Page 65 of Between Us

“The more you fight, the worse it will get for you,” the man threatened in a vicious voice, his mouth pressed against her ear.

She shuddered, both from the smell of his breath and his proximity. When she managed to turn her head a little, she saw his face, with its square jaw and beady eyes. “W-who are you?”

He grinned, revealing slightly crooked teeth. “Me? I'm your worst nightmare,princess.”

He said the last word with such disdain, it spelled nothing but trouble for her.

“What do you want from me?”

He chuckled, his black eyes moving toward Ivan up front. “You hear that? She wants to know what we want from her.” When Ivan didn't answer, the man retuned his gaze to hers, and it had gone horribly cold. “What I want is to see your lifeless body drained of every ounce of that filthy Italian blood.”

Alessandra's already frantic heartbeats picked up pace. This guy was not messing around. Whatever hehad in store for her, it was going to end up with her suffering an atrocious fate. As much as she wanted to questions his reasons, she knew it was senseless. These men's aggression toward her was the result of decades of bad blood between two mafia families. No amount of questioning or begging was going to save her from the horrors awaiting at the end of that car ride.

Her thoughts flew to Roman. She wondered if he'd found out about Ivan's disloyalty, and a small flicker of hope kindled in her chest. Maybe he was already on his way to save her.

That hope was quickly snuffed out when the car navigated streets that were becoming more deserted by the minute, until it finally stopped in front of an abandoned building.

Fighting became useless as she was dragged outside roughly and in the direction of a rusty metal door. Whipping her head around frantically, Alessandra searched the dead-end alley for any sign of help. Apart from a single fat rat hiding in the shadow of a dumpster, no other soul had dared to venture so deep into the belly of that run-down, crime-infested part of the city.

Mostly ignorant to the mafia ways as she was, Alessandra could still recognize a bad neighborhood when she saw one. Everything about the building she was being forced into screamed illicit activities.

“Poydem, suka,”the man holding her ordered, pushing her forward so hard she tripped over her feet. She would have planted on her face if it weren’t for the death grip he had on her upper arm.

“Ivan,” she pleaded as her eyes darted to her left, hoping to find some sort of reassurance—a glimmer of hope that he would not betray Roman in such a way.

“Walk!” came the angry bark as she was shoved again by the man at her side. Soon, she was stepping on shards of glass as the three of them walked into the building.

“We need to fucking hurry,” Ivan said, his voice anxious as he trailed behind them. “He must've found out already that she's gone.”

“Calm yourself. Even if he knows, he won't find her in time.”

“How can you be so sure, Sasha?”

The guy called Sasha stopped walking abruptly, halting her with him as he turned to glare at Ivan. “Listen here, you fucking pussy. You knew the plan from the very beginning. You knew the risks and you were willing to take them. Now shut your fucking mouth and let's get this over with.”

They climbed a set of concrete stairs. As they stopped on the first floor and entered the first room they reached, a macabre sight greeted Alessandra. In the vast expanse of the graffiti-covered space, a single chair rested on what was left of a hardwood floor. There was rope lying next to the chair and a large, black bag neatly stretched out on the floor.

Her first instinct was to turn around and flee the room. Her head met a hard chest, and she was shoved back so roughly, she fell on her ass.

“Fucking bitch,” Sasha sneered, pulling a gun from his waistband and pointing it at her.

“Boris is not here,” Ivan interjected, grabbing his arm to stop him.

“So what? She'll be dead either way.”

“He said to wait for him.”

Sasha gave him a hostile look. Not lowering the gun,he took out his phone, pushing it into Ivan's hand. “Call him.”

Ivan hesitated for the briefest of seconds, his gaze flicking to Alessandra. Then he tapped the screen a few times and brought the phone to his ear. “Yeah, it’s me. We're here.”

With her heart beating a furious rhythm and her breaths coming out convulsively, Alessandra silently prayed for her life. Sasha stared at her, his face a mixture of hatred and disgust.

Ivan hung up, passing the phone back to its owner. “He's on his way. He said not to do anything until he gets here.”

“Yeah, yeah, he wants to leave Roman a gift for when he finds her.” Sasha's eyes roved down Alessandra’s body, his lips lifting into a sinister grin. “Maybe I'll join. This filthy littlesukalooks like she can take two cocks at once.”

Ivan rubbed his eyes with two fingers. He looked on edge. “Fuck, we really don't have time for this shit.”

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