Page 73 of His Smile
Slowly, Roman looked backdown at the man in the bed and held out the machete to his side. Mosca steppedforward from the shadowed corner of the room and took the long blade. Flexingboth hands, Roman felt the sick excitement for what he was going to do risewithin him before he lunged. The moment his knee touched the bed, Roman had hisright hand clasped over the man's mouth and his left arm barring across hischest.
Dev Gorshal's eyes went widein confused terror as Roman pushed his much heavier body against the slim man,trapping him in his bed. Dev's struggles were worthless against the much largerman, but he tried in vain regardless. Jerking his thrashing head still, Romantook a steady breath controlling the maddening urge to break the man's neckhere and now. No, dear God no, Roman wouldn't do that, he had so many fuckingplans for Dev it nearly made his dick hard at the thought.
Leaning more of his weightagainst the terrified man, until the pillow around Dev's face nearly swallowedhim, Roman put his face inches from his.
"So, what was theplan?" he whispered with a slow smile as he basked in the sight of thehorror settling into Dev's eyes. Roman could feel the man start to shakebeneath him. "Get her captured, beaten, maybe raped, and then tossed neara hospital so someone could find her fast, and then you could come along andsayI told you so." Roman ignored the muffled sounds beneath theweight of his crushing hand. "Or did you plan to convince her to marry youand play the consoling hero?"
More desperate sounds camefrom Dev along with attempts to shake his head. Roman just grinned.
"It does notmatter," he whispered gleefully in Dev's ear. "Because she is safeand you are so very fucked."
Without a sound, he andMosca gagged and bound Dev Gorshal and handed him out the bedroom window toSergei and Ivan where they waited patiently. Thirty minutes later, Mikhail wasopening the door to the cargo container for their arrival. Mikhail's shippingdocks were a multi-purpose operation, two of the perks being privacy and long-termstorage. Installed fluorescent lights flickered on above them as Roman easilydrug the bound and whimpering man to the end of the long rectangle cargocontainer. Attaching Dev’s bound hands to a chain attached to the wall, Romanstood back and spread both arms.
"Welcome home," heannounced cheerfully.
Mosca stood at the door ofthe container as Mikhail walked in with Isaac, Mikhail's on-call doctor.
"I can't remember, haveyou ever done this before?" Mikhail asked matter-of-factly as he stared objectivelyat Dev as if he was examining a lab rat.
Feeling the unbridledexcitement for what was to come, Roman gave Mikhail an eager smile as he shookhis head. "No, I am quite well versed in torture as you know, but thishere," he waved to the ridge-lined metal container around them. "Thisis a work of art that I have yet to master."
Mikhail nodded; his faceexpressionless as ever. "Isaac will be here for you whenever you need. Hewill essentially keep the bastard alive while you—do the opposite."
Dev's cries and strugglesagainst the chains renewed at Mikhail's words.
Roman gave Mikhail athoughtful look. "How long do you think I can keep him?"
This time Isaac answered, ina professional tone as he observed Dev. "The longest we have gone was ayear and two weeks."
"You hear that,"Roman looked to Dev, who looked close to passing out from fear. "You and Iare going to try to beat that number."
Roman laughed aloud, andMikhail even chuckled as Dev went slack against his chains in a faint.
"Poor dumbbastard," Mikhail muttered as he turned to leave with Isaac.
Roman stood there for a fewmoments longer contemplating if he should bring Dev back to consciousness ornot. Memories of Rahina's sad face as he left her earlier that nightresurfaced, however, and all the excitement he felt for spending hours hurtingthis piece of shit left him. He needed to get back home. The urge to hold herto him, to press his face into her soft inviting breasts and inhale her scentwas becoming a thrumming call in his veins. Turning off the lights, he left Devin the darkness leaving him for another day. Now all he wanted was to go home.
His home, however, was empty.
Standing in his closet,Roman tried to will himself to calm down. Empty hangers and shelves from herside of the closet stared back at him. Her toiletries from the bathroom werealso missing. Every trace of her was gone, except for the yellow roadsterparked in his garage with the key laying in the seat. Walking downstairs, hecaught Mosca's worried eye as he stood by the kitchen counter holding a tablet.
"I found this on thecouch," handing him the tablet, Mosca took a step back, signaling to Romanthat whatever he was about to see was going to piss him off.
The screen of the tablet waspaused on an image of Rahina handing her bags to one of Dimitri's newlyappointed enforcers. Pushing play, Roman watched with growing fury as Dimitriescorted Rahina out the front door with an arm around her waist.
"There is moresir," Mosca supplied grimly before reaching over and flicking the screento a handwritten note.
Your loss is my gain,brother.
Rereading the words Romanstared at the bright screen for a few more moments before looking up to Mosca'swary expression. "Call and get the jet ready to leave within thehour."
It took four hours to reachLas Vegas. Each minute of it Roman tried to stem the nauseating feeling ofbetrayal and rage. He knew Dimitri well, and he knew his protégé took pureenjoyment riling people up. This was all just a game for him, one big joke.Knowing that should have calmed him, but a needling sense of insecurity stillfound him when he remembered Rahina's sad face when he left. The footage of herwalking out of their home with Dimitri felt like hot knives being stuck in hisback. Roman had to find them, he had to shoot Dimitri in the motherfucking headand chain Rahina to his side.
The hotel Dimitri stayed inwas in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. Getting access to the private floor,Dimitri was located on took only a few threats and Mosca punching a man in thethroat. Stepping off the elevator, both he and Mosca froze at the sounds fromthe door directly in front of him. Sounds of feminine moans and male gruntsechoed past the door.
It felt like Roman’s worldhad slipped out from under his feet. A ringing noise sounded in his ear aseverything else was muted out. Roman couldn't hear if Mosca said anything tohim as he swiped the key card and kicked open the door. The simmering rage thathad been with him since he boarded the jet reached its boiling point at thesight in front of him, however.
Long beautiful black hair,copper naked flesh, rode on top and astride the pale body of his ex-captain.Roman pulled the gun from his holster at his chest. He would kill them both, hewhispered. Or did he yell it, he wasn’t sure? One second he was standing at thedoor frozen in horror as he watched the woman he loved grind herself on top ofthe man he considered a friend and the next he was grabbing a handful of thelong black hair he had come to cherish with one hand, and snatching it back.
