Page 4 of Lash

I clench my jaw shut—I believe him. When he sees that I’m shutting up, he nods and exits the SUV. Rounding the hood, he opens my door and yanks me out, shoving me toward the table.

"Wait here. Don't fucking move, you snobby bitch." Filip wiggles his gun at me. "I'll shoot you in the knee if you so much as twitch wrong. Get me?"

I nod once.

He vanishes between the airplanes and returns with another folding chair, which he jerks open and sets down next to the bound man.

"Sit."

I sit, and Filip handcuffs my hands and feet to the legs of the chair; with a horrible grin, he rips open my blouse, baring my braless chest.

His grin widens into a greedy leer. "Better than I imagined, princess."

I lift my chin and glare at him. "Get a good look, Filip. Better enjoy it while you can."

"Thinking your father is coming to rescue you, eh?" He smirks. “Well, we have plans for that."

He tosses the gun onto the folding table; the man at the laptop stops typing, withdraws a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket and a disinfectant wipe from a package on the table, and thoroughly wipes down the weapon. When it’s clean, he stands up and crouches in front of the man handcuffed to the chair beside me, who seems to be either unconscious or drugged, as he doesn’t resist when Filip’s companion presses the pistol into his hand, carefully ensuring his prints are all over the handle. He even ejects the magazine and makes sure his prints are on the slide and hammer as well.

That done, he goes back to his laptop and resumes typing.

A few minutes later, he looks up at Filip. "The package is ready to upload."

"Show me."

The be-spectacled man turns the laptop so Filip can see it and taps the spacebar to play the video. It shows a person, who I assume is the man beside me, shooting Georg, Ana, and Katya, and then shoving me into the Range Rover. If I hadn't experienced the incident myself, I would believe it's real—it's that good of a deepfake.

The man in the video is Roma, unless I'm mistaken. He's broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, and devastatingly beautiful.

Filip nods. "It's perfect, Ivan. Good work. Send it to Stjepan."

A moment later. "Done."

Filip grins at me. "No going back now, princess. Your father dearest thinkshe," here Filip points at the man beside me, "has kidnapped you." Just then, his phone rings, and he answers it, pretending to be out of breath and upset. "I…I lost her, sir. He came out of nowhere, just bam-bam-bam. I don't know where he got a gun, sir. One second, he was under control, the next, he was gone. You sent me to get Tatiana, and…” he fakes a choked-up pause. “I’m sorry, sir. I let you down—” he listens. “Yes, sir, I understand. I’ll find her. No, you don’t need to worry, sir. Everyone—yes, sir. We're on it, sir."

He listens a bit longer and then hangs up, grinning at me. "There. That's bought us some time. Now we wait."

He crouches in front of me. "I'm really not supposed to—the new boss wants you for himself. But I figure I can have a little fun with you first. He won’t know the difference, will he, whore?"

He fondles my breast with a rough hand and then viciously pinches my nipple, causing me to cry out; my cry of pain only makes him grin more.

"Filip!" Ivan barks. "Enough. Mercado was very clear—he wants her alive. No bullshit. You heard him."

"He won’t know, Ivan. She’s a loose little slut. Fucks anything that moves, as long he has enough money.” He sneers at me,rage-filled. “Not so much as a glance my way, though. I’m just her precious Tata’s henchman. She would never dare sully herself with the likes of me."

Oh, the irony. I would have. I liked him. I thought he was cute and kind. It was my father who categorically refused to let me date his men. That was the one no-no he never wavered on.

I don't bother saying anything though—I know well enough that it won’t make a difference, now.

Fighting to remain calm, I breathe in slowly and evenly through my nose and exhale the same way through my mouth, ignoring my fear, panic, and humiliation.

Ivan leaves the table to confront Filip. "It's not worth it. We get millions when this is over, Filip.Millions. You can have anyone you want, then. Just not her. I know how you feel about her, brother, but she's not worth it. If you soil his prize, Mercado will cut you into tiny little pieces and feed you to his pet fish. So, keep your dick in your pants and your hands off of her, finish the op, get paid, and we can go hunt down some prime pussy. Okay? I know a guy, Filip.” Ivan’s voice drops to a murmur. “He works for the Syndicate—he can get us into a Syndicate brothel. That shit isexclusive, Filip. Like, only the highest rollers get in there. I’m talking the hottest bitches on the planet will be gagging on your cock in…" he looks at his watch. "Forty-eight hours.Ifyou play your cards right."

Filip looks at me over his shoulder. "She needs to be taught a lesson."

"She will. Just not by you. You know what they say about Mercado, right? The shit he likes? I promise you, she'll get what's coming to her."

My blood runs cold at the implications.