Page 246 of Bratva Jewels Box Set
“What do you mean they’re not here?” I try to sit up again, and Sergei pushes me back down.
“Brooks and Damon will be here any moment. Maxim has a GPS
locator on his watch—we will find him.”
I settle a little because I remember all the equipment Damon set
us up with. Sergei curls up around me, our cool body temperatures mingling enough to stave off the cold. I drift in and out of consciousness, my eyes trying to focus on the bridge above and the sounds of the traffic going past us.
“What happened to Dmitri?” I ask, wondering how we are safe.
Sergei’s arms wrap around me tighter. “I’m not sure, maybe us going over the bridge was enough for them to think we didn’t survive so he gave up.”
“Were we chased by a helicopter, or did I imagine that?”
“I wish that was your imagination, but we really were chased by a Black Hawk.”
“How did we survive? Why aren’t they looking for us?” A terrified shiver goes through my body. Fear grips my aching bones.
“I’m not sure, Grace. Luck? God? Not our time? I just don’t know.”
Silence descends between us as we fall asleep.
“They’re here!”
Voices wake me with a start.
Sergei pulls me close, trying to work out if they are friend or foe.
“Grace! Sergei!”
“Brooks!” Sergei looks toward the voices. “Over here.” We hear footsteps thundering along the muddy bank.
“Thank fuck,” Brooks says. He throws a blanket over us. “Grace, I thought—” His voice hitches in his throat, the fear and worry etched on his face.
I wrap myself around the giant, and he holds me tight, his face buried in the crook of my neck. He’s warm, so warm, like a furnace, and I burrow myself into his hard chest, which makes him laugh.
“Thank fuck you are alive. Sophie would have fucking killed me.” He tries to lighten the mood. Brooks isn’t one for showing emotions. He picks me up and carries me off the muddy bank, and Sergei follows. “Damon is looking downstream where the last ping of Maxim’s GPS was.”
I see the van sitting beside the road, and Brooks places me inside it. The heating is on full, and Sergei and I rub our hands together, trying to warm our bones.
“Where’s Dmitri?” I ask again.
“He left once you guys ...” Brooks can’t say it.
I can hear the tremor in his voice.
“Once you guys crashed through the bridge. He shot into the water a couple of times, but as the car sank to the bottom and no one floated to the surface, he fled away.”
I keep rubbing my hands. The feeling is coming back to them.
“What about Max and Elena?”
Brooks shrugs. “Damon will stay and search for them, but my orders
are to take you back to the plane, make sure you are safe and secure, and on the way out of here. The longer you stay, the better chance of being captured.”
“No, you can’t leave Maxim here!” I yell at him, my voice hoarse after struggling to breathe.
