Page 46 of Sworn to My Heart
Another half-hour passes, and the area falls silent. Graham calls several more times, but I continue to ignore him, finally sending him a single text.
I’m fine. Trust me, please.
11:48 PM
I peek out again and see the gate is now open, with no more of their men in sight. Taking a deep breath, I stand up and start moving toward the containers. Suddenly, a hand grabs my arm, yanking me to the side.
I look up and immediately recognize Vladimir. Shit. My heart races in my chest. I can’t let him report this. I’ll ruin Luca’s entire plan if I don’t act now.
“Looks like you really want a piece of me, if you’re following me around like this. You’d make a great addition to today’s shipment,” he says smugly, his eyes roaming hungrily over my body.
The thought of him touching me makes my skin crawl. I take a step back, trying to break free from his grip on my arm.
“Looks like you didn’t learn your lesson last time,” I retort sharply, ensuring no one else is around before swiftly raising myother hand toward him before he can react.
“Bitch, I’ll kill you,” he gasps as he starts choking, trying in vain to reach his gun.
This time, I don’t just choke him. I lift him off the ground using my powers and with a single hand wave, I slam his body hard against a nearby concrete wall. His head hits the wall with a thud, and he loses consciousness.
I rush to his crumpled body, seeing blood starting to pool behind his head. I grab his phone, his gun, and a knife I felt around his leg area. Living among criminals has certainly improved my survival skills, at least in their world.
I push the knife into the side of my tight jeans, put his phone in my pocket, and keep the gun in my hand. Before I can move, a gun is pressed to my temple. I jump in fright, but relax when I recognize one of Luca’s men.
He keeps his gun to my head, ignoring my attempts to remind him who I am, and communicates over his earpiece. Within minutes, two more men are in front of me, followed by Luca and Pedro.
Luca recognizes me instantly. “Matteo, lower your gun, or my next bullet will take you down,” he threatens through clenched teeth.
The soldier immediately lowers his weapon and steps back in fear.
“Alin, what the hell are you doing here?” Luca demands, his voice laced with anger.
I sigh, knowing there’s no point in lying. “When I saw everything you had planned and realized the risks, I couldn’t let you go alone. I wanted to help,” I admit, realizing how stupid I must sound since he has no idea how I could possibly contribute to such an operation.
“Do you hear yourself? Luckily, it was one of my men thatcaught you. What could you have done against one of the Russians?” he asks, his frustration clear.
“I can protect myself,” I retort, pointing to Vladimir’s unconscious, bleeding body on the ground.
“You did this?” he asks, surprised. When I nod, his anger seems to rise even further.
“Alin, I have no idea how you managed that, but do you understand the danger you put yourself in? How did you even get here? Where is Graham?” he fires off questions furiously.
“I escaped him,” I reply, feeling like a scolded child. Luca runs his hand through his hair in frustration, cursing under his breath.
“I’ll deal with Graham when I get back. Come with me,” he orders, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. Pedro walks beside me, giving me a pitying look.
Their vehicle, a large black SUV, is parked nearby. Luca opens the rear door for me and pushes me in, careful not to bump my head. He orders Matteo to quickly hide Vladimir’s body before the other Russians notice.
Mariano, talking on the phone, glances at me from the driver’s seat, surprised. Luca signals him to ignore it.
At least now that I’m with them in the car, I can try to protect them if something happens. I sit silently as we wait in the vehicle and hand Luca Vladimir’s phone, remembering it was in my pocket.
It seems they’re waiting for a signal from the men in the field that the shipment has arrived. Vladimir’s phone has been going off and Luca takes the chance to get a look through on their messages, with me translating it. We’ve been waiting in the car for hours; it’s already 3:40 in the morning, and my phone battery is about to die. I toss my phone onto the seat next to me, feeling exhaustion take over my body.
I close my eyes for a second and wake up abruptly as a voice startles us all. “The shipment is here. There are two containers, one full of women, and the other is still sealed. Waiting for your orders,” one of the men reports to Luca from a phone that must have been on speaker.
“Is Stas there?” Luca grabs the phone and asks.
“Yes. We have eyes on him; he’s moving toward the container,” the soldier responds promptly.
