“Lady,” Cristian said, getting in her face, “it’s better if you just tell us now. When we find out, it could mean life or death for you.”
“Not yet. I can’t—I need to know you’ll help me first. I’m not my father.”
Matias scoffed. “Help you? You just admitted that you are the daughter of the person responsible for taking what is ours. If you're not your father, then tell us who he is.”
Katya stilled. “You’ll kill me the moment I do.”
“No. I won’t. You’ve obviously been wronged by him. Stop protecting him, Katya. Tell us what we want to know, and I will swear my protection.”
Cristian gasped. “Brother. What are you doing?”
“Tell me, Katya. Who is your father?”
Pedro walked her to the door and opened it. He stepped through, pulling her behind him. Katya jerked against him, pausing in the open door.
“Dmitri Ivanov.”
“Fuck!” Cristian tugged at his hair. “This is bad, Matty. Do you realize you just swore our protection to the leader of the Russian Mob’s daughter? The man we now know stole our fucking lithium.”
“Calm down.” Matias started toward the front door. “She could be useful to us.”
“This is fucked up, Brother. I’ll call Bastian. He needs to know what’s going on.”
Matias stilled, quirking a brow at his brother. “We need to be more worried about Jorge. When he finds out we have his bride to be, it will be a problem.”
“Fine.” Cristian pulled his phone out. “I’ll make some calls and see if there is any chatter among the locals. Jorge is an idiot to wage a war on us. What the fuck was he thinking?”
“I don’t know, but he will learn why fucking with the Silva family isn’t good business. Find out if Bastian wants to run a winery. When this is all said and done, they’ll belong to us.”
Matias pulled the door closed and took the steps down to his awaiting SUV. Pedro stood beside the car, watching the girl.
“Pedro.” Matias smiled as he walked past him. “I’ve got it from here. Meet me at my house and bring Benji with you. I’m going to need some modifications to my security system.”
“Yes, Sir.” Pedro trotted off toward his car, leaving Matias standing outside his SUV.
Katya was sitting in the passenger seat with her hands bound in front of her. Pedro must have secured them as a precaution.
Slipping into the driver’s seat, Matias leaned across the console and gripped the seatbelt beside her. Her body stiffened beneath the brush of his arm, causing him to chuckle.
“Relax. I’m just putting on your seatbelt, Princesa.”
Katya relaxed as she stared out the window. Chile was a beautiful sight to behold. The landscape was like something of a post card. She knew she was being held somewhere outside of Santiago, but never stepping foot outside of the states, she wasn’t sure where.
“Where are we going?” Katya asked, her eyes never leaving the terrain on the other side of the glass.
“My house.”
“From one prison to another,” she huffed, her eyes dropping to her bound hands.
“Think of it as protection.”
“Protection that involves being locked in a room?”
“Katya.” Matias gripped the wheel as he spoke. “You’re the daughter of a very ruthless man. A man who has a reach long enough to fuck with us here in Chile. I need to be certain this isn’t some trick to fuck us even more.”
“You think I’d willingly look like this, or that I’d allow my father to sell me off like a cow?” She cut her eyes toward him. “Jorge was going to…” her voice trailed off as she visibly shuttered. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. This prison can’t be any worse than the one I ran from.”
They pulled onto a gravel drive that led them to a massive estate. It was even larger than the one she fled from. The home looked like something out of Vogue magazine with its Mediterranean vibe.
