Page 73 of Love Me in the Dark

“What do you mean?”

“They would hurt her. Not enough to prevent her from working, but they’d take it out on her.”

My heart thudded violently in my chest. That was what Charlotte had said.

“Just let me work. Be quiet and do as you’re told. You might get lucky and get an old man whose dick doesn’t work.”

I shrank into my seat. That didn’t sound lucky.

Numbness filled me as she painted my face with make-up and plaited my long hair into a double braid. One of the girls behind me was mumbling in what sounded like Russian, so I assumed not everyone here was from Bulgaria. My head buzzed with white noise, and I understood why they huddled around the edge of the room, cowering and casting each other pitying looks.

Elena dismissed me, and my face itched with the unfamiliar weight of cosmetics.

I moved to stand by the wall, my thoughts disconnected from reality. Soft weeping drew my eyes to a girl who looked much younger than me.

“Stop crying, you’ll ruin your make-up and they’ll blame me,” Elena barked, walking over and throwing some tissues at the girl.

Her breathing hitched, and her tears pulled at something inside me.

“Let me help,” I said softly in English, not knowing if she spoke Bulgarian.

I moved closer and picked up one of the tissues as the girl watched me with wide eyes. I wiped away the black rivers of mascara on her cheeks.

“I’m Angelina,” I said, but she just stared at me.

I held up a tissue and mimed blowing my nose. She took it from me and wiped her nose. I wanted to tell her things would be okay, but that was a lie. I was scared out of my mind, and my stomach churned thinking about Rada. Wordlessly, the girl took my hand, and that’s how we stayed for the next few hours, stewing in our dread, holding hands in a cold room.

The door opened, and everyone tensed. Three men with guns entered and barked at Elena to get out. She left with her head down without a backwards glance. The girl next to me squeezed my hand tightly.

They spoke to us in Bulgarian, telling us to follow them. It made me sick that people from our own country were doing this to us. We followed them out into the corridor, and the girl dropped my hand to hug herself tightly. She shuffled behind me, her breath coming fast and harsh.

Further along the corridor, the men paused at a corner, causing the two women ahead of me to stop. An angry, unseen male voice shouted at them to get moving. They forced us to walk on the right side of the corridor and told us to keep our eyes down. In the new corridor, we reached two sets of shoes on the left, and I wasn’t sure what made me look up at the two men there.

One was short and wide with a mop of greasy black hair, while the other was the most striking man I’d ever seen. My breath caught. He was tall, with dark hair and a closely-cropped beard. His expensive suit was equally dark and tailored. Our eyes locked, and a jolt surged through my system at the intensity behind his pale eyes. I stumbled, and his hand shot out, stabilising me. His touch burned my arm like a brand. He was so handsome.

I went to say thank you until my brain caught up with me, and I realised that he was part of this. Tugging my arm away, I dropped my eyes and continued walking with the other woman, but I could have sworn I felt the dark-haired devil's gaze on my back. Shaking off the sensation, I reminded myself he was a bad man, just one in a pretty package.

5

Viktor

Nik,my most trusted man, pulled up to the warehouse and glanced at me as he turned off the engine.

“What’s the angle here?” he asked.

It was a fair question because we weren’t supposed to be here. Despite being the eldest son of the Bulgarian mafia leader, Boyan Stefanov, I wasn’t actually in charge of most of this operation, even with him freshly behind bars.

“My source says neither your father nor Ivan is here tonight, so these idiots won’t know any better. We will tell them Boyan sent us to check on the merchandise and the books.”

Nik grunted, “Let’s see how well that goes.” But I was willing to think on my feet and I wasn’t adverse to shooting people in the face and making shit up. No one wanted to get on my bad side.

“You make sure we know all the main players in this, and I’ll look through the paperwork.”

“This shit makes me sick,” Nik muttered.

He wasn’t alone. The trafficking side of our illegal business was one I’d been working for years to persuade my father to shut down, but with his two right-hand men running it and my father’s preference for secrets and lies, it was like pulling up a weed but leaving the root. With him behind bars now, I had a much better opportunity to succeed, but I needed to ensure I’d left no stone unturned for traces of my sister, Katerina.

Nodding at Nik, we exited the vehicle, and he took position at my back. I knocked on the rusted door once, wondering why I’d chosen to come in one of my favourite suits.