Page 86 of Bratva Jewels Box Set

“Grace.”

“No, Zoe. No! We are in this together. No matter what, we have each other.”

I sigh. She’s right. “Okay, I promise you and me against the world.”

We sit in silence for the rest of the journey, lost in our own thoughts.

At some point, we must fall asleep because we are greeted by Dmitri’s smirking face when the van doors open.

“Welcome home, ladies.”

Bright light filters in and Gracie and I take each other’s hand as we jump out. It takes a while for our eyes to adjust to the glare, but then they widen as we see where we are.

“This is your home for the foreseeable future, hope you like it.” He chuckles.

My eyes scan the vast gardens and towers with guards. It’s a palace, a fortified palace.

Nikolai comes and takes my hand, breaking my link to Gracie, and panic fills me. “Let me show you to your room, Zoe.” He pulls me forward, and I stumble over my feet, but he holds me so tightly I don’t fall.

We walk through the grand entrance. The palace is made of marble and gold, ridiculously ugly and over the top. Someone has way too much money and no taste. Nikolai leads me up one of the two grand staircases, and I look around, trying to see where Gracie is.

“Don’t worry about your sister. She will be well looked after by Dmitri. He’s missed her very much.”

My blood turns cold. I shake my head and try to get my wrist free of his vice-like grip, but it’s no use.

He pushes open the door and pulls me into a grand bedroom, locking the door behind me. He lets my wrist go and I rub it.

“I thought you would like this room; it reminds me of you.”

I look around the room. It’s excessive, rich Persian rugs in different shades of blue all over the floor, an enormous hand-carved four-poster bed in the middle.

“It’s called the Sapphire room.”

That name pulls me back to a time my mind had locked away. Flashes of my former life flick through my mind and I stumble on my feet.

Nikolai’s hands steady me, but I shake out of his embrace, which makes him chuckle. I notice the rich velvet curtains hanging, and I need to see where we are, I need to find the closest exits. I pull the curtains back and all I can see is the ocean in all its blueness, palm trees scattered everywhere, and grand ornate gardens.

“Where are we?” The question falls from my lips in a whisper.

“Morocco.” Nikolai moves closer to me.

I can feel his warmth against my back, and I want to be sick.

“I’ve missed you, Zoe.” He only uses my name when he is the old Nikolai, the soft, gentle man I met all those months ago, but when he switches to Sapphire, I know what is coming, I know he wants me to perform. I flinch as his breath hits the back of my neck. “I hate that you are scared of me.”

I ignore my body’s reaction. I want to lash out, but where did that get me last time? Nowhere. It got me isolation, it got me beatings, it got me raped. I need to play it differently this time—my life is hanging by a thread, and at any moment, Nikolai could snuff it out without a second thought.

He brushes my hair away from my neck.

I want to be sick at his touch, but I stand still.Look out at the beautiful gardens, Zoe, concentrate on something beautiful. This time I need to be smart and fight dirty.

“I have something of yours.” His lips touch my skin, and it feels like a thousand needles prickling me.

I hate it. I don’t want him touching me. I’m not his.

I don’t move a muscle. I feel the cold metal against my skin.

“Remember when I gave this to you?” Nikolai asks.