Page 28 of The Hunted Wife

“Respect. If I don’t do it this way, I won’t have the respect of the other Pakhan.”

“You’ll never have their respect. The only thing they respect is power and as the new Pakhan, you will have to prove yourself to have that power. And you don’t. Those loyal to my father will never follow you. You know it, which is why you think marrying me is the answer.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “You are so stupid. The only way you can take over for my father is if he names you. You know it and think you can get around that by marrying me. But you seem to forget I have many male cousins who will come into play before you do. Don’t you remember? My father was one of eleven children. My uncles would take the reins before you do. My uncle Ivan will be the next in line. Will you kill him too? Will you try to kill them all before they figure out it’s you? You’re supposed to be smart. You know nothing of this world you want so much to be king of.” She turned her back to him.

He grabbed her shoulder and whipped her around, then backhanded her so hard she fell to the floor next to the bed. “You better hope you’re wrong because after we are married, if you’re right, I have no reason to keep you alive.”

She touched two fingers to her lips. They came away covered in blood. “I would rather be dead than touched by you anyway.”

He looked down at her. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “Believe me, I can make that happen.”

“But not now. You need me if you have any chance at all for your plan to work. You can’t kill me, you can’t even hurt me too much because either way, he’ll know. He might laugh with you about the disappearance of one of you mistresses but his own daughter?” She lifted a brow. “He won’t find that funny at all.”

Ricard looked down, spit on her and then left the room, locking the door after him.

Millie wiped the spittle from her face and walked to one of the windows. They were somewhere in the forest. Maybe they were close to the ranch. Adam would find her. She held on to that thought, that hope, and believed it with all her heart. Theirs might have started as a marriage of convenience, but their marriage was as real as anyone else’s now and she liked it that way. So did Adam. She knew by the way he touched her and then held her after their lovemaking. The way he looked at her over the dinner table. The fact he held her hand on movie night. She missed him. She’d gone and fallen in love with her husband, none other than billionaire, Adam Sullivan.

He liked her, but did he love her? She hoped so, because she didn’t want to be in a one-sided relationship. She pressed her hands against her stomach…especially now.

At the ranch, Adam grew more dangerous with each passing hour.

His brothers had never seen him like this—cold, focused, and utterly relentless.

Sullivan Technologies diverted an enormous amount of resources to finding Millie and so far had nothing. Drones patrolled the skies and Gabriel hacked into every traffic and security camera system within a three state radius, searching for Ricard’s vehicle. Late one night, while Christopher manned the computer, monitoring the searches he saw something, really grainy footage of an SUV from one of the remote cameras, heading toward a remote mountain area known mostly for being abandoned hunting cabins. He should have seen it before now but must have missed it. He showed Adam the footage.

Adam was out the door before anyone could stop him.

Millie was let out of the bedroom after the first night so she could cook for Ricard and Viktor. And after watching Ricard rant for a couple of nights, Millie knew he was becoming more and more unhinged. She watched him drink more every night. He flew into sudden rages when her father called demanding updates.

Once, when Ricard had his phone on speaker, she overheard him arguing in Russian with her father.

“You promised me everything!” Ricard shouted. “Now, if I take her back to New York, not just the CBI but the FBI will get involved because of having to kidnap her and cross state lines.”

“The authorities are involved because of you,” Sergey shouted back. “You are the one who has fouled this up from the beginning. I’m starting to wonder if you are the right person to take over from me. If you still desire that, clean up this mess and don’t bring the police down on us. This is a nightmare. Clean it up, Ricard. Or I will do it for you and you won’t like it if I have to do that. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

“Good. And don’t hurt my daughter. She might be headstrong and opinionated, but she is still my daughter.”

“Yes, sir. She is safe with me.”

Ha! Safe with him? He who thinks nothing of hitting me when I don’t obey him. If my father only knew the truth. I wonder if I can find some way to let him know the truth. I can’t now. Ricard will never let me near a phone.

I must hold on and not rile Ricard too much. He might have been told not to hurt me, but he would put the injuries where no one can see them and that could hurt the baby. At least, he won’t hit me in the face again. He can’t risk it. My father seeing me with a black eye or a broken jaw would mean Ricard’s death. Can I injure myself in some way so he would be blamed?

Chapter 10

After seeing Dmitry, Adam drove back to the ranch and showed his brothers the map Dmitry had drawn.

“I know that cabin. I hunt in that area. I drive by it every year. It’s one of the nicer cabins out there,” said Fred. “It’s a bit of a drive and the road is mostly ruts so the going is slow and hard.”

Adam slammed his hand on the table. “I don’t care about that. I’ll go as fast as I can. Dmitry said the road will eventually go to Oak Creek. If Ricard gets to Denver, it will be nearly impossible to track him regardless of any tracking skills we may have. But when I find him…and I will find him,” he stopped and took a deep breath. “He’ll be sorry he ever crossed the Sullivan brothers.”

All six of them agreed.

Adam slapped his hand on the table again. Benjamin placed his hand on top of Adam’s and so it went until Gabriel’s hand was on top of the pile. “One for all.”

“Yes!” Resounded around the table.