Page 35 of The Bratva's Forced Kidnapped Bride
Why did all this hurt so much?
Try as I might, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, only small bursts of laughter which made my blood boil. They had to be plotting against my family, maybe even had something set up already, and were just hashing out the final details. Who would get what after the Fokins were wiped off the map and that sort of thing?
I suddenly realized this might have been Anatoli’s plan all along. The ultimate torture would be to make me witness my family’s destruction. Then I wouldn’t be so valuable anymore.
Why the hell did this make my heart feel like it was ripping in half? Anger blocked it out, pure red rage filling my vision. I was not about to sit there quietly like a geisha and let him get away with this. With a burst of strength fueled by fury, I jumped up, hauling the chair with me. In one quick leap, I was out the door, swinging it at the startled guard. It knocked him off balance long enough for me to grab his gun.
Not taking a precious second away from my objective, I whirled back into the doorway and shot the Collective leader through the back of the head. He was sitting at an angle to Anatoli, so there was no lucky chance of killing two birds with one stone, but I watched with satisfaction as his body slumped forward and his forehead conked against the edge of Anatoli’s fancy desk. Blood splattered all over the back of his laptop and the decorative antique books he had stacked on the edge.
With only a blink to make sure the first foe was down, I turned the gun on the second, curled my finger back around the trigger. And was sent to the floor, my breath rushing out of me as both the chair I was still cuffed to and the guard landed on me. The gun flew from my grip, and I saw Anatoli’s leather shoe kick it out of the way from the corner of my eye. The guard was kneeling on me, his hand mashing my face into the once-pretty blue oriental rug that was now stained with blood. Probably some of it was mine since I bit my lip hard when I hit the floor.
I waited for the familiar click or a blow to the head because there was no way I was getting out of this alive. Still, despite the pain and the difficulty breathing with a two-hundred-pound brute perched on my back, I was triumphant. Anatoli was still alive, but I’d surely put a massive dent in his plans to overthrow my family.
“Get up,” he told the guard, who scrambled for the gun and stood pointing it at me.
Then Anatoli shoved the chair aside, which had somehow become folded up in the skirmish, and leaned down to look at me, still sprawled on the rug. “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked, voice low and menacing.
“I was thinking that there was no way I was letting you join forces with the Collective. No damn way I’d let you work with them against my family.”
With a low growl in his throat, he rolled me over and grabbed my arm, tugging me to a sitting position. He winced when he saw my bloody lip, but only shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh.
“I’m not working with the Collective,” he said. “I’m gaining their trust to move against them. Or, I was.”
My eyes shot up to his. Those gray depths were crystal clear. Angry, frustrated, but he was telling the truth. My stomach sank as I glanced away from his gaze to the body slumped over his desk.
“I guess you already know who that is?” he asked.
“Enzo Santino,” I whispered. “One of the highest-ranking members here in LA.”
His eyebrow raised. “So then you know there’s only one higher-ranking person?” I nodded, and he continued in a flat voice, pointing to the corpse. “That man’s father. So…”
“So I just killed the boss’s son,” I finished.
He shook his head, almost sadly, almost with a trace of fear that had a shiver running up my spine to prickle the fine hairs at the back of my neck.
“You just signed your death warrant.”
Chapter 26 - Anatoli
It all happened so damn fast. My heart was still in my throat, my brain struggling to accept what I was seeing, which was a very powerful enemy’s head crunching against my desk in a spray of blood. The sound of the gun was still ringing in my ears as the guard brought Masha to the floor in a heap.
My wife was crazy. Oh, I always knew it, but I was beginning to think it was the good kind, fierce and fiery. Even when she tried to shoot me on the plane, I had to admire her guts. But no, it was the bad kind, the kind that was going to get herself killed.
She’d just taken out someone whose father was strong and powerful enough to burn us all to the ground. And she’d ruined my plans, which certainly wasn’t the most pressing thing at the moment, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight, and it pissed me off. I had just about gained enough trust to be able to set up a meeting with Enzo’s father and really infiltrate the Collective enough to topple them from within, but that was obviously all over now.
Now I had to figure out a way to cover up this guy’s death before his people found out he wasn’t making it home for dinner tonight, and then put a hit out on both Masha and me.
After I explained to her exactly what she had just done, after all the color drained from her face, which told me she clearly understood what she got us into, she still had the gall to be furious with me.
“You never thought it might be a good idea to let me in on your plan?” she snapped. “After all, you wanted me posted up by the door for everyone to see. Didn’t you think abouthow I might have responded negatively to you meeting with our biggest enemy?”
By that, she meant the Fokins, and I scowled, leaning close enough for her pretty brown eyes to cross.
“What part of being my prisoner don’t you understand?” I asked. “Since when do I have to share my plans with you?”
She leaned back with a huff. “Funny, I thought I was your wife.” She rattled the handcuffs, still attached to the folding chair, her voice laced with sarcasm.
There was no time for this. My men would have already overpowered the guard who waited out in the lobby on this floor for Enzo to be finished with our meeting. The moment he heard the gunshot, he would have acted, but thankfully, the ruckus Masha caused in the hall before the shooting put my other guards on high alert. No one was running back to headquarters to report what she’d done, but it was only a matter of time until someone took note that they were missing. Based on Enzo’s standing in the organization, a very short amount of time.
