Page 62 of Savage Little Secret

I jab my finger against his chest. “I don’t give a shit. I’m doing what needs to be done!”

He smirks at me. “All this over a woman? She really has you by your balls, doesn’t she?”

I don’t even blink before I strike him in the face with a punch.

Blood sprays from his lips as his head snaps to the side. He grunts in pain, hanging his head for a moment to recover before his gaze locks with mine.

“You will regret this!” he shouts at me.

I turn away from him and look at Andrei. “He doesn’t know anything. We’re back at square one.”

Andrei follows me as I storm out of the room.

“What should we do with him, sir?” one of my men asks.

“Release him in a few hours. Let him limp back and spread the story. Maybe the right ears will hear it,” I tell him.

Andrei falls in step with me as I walk out of the antique shop to get some fresh air. “What if he’s just some low-level solider who didn’t know anything?”

“Even the young trainees of the Bratva know about the big missions. They overhear things and gossip. They always know more than they should,” I reply before tilting my head back and drawing in a deep breath through my nose. “This was wasted blood.”

“We’ve crossed a suspect off the list, though,” Andrei points out. “We can put our focus where it needs to be.”

“Yeah, with all the other suspects on the list,” I mutter before lowering my eyes to the sidewalk, listening to the sound of cars driving down nearby streets.

“You should talk to Sean again,” Andrei tells me. “You need to make sure he isn’t trying to fuck you over or distract you.”

I know that he’s right. I have a lot of questions and suspicions, and they mostly revolve around Sean. I don’t even truly know if he cares enough about his own daughter to save her.

“I’m still waiting for that bastard to call again with their terms for the trade,” I tell Andrei as I check my phone, not seeing any missed calls. I now sleep with it right next to my head so that I don’t possibly miss a call.

It’s my only connection to Cara right now.

“Would you do the trade? Would you really work with this person?” Andrei asks me, wariness clouding his eyes.

I shift my eyes down the street, focusing on a flashing red light. The Bratva doesn’t work with our enemies. We rely only on ourselves.

I’ve already broken that rule by aligning myself with Sean to find Cara, and I still don’t know if that’s the right move or not. Doing business with another enemy puts me, my family, and the rest of the Bratva even more at risk.

But I don’t know the terms yet, and I can’t just do nothing if I want to save Cara. I’m willing to do just about anything to get her back and safe in my arms again.

“I need to save her,” I merely say before heading down the sidewalk toward the dark car concealed in shadows that’ll take me home. “Goodnight, Andrei.”

My driver hurries into the driver’s seat as I approach.

“Take me home,” I tell him once I get into the backseat, darkness consuming me.

Home doesn’t really feel like home anymore. It just feels like a safe place for me to restlessly toss and turn before I get up to try to find Cara again.

This endless cycle is killing me, but I’m not going to stop until she’s back in my bed, her head on my chest, a smile on her face.

I fucked up before by sending her away, thinking that I was keeping her safe.

I won’t make that mistake again.

23

Cara