Page 13 of Forced By the Bratva King
He was right about the rules. Bratva operated by a set of rules—codes—and one of them was that we never left loose ends. Our assassination jobs were always done in high secrecy, and whoever was a witness would eventually end up as collateral damage. There were no witnesses.
“You’ve always respected the rules,Pakhan, never broke any.” Yuri leaned closer. “I’m just curious why you’re breaking one now.”
I still didn’t respond.
“The men look up to you as an example, and this…this isn’t a good example.”
I frowned at him; he was starting to overstep.
“Pakhan, Nelson McCall was a fucking politician, a public figure,” he said, trying to remind me of the gravity of the situation. “If word gets out that we did it, it could lead to an all-out war, and don’t forget thatIwas the one who killed him.” He sighed. “We should end her life, not treat her like a damsel in distress.”
I’d had enough, my heart now racing as my stomach churned with irritation.
“Enough, Yuri!” I snarled, tossing him a stern look. “You’ve made your point. You can shut up now.”
Clearly, he saw that I was annoyed by his words and immediately apologized. “I never meant to question you or undermine your authority. I just wanted to remind you of what’s at stake here.”
“Here.” I dropped her ID card on the table between us, slamming it down harder than necessary. “It was in her purse. I need you to run a background check on her. I want everything you can find on Sierra Lane.Everything.”
He picked it up and gave a subtle nod.
Sierra Lane had walked into my web and was now tangled up in it. When I finally had the answers I needed, whatever decisions I made would happen. For now, let her rest upstairs.
Chapter 5 – Sierra
I woke up with a loud gasp and a racing heart as I sat on the bed, eyes finally wide open. I had been trying to escape the nightmare where I was being kidnapped by a man who’d killed a defenseless guy in the alley outside the club.
It was about time my spirit regained control of my body, prompting me to wake up.
I let out a sigh, placing one hand on my chest while the other rubbed my sleepy eyes. I jerked my head at the wall clock in my dimly lit room, but it wasn’t there. My hands reflexively wiped my eyes as though the remnants of sleep were the reason I wasn’t seeing clearly.
I shifted toward the nightstand and turned on the lamp resting on top of it. The moment the light illuminated the room, I felt my heart skip a beat, and my brows rose at the setting of the space. That was definitely not my room.
“What the hell?” The words escaped my lips as I flung the sheets to the side and got out of bed.
The marble floor was cool beneath my feet, and I took a minute to look around. The room was quite big, beautiful with plush furniture and a nice interior decor.
“Where am I?” I wondered out loud.
Just then, I felt a pang at the back of my head, and with an instinctive move, my fingertips massaged the spot, and then, the memory hit me. “Fuck!”
My eyes bulged out in shock, and my breath ceased at the realization of the fact that what I’d thought was a nightmare was actually amemory. I had been fucking kidnapped. The strange and twisted part of all this was that I was taken by the same man I crushed on back at the club.
“Shit.” I threw my hands into my hair, my stomach just about ready to empty itself. “This is real.”
Panicking, I started scrutinizing the room; this time, I was looking for a means of escape. There were no windows at all, and the door was clearly locked.
Are you sure? Why don’t you try it first?a voice in my head said.
But it didn’t make any sense. Why would I be kidnapped, and the kidnappers would leave the door open? It was locked; I was certain of that.
There’s no harm in trying,the voice persisted.
There was no other way out anyway, but I was still skeptical about trying something as silly as that because ifIwere the kidnapper, I’d never leave the door open.
Once I was done overanalyzing the situation I had no control over, I decided to head to the door but hesitated before grabbing the knob.
Open it.