Page 85 of Captive Virgin of the Bratva

Whoever took her thinks they’re dealing with the Kolya Sharov who plays politics. Who sits at meetings. Who negotiates.

They don’t know what I become when someonetoucheswhat’s mine.

I’m coming for her, and I’ll bring hell down on every one of them.

Before I can do anything else, my phone rings.

I snatch it off the desk without looking, the sharp buzz slicing through the tense silence in the room like a blade. The screen flashes a name I trust—Andrei. My cousin. One of the few people I’d pick up for right now.

“What?” I snap, pacing the length of the room. My palm is still slick with fury. My breath, shallow.

“You’re losing your edge,brat,” Andrei says, voice calm, clipped. “You let them take her right out from under you.”

“Say that again and I’ll drive to Moscow just to rip your tongue out.”

A pause. Then, quieter—more serious—“I’m calling because I’ve got news.”

I stop moving. Every man in the room freezes with me.

Andrei doesn’t waste time. “One of my boys, embedded deep. He just sent me word—minutes ago. They’ve got a girl.”

My grip tightens on the phone. “Where.”

“She was brought in blindfolded, but he saw her through the bars. Kept hidden in the basement of an old hotel near the industrial quarter. Burned-out place. No signage. They’re calling her leverage. Insurance.”

“Is she alive?”

“She was, a few hours ago. Scared. Shaken. Not hurt, from what he could see. But they’re not planning to keep her breathing for long.”

My blood turns to ice.

“They know she’s yours, Kolya,” Andrei continues. “That’s the only reason she’s not dead yet.”

I close my eyes. My jaw pulses as I drag in a breath so deep it burns. “How many men?”

“Six inside. Two on the roof. More nearby, I’m sure. Could be a trap.”

“It always is.”

Andrei pauses again. “They want you rattled.”

“They’re going to get mearmed.”

His voice lowers. “They took your woman, Kolya.”

“I know what they did.”

Another pause, but softer this time. “You’re going to kill every last one of them, aren’t you?”

I don’t answer. I don’t need to. He already knows.

I end the call and turn toward the others.

Boris meets my eyes first. “Where is she?”

“They’ve got her in a burned-out hotel near the docks. Industrial side.”

“How many bodies should we prepare to bury?”

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