Page 88 of Auctioned to My Bratva Boss

I needed someone who could help me think straight, someone who wouldn't judge me no matter what I said. Evelyn.

She'd been through more than me. She'd see right through whatever Matvey was playing at.

I dragged myself up, threw on a hoodie and jeans, and twisted my messy hair into a knot. In the mirror, I was pale, dark circles under my eyes, looking like I'd just crawled out of a grave.

"Thank God I'm alive." I rolled my eyes at my reflection.

I grabbed my keys and bag, locked the door. That half-broken hallway light was still flickering. Everything was normal.

But walking to the hospital, something felt off. The afternoon block was too quiet, even the old cat that usually sunbathed by the door was gone. I picked up my pace, but that uneasy feeling kept growing.

Right when I turned that corner by the garbage bins, an arm locked around my waist from behind.

Before I could scream, a cloth reeking of chemicals clamped over my nose and mouth.

"Mmph!"

I fought back hard. My bag hit the ground, keys flying. I kicked, clawed at that arm, but the fumes flooded my lungs with each breath. My limbs went limp, my vision blurred and darkened.

In that last second, I saw my keychain lying in a dirty puddle, the little hyacinth charm Evelyn gave me bobbing gently in the murky water.

Then the world sank away completely.

Cold jolted me back to consciousness.

I opened my eyes to blinding white light. It took several seconds to focus. Above me was a towering ceiling, a massive crystal chandelier spilling light everywhere. I recognized this place fast—the place I'd been trying to forget in my dreams. The auction house stage.

Damn it! If I wasn't wrong, I'd been kidnapped.

My wrists were twisted behind me, tied to the chair back. The rope bit into my skin. My ankles were locked to the chair legs. I couldn't move an inch. Tape covered my mouth, forcing every breath through my nose.

I started struggling, throwing my whole body into trying to break free. All I got was a few pathetic squeaks from the chair on the smooth floor. It didn't budge half an inch.

"Don't waste your energy, sweetheart."

A lazy, familiar voice came from my side. Veronica. She stood there elegantly in a burgundy dress, like she was attending a party. Beside her was a man. Thin, with jutting cheekbones. He leaned against the stage edge, playing with a handgun, its barrel pointed carelessly at me.

I didn't know him, but something vicious in his eyes made my stomach turn.

"Mmph!" I made angry sounds at Veronica, shaking the chair uselessly again.

"Look at you." Veronica walked over slowly, that snake-like smile on her lips. "Still think you can break free? How cute."

She crouched in front of me, her red nails lifting a strand of my messy hair.

"Let me tell you a story, Riley." Her voice was light. "Once there was a woman who had everything—breeding, status, a man who obeyed her every word. Then one day, that man turned on her and destroyed everything she had."

"Her assets, her father's family inheritance rights... everything that should've been hers, he set it all up to give toa bastard." Veronica yanked my hair hard. I gasped in pain. "Overnight, she became a joke with nothing."

"Guess who that man was?"

She released me suddenly and stood up.

"Matvey Bykov." She spat the name through clenched teeth. "Your devoted pakhan."

My whole body shook. This was completely different from the story Veronica had fed me before.

"I'm going to make him taste what it's like to lose everything, too." Veronica pulled a tactical knife from her waist, the cold blade against my cheek. "Starting with this face. I want to know if Matvey can still keep that cold expression when he sees his little lover all bloody and mangled."