Page 41 of The Bratva’s Innocent Sold Bride (Fokin Bratva #9)

Anatoli—since I was certain I wasn’t dealing with Terrence Hendricks and that had all been a ruse—left me alone in the old trailer.

When I realized no amount of screaming would bring anyone to help me, I spared my raspy throat and tried the tiny sink set into the chipped Formica counter.

After a grinding sound, the faucet spat out a few dirty chunks, then a steady stream of brown water.

I was shocked it was hooked up to anything, but I’d have to be a lot thirstier before I drank that disgusting swill.

It was one of the old Airstream trailers that were once so popular and trendy, but this one hadn’t been loved or cared for and lacked any charm.

Spiderwebs clogged the corners, and the tattered remains of what might have been red gingham curtains disintegrated when I pushed them aside to see out the windows.

A styrofoam cooler pushed into a bottom cabinet got my hopes up for a minute.

Maybe Anatoli didn’t mean to leave me here to die of starvation and thirst.

No such luck, the cooler must have been a castoff from the previous owner, and there was nothing in it but more spiders. It was a good thing I wasn’t scared of them, or I’d have been freaking out. Freaking out more, because I was anything but calm.

To distract myself, I thought about why someone who was doing pretty well for himself would want to come to California and set up shop like Anatoli did.

Well, for the same reason as Mat, probably.

Land of opportunity and all that. But Mat had family here.

The Fokins were powerful up and down the state, and they also didn’t hide who they were.

The man clearly wasn’t trying to go legit with a new identity, or he wouldn’t be indulging in kidnapping.

Unless he meant to keep his secret hidden, no matter what he had to do, including killing me?

As I slammed an old tin can I found in one of the dusty cupboards against the window for the third time, I wished I had listened to Mat.

Just dropped the whole thing, stayed at home where it wasn’t just safe, it was starting to get pretty cozy thanks to all the furniture that I’d carefully chosen.

It was beginning to feel like home. And it wasn’t just the house I missed.

To keep from worrying about Artem, who was tearing me up inside, I thought about how smug Mat would be when I finally admitted he was right about something.

What I wouldn’t have given to see that look on his face.

Which would quickly turn to one of tenderness, because I really didn’t think he’d rub it in, not too much, anyway.

If I lived through this, I’d come clean about my father’s half-assed attempt to rescue me, and try to work out a way for those two to…

Wait, was I thinking of ways to get Mat and my father to get along?

Had I just forgiven my father? It seemed so.

I couldn’t work up any level of acrimony against him, and I hadn’t been stuck in this metal death trap long enough to be thinking these were my last moments on earth.

It wasn’t pity either, due to how pathetic he’d become.

Could it be that I’d stopped raging about being given as payment for a debt because I was fine with being Mat’s wife?

More than fine. There was no escaping that the only face I longed to see when I pressed my nose to the window was Mat’s. I wanted his strong arms around me, to carry me out of here and promise we’d take care of the scumbag who did this to me. And I wanted to tell him—

“No,” I said out loud. “You can’t. You’ll only get your heart broken.”

But how could I not love him? The way he looked at me, the way he seemed to know everything about me, the lengths he went to make me happy, when he could have just as easily done any of the things he originally threatened my father might do to seek his revenge.

Even the fact that he was adamant about me not getting a job seemed to make sense now that I was locked up in the middle of nowhere.

And all those times he didn’t answer my questions and pissed me off so badly?

Now I understand he didn’t want me knowing about things that could put me in harm’s way.

Tears were starting to form, and the first one splashed on my hands as I remembered the way he told me Artem would be coming home with us, all while I was working up the courage to ask.

“Oh, Artem,” I cried. “Oh, Mat.”

I settled in for a good sob, no longer able to distract myself because the distractions were what set the waterworks flowing. Would I ever see my little family again?

The sound of a car door slamming made me jump from where I sat huddled on the floor. Swiping away the tears, I peered out the window to see Anatoli. I had to be the strongest I’d ever been, and buy more time for Mat to find me.

“What’s got you so upset?” he asked with a sneer. “You know, I went back to look for your dog.”

My eyes must have bulged out of my head, but no barks came from the car.

He informed me that there was no sign of him, and it was all I could do not to break down all over again.

Was he taunting me? If he had found Artem, would that have been part of whatever plan he had for me? A two-for-one torture special?

“What do you want?” I asked coldly, pretending he couldn’t see how red my eyes must be. “Money? It’s always money, isn’t it? Well, my father can give you whatever you ask.”

This cracked him up. Sincere laughter, as if what I said was a hilarious joke. I didn’t get it and glared at him. “I know about your father,” he said. “He’s not in any position to give me the kind of money I want. He never will be again, thanks to your husband.”

Okay, if he was bringing him up. “Then Mat will give you whatever you want,” I said. “Just arrange to meet him somewhere.”

He grabbed my chin and dug his fingers into my jaw.

“No. Mat will not give me whatever I want, because I want what’s his.

He’s made it clear that he’s not leaving the area—my area.

So I consider us even if I take his wife, and your father’s old company.

Everything else he tries to build, I’ll keep burning to the ground until he learns who’s in charge here. ”

“Taurus Ingenuity is about to be bankrupt,” I said. “I’m surprised someone like you doesn’t already know that.”

