Page 60 of Sapphire

Mateo rushes toward me, and I take a couple of steps back until my back hits the wall.

“Dammit, Zoe, you can’t make me stop loving you,” he states angrily as his fist meets the wall behind me, making me jump.

“You have to.”

“Never.”

“Please let me go, Mateo,” I ask softly, looking up into his chocolate eyes.

“I can’t and I won’t,” he declares before he grabs my face and kisses me. Mateo pours every bit of his love into that kiss, and I’m powerless against it. My legs begin to sag unable to hold myself up against his love. He wraps a strong arm around my waist and holds me safely against his chest. “I will always catch you, angel.”

And with those sweet words, I give in. I wrap my arms around him and sob. He holds me tightly against his hard body and lets me release all the secrets that have been eating me up inside all night.

Eventually, I pull myself from his chest.

“Please trust us with your memory like you do your heart,” Mateo pleads.

“Whatever you remember, I promise we will help you,” Tomas adds.

I suck in a deep breath and hope that what I’m about to tell them doesn’t change what we have.

“My name is Sapphire, and I’m a high-end escort for the Bratva. And I’m supposed to be dead.”

The room goes silent.

19

MATEO

Did she just say escort for the Bratva? I turn and look over at Tomas.

His face is as blank as mine before he shakes himself out of it. “We might need to have a seat for this conversation,” Tomas suggests.

Zoe nods sadly.

I grab her hand and link our fingers together as we walk back to the sofa where we just were. Seems like a million moments ago when I was deep inside her, where nothing mattered but her pleasures.

We take our seats, Zoe and I on the sofa and Tomas on the one across from us.

“I was owned by the Bratva,” Zoe starts slowly.

“How did you know?” I ask.

Zoe looks down at her hands again, that same nervous gesture she had when she first came here is now back again.

“An old client was there last night with a woman I worked with. He was surprised to see me there as he was told I had moved on. He was very insistent on how much he missed me. That he missed our time together. It was a shock.”

“Did he touch you?” I ask, trying to hold back my anger. I will kill anyone that touches her without her permission.

She shakes her head but the way her hands twist tells me that’s a lie.

I’ll kill him.

“His date was a woman named Ruby. She explained that we were in the same situation. Both of us were taken from home and thrust into a life neither of us asked for. Each new piece of information sparked a dormant memory in my mind. Bit by bit they began filtering through. It was overwhelming and distressing.”

Thank goodness for this Ruby woman. I’m going to need to find her and thank her for helping our girl out like that.

“Ruby explained how an ex-boyfriend had taken me to Russia. I thought I was going there to meet his family and, in essence, I did but it wasn’t what we would consider family. He kidnapped me, stole my passport, and locked me away in an apartment. He tried forcing me to work for him, and Ruby said I wouldn’t do it. That I fought back with everything I had to not become one of his jewels. I tried and failed so many times to escape that they threatened my sister. Gracie is her name. One of my ex-boyfriend’s friends began dating my sister, and they threatened me with her safety so I would comply. Eventually I did, Ruby explained.”

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