Page 87 of Born into Blood

“No. Why?” he asks with a soft laugh. “Is that where he was hiding? I’m so sorry I missed him. I would’ve enjoyed killing him in front of you.”

I ignore his comment, even though the thought of him hurting Luka makes me feel like I can’t breathe. “You would’ve seen the Grim Reaper if you had, the one that the Melnikov Bratva uses.”

His knife stills before he slowly drags it along my skin as he walks around to face me. My panties are hanging free on one side, exposing more of myself than I’d like, but at least he’s stopped cutting for now.

“You’re lying,” he tells me, but I hold his gaze, not backing down on this since my life depends on it.

“I’m not. I belong to Luka Melnikov, and he’s going to fucking kill you for this.” I readjust on my toes, making my body swing a bit from the hook I’m still connected to, and then it’s my turn to laugh, because I might not make it through this thing, but I’m at least going to die knowing that Luka will get revenge for what’s been done to me. “You’re a fucking dead man, Radek. He doesn’t even like it when other men look at me, and you’ve gone and put your filthy hands all over me. What do you think he’s going to do to you for that?”

“Shut up,” he growls at me.

He grabs my forearm, not even bothering to hide how repulsed he is by the feel of my skin. “I know wounds, sweetheart, and I know you gave all these to yourself. What kind of fucked-up person does that? You’re not right in the head. A Melnikov could be with anyone, and you want me to believe that he’s chosen a scarred, chubby girl when he could have a supermodel. Yeah fucking right.”

His comments sting, but I don’t let it show. Instead, I scoff and say, “My winning personality won him over. I can be quite charming when I’m not half-naked and hanging from a chain.”

He lets go of me, the movement rough so it sends me spinning before he grabs my waist and holds me still.

“There’s no way to know if you’re telling the truth. We did our research on the Melnikovs before we came into their territory, and your name never came up. My guess is you have a little crush on Luka.” His thumb grazes my skin, and he laughs when I’m unable to jerk away. “Maybe he gave you a pity fuck, and you got your little hopes up. Whatever happened, it doesn’t matter. If you meant something to him, then he would’ve had you protected. He would have never left you alone.”

I look away from him, but not before I see the cruel smile on his face. He’s wrong, he’s so fucking wrong, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to explain it. Luka will never forgive himself for not assigning Arkady to me sooner. I was never supposed to be alone tonight, and the fact that he left me unprotected, even if it was only for an hour or two, is something that will haunt him forever, and I hate that for him. I don’t want him to carry this guilt around for the rest of his life.

“That’s what I thought,” Radek says, like he’s got it all figured out. “So now that we’ve established you’re not a virgin, why don’t we have a little fun?”

“Fuck you,” I tell him, but we both know that I’m the one who’s fucked. When he brings the knife to the other side of my panties, slicing the lace in seconds, I clench my thighs together, trying to keep myself covered. He laughs and brings the knife to my bra. Slipping the blade between my breasts, he flicks his wrist and cuts through so my bra opens and I spill out. The bulge in his pants is impossible to miss, letting me know exactly how much this sick fuck is getting off on hurting me.

“I thought I was too chubby for you,” I say, still refusing to let the scrap of lace fall from between my clenched thighs.

“I said you’ve got great tits. They can make up for a lot of things.” He grabs the panties that are wedged between my thighs and roughly pulls them free and tosses them aside.

When he runs his hands over my hips, I panic and scream. I put everything I have into it, gripping my chain and lifting my feet so I can kick him. He grunts when I make contact with his shin and backhands me hard enough to have me swinging again.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I scream again, knowing I’ll fight until there’s nothing left. I’ll fight until he’s forced to beat me into unconsciousness, because that’s the only way this bastard is getting inside me.

With a growl, he brings his fist back and punches me in the cheek when I come swinging back around to him, the force of it blinding me and making me realize that my bravado from seconds before is fucking pointless. He’s stronger than me, and I’m helpless and bound. He’s going to take whatever the fuck he wants, and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it.

While I swing and try not to throw up, I hear the door open. I’m in too much pain to worry about being naked, and when another man starts speaking in Russian, my first thought is that someone else has come to join in the fun. Blood fills my mouth from where my teeth have cut my gums, and another sob escapes as a fear unlike anything I’ve ever known washes over me.

Radek grabs my chin, squeezing and pressing his fingers into my aching jawline as I come to a stop in front of him. My toes scrape the rough floor, trying like hell to gain purchase so I can take some weight off my arms and shoulders.

“We’re not done, sweetheart,” Radek growls at me, clearly pissed at being called away. “When I come back, I’m going to finish what I started, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

He laughs and drops my face, bringing his hand down to squeeze my breast before leaving the room. The man who came and got him gives me a wink and then shuts the light off and closes the door, leaving me to hang in darkness.

Chapter 14

Luka

“You lied to me?”

The hurt in my dad’s voice mixed with the pained look in his eyes has me dropping my gaze. I’ve always put my family first, and this is the first time I’ve ever dared to put something, to put someone ahead of them, but the truth is I’d do it again in a second, because Lara comes first now. She’s my life, and knowing she’s alone and scared and possibly hurt is slowly killing me.

“I needed to get her away,” I say, raising my eyes to my dad’s. “I was going to tell you everything. I just wanted her safely out of the way first. I didn’t want her to find out about her dad like this, about what he did.”

I scrub a hand through my hair and watch my Uncle Danil. He’s on his computer, tracking her phone and combing through the nearby CCTV footage to try and find out what happened to Lara. As soon as I’d realized she’d been taken, I’d called my dad, and he and my uncles had raced over, no questions asked, but I know I’m going to have to answer for what I’ve done when this is all over. I’ll worry about that later, though. Right now all I can think about is getting Lara back.

I turn at the squeal of tires right as Vitya brings the SUV around the corner and parks next to us. I’d called him, wanting to know what had happened when he dropped her off, and he’d immediately turned around and come back. He and Svetlana jump out and rush over.

“What happened?” I ask, and he barely flinches at my harsh tone.

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