Anatoli let me go, shoving me a step away from him as if he couldn’t stand being in such close confines with me. I wasn’t overly fond of it, either.

“Poor thing. Your husband hasn’t told you? He’s been pouring money into his new acquisition, and I don’t mean you. Taurus is on the verge of being revitalized, and under my ownership, it will soar to heights neither Mat nor your father could dream of.”

“You’re awfully confident for someone who clicked on a spoof app.”

That earned me a slap. Not too hard, but enough to strike fear into me and keep me silent, even though I longed to tell him what else I’d managed to hack into besides his phone. He stared hard at me, finally deciding not to dignify my quip with a response.

“I’ll rename it, of course, but I expect Taurus to be raking in the profits again within a month or two.”

Wait, he wasn’t lying? Had Mat really been trying to revitalize my father’s floundering company all while he was pretending it was on the verge of collapse?

Instead of making me angry, my heart soared.

Maybe he’d decided he was done destroying my father and was instead building a life for us.

Or was that wishful thinking, and he only wanted more riches and power?

Anatoli turned his back, doing something on a tablet that he found pretty amusing.

There was no room in the tiny space to do anything but cram myself into one of the cobwebbed corners and pray he left again.

Pray that Mat found the new information on my computer in the office and figured it out.

I was clinging so hard to hope that it almost made me dizzy.

And reckless. With his back turned to me, I lunged at him, knocking him over the head with the can I’d been using to try to break the windows.

It dinged off his head, nowhere near as powerful as I had hoped.

Jumping on his back, I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to squeeze the life out of him like I’d seen in movies.

But this was no movie, and he was bigger and stronger than me. I was flung off of him and onto my back after he barely let out a gurgle. He leaned over me, eyes blazing with anger, his hand on my neck, pinning me down.

“Not smart. I was about to leave.”

“So soon?” I choked out.

He straightened up, checking his tablet again, then, because he was clearly still angry, he shoved the tablet in my face. It showed a map with a pin in a destination way down by the waterfront.

“Looking for real estate?” I asked. Oh boy, I was on a roll, not even caring about another slap.

“Looking to take your husband out of the equation once and for all. I’ve fed him information that this is where you’re at, but of course it’s not.”

I wanted to accuse him of being unsportsmanlike, but another wisecrack died in my throat when I imagined Mat thinking he was going to find me and instead walked into an ambush.

If he fell for this bad information, it meant he either hadn’t seen my computer or hadn’t thought it was significant.

If only I had emailed it to Delta, maybe we both would have lived through this.

“Don’t kill him,” I whispered. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

He tutted, turning away to reach for the door. “That’s touching. But see, I can kill him and still make you do whatever I want.”

As he reached for the door handle, I clawed my way up to grab him again, anything to keep him from going to that other destination where Mat was supposed to be.

The door crashed open, and the foot that kicked it followed, sending Anatoli bouncing off the opposite wall.

As soon as he started to recover, a fist smashed into his face.

“Mat,” I screamed when I saw his entire body squeeze into the small space.

He didn’t glance at me, but his shoulders seemed to relax when he heard my voice. Another punch went wild when Anatoli found the wherewithal to twist away from it, and in that moment, he reached around behind him.

“Gun,” I yelled, hurtling forward. Maybe to knock Anatoli’s aim off, maybe to get between my husband and a bullet. I wasn’t sure. I just saw red.

Mat twisted so his back was turned to me, and in the narrow area, the only thing I could do was skid to a halt to keep from careening into him. I couldn’t see around him, but I heard a sickening crunch of bone on bone and blood splattered on the faux wood paneling.

Anatoli staggered on his feet, and I could finally see that it was his blood and not Mat’s. With a huge shove, Mat sent him hurtling out the door, following like he was in flight. I hurried forward, peeking around the open doorframe to see Mat beating the ever-loving crap out of Anatoli.

Another car pulled up, and Masha hurtled out before it was completely stopped, with Lev jumping from the driver’s side with his gun raised.

“I told you to wait for us,” Masha said, grabbing the back of Mat’s collar and trying to haul him off of Anatoli’s unconscious form. “You want to kill him this quick?” she asked, disgusted.

Mat stopped hitting and whirled around to see me coming down the steps on wobbly legs. He held out his arms, and I collapsed into them, burying my face in his neck as he lifted me down.

“You found the data and figured it out,” I said. “You didn’t fall for his ambush.”

“There was an ambush?” Lev asked, but I didn’t look up to answer, only held onto Mat.

“Delta seems to think you’re a genius,” Mat told me, his arms so tight I could hardly breathe, but I would have given him hell if he loosened his grasp. “I already knew, of course.”

“Seriously,” Masha said, rolling Anatoli over so his face was in the dirt as she zip-tied his hands together. “Hacking into the car’s GPS system was pretty cool.”

“You should hire her,” Lev said.

That made Mat laugh, an almost hysterical sound as he leaned back to look me over. “Maybe I will,” he said, then in a lower voice, “Are you all right?”

I nodded, then burst into tears. “Artem,” I said. “They chased him into the woods.”

He shook his head, smiling. “He’s at home, he’s fine.”

It was only then that I could relax and stop holding on for dear life. Mat found me; he found our dog. We were safe, and soon we’d all be together, the way it was supposed to be.