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Chapter Four

Nadia

“ D id you really think you could get past us?” Finn asks, grabbing my waist. I struggle against him but he’s like a block of ice: cold to the touch and solid.

“I think she thought she could,” Aiden says behind me, descending the stairs until he stands beside his brother.

“How foolish. Little girl, you’re not going anywhere.”

“Are you going to hurt me?” I whimper. My voice sounds so shy and weak.

Finn looks at his brother. “Are we going to hurt her, Aiden?”

“The boss doesn’t want her dead. He never said we couldn’t have fun with her.”

A brick made out of cement lodges itself into my stomach. “Please. Don’t. Please.” I push and shove at Finn’s chest. I have to fight. I can’t let them hurt me.

Finn laughs as he lets me go. It’s so sudden, I stumble back and fall right onto the mattress. My wedding dress flares out around me, looking so out of place in the dark ugliness of the room.

“The one thing you don’t need to worry about is us being rapists. We don’t get our kicks off raping women. Only cowards do that.”

“It’s just fun to see the fear in your eyes,” Aiden says. “To see you cry. To see you scream.”

I feel like I’m in a nightmare. My body isn’t attached to my head. My vision is hazy.

This only happens in nightmares , I tell myself. This doesn’t happen in real life .

But it is happening to me. It’s all real and I can’t pretend otherwise.

Aiden and Finn are clearly brothers from their similar eye shape and nose. But their hair is drastically different. Aiden’s is reddish brown while Finn’s is jet black.

It’s like me and Anya. She’s all fire and red hair and spirit. I’m docile and shy and blend into a crowd.

Right now, I wish I could blend into a crowd. It would save me from the eyes of these two scary Irish brothers.

Aiden leans against the wall as he takes out his gun. The sight of it makes me gasp. “I just need to clean it,” he explains, taking out a rag from his other pocket. “Need something to do while I’m in here.”

“My brother, always needing to do something. Whereas I can just stand here and look at you.” He rakes his eyes over me. “Shame that you’re Dante’s. I would do dirty things to you if I could get my hands on you.”

If I could get my hands on you . Which means he can’t. Dante must have told them they weren’t allowed to touch me without his permission.

That thought doesn’t bring me any comfort.

Finn’s eyes narrow. “Not going to say anything? Cat got your tongue?”

“It’s obvious she’s shy.” Aiden doesn’t even look at me as he wipes down his gun.

“How is that obvious? She might just be afraid.”

“It’s in her entire air. She’s shy. And yes, she’s afraid.” He snaps his gun together and stuffs it back into his waistband of his pants. “Why wouldn’t she be afraid? Any sane person would be afraid in this moment.”

“True.” Finn frowns, almost like he’s disappointed. “I guess I was just hoping she’d have more fight to her. Making an already scared woman even more scared isn’t as fun as bringing a confident woman to her knees.”

Slowly, I push myself upright. It’s clear they’re not going to hurt me right now. While I am afraid, I can at least think more clearly.

“How long does Dante plan on keeping me?” I can’t look at either of them as I ask.

“What was that?” Finn mutters. “Speak up.”

I flinch. My father would snap at me to speak up all the time. I was never good enough for him.

“She asked how long Dante plans on keeping her,” Aiden says.

“You actually understood her?”

“It’s not hard, brother. You’re just the one who has difficulty listening. ”

“Dante plans on never letting you go,” Finn says to me.

I press my head against my knees, curling into the smallest ball I can imagine. The tears that escape me are hot and soon, I find myself sobbing into my body.

Both Finn and Aiden fall silent. They’re probably mocking me behind my back. Silently laughing at the crying girl.

I’ve been holding in my fear for the past couple of hours and now it’s all coming out.

“Do we do something?” Finn whispers.

“I have no clue. I don’t know how to deal with a crying girl and I know for shit that neither do you.”

Another set of footsteps comes down the stairs. “What the fuck is going on?” It’s Dante. “I didn’t say that either of you could come down here. And why the fuck is she crying?”

“You didn’t say we couldn’t come down here either,” Finn points out.

“And as to why she’s crying,” Aiden says, “we have no idea. She just started doing it. We weren’t even touching her.”

“Get the fuck out,” Dante growls. When no one makes a move, he shouts, “Out!”

Finn scoffs. “It’s a good thing you pay us so well. I don’t like taking orders from people.”

“Then you’re free to find work with someone else. Leave.”

I don’t see them go since I can’t stop crying into my knees but I hear two sets of footsteps go up the stairs and then the door closes, leaving me and Dante alone again.

“Why are you crying?” The way he asks is cold and hard. There’s no warmth in him. He thinks of me as his enemy and that’s all I’ll ever be.

