“Does it matter?”
This time instead of a punch to the gut, or knife to his other thigh, Viktor chose to strike him acrossthe face. Blood from his bitten lip flew out of his mouth.
“Do you know how much you cost me? How hard I had to appease the clients who were disappointed they weren’t going to get their merchandise?”
The urge to tell the guy he didn’t give a fuck was high, but Isaac kept his lips pressed together. He wasn’t going to feed the beast, and answering back would be doing exactly that. Besides, given the fact that Viktor was wearing a five-thousand-dollar custom made suit, Isaac would hazard a guess that his business was doing just fine.
“But that wasn’t enough for you was it? You had to go and interfere again. You had to ruin my brilliant plan, one that had been working so well. But this time you failed to keep yourself hidden. And here you are, my number one guest.” Viktor laughed as if he’d told the funniest joke in the world. “I planned to kill you immediately, but I admit this is way more fun. But believe me Isaac, you are going to pay for what you’ve done. And it’s going to give me immense joy to watch your last breath stutter out.” Viktor stuck his finger into the knife wound. Isaac was unable to hold back his cry of agony as Viktor twisted his finger before pulling it out. “This is just the beginning.”
The door slammed shut behind him, and Isaac succumbed to the pain, dropping his head as the desireto give into it and fall into the black abyss that called to him was getting harder and harder to resist.
But resist it he did, because Viktor had said something that he knew was important. Something about him interfering again.
What was he talking about?
None of the cases he’d worked with Alliez, none of the assignments he’d consulted on with Julian were connected to human trafficking. At least not directly, but perhaps indirectly. Or was it in his former life as an undercover operative that he’d passed associations with Viktor. That made more sense than anything else
“Think, Isaac, think,” he mumbled to himself. What was he missing?
If he closed his one good eye, he’d pass out, he had to keep it open so he could focus. The connection was there if he could just bring the threads together. Through the maze of his jumbled brain a memory finally stood out. The memory of Marie’s car being trapped. Gunmen coming for her.
That had to be it. Viktor must have been targeting women who’d called for the service that Marie had used. But why didn’t anyone report the women being taken? How many had gone missing? The sidewalk outside the Alliez office was busy, people would’ve noticed the fact that a woman had been forcibly taken out of the car.
Unless this was the first time they’d tried to take someone on a busy street. His head thumped, begging for a reprieve from the work he was making it do. He ignored the pain because this was important.
The more he ran through this scenario, the more it made sense. Somehow Viktor had gotten his description from one of the kidnappers who Isaac had thwarted, or like Alliez, he had access to CCTV footage and had seen him rescue Marie. However he’d done it, he’d spotted Isaac and made the connection with what Alfredo had told him about seeing him in San Carlion.
How many other women had been taken?
Obviously the channel to move people through Gomez had been thwarted when he’d passed on the information to save two women who’d worked with Teresa. It had not stopped Viktor though, no matter what he was saying. He was still trafficking and successfully too.
He had to remain resilient and strong against whatever Viktor was going to throw his way. He had to hang on for as long as it took for the team to get there and for him to get home to Marie.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Conversation buzzed around Marie.References and terms were thrown around, but they all went over her head. She knew she should be paying attention to what was being said, but all she could think about was Isaac.
Was he hurt?
Was he even alive?
Her body ached, not from the lovemaking she and Isaac had shared, but from something else, as though every part of her had been hit. She didn’t understand why she was feeling this way. She’d done nothing to warrant this type of aching.
“You okay?” Lilith came up to her with a fresh glass of water, the ice cubes clinking when she put it down.
“I don’t know how I feel.” She wanted to go backto the night before when she and Isaac were cuddled up together. Where his mouth was teasing every part of her body.
“I think it’s fine that you can’t define what you’re feeling. This is a lot to deal with. What I do know is that Isaac will do everything to come back to you. He’ll withstand whatever is thrown at him, because of you. I know that’s what I felt when I was taken.” Her gaze drifted to her husband who was talking with Fox and Deal. “I kept my mind on Julian, believing he’d find me, because I had my tracker. I put up with whatever was dished out because help was coming. Isaac may not have a tracker, but he has to know no one in this room will sit back and not do everything to find him.”
Marie took in everyone in the room again. Lilith was right, everyone had come. All the girls were here, their kids as well. They’d all come in and given her a big hug, and she’d appreciated it even though she hadn’t known them for long.
She really wanted to believe what Lilith said; that Isaac would be okay.
Did she want to be the reason he was dealing with whatever punishment he was having to endure?
Yes!
Because if she had been taken she’d be thinking about him. Believing that he wouldn’t rest until he was found. He would be her safe haven. The place shecould escape to where she didn’t feel anything but his arms on her. His lips as he kissed his way down. His words telling her that he loved her and would be coming back to her.
