Page 85 of Victor's Lethal Desire
Dimitri is a sick fuck with zero respect for human life, especially women. I saw those pictures, the terrified faces, bound wrists, and hollow, dead eyes. I've read the reports on the trafficking rings. I've seen what my brothers discovered.
And while I haven't personally interrogated Elena about her captivity, I didn't need to. I can see the trauma in her face every time I look at her. I've known Elena her entire life, and the woman who came back to us now carries a hint of darkness that wasn't there before.
It may have been Dimitri's son Maxim who did whatever he did to her, but it was learned cruelty directly from his father.
My jaw tightens.
There isn't a doubt in my mind about what's going to happen inside that villa.
They'll torture Danika.
They'll inject her with so much Siberian Ice she won't know up from down.
And when they're done breaking her, when they've pulled every bit of information out of her trembling body, they'll sell her to the highest bidder.
Fuck that.
Not while I'm breathing.
Dimitri may not be the true don of the Volkovs like I thought, but for what he's done, I'm going to kill him regardless. For the pain he's caused, for the lives he's destroyed.
I'm willing to die to secure the vengeance Adrian deserves. The justice Elena deserves. The peace my family deserves.
And more than that, I will not allow Danika to become another one of their victims.
She means...
I pause, the thought catching in my brain.
She means more to me than I even have words for.
I'm going to get her out.
I break away from the tree, keeping low, and move toward the left side of the property. The stone wall surrounding the area is about a foot taller than I am, easily scalable.
But the moment my head pops up over it, anyone looking in my direction will start shooting.
Once I'm alongside the wall, I start moving down the side, listening closely for voices, footsteps, anything.
But I make it all the way to the far end of the perimeter without hearing a single sound.
Shit.
I'm going to have to look over without knowing any guard's location.
I pull the silencer from my pocket and screw it onto the barrel of my gun. I grip the weapon tightly in my right hand, and my left hand reaches up, fingers curling over the rough top of the wall.
I take a breath, a moment to prepare myself, because I know once I start this, I can never stop until I have her or I'm dead.
When I'm ready, I pull my body up. The muscles in my arms burn, and in an ironic turn of events, Danika's gift to me aches for the first time in a week.
When my head clears the top of the wall, I lock eyes with a guard standing just on the other side.
Shit.
For a split second, we both freeze. His eyes widen. His mouth opens, and his cigarette dangles from the corner.
Then his hand moves toward the gun slung over his shoulder.