His question only makes me cry harder. My hands grip my shins, squeezing until it hurts. The pain helps me stay focused.

“Did they do something to you?”

I’m so startled by the question, I actually look up at him. “What?”

Dante shifts around on his feet uncomfortably and crosses his arms. “Well? Did they?”

I blink. My tears have slowed down. Now, all I feel is a deep tiredness in my bones. “No. They just talked.”

“And that made you cry?”

“No.”

He sighs. “So, then why are you crying?”

“Why do you care? You hate me. ”

“I still want to know why you’re crying.”

“Well, you kidnapped me.” I wipe at my eyes. “I miss Anya. I miss my safety. That’s why I’m crying.”

Dante shrugs. “So, obvious reasons then. Well, hate to break it to you, Nadia, but I think you’re going to be crying a bit more.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulls out his phone and points it right at me. “I need you to smile.”

“I’m too sad to smile.”

“Fuck,” he mutters. “I think that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard someone say. The truth is, I don’t care if you’re too sad. I’m going to send a photo to your sister.” He doesn’t ask me to smile again as he takes the photo. “There.” He shows it to me.

In the photo, I look utterly miserable as I’m seated on the mattress, my wedding dress wrinkled, and my eyes puffy from crying.

“It’s a start,” he says. “And send. This should make your sister scared. God, I wish I could see the look on her face. In due time, we’ll up the ante.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t stay in that wedding dress forever,” he says, putting his phone away. “I’d love to send a photo of you naked to your father. That will really piss him off.”

“You can’t,” I gasp, clutching my hands to my chest as if that will somehow protect me from Dante.

“But I really can.” He leans over me. “I’m in charge here, Nadia. You are going to pay for the crimes of your family members.”

“Why do you hate me so much?” I whisper. “I never hurt you.”

“Because you’re so innocent. So pure. I want to take that from you. I want to throw you into the mud. Dirty you up a little. No one from the Bratva deserves to be pure, especially someone who’s part of Erik Koslov’s family.” He grabs the shoulder seam of my dress and rips it down my arm.

I scramble away on my hands and knees, breathing heavy.

Dante only laughs. Fortunately, he doesn’t come any closer. “You are at my mercy.” He flings the scrap of fabric at me, then leaves the basement, locking me back in.

I pick up the fabric and clench my hand around it. I dig my nails into my palm until it hurts and I have no choice but to open my palm and let the piece of fabric fall to my lap.

When I look at it more closely, I see a twinge of blood on it.

Anya

The photo of Nadia on a mattress, looking upset, rocks me right to my core.

I take it to Erik. “Can you trace it?”

He goes eerily silent as he glares down at the image. “I am going to kill him.”

“You have to find him before he can hurt Nadia more. I’m not sure what he’s done to her, if anything, yet. But it’s only been a few hours since she was taken. How far will he go?”

“I can try to trace it but knowing Dante, he’s not using his actual phone. He probably has software on his phone to keep me from tracking the image.”

“But you can at least try?”

Erik gazes down at me with soft eyes. “I will try. I swore to you, Anya. I will find Nadia.” He holds up my phone. “Let me get my men on this.” He heads towards his office, leaving me alone.

But being alone is the last thing I want right now. All I want is my sister safe.

Already, I can feel my mind cracking with worry. If this goes on much longer, I think I’ll become a shell of the person I am.

And I fear that’s exactly what Dante wants.

Dante

The sight of Nadia crying made me feel… weird. Like a punch right to my gut.

I’ve been so focused on getting my revenge on Erik that I never really thought of Nadia as a real person.

Until now. Until I saw her crying .

I had the strange urge to hug her, which is fucking ridiculous because I don’t care for her. I hate her. I feel it in every fiber of my being.

And yet, I didn’t like to see her cry.

Fuck.

I leave the ranch house and head straight to the nearest club I can find. I need to put Nadia from my mind for the night. Get wasted and fuck a woman who isn’t a part of Mafia/Bratva politics. Something just simple.

That’s the one perk about being around normies. They don’t know who I am. Most people in the Mafia recognize me. They either know to fear me or come after me.

But with normal people, I can just fucking relax.

The dance club is packed with people, which isn’t surprising since it’s a Saturday night. I order a beer, since I don’t want to get too drunk and accidently let slip anything about Nadia. She’s a secret I need to keep close to my chest.

I lean against the bar and sip on my drink as I scope out the room. Which willing woman will win my attention?

A beautiful blonde, that’s who.

She’s in a slinky black dress. Her red lips shine under the lights. She’s the epitome of sexy and she comes right over to me. Good. She’ll make it easy for me.

