Page 17 of Savage Bratva King

“Is that a promise?” she purrs against my lips, arching an eyebrow.

I release her chin, and she slumps back in her seat, the fight suddenly draining from her, and I realize with a spike of red-hot fury somewhere deep inside my chest that she thinks she has won.

“Take her away.” I go to the window and turn my back on the room.

I don’t trust myself not to cross the line and finish what Gianna started, and I know that if I do, the power will be in her hands. The weakness will be all mine. Just as I explained to my parents. She is my asset.Mine.And she will play by my rules no matter what it takes to break her.

“Pakhan?” Tamara’s gentle voice reaches me, but I keep my eyes firmly fixed on the window. “What shall we do with her?”

I hear it in her voice, the uncertainty. My people need a leader, they do not need a man who buckles at the knees of a beautiful woman. It is the first time I have ever heard uncertainty in Tamara, and it is like a jolt of electricity through my veins.

“Whatever it takes. Just make sure that she remembers this lesson.”

I hear them drag Gianna from the room and I don’t look around.

7

GIANNA

“Where are you taking me?”

He turned his back to me. around. He strode to the window, barked the order, and didn’t even look around at me. Asshole. If he didn’t want me to play the fucking game, he shouldn’t have started it. He knows who I am. He must’ve known I wouldn’t fall onto my knees and beg him for mercy; it isn’t how the Sedrics work.

The witch has my hair wrapped around her fist and is dragging me back along the corridor like a caveman. The woman is a maniac who clearly gets off on inflicting pain, and I refuse to show her that my scalp feels like it’s on fire. So, I appeal to her sister. Her softer side.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Stop talking!” the witch snaps.

I stumble down the spiral staircase, my feet skimming several steps at a time, her grip on my hair the only thing preventing me from hurtling face-first to the bottom. My shoulder collides with the banister and a bolt of pain travels down my spine. On the bottom step, my ankle twists, and it feels as if she will rip my scalp from my skull as she yanks me back onto my feet.

Instead of taking me back to the basement room, we turn in the opposite direction. Or rather, she walks, and I try to keep up. More closed doors. The temperature drops. The further away from Leonid we walk, the more uneasy I become. My heart beats a dull tune in preparation for what’s to come.

We stop outside a door, and the witch waits for her sister to unlock it. I breathe deeply, try to make eye contact, and she meets my eyes briefly. But all I see is pity in her dark eyes.

“Please,” I say, finally succumbing to the panic unraveling inside my chest. “Take me back to Leonid. I’ll apologize. I’ll tell him that I’ve learned the lesson.”

No answer. I did what he wanted, I begged, and I hate myself for it, and they’re not even listening to me because they’re following orders.

Something icy slithers down my spine. Whatever they intend to do to me, they will only stop if Pakhan issues the order, and he’s upstairs in his luxurious dining room eating fucking scrambled eggs.

The witch shoves me through the door, and I slam straight into a second door. They both follow me, filling the cramped space, locking the original door behind us and unlocking the one in front.

The rush of cold air sends shivers through me.Thisis Leonid Ivanov’s dungeon. This is where the man practices whatever unholy activities he enjoys when he isn’t out there making millions and kidnapping the daughters of his mafia rivals. And the only people who know where I am are the wicked witch of the west and goth-Glinda.

The lunatic grips my wrist, and I’m grateful for the small win; at least with my scalp intact I can think more clearly. They’re not going to let me go, and there’s not a chance in hell of them listening to anything I have to say, so my only option is to fight back. Only, I have no clue what I can fight with until we reach our destination.

The doors are more solid here. If I’m lucky, they’ll throw me into a dungeon and lock the door, but this hasn’t exactly been my lucky day so far.

Does he know where they’re taking me? If so, does this mean that for one brief second, I had the upper hand in his stupid little game? Because if that’s the case, he intends to break me, but he has no idea that I’ve seen what happens to broken women. They reinvent themselves into a stronger version of the women they were before.

We stop outside a metal door, and the witch’s knife appears in her free hand. “Try to run and see what happens.” Her lips twitch at the corners, and I wonder if smiling doesn’t come naturally to her. What did he do to her to make her so unhinged?

“We should use the hot room,” goth-Glinda says. “Pakhan doesn’t want her dead.”

My pulse starts racing so hard I think I’m going to be sick. Every obscenity I’ve ever heard from my father’s men springs to mind, but I remain silent. Yelling at them will let them know that I am scared. Better they have no clue what I am thinking—the element of surprise is all that I have on my side right now.

“Don’t go soft on me now, Tamara.” The witch cricks her neck from side to side. “The cold room will teach the printzessa a lesson just like Pakhan wanted.”

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