Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
She let out a whimper of protest. Despite it, I still re-attached the handcuffs.
She watched me as I held up the hood. Her eyes went wide but were still cloudy with exhaustion. "You don't have to do that. I'll be good. I promise."
Her eyes pleaded with me.
For a moment, I considered it.
Then I shook my head. I leaned down to give her a quick kiss. "Sorry, babygirl, maybe I'll let you earn some freedom later. Right now, this is how it's going to be."
CHAPTER 16
PAVEL
Ididn't want to leave her, but I couldn't stay.
I had obligations that required my attention.
My brothers were already here, ready to discuss what they had found.
Neither one of them were staying in the hotel our family owned. They both preferred houses and seclusion for their wives. Maybe they were worried their wives would try to run away again.
I laughed to myself.
Normally, I would've been annoyed that Kostya and Artem just showed up and let themselves into my penthouse. But they had been with me when we found Alina's apartment.
They stayed behind while I hunted her down to find her at that fucking strip club.
They had gathered the fragments of her life, ready to piece together who she was and what they wanted to do with her. A lot of it depended on what they found in her apartment.
Was she spying on us? Did someone send her? Was that why she was at the office when everyone else was told not to come in?
I closed and locked the door behind me.
Alina would be safe in the bedroom.
My brothers wouldn't touch her.
They wouldn't even go to the bedroom.
They had found out the hard way what was in my bed was none of their business. A naked girl chained to the headboard wearing a sensory deprivation hood would be a new level of what they found waiting for me…but not by much.
Whatever we discovered about her life, her motivations, she was my problem to deal with. If they decided she had to go, getting rid of her would be my responsibility.
I also knew there was no way she was getting out of those handcuffs, and she could scream all she wanted. That hood would muffle the sound.
Still, whatever we were about to uncover, I wanted that extra layer of protection between her and the rest of the world.
Kostya and Artem had been waiting a while.
As I passed through the penthouse's dining room, the air was still thick with smoke and the tangy, salty scent of caviar. The remnants of an earlier conversation still lingering, I wondered how much they had brought with them.
I strolled across the open living space, past the dining room table that hadn't been cleaned. I made a mental note to myself to have the hotel housekeepers come and straighten up while I was here to ensure they didn't go into the master bedroom.
Or maybe I could put Alina in a closet with the hood on while the maid changed the sheets and scrubbed the bathroom. The last thing I needed was some nosy maid looking for shit to pawn to stumble across a naked woman in a sex dungeon hood.
That would cause more problems.
Hell, a maid seeing something she wasn't supposed to was what landed me in this mess in the first place.
I joined Artem and Kostya in the lounge, where the low hum of classical music played in the background, and the sunlight flowed in from the floor to ceiling windows, bathing the room in light.
Both of them were seated on leather couches, wearing custom fitted Brooks Brothers' suits and sipping from dainty porcelain cups, with a full English high tea set up on a cart next to them. They drank their tea while looking over the folders piled on the coffee table in front of them.
Just dignified businessmen having refreshments while looking over a new business proposal.
Fuck that shit.
Before sitting down and joining them in their oh-so-dignified display, I moved to the bar cart and poured myself a drink—vodka, Russian, smuggled, because fuck those tariffs—served neat.
I downed the first glass, the bite of it settling deep in my chest. I closed my eyes and savored the smooth burn, letting the familiar warmth settle me, before pouring a second glass and gesturing toward the boxes on the coffee table. "Are these from Alina's apartment?"
Kostya nodded, his sharp blue eyes flicking up from the documents he was already sifting through. He drank the rest of his tea in a single pull and held out the delicate porcelain cup for me to fill with vodka.
I grabbed a few of the tea sandwiches from the tiered silver tray and brought the bottle of vodka to the table with me.
I hoped Marina knew she was never going to completely civilize Kostya, no matter what she tried. After spending a little time with my sister-in-law, I was starting to think she preferred him a little rough around the edges.