Page 36 of Deceptive Vows (Bound by Vows #3)
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours in that concrete room. My broken ribs screamed with each breath, and my concussion threatened to steal my consciousness with every movement, but I channeled the pain, using it to sharpen my focus rather than dull it.
Eventually, the Wolf slumped in his chair, all pretense of resistance abandoned.
“They were supposed to kill you and take her,” he gasped, blood bubbling from his lips. “She’s valuable—Lucas Kalantzis’s sister and now your wife. Double the leverage.”
“ Where would they take her?” I pressed, relentless.
“The holding facility. Where all the merchandise goes before auction.”
I struck without thought, my hand clamping around his throat. Pain exploded through my side, but it barely registered. “She. Is not. Merchandise,” I growled as I tightened my grip, my thumb pressing against his windpipe. “Where is the facility?”
His eyes locked with mine, and I knew the moment he folded. This new generation of Gray Wolf wasn’t made like the ones I was used to. I’d expected him to die before giving up any information.
He choked out an address for a location north of the city—an abandoned sanatorium on private property near the Wisconsin border. Remote, easily secured, perfect for holding captives without drawing attention.
If Sergei found out he’d betrayed them… even with the violent interrogation, he was still going to die quicker at my hands than at his Pakhan’s.
“How many guards?” Lucas stepped forward for the first time .
“Six inside, eight outside. Rotating shifts.” The Wolf’s words tumbled out in a breathless rush, slurred by his split lip.
Blood bubbled at the corners of his mouth, his voice cracking under the weight of desperation.
He felt the noose tightening—and he was spilling everything he knew, scrambling to loosen it.
“And inside? Layout?” I demanded.
“Main floor is processing—where they photograph them, clean them up. Basement has the cages. Ten or twelve of them.”
Cages. The word sent ice through my veins. I forced myself to continue. “How many captives?”
“Ten, including your wife. The full shipment for the auction.”
"How are the cages secured?" I leaned forward, ignoring the pain. "Keys? Electric locks?"
"Keys," he gasped, his eyes darting toward Dimitris. "Only the shift supervisor carries them. Four guards total have access, one per shift."
"And the security system?" Lucas pressed. "Cameras? Alarms?"
"Motion sensors on all the exits. Cameras in every room, monitored from the security office on the main floor. Three-man team watching 24/7."
“Including children?” I couldn’t keep the edge from my voice.
The man hesitated, his silence far louder than any confession.
My vision narrowed to a pinpoint. The pain in my ribs faded into white noise—insignificant compared to the sudden, all-consuming coldness spreading through my veins.
I met Dimitris’s gaze and gave a single, slow nod.
He moved forward with the kind of efficiency that came from years of practice—the kind that meant the Wolf wouldn’t be screaming for much longer.
“The auction,” I continued after the Wolf stopped screaming. “When and where?” If Marco had figured out we were plotting against him, there was a good chance he’d had the location moved.
“Three days. The opera house by the river. Marco’s been setting it up for weeks.”
I glanced at Lucas. He hadn’t moved locations because he expected all of us to be dead or at least unable to interfere.
“Anything else we should know?” I stood despite the protest from my body. The room tilted violently, the concrete floor threatening to lurch up and meet me. My knees buckled slightly, but I locked them, forcing myself to remain upright through sheer will.
The Wolf looked up, a strange calm settling over his features. “Marco Moretti wasn’t planning on killing you and Pasha at first.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. Once Marco figured out you were double crossing him, that’s when he contacted Sergei. That’s when the plan changed and Marco ordered the hit. Gabriele approved all of it. The brothers are working together, not against each other like they want everyone to believe.”
I nodded once, having suspected as much. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
As I walked out, I didn’t need to look back to know that Dimitris and Lex would handle the loose end. Some things were better left to silence.
In the hallway, my strength finally began to fail me. I leaned heavily against the wall, sweat beading on my forehead as black spots danced at the edges of my vision. Pasha was beside me instantly, his arm going around my waist to support me.
“You’ve done enough,” he said quietly. “You need to rest now.”
I wanted to argue, to insist that we move immediately, but my body was betraying me, the pain and exhaustion becoming impossible to ignore.
“We need a plan,” Ari said flatly. “Rushing in will get our people killed.”
“I know the facility,” I managed to say, though my voice sounded distant even to my own ears. “It was on our watchlist for Sergei’s operations. I have satellite images, blueprints.”
Lucas studied me, then nodded. “Six hours. We plan, you rest, and then we move.”
I wanted to argue, but my legs chose that moment to give out entirely. If not for Pasha’s support, I would have collapsed to the floor.
“Four hours,” I agreed reluctantly as Lex came forward to help Pasha guide me to a small room off the main hallway where a cot had been prepared. “Not a minute more.”
As they helped me onto the cot, my hand instinctively went to my wedding band, the metal warm against my skin. The vows I’d made to Thea were mere hours old, but they burned in my blood like ancient oaths—unyielding, unbreakable. No matter the cost, no matter the blood spilled, I would keep them .
To honor and cherish, to protect and defend, to walk beside her in all things.
I had failed to protect her once. I would not fail again.
As exhaustion finally claimed me, my last conscious thought was of Thea. She would fight, I knew. Wherever she was, whatever they had done to her, she would fight. And soon, I would be fighting beside her again.
Four hours. And they'd regret ever touching her.