Page 133 of Scarlet Promise

I drag the bed toward it, and then I kick it over, sending it to the floor with a crash.

The shouting in the hall stops. Feet pound down the empty corridor.

“What the fuck?” Melor screams in Russian.

“I knocked it over,” I say in English.

He sneers and raises his hand as if to strike me.

I can’t help but recoil, ducking my head.

He laughs then drops his hand. “Stupidsuka.”

“Why did you take me again? You’ll incur the wrath of Ilya and my brother.”

“They don’t like each other.” He turns to leave.

“When it comes to me, they’re best friends. Even if they did have issues, they’d put them aside over me. Think about it… My brother and my husband. That’s who they are. And I’m important to them.”

He snorts. “More reason for me not to hand you over. More reason for me to use you as a tool.”

“That won’t work. So maybe you should let me go. If you do, I won’t tell them you took me. I?—”

“You expect me to believe that, stupid girl?” He shakes his head and pulls out his gun, stalking up and pressing it hard into my cheek.

White hot terror grips but I force it loose. I can’t fall apart, can’t get hysterical. That’s going to get me dead. I suck in air.

“If you kill me, harm me, or even Ilya, Demyan will hunt you down.” I repeat this to him to try and get it through his head. “And if you hurt me, Ilya will stop at nothing. He’ll torture you before he kills you. It could even be worse. The one who does that might be my brother. Ask yourself why Ilya’s grandfather never dealt with Demyan. It’s got everything to do with how Demyan operates and how he holds grudges and exacts retribution.”

Melor sneers. “Let him try.”

“There’s no way out for you. If you don’t believe I won’t say a word, fine. Then give yourself up. They’ll go easier on you. Let you live. Just know there’s no way out of this unless you let me go now. Because I promise I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

Melor starts to pace.

“I have no interest in being the cause of your death,” I say, “so go now and live your life.”

“And you won’t say a word? I don’t believe you,suka.” He continues to pace.

I stare at him, my heart sinking. “Then turn yourself in now.”

“They’ll kill me.”

“No, they won’t, but I know it’ll be a thousand times worse if you don’t release me now.”

“Shut up,” he snarls at me and keeps pacing, but I can see him casting me looks like he’s mulling over my words.

“I’m trying to help you. This has you in a deadly bind, and I know you can see it,” I say. “You don’t have to believe me about keeping my mouth shut, but I will. I promise I will. And I get it. I do. You’re angry about the bratva. But the will says Ilya has to take it for twelve months. Otherwise, it’s dissolved, and no one involved can have it. But after a year, it’s his, which means itcanbe yours.”

I’m speaking out my ass. The will doesn’t say that, but he doesn’t know. If he did, he’d have known about the wife part.

I take a breath and keep going. “Ilya would give it to you, probably planned on it. He’s got Demyan’s bratva to help run, and you know how powerful and big the Yegorov Bratva is.”

“Be quiet.”

“I’m helping you,” I say, trying to sound calm and soothing like his minion. “You see that, don’t you? I get what you’re going through.”

“No,” he says, “you don’t.”