Page 31 of The Bratva's Forced Kidnapped Bride
Getting into the code and tweaking the few things I wanted to change after having it run in test mode while we were away calmed me down considerably. There was just something soothing about ones and zeros. They often caused trouble, even seeming like they were fighting against me sometimes, but they never actually bashed me over the head and tried to shoot me.
After I had everything modified and set the software up to search for information related to the people I’d identified as having anything to do with the Collective, I leaned back in my chair, rubbing the goose egg protruding from the back of my head.
How did I still want Masha when the pain of just touching where she’d hit me should have brought back memories of all the other pain she’d caused me? It had to stop. I might think I was in control, because she was mine and would remain mine, but the truth was the opposite. She was dangerous, even without access to a single weapon. A tear-filled glance had me giving up information she didn’t need to know, that might have served me better to keep from her.
I always respected her; that went without saying. She was a formidable enemy, but I had to remember she was an enemy.If I started to actually like the woman, I’d go even easier on her than I had been, making things harder for myself.
She tortured me, for God’s sake. Left me rotting in that stinking hovel of a safe house, chained to a chair, bleeding, parched, and near death so many times. And what was I doing now that she was under my complete control?
Thinking about having dinner with her. Dancing with her again, under the expansive desert stars, and so much more. None of it involved pain. Was I losing it?
The only thing that would protect my sanity and keep the upper hand was to ignore her, keep her locked up and out of my sight so I could pretend she didn’t exist for a while. Letting her think the worst was yet to come would be a certain kind of torture in itself.
Just why did it feel like this new plan was going to be harder on me than on her?
Chapter 23 - Masha
I didn’t see Anatoli at all after my desperate attempt to kill him. Was he lying about his plans? Was he lying about my guards? My heart had soared when he told me that August and Vik were still alive, but did I dare believe it was true? I had to concede he was a master at the psychological game, but what did he have to gain from putting my mind at ease?
It didn’t bear thinking about, because my mind wandered to all sorts of horrible places, when it wasn’t betraying me by remembering the feel of his hands on my body. After a couple of days, it started to feel like I missed him, which meant I was truly going over the deep end. That was what he must want, so I couldn’t let it happen.
Not when I had deduced that he was planning to team up with the Collective against my family. Most of his family in Russia were for the idea of joining with the international gang, and if Anatoli actually decided to go ahead, they’d be an unstoppable force, and my family would be decimated.
My skin prickled every time I thought about it, but what could I do about it, locked up like a princess in a tower? The only small consolation was that eventually the Collective would turn on Anatoli and his family, before turning on each other. Organizations like that never lasted, but what did it matter in the long run if everyone and everything I cared about was gone?
I was stuck in my suite, with only a guard bringing me food three times a day. They were nice meals, actually full of my favorites, so Anatoli’s intent wasn’t to starve me to death, anyway. It was the same guard every time, and I wondered if he was new or had done something wrong to end up with babysitter duty. He wasn’t Russian, and when he sullenly waited by thedoor for me to finish so he could take the tray away, I decided to try to befriend him and test his loyalty a little.
His name was Diego, and he was very receptive to my overtures, proving he might be useful. I had a pretty good eye for bad apples, and this guy was clearly just cashing a paycheck and would turn against Anatoli at the first hint of a better offer. I still had to assume he was playing me and answering back to Anatoli, so I kept things light, nothing that could get me in trouble. If Diego took my friendliness for flirtatiousness, that was on him.
Almost immediately, I knew he was bad news, and even as desperate as I was for an ally, it wasn’t going to be Diego. During his lunch visit on the second day, he came into my room and sat on the bed, staring at me with a glint in his eyes that I didn’t like at all. I jokingly asked if his boss would mind him acting so familiar around his wife, and he laughed, saying everyone knew we weren’t really married.
“The marriage is very real,” I snapped, bristling. Maybe for my own protection, maybe for his.
“But you’d leave if you could,” he said, half a question, half an offer.
So I knew I had a shot at getting out, but I also recognized this was a classic case of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. I reeled it back in, icing him out, but he wouldn’t take the hint. I was anxious about what might happen at dinner time, and was relieved to see it was a different guard. I didn’t say a word to him and hoped Diego was gone for good.
He wasn’t. The next morning, he was back in my room, walking back and forth and staring as I tried to eat. Waiting and worrying seemed to burn a lot of calories, and while I was trying to exercise in the room, I could almost feel my strength waning.
“You can take this and go,” I said, pushing away the unfinished French toast and sausage.
“But we haven’t even talked,” he said, sitting on my bed again.
The door was open, but the hall outside was silent. For all I knew, we were the only two people in the house. He was a big guy, well-muscled and more importantly, armed, and I had no idea how good he was with a weapon. Could I get his firearm away from him? Would I need to?
Where the hell was Anatoli?
“Well, there’s not much to talk about,” I said, staying in my chair even when he patted the bed. Was he actually stupid?
“I think I know what you want to talk about,” he continued, his eyes narrowing when I didn’t comply. Really, who the hell did he think he was? I had half a mind to try to make a break for it just to find Anatoli and tell him what one of his employees was up to. “I can easily get you out. And I wouldn’t ask for much in return.”
Sure, he wouldn’t. “You’re treading dangerous ground,” I said, waving my arm around. The irony wasn’t lost on me. I had wanted to find someone who held no loyalty to Anatoli and ended up with someone who was as ruthless as my husband, just with less power. Someone like Diego was hungry for power, even if it was only over one person.
He shook his head. “The room’s not bugged.” Okay, that was good to know. I still frowned at him and refused to speak. “You’ll come around,” he said with a leer, finally taking the tray and leaving.
“God, I hate him,” I sighed, wishing for a brief moment that the room was bugged.
He didn’t return for lunch. No one did. While I could certainly skip a meal without any dire consequences, it was a clear message. Diego thought he was going to coerce me to leave with him, and I didn’t think for a second it was to try to ransom me back to my family.
