Page 64 of Bratva Jewels Box Set
Zoe is quiet as she works out how to answer the question. “I feel sick. The information Ruby told me about who I am, I can’t wrap my head around it. I was a prostitute for the Russian Mafia,” she says sadly, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“You know we don’t care about that,” I add.
Sniffling, Zoe looks over at me. “But I do. What kinds of things did they make me do. That man last night, the way he looked at me with desire behind those eyes. I wanted to be sick. How could I sleep with someone like that? I’m disgusting.”
“From what you said last night you had no choice. You were kidnapped,” I tell her.
“The Bratva wouldn’t have given you a choice, Zoe. They are ruthless, what they want they get no matter the cost,” Tomas adds.
“The images that have flooded through my mind since Ruby opened them, I understand from them that there was no choice. They continuously beat me for not following orders. She told me I fought and fought until they nearly killed me. But they used my greatest weakness against me, my family and I folded. I get what that girl in that moment did but looking at it now, I hate myself for it.”
Reaching out, I wrap my arms around Zoe and pull her to me. “You did what you needed to do to survive. No one will ever judge you for that.”
“You’re both not disgusted by me?” Zoe asks softly.
“Never. You are so fucking strong to have been taken by the Bratva, escaped, and survived. You are fucking strong,” Tomas tells her.
“I don’t feel it,” she says in a whisper.
“Give yourself time. What you have learned in the last twenty-four hours is shocking. Your mind has kept the past hidden for a reason, and now you know why. You may never beable to understand what you have gone through, but with us by your side, we will help you through it,” Tomas explains to her.
“I’m scared.”
“You’re not alone, angel, you will never be alone again,” I tell her, placing a kiss on her temple.
20
TOMAS
After breakfast, Enrique, my cousin, arrived to talk to Zoe about who she is and what information she might be able to give to Interpol.
“I can’t believe I am meeting one of the famous Bratva Jewels,” he says, holding his hand out for Zoe.
She gives him a small frown before shaking his hand.
“Enrique,” I say, annoyed at my cousin’s lack of manners.
“Shit, sorry that was so inappropriate of me. I got excited. It’s just that no one from the jewels ever escapes alive. We’ve never been able to help one of their elite girls before.”
“Elite girls?” Mateo questions.
Enrique looks at Zoe then at me, wondering if he should continue.
I’m guessing what he’s about to explain isn’t good.
“A lot of what I know is fuzzy still,” Zoe explains to him.
Enrique nods and begins explaining the jewels—code for Nikolai’s girls. Girls he sends out to service people he needs things from. Then there are his Precious Jewels. Nikolai’s elite ladies, the most beautiful women on his books. He uses them as favors and bribes to officials, police chiefs, presidents, kings, andpeople of a higher caliber. Enrique then pulls out surveillance images of Nikolai and his crew with some girls to show us.
Zoe visibly recoils when she sees the photos before reaching out and grabbing one of the images to bring it closer to her to get a better look at it.
I can see it on her face, the way her brows pull together, the way her top teeth are sinking into her bottom lip as she concentrates on the photos, trying to bring forth long-forgotten memories.
Staring down at the close-up images of Nikolai Petrov, I can see why Zoe fell for the guy, he’s gorgeous. Has the whole bad boy image pulled together, brown hair that has been shaved. Tattoo’s up and down his arms. T-shirt, tight jeans, he works out as you can tell by the muscles hiding under his clinging shirt. I hate that this motherfucker tricked Zoe into this depraved way of life. If or when I find him, I’m going to kill him.
Enrique then explains how Nikolai and his friends spend their summers frequenting the hottest places all over Europe looking for the most beautiful women he can find. The group usually picks girls up at nightclubs, takes them home, drugs them, then they shuffle them across borders, and have them in Russia before the girls even know what’s happening.
“That’s not what happened to me? We dated for a couple of months before he took me to Russia,” Zoe says, shaking her head as she stares at Nikolai’s picture.
