Seeing that it was Alek, I stepped to the side and answered.

My first thought—and worry—was that he would be calling with news about Dmitri. While I was focused on Nadia and getting her to Lev as I was charged to do, I had not successfully forgotten that my brother had been captured andmightneed help.

Wrap this up with Nadia, turn her in to Lev, and then get right on the case to find Dmitri.It sounded like a plan.

After we greeted each other, Alek got straight to the business of his call. “Gregory Petrov was beaten.”

I frowned. “Yeah. I know. I told you that before I flew out?—”

“Again,” he explained. “Avilov had Gregory beaten after you spoke with him.”

“Shit. He’s really getting impatient.”

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