“Hello,” she practically purrs.

“Hello.”

She’s a stark contrast to Nadia, with her seductive eyes and confident walk. That’s perfect. I don’t want to think of Nadia right now.

“I’m Jessica.”

“Chris.” I always lie about my name to normal people. It’s better that they never know I’m a part of the Mafia. Safer for them. It’s not that I care if they live or die. It’s more that I care they don’t go to the police.

“Well, Chris. I saw you looking at me. Why didn’t you come over and ask me to dance?”

“Because you came over to me instead.”

“I know and I didn’t like it. I like a confident man who’s not afraid to speak to me.”

“Oh, honey, I’m not afraid. I don’t need to impress you. You’re already impressed.”

She huffs. “And what makes you say that?”

“You came over here of your own accord.” I place my hands on her waist and she leans into my touch. “So, why are we wasting our time here when we could be having fun somewhere else? ”

“You’re a stranger. You might kill me if I go off alone with you.”

“Smart girl. But I have no intentions of killing you. I just want to fuck you. I want you to enjoy it. How does that sound?”

She eyes me suspiciously but I can already sense her desire to be with me. “Are you clean?”

“As if someone doused me in Clorox. Want to get out of here?”

It only takes a beat to nod yes.

Jessica’s apartment is small but cozy. So different from the mansions and opulence I’m used to. So different from the dingy basement Nadia is in.

Fuck. I push Nadia from my mind. She’s not welcome here. Nadia is my prisoner and nothing more. There was no reason I should have felt bad about her crying. Feeling bad about anything is a wasted emotion. It’s pointless. Guilt never gets a person anywhere. Action does.

I grab Jessica’s face and kiss with all of my pent up emotion. The adrenaline from the kidnapping and shootout. The slight fear of knowing I could die if Erik found me. And the passion I feel about ruining his and Anya’s lives. Nadia’s too.

I kiss Jessica harder. She doesn’t seem to mind as she moans into my mouth.

It doesn’t take us long to get naked and in the bed. I use a condom because I’m not fucking stupid. I may be clean but that doesn’t mean she is.

But my god is Jessica hot.

I fuck her with wild abandon and she returns the favor, arching and bucking into me.

I shut my eyes as my orgasm washes over me.

Nadia’s face flashes behind my eyes. I come, thinking of her, as I fuck another woman. Jessica moans her own release. I’m nothing if not giving in the bedroom.

But my mind isn’t in it anymore. I’m too fucking distracted with Nadia in my basement. Thinking of her in her white wedding dress, looking so innocent. So pure.

My cock stirs again at the idea of being inside Nadia. I could fuck her innocence right out of her. I could laugh in her pain. Her fear.

I pull out of Jessica and slump to the bed .

But I don’t want to rape Nadia. Yes, she’s beautiful and I do want her body but I want her to come to me willingly. I want to know that I managed to break Anya’s little sister so far down that she’ll be begging for me to take her of her own accord.

That’s the sweetest form of revenge. Making Nadia so consumed by me that she’ll turn against her family. That will break Anya’s mind and in turn that will break Erik’s. Sergei will be pissed at the idea of losing his little girl to me. That’s just the cherry on top.

“Where did you go?” Jessica asks me.

“When?”

“Just now. When you were coming. You seemed like you were somewhere else. I was curious.”

I was with the girl I have locked up in my basement . Somehow, I don’t think that will go over very well.

“Just got lost in the moment. You were good.”

She smiles under my praise. “You were good too. If you ever want to do this again, call me.”

“I don’t do numbers. This was a onetime thing, I’m afraid.”

“You don’t like to get attached, do you?”

“Jessica, it’s like you know me so well.” I give her a wink before slipping my clothes back on and leaving her there without another word.

It’s pointless to get emotionally attached to women. Unless she’s Mafia herself, she would never understand what I do. There’s no Mafia women I’m interested in at the moment. Fathers in the mafia lock their daughters up and expect them to wait until their wedding nights. I guess the Mafia has that in common with the Bratva.

The only thing, in my opinion. The Bratva are brutes whereas us Mafia men are works of art. We’re more calculated and smart.

At least, I know I am.

If I wanted to fuck a Mafia woman, I would have to marry her. No fucking thank you.

So flings with normal women are just easier. None of them can have my heart though. It’s reserved for only one thing.

Revenge.

Nadia

The mattress doesn’t offer much comfort. It doesn’t protect me from the cold.

I can tell it’s dark by now because of the small window. It’s like it’s mocking me. So close and yet so far away.

The darker the night gets, the colder I become.

I’m shivering uncontrollably when the basement door opens and footsteps come down the stairs.

