Page 57 of Savage Little Secret

“Them and the Italians were already established here with the Irish before we showed up, but I can’t figure out their involvement,” I reply with a shrug. “The Bratva or Artur Suyunov make the most sense.”

“The Council is pretty pissed at you,” Andrei agrees before a crooked smile forms on his lips. “Good boy Dmitri pissed off the Council. What has happened to you, my friend?”

The corner of my mouth turns up as I pick up my drink. “I fell in love.”

Andrei grabs the bottle of vodka and pours himself another drink before lifting his glass to me. “I haven’t found the woman who’ll make me blow my life up from the inside out yet, but you’re making me a little jealous that I haven’t.”

I clink my glass against his, a chuckle rumbling in my chest. “As if the Sin City Savage would ever settle for one woman.”

I don’t think he has ever truly dated someone before.

Andrei shrugs. “Maybe I’ll find someone who matches my pace. Or even outruns me. If you don’t get me killed first.”

We share an amused look with each other, but I can’t help but feel a sinking weight in my chest. We’re heading down a dangerous path. I’m glad to have my friend by my side, but I don’t want to lose him to whatever enemy has decided to fuck with me and Cara.

Even if I told Andrei to stand down and let me handle things, he would laugh in my face, tell me to fuck off, and ask what we’re doing next.

We’re in this together, and even if the Bratva end up being the ones behind all of this, I don’t see him saving himself. He’s too good of a friend to abandon me, even if it costs him everything.

We’ve been through enough for me to do the same for him.

A ding sounds from my laptop, making me look over to see a new message waiting from Sean.

“There’s our info,” I say as I click on the message to bring up all the information that Sean sent my way.

Andrei nods to me, his expression turning more serious.

“Grab your gun,” I tell him. “We’re going hunting.”

21

Cara

Days bleed into weeks since I was taken.

And I still don’t know who is behind it. Being in the dark this much is starting to make me lose my mind. In fleeting moments when I’m teetering on the line of unconsciousness, part of me can’t help but wonder if any of this is even real.

They won’t let me remove the blindfold, though. They’re determined to stay anonymous. There was only one moment when the blindfold was almost knocked off my head because I was struck so hard, and the only thing that I saw was a man’s hand with a large, oval-shaped ring on his finger with some sort of symbol in the middle.

That little glimpse wasn’t enough.

I’m just as screwed as I was before.

I swallow thickly, my throat sore. Dried blood sticks to my chapped lips and my chin, a deep, dull ache radiating throughout my entire body. A nearby rustle makes me tense up, my eyes squeezing shut under the blindfold as I prepare for yet another blow.

But it doesn’t come.

When the man behind all this picked up that knife and sliced away while interrogating me, I thought that he would kill me that day or the next.

I was sorely mistaken.

Cutting me progressed to punching me. Kicking me. Pulling out my hair from the scalp. Any sort of abuse the person doing the torturing felt like doing to me because I refused to give up any information. I just couldn’t.

I can’t be the reason Dmitri gets hurt or killed, though it’s probably too late for me.

I breathe in and out slowly and quietly, making myself as still and silent as possible to not draw any attention to myself. Maybe this guy would just go about his duties and leave me alone. It’s been days since the leader came down here to torment me and laugh in my face about how no one is coming to rescue me, that Dmitri wouldn’t even listen to his offer when he called him.

I don’t believe him. I can’t. If I believe that there’s no end in sight to this, then why am I fighting so hard through the pain and starvation to survive?