The guards roughly haul Rocco, Giovanni, and Santino to their feet. Rocco goes with a grunt of pain.
“Hey,” I protest before I can think twice about the wisdom of talking back to the ruthless goons holding us captive. “Watch it. He’s been shot.”
“Don’t,” Rocco warns me tightly.
The man guarding him pushes him between the shoulder blades. “Get moving, and don’t do anything stupid. We’re not going to hurt you,da? Your boss is making an exchange.”
An exchange?
Does this mean they’re going to set us free? Hope wars with fear inside me, my stomach a swirling sea of anxiety and desperation. I’ve never been more terrified, not even when I was handcuffed to the bed in Alessio’s apartment.
“Up,” says another voice, a big hand reaching down toward me.
It’s a voice I recognize. My head jerks up to meet the startling, light-blue gaze of the man who broke in and terrorized me that day.
“You,” I spit out.
A feral grin curves his lips. “We meet again,malyshka.”
Saint
I’mready to murder Sidorov and every goddamn man in this room. But my rational mind knows I can’t do that, regardless of how much I want to. Because even looking at the new Pakhan the wrong way could make the bastard change his mind and go back on his word. I’m desperate enough to swallow my pride and possessive rage and keep from ripping every one of them to pieces with my bare hands.
All I want is Isla’s safe return.
Right fucking now.
And if she has so much as a fucking bruise on her anywhere, all bets are off the second she’s out of these fuckers’ reach.
Hours have passed since our meeting earlier, and now we’re in Bratva territory at Sidorov’s demand. It’s getting late. During that time, it feels like a lifetime has gone by. We finally reached Scorpion. Priest ordered him back to the city with Ekaterina, careful to keep out the part where he’s going to have to marry the Russian hellcat he took hostage. Sidorov sent over a marriage agreement for review. It’s designed to finalize the alliance.
“Your lawyer has finished reviewing the contract?” Sidorov asks Priest.
Lazaro pored over it like it was a treaty between warring nations. Which, in a way, it is. He found nothing objectionable, other than a few minor items that Priest was willing to accept and one major one that’s a sticking point.
“He has,” Priest acknowledges. “And we are good to go except for one thing. There’s no mention of a prenuptial agreement. We’ve taken the liberty of adding a clause that accounts for what happens if the marriage is dissolved for any reason, including death. Have a look for yourself.”
He slides the folder containing the agreement across the desk to Sidorov. Lazaro advised against going digital for the contract because of the opportunity for manipulation. We don’t want to take any chances that Sidorov moves shit around on us.
Sidorov accepts the folder and begins slowly turning the pages of the agreement, absorbing the content of every page as he goes.
“Page fourteen,” Priest adds.
Sidorov turns another page, taking his time. I crack my knuckles, about to jump out of my skin. If anything happens to Isla, I’ll never forgive myself. And I’ll burn the whole city to the fucking ground to avenge her. First on my kill list? The dickhead who’s currently making his way through page four.
“Vlad,” he says to the man at his side, presumably his lawyer, who is dressed in a three-piece suit.
As Sidorov pushes the discarded pages toward him, he spouts off something in Russian. Vlad responds in kind and begins his own review.
“Jesus,” I mutter. “This is going to take all fucking night.”
Priest sends me a warning look, like I don’t know this deal is sensitive. Easy for him. It’s not Luna who’s the one being held like a bargaining chip by these pieces of shit.
Sidorov looks up at me, his face expressionless, those icy, pale eyes eerie as hell. “You have somewhere else to be, Andriani?”
“No,” I bite out. “Continue.”
And so he does. Slowly. Methodically. Reviewing page by page. I pull out my phone and check on Scorpion. He turned on his tracking for me, so I can see he’s finally arrived. Thank fuck. This ordeal can’t be over soon enough, even if I do worry about his reaction to discovering he’s going to be forced into marrying Ekaterina Sidorov.
