Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Swinging wildly, I deliver punch after punch, but then something hard slams into the back of my head, and my vision blurs. Another strike follows immediately after, this one hard enough to force me back down to my knees.
Hands grab at my arms and shoulders, restraining me while the darkness begins to close in from the edges of my vision.
Through the haze, I manage to focus on two people standing off to the side. Nina, and an older man.
Boris Pavlov.
Jesus, this is a setup.
The realization hits right before I lose the battle against staying conscious.
Chapter 5
Nina
During the drive home, my mind is inundated with flashes of Georgi fighting for his life. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Normally, the men go down hard and fast when I use the stun gun on them, but not him.
Jesus, he’s strong.
Which means it’s going to take much more to break him.
A wave of intense guilt has me closing my eyes.
God. Forgive me. I did it for my daughter.
In the beginning, I used to tell myself they were all bad men, but the lie didn’t last very long. It doesn’t matter who these men are and whether they deserve what happens to them. It only matters that I lured them to their deaths.
Knowing what kind of hell Georgi Torrisi will have to endure before Boris decides to kill him makes the guilt in my chest increase.
It’s not his devastatingly good looks or that he made an impression on me that’s upset me, but the fact he’s so much younger than all the men I’ve crossed paths with. Most were in their late fifties to sixties. Georgi seems to be in his mid-thirties, probably only a few years older than me.
At least, that’s the lie I tell myself, because admitting I feel attracted to a man for the first time in my life is something I’m not ready to do.
It will also be a waste of time, seeing as Georgi is the enemy whom my father is going to torture and kill.
When the convoy of cars stops in the driveway, I push the door open and get out. Guards pull Georgi out of an SUV, and I follow them into the house.
With my bedroom being next to the chamber where the torturing takes place, we walk in the same direction toward the basement.
My gaze drifts over the blood matting Georgi’s hair on the side of his head.
I need to tend to the wound.
We head down the stairs into the hallway in the basement, and nearing my bedroom door, I stop for a moment. Instead of going in so I can change out of the cocktail dress, I find myself walking to the doorway of the torture chamber.
One of the men removes Georgi’s watch and hands it to Boris, who inspects it before placing it on the metal table and smashing it with a hammer.
“Give me his phone,” Boris demands. After digging it out of the pants’ pocket, a guard hands the device to him. Not wasting a second, Boris destroys it, then barks, “Strip him and check for tracking devices. Make it quick. The Cosa Nostra has one of the best hackers in the world.”
I remain standing in the doorway as the men remove Georgi’s clothes.
I hold my breath as tanned skin and muscles are exposed. Georgi is otherworldly attractive, and besides the guilt thickening in my chest, I feel a sense of loss because my father is going to destroy this beautiful man.
When they leave on his boxers, relief fills my chest. Sometimes they strip the prisoners completely naked, and it makes it so much worse for me when I have to tend to their wounds.
“Why are you just standing there?” Boris suddenly snaps at me.
As the men shackle Georgi’s wrists and haul his body into a standing position, he lets out a groan, drawing everyone’s attention to him.
“Move faster!” Boris yells, a note of panic in his voice.
He’s probably scared Georgi will regain full consciousness before they manage to secure the chains.
Steel clanks against concrete, and the instant the chains are locked in place, the men step back from the man who killed one of them and took down several more before they were able to restrain him.
Even I move partially behind the wall. I peek into the room, watching as Georgi lifts his head. He glances around the room, taking in the table that’s covered with various tools that will be used to inflict pain on him.
I’m surprised when he lets out a chuckle, and a grin tips the corners of his mouth up. “You must be tired of living.” His tone sounds playful, like he’s cracking a joke, then he looks right at Boris and sneers, “My family will come for me.”
With a dark glare, my father replies, “They don’t know where you are.” He gestures at the broken phone and watch. “You can’t be tracked, Torrisi.”