Page 58 of Kidnapped Bride

"Get Vlad in the house and call Keller," I ordered to Yakov, then I climbed out and rounded the front of the car.

Kira glared at me as I opened her door and used my pocket knife to cut her zip ties loose. When she tried to stand up and slither past me, I pinned her to the back door with my hip and shut the front door. Bullet holes marred the side of my vehicle, but thankfully, only Vlad was hurt, and thankfully, it wasn't a bullet that took him down.

"If I let you go, are you going to run away?" I asked Kira, and she spat in my face.

I gritted my teeth and slowly raised my hand and wiped away the saliva before taking a deep breath. She was testing my patience, which I was running out of. She had no idea the mess she was in. Markin would've killed her right alongside me if he had the chance.

"I hate you."

Knowing there was no way she'd walk willingly, I bent, pressing my shoulder into her waist, and hoisted her off the ground. Her body fell limp over my shoulder but her hands beat at my backside every step of the way up to my room where I dropped her on the bed. I wanted to comfort her, but she was being unreasonable.

Still I had to try. I crouched next to the bed as she sat up, and I rested my hand on her knee. "Kira, baby, I just want you to know that?—"

Her hand swung hard, connecting with my cheek, and I bit down on my cheek to avoid lashing out at her.

"Let me go home where I’m wanted, you monster…" The only thing that stopped me from tearing her limb from limb were the tears pooling in her eyes.

Her insult hurt.

Home was not where she was wanted. It was so obvious to anyone who could see it. Markin didn't care about his kid at all. All he cared about was killing me and taking my territory. But the fear and pain in her eyes told me she was scaredand confused. She wasn't trying to be intentionally hurtful. She didn't know I wanted her more than anything.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

"Get out. I hate you," she hissed, and she tried to smack me again.

I rose slowly, knowing if I didn't leave that room I would do something I'd later regret.

"Have it your way," I told her, too angry to say anything else.

If she wanted to be angry and stew alone, so be it.

I had a man to check on.

And an enemy to go after.

20

KIRA

The nausea hit me before I even made it to the bathroom. My knees cracked against the tile and everything came up into the toilet, leaving me gasping and gripping the toilet seat with both hands. There wasn't much to bring up. Some water, what was left of my lunch, and bile that burned my throat raw. When it finally stopped I sat back on my heels and wiped my mouth, trying to catch my breath.

I was so close to being free, so fucking close, and Nikolai held me back like the monster he was. Why couldn’t he let me go? Why couldn’t he just let me return home?

My father might not have been there himself to get me, but Rictor was right there, and Nikolai killed him rather than letting me go free.

Eventually I got up and rinsed my mouth at the sink. The face in the mirror looked like someone I didn't recognize. Mascara streaked down my cheeks, and my eyes were so puffy they looked swollen shut. The blue dress was ruined too. Betweensnot from crying and a random stain, maybe from Nikolai or something in his car, I'd never wear it again.

I pulled it over my head, dropping it on the bathroom floor, and walked back to the bed in my bra and underwear to crawl under the covers and cry. I had never felt more defeated in my life.

My father had come for me. After weeks of nothing, with Nikolai convincing me my own parent didn't care, I'd started to believe I'd been abandoned. But my father had actually sent someone to get me.

Everything had been a lie. All of it, from his catfishing to his manipulation, and I hated him for it. Everything I thought I felt, all that affection and fondness that had built between us, it was all a lie too. It made my entire body shake with sobs, painful ones that tore up out of my chest and made my throat hoarse.

How could I have been so foolish to believe him? After I knew what he'd done to me in the beginning, I let myself soften to him. I let him get in my head. I let him between my legs—enough to get me pregnant, because now I was certain that was why I was getting sick all the time. And I still let him in my heart.

It hurt.

It hurt like hell. I was angry and embarrassed. If he loved me or cared about me at all he couldn’t show it. He hadn't shown it when I was in my father's reach. Nikolai had looked at my shot at freedom and put a bullet in his head to keep me locked up longer. Right when I was starting to hope again.