Page 77 of Dare To Free Us

“There was no MC or Irish involvement, was there?”

“Bingo,” he said with a charming smile.

“I’ll kill you Nico.” I’d rip him to shreds. “What about her, you fucking a fifteen year old, you sick fuck? You seduced a little girl to help do your dirty work? You tried to talk me into handing her over to the Irish.” Vasilisa didn’t flinch at the mention of Nico trying to pawn her off.

He chuckled. “Arguing with you about giving her over to the Irish was just to set you on edge even more. I’ve known you for too long to think you would go against your word, as for the other questions, she’s far from fifteen I assure you, it was her that encouraged me to take action.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I looked over at the couch where Vasilisa was rising from.

“Now darling, aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? We really should wait until Arianna arrives.” Her smiled grew with pure, evil satisfaction.

My eyes went wide. Fear froze my lungs as adrenaline spiked through me hard enough it tingled my fingertips. Arianna was home surrounded by multiple men that belonged to my uncle. “If you touch her,” I warned.

“It won’t be me doing the touching,” Nico drawled.

“I will.” A deep voice came from the right making my head snap sideways.

Shura Petrov entered the room, looking bigger than the last time I’d seen him. His ice blue eyes bore down on me as he joined Nico and Vasilisa. Reaching down he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, which she excepted happily.

“Nico. What the fuck did you do?” Not only did he betray me but he’d made a deal with Shura, which meant he planned to give Arianna over to him. I roared and yanked on the binds. I had to get to her. I had to protect her.Fuck!“I’ll fucking kill all of you!”

Shura didn’t so much as flinch at my rage. “We’ll wait for Arianna before we start with the story telling. Until then…” At the snap of his fingers three men entered the room looking like the assholes I was sure they were. “My men are going to keep you entertained.”

Shura stepped back as the men surrounded me. I deserved every bit of pain they caused me.

19

ARIANNA

Iwore a path in the floor pacing the bedroom. My mind buzzed and heart raced. If I tried to sit still I felt my insides would burst through my skin. When I couldn’t stand the confines of my bedroom any longer I went to the kitchen to try and force myself to eat. Nerves made my appetite shrink to nothing but I knew it was a bad idea not to eat, because as soon as the hunger caught up with me the morning sickness would hit.

Maria appeared at one point and I told her she should be ready to move. Hurrying back to her room I was sure she felt as nervous as I did by the way her face couldn’t muster a smile.

After forcing down a sandwich, glass of water and my prenatal vitamins the size of horse pills, I went back to keeping myself in motion by pacing the house. Hours had passed and nobody told me any news. I tried to ask Steven but he said there was no word yet and since the other men were mostly new— sent by Matteo’s uncle— I didn’t feel comfortable asking them.

Going back up to my room I triple checked the things in my bag. I’d just decided to pack a different coat when a guard appeared in the doorway.

“Come with me,” he said, not bothering to ask permission for entry.

“What’s going on? Is Matteo ok?”

“I was given orders to get you out of the house and somewhere safe.” He went to the bed, zipped my bag closed and took off with it towards the door. Racing to keep up I wanted to ask a million questions, but only one truly mattered.

“Is Matteo ok?”

“Yes.” The answer sounded robotic.

“Where is he?”

“Indisposed at the moment. I’m supposed to bring you to meet him.”

My shoulders sagged in relief. Matteo was ok. The tension that kept my body strung tight loosened it’s hold enough to allow me a deep breath. It was still a bit unnerving that he felt the need to have me leave the house, but knew Matteo would have a good reason for it.

“What about Maria?” The wall of muscle and silence ignored me as we made it to the stairs. By the time we reached the bottom I was starting to get annoyed. I knew he heard me.

Reaching out I pulled on his arm hard enough to stop him, he spun and glared at me impatiently. “What about Maria?” I repeated, not breaking eye contact, even if the cold in his eyes did make me squirm.

“Someone else is retrieving her. She will be following in another vehicle.”

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