“You tell that little bitch remember who she works for now. Andrei will not allow his woman to fuck him over again. Next time she dies.”
She looked up at him and spat blood at his face.
One of the men gripped her tighter.
Iakov wiped her bloody spit from his face and gave the guy holding her a nod.
He tilted her chin up and Iakov smiled.
“Some women never learn when to keep their mouths shut.”
He struck her one last time sending her to the floor of the van.
* * * *
Storm came to the porch door with his cell phone in his hand.
Aspen turned to look at him as he stared at her.
“I just got a call. India is in the hospital. Andrei’s men got to her.”
“No! No!” Aspen screamed out. “Is she okay? What did they do to her?”
“They beat her up. Dmitri is with her now. He said he needs to talk to you, Aspen,” Storm said and handed her the cell phone.
All eyes were upon her as Silas and all the other men came outside.
“Dmitri?” Aspen whispered, her voice cracking.
“He was sending a message. You’re to remember who you work for. Remember that you’re his woman and you won’t get away with fucking with him again.”
“Oh God, is India okay though. They didn’t…”
“No. No Aspen, they roughed her up good and she’s so scared. I know that Silas wants to head out here, but I think you guys are going to need t
he backup there. I already spoke with him. They’ll get her to a safe place. Until this all blows over, we need to keep her out of harm’s way now. The fight is on Aspen.”
“I want to see her. I should fly out and—”
A series of “No!” went through the porch and over the phone.
“I’m sending you everything I have. Tell the men what you’ve been doing at Pro-Tech. Tell them about Sparks Industries and how you stopped the sale to Andrei.”
“What?”
“You were right. Gary Sparks couldn’t be forced to sell the company to Renoke. It appears that he shared the company with a few silent partners.”
“A few? Who?”
“I don’t know, but it just put a halt to Renoke’s ability to overthrow your men’s territory. The individuals who owned part of the shares just bought out the company, including Gary’s shares, and now there is one sole owner.”
“Who?”
“No one knows.”
“But then Sparks Industries doesn’t stay in Storm’s family. So we lost it anyway,” she said to Dmitri.
“What’s going on?” Storm asked, and the others looked concerned and angry.