I don’t bother to react. What will happen will happen. I’ll either be hurt or left alone. There’s really no other option.

What surprises me though is that it’s not Dante who comes down. It’s Matteo, the driver who took me here.

He’s carrying a paper plate with a sandwich on it and a water bottle. “Here. You need to eat.”

I look up at him, still not moving. “I’m not really hungry.” My fear won’t stop constricting my stomach.

“You need to eat. Dante doesn’t want you dead. You could try to starve yourself but that will take weeks. Here.” He hands me the water. “At least drink. If you don’t, you’ll die within four days.”

It’s at this moment I realize just how thirsty I am.

Without hesitating, I take the bottle from him and chug back the water. It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.

“Careful. You don’t want to upset your stomach.”

“I didn’t think anyone would care if I upset my stomach.” I can’t quite meet Matteo in the eye.

“I just don’t want you getting sick. I’m the one who will probably have to clean it up because no one else will.”

“You work for Dante.” There’s something about Matteo that feels easy to talk to. Not as scary as the brothers and definitely not as intimidating as Dante. There’s a kindness in his face that I see whenever I get the courage to sneak a peek at him.

“I do. I’m his second in command.”

“So… then why would you do grunt work? ”

“Because Dante doesn’t want too many people involved in this operation. He’s not going to clean up any vomit and I know Aiden and Finn won’t, so that leaves it to me. I don’t want this place to smell. That’s just unpleasant for everyone.”

That makes more sense. He would clean up my vomit for selfish reasons. Not to be nice to me.

None of these men are going to be nice to me. The sooner I can fully accept that, the better. I can’t be na?ve in this situation. If I’m going to make it out, I need to be smart.

Information is key.

Matteo nods towards the bucket. “Have you gone?”

I shake my head, my face flushing.

“Well, after chugging back that water, you probably will soon. When you do, just knock on the door and I’ll come down and get rid of it. Like I said, I don’t want this place to smell.”

“Ok.” I hug my arms tighter around my body.

Matteo sighs and sets the plate next to me on the mattress. “You should eat that soon. If you leave it out, it might attract ants and that’s just going to make everything worse for you.”

“But you don’t care if it actually is worse for me. If ants show up, then that means you have to deal with them.”

“Pretty much. Eat. Don’t starve yourself to prove a point. If you try, I’m sure Dante will just force food down your throat anyway.”

The thought of that is horrifying. I grab the sandwich and force myself to take a small bite. It’s a simple ham and cheese. Nothing special. Honestly, it’s kind of gross.

But I soon find myself scarfing it down. My fear was masking how hungry I actually was.

“Trust me. It was better you ate.” Matteo turns towards the stairs. The thought of being down here by myself a moment longer is killing me.

“Wait.”

He looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Would you… stay?” I whisper. “I just don’t want to be alone.”

Matteo sighs heavily. “I have work to attend to. Besides, Dante won’t appreciate me staying down here and talking with you for too long.”

“Why? ”

“Because you’re his.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the entire world. It’s not obvious to me at all.

“I’m not his.”

“He thinks you are. Why do you think Finn and Aiden weren’t allowed to touch you? I know they came in here earlier, messing with you. Dante was angry about that.”

I startle and look up at Matteo, finally meeting him in the eye. “Why was he angry?”

“Because he doesn’t want another man touching you. So, you don’t need to fear me. I won’t hurt you. But I will not sugarcoat this. I work for Dante. I will do anything he wants me to do. Well, within reason. So, just because me and the brothers were told not to touch you, doesn’t mean you’re safe here. You should be afraid. Dante wants to hurt you. Hurt your family.”

“I know,” I mutter, pressing my head into my knees and squeezing my eyes shut. Maybe if I just fall asleep, I’ll be able to wake up back in my own bed and leave this nightmare behind me.

“Like I said, whenever you’re done with the bucket, knock on the door. I’ll attend to it. I have to go. I am not going to stay here and comfort you throughout the night. I am not your friend, Nadia. None of us are. Don’t mistake my acts of practicality for kindness. They are not.”

Matteo’s footsteps are heavy on the stairs as he leaves. At least he has the courtesy to leave the light on. I don’t think I could be down here in this basement all by myself in the dark. The shadows already present make me uneasy, like a ghost could come out of them and gobble me right up.

I have no friends here. The sad part is, this is not the first time I’ve experienced this. My father isolated me. Kept me from people. So, I know what it’s like to be alone.

At least then I could sleep in a warm bed at night.

My loneliness is nothing new. If I survived years of being with my father’s coldness, then I can survive this.

With my belly full, I actually manage to fall asleep. That’s the only blissful part of sleep: it gives me respite from the waking nightmare I am in.