Page 18 of Bratva Beast

“It’s by the hospital. He either threw it, or she dropped it.”

“We should have micro-chipped her like we do our dogs.” He grumbles. “I’ve got Fingers on it.” Fingers is my father’s hacker. He’ll have all the CCTV uploaded by the time we’re off the call. My father rattles off the nurse’s phone number and address. I put in my earbud so I can still hear my father as I rush out of my penthouse.

Wystan pulls up as I walk out. “Saxon and Roric are already on their way to his place.” Lights and movement blur as he speeds through the streets to Hamilton Heights. The brakes screech, and we pile out of his BMW, hitting the exterior door of the nurse’s apartment building. It’s an old building withhomeless camping out in the lobby. My younger brothers meet us inside. I take the elevator as my brothers run up the two stairwells. I don’t bother to knock, as I reach his door, putting my body into ramming it open. “Fuck!”

My brothers barrel in from opposite directions with guns drawn. “She’s not here.”

“No. Rip it apart.” I step out the door and peer into the hallway. Various doors have opened and closed in the moments I’ve been here. I move to the apartment to the right and pound on the door.

A man cracks the door to peer at me and I shove it open. Pointing. “Do you know your neighbor, Russell?”

He nods. “A little. He’s weird.”

“Who does he hang out with? Where is he?” The weight of my gun is heavy in the back of my pants. I never have trouble tamping down my emotions, but if he doesn’t fucking answer me, I’m going to shoot him.

“He’s usually home after his nursing shift.”

“But?”

“He sometimes goes to the bar down the street to pick up women. He never brings them back here, though. I just thought he went to their place.”

I growl and step toward the man, eliciting a fearful yelp. I don’t get to take my frustrations out on him because Wystan runs down the hall, yelling. “Let’s go.”

I turn to my brother as he takes the main hall back to the elevators. “The super told Saxon there’s a room off the laundry room. He takes women there. It’s soundproof.”

My stomach rolls, and my heart picks up speed. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

The elevator squeaks open into the basement, and we barrel towards the lighted open door. I storm in and stop in the middle of the room, surveying the walls. “Find the door.” My eyes catcha change along the wall, and I put my body into the wall between the sink and the last washer. The wall gives, and I fall through with my brothers jumping into the area around me. Wystan reaches down to pull me off the floor as we hear a scream.

Isabella is bent over a short table in the center of the room. Her face is red with new and old tears covering her cheeks.

A groaning sound overpowers my ears. That’s the blood rushing to my brain. “I’m here.”

She whimpers, pulling on the restraints which hold her arms in place. “He’ll be back soon.”

I reach Isabella in two strides and cut the zip ties tied to her hands around the legs of the table. “Did he rape you?”

“No. He wanted to. I convinced him I had an STD, and he needed condoms.”

“You’re fucking brilliant.” I take out my phone and dial my new number two, Anatoly, as I cradle her in my arms. “He’s not in the basement of his apartment building. Find him.” I don’t wait for concurrence before I’m striding out of the room. Wystan opens the back door to his BMW, and as soon as the door closes, Isabella sobs in my arms.

“How’d you find me?”

“That’s not the question.” I growl, unable to control my anger and fear. “How the fuck did you let this happen to you? You weren’t supposed to leave the hospital alone.”

“I got off work early.”

“You wait for someone to get you. If you’d waited like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened.” My phone rings. “What?”

Anatoly, my new enforcer, promoted after Anton’s execution, speaks. “We’ve got him.”

“Hold him until I get there.”

I carry her into the penthouse, into my room, and stand her on her feet. “I need to see you.”

“He didn’t touch me sexually. He hit me and scared the shit out of me.” She crumples to the floor, and I stand over her. My brain and my heart fight for dominance. I want to hold her and make sure she’s okay, but the alpha in me wants to beat her ass and fuck her like she’s mine.

She looks up from the floor. “I’d like to go shower.”

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