Page 61 of Bought By Sin

I hunched over near the taller building that I hoped would hold an office.

Stop thinking.

Don’t go back there.

Don’t panic.

Don’t…

I focused on breathing. One long inhale sucked in, then that shorter one to follow before a long exhale. The dizzying threat of fear faded within a couple more minutes.

“Mila.”

I latched on to the sound of Lev’s voice. It came through the tiny comms unit in my ear.

“Are you with me?”

His deep baritone whisper sliced through me.

I wasn’t.

After spending so much time with him, I wasn’t with him right now. He wasn’t here to guide me. I’d been sent in solo for this spying expedition. I couldn’t rely on his brutal strength and power.

But hearing him helped.

He asked if I was with him, like checking that I was alive. Still here and with it. He was probably worried when I had been still on the tracking app he was no doubt watching along with the live feed from my cam.

Just the sound of his voice pulled me out of the dreadful memories. He yanked me back to the present.

I couldn’t speak. I wouldn’t dare this close to what had to be the main building. I couldn’t risk someone hearing me. Instead, I moved. I stepped closer, plastering my back along the wall and letting the motion be my answer.

I held my hand out in front of me, giving a thumbs up after the inactivity of crouching down and panicking, or coming as close to it as ever. He could see my gesture in the camera’s feed and know that I was with him.

I was.

I was with Lev and here for the sake of his family.

Reminded of my purpose here, I resolved to bring back as much intel and as many pictures as I could. Because I was committed. To them. I was committed to helping them because they were nothing like this lawless hell of the militants hidden here for Gregori.

If this was the kind of operation Yusef Antonov was heading up as Gregori’s lieutenant, I would do my part to fight back and end them.

Narrowing my eyes as I watched for anyone patrolling near this building adjacent to the barracks where a loud party carried on, the men gang-raping a couple of women, I tensed and braced to burst inside the offices.

If there were pictures, I’d copy them.

If there was any hard evidence to capture, I’d record it.

Whatever it took to assist the family I never expected to find.

23

LEV

“What happened?”

I turned toward Alexei, who was waiting in the passenger seat with me. Mila had been there, but once she got out at the drop-off spot, he came forward from the backseat to take her place.

I’d driven off so no one would spot the car. Nikolai was waiting on the other side of the massive compound hidden at the base of some rocky formations that preceded the end of the mountains here.