Page 39 of The Bratva’s Innocent Sold Bride (Fokin Bratva #9)

“How?” I asked, utterly stunned to see the man I’d been tracking.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re not the only one who’s good at computer games.”

Computer games. He was onto me. He’d discovered my app. But how? I was meticulous. Then again, he was a big-time tech genius, and I was a recent graduate on my first job. I had bitten off more than I could chew, and now I was going to choke on my mistake.

He pulled out of the gas station parking lot, and I swiveled to try to catch a glimpse of Artem through the tears that burned my eyes. I was distraught enough to beg him to stop and let me find him.

“I don’t think so.”

“Listen, I’m sorry. I really am.”

My apology only got a bitter laugh. I couldn’t bring myself to say I was just following orders…

Orders. I always wondered why Mat wanted me to dig into Terrence Hendricks, but Mat seemed to be pretty diversified, with his fingers in a lot of pies.

Maybe he just wanted in on whatever Terrence was creating.

And then, as eager as he’d been for any and all information, he ordered me to stop as soon as I found the Russian connection. That couldn’t be a coincidence. What was that name?

“Anatoli Ovinko,” I said aloud.

He laughed again, almost appreciative. “I figured that’s why your husband got you out of town. I got you back, though.”

My bones seemed to feel heavier, my throat clogging with fear. Mat knew who he was all along. He was dangerous, and that was why Mat was adamant about me quitting the project. Maybe he didn’t count on me finding out and hoped to get enough dirt on Terrence to bring him down before I did.

“What did you just say?” God, I wanted to punch him when he laughed yet again. None of this was funny to me.

“I disappeared, so he panicked. I reappeared, and he jumped at the chance to try to catch me. He’s been trying for a long time, you see. I keep breaking his things.”

Well, no, Mat wouldn’t like that. Oh crap, Terrence—Anatoli, whoever he was, must see me as one of Mat’s things.

Maybe his very favorite. And I’d walked right into the trap by not listening, not trusting he knew there was danger.

Mat was right, I really was too naive and innocent.

He’d never say stupid, but I was kicking myself.

My dog was lost, possibly about to run into traffic. What was going to become of me was too much to think about. I blinked back the tears that blurred my vision and tried to pretend I knew more than I did. It had worked before to get information out of Mila and Masha.

“So, I guess Mat never sent me a message saying he was five minutes away. And it was you who made my guards think there was an emergency. Nice work.”

He snickered. “High praise from you. I’d compliment your app getting into my phone, but it was because of that I could trace back to your computers and find out everything I needed to know.”

Well, that was a kick in the gut. Wait, was I actually upset that my work wasn’t as good as I thought it was when I might be on my way to my death? I had to keep from losing it somehow.

“He’s going to kill you,” I said, trying to act nonchalant.

It wasn’t a front. I believed in my gut that Mat would kill this man for taking me, throwing our dog out like he was a bag of trash.

He’d kill him slowly if he hurt me, maybe just put a bullet in his head if he kept his hands to himself.

Either way, I kind of wanted to watch. I stared at him defiantly until his hand left the steering wheel with the speed of a striking snake.

A burning slap made my head twist to the side, my forehead bouncing off the window.

“I’m not interested in hurting you,” he said. “But I will.”

I rubbed my cheek and nodded. Message received, shut the hell up.

We headed east, and I pretended he was just taking me home.

As we got further and further from civilization, the fear began to push forward and take over.

My hands shook, and I squeezed them between my knees.

My mind raced, but I tried to calm it with plans.

As soon as he stopped…

I was going to run.

Until we pulled up to a place so desolate that my wafer-thin escape plan crumbled to dust. There was nowhere to run.

He would be on top of me in seconds. Nothing to hide behind, no one to hear a distress call.

Maybe he didn’t want to kill me until he was assured of whatever he wanted from Mat, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t shoot me in the leg.

The trailer looked like it had just been parked there recently; there were no trails, no welcoming fire pit, or folding chairs set up outside. No one lived here. The place had one purpose. To hold me.

It wasn’t even defiance that kept me from getting out of the car when Anatoli ordered it.

My legs refused to move. Once I went into that tin can, I might never leave it.

I’d never given a single thought to my death before, why should I at my age?

Now it was all I could think about, and I didn’t want it to be here.

He yanked me by the arm, impatient with my inability to move. I stumbled over another apology as I tripped on the metal steps leading into the trailer. He ignored me, and I gulped back bile as he shoved me in and slammed the door behind me.

Something slammed into place on the outside of the door. A bar, and a strong one. The rickety door wouldn’t budge. I wouldn’t have been able to fit my shoulders through the tiny windows, and even if they had bars welded across them on the outside.

When I heard the car start up again and pull away, I crumbled to the vinyl floor and screamed my throat raw.

No one heard. No one came to help me. I was alone, and all I could do was wait.