He clasps my shoulder. His hand is warm and comforting. I like it far too much.
“It’s good. It was so good,” I reassure him.
“This is the molly?”
“Yeah.” I nod and sniff. It’s real. The experience is real, the emotions are real. They’re just heightened. Amplified.
He moves away, which is both relieving and disappointing. I hear the click of something, but I don’t look, I’m too lost in my own world. He brings me another glass of water and puts me under the covers. “Go to sleep now, dietka.”
I’m not sleepy, but I’m completely wrung out, so I take his advice and close my eyes.
I’m totally blissed out. Relaxed.
I let sleep seep in, never guessing that in the morning I would wake tied to the bed with a gag in my mouth.
That standing above me would be the guy I thought was a prince the night before, taking photos of me in a compromised position with his phone.
3
Adrian
I wait until Kat is sound asleep, then I grab her purse and search it. She has a bottle of CBD gummies. That could come in handy. Especially for getting her onto the ship–a problem I haven’t solved yet.
I take the phone out of her bag and bring it to the kitchen with the laptop Dima gave me. I text Dima for assistance. He calls immediately. I pick up in a hushed voice, but Kat doesn’t even stir.
“I have the girl,” I tell Dima in Russian. He’s the only one I’ve been in contact with about my plans, and that’s because I need him. I don’t want to involve the rest of my cell. This isn’t their fight.
“I thought you weren’t grabbing her until tomorrow.”
“Plans changed,” I say simply. “I have her phone shut off to avoid tracking. What do I do now?”
Dima walks me through disconnecting the location tracker then opening the phone up to search for any additional trackers. I don’t find any, which seems careless on Poval’s part. “All right, now connect the phone to the laptop, so I can access all the data.”
I do as Dima instructs.
“Turn it on, and I can grab everything.”
I power the phone back up and watch the screen run through a series of download commands and lists of files scrolling rapidly. While it’s working, I thumb through her contacts.
“She has Papa listed in her contacts,” I tell Dima.
“Beautiful. Let me see.” I hear the clack of keys as he accesses the information. “I’ll try to trace it to a location. It might be a while.”
The upload to Dima’s system ends. “Now what?” I ask.
“Now you destroy that phone.”
“How will I send him the message that I have her?”
“I can send messages using her number that will route from random servers across the globe. Are you ready to send one now?”
I consider. I took a photo of her when she was hiding her face and crying after her orgasm. It showed her bare, reddened ass red and without context, definitely looked non-consensual. Like she was suffering, not riding the high of orgasm.
I glance over at her sleeping form on the bed. I could easily get some more photos that appear compromising right now and send them over.
But the moment I send them, the hunt for Kat will begin, and I can’t get on that cargo ship for thirty-some hours. It will be harder to keep her hidden here, so close to her home.
“Not yet,” I tell him. “Can I just text the message to you when I’m ready?”
“That works. Listen, Adrian…”
“Da?”
“Ravil wants you to report. He said you’re not answering his messages.”
I grind my teeth. Disobeying my pakhan feels wrong, especially after all Ravil has done for me. I try to explain. “I don’t want to involve the cell. This is personal. I only asked for your help because, well–”
“Yeah, I know. You can’t do this part alone. I think the point is that you can’t do any of this alone. Ravil will have your back, too. You know that, right?”
“I can’t involve him,” I say fiercely. “It’s not right.”
“Well, you need to tell him that yourself. He doesn’t like being blown off.”
“Yes, I will.” It’s a lie. I’m not going to contact Ravil. The less he knows, the better. “Thank you, Dima.”
“Of course. You’re a brother, Adrian. Whatever you need, I’ve got you.”
I swallow down the lump in my throat. The bratva didn’t take my soul, like it does to most men. It returned me to humanity.
Searching for Nadia turned me into an animal. I used up my money to get to America, where I only had a thin lead on Poval. I knew Maykl from my home town–he was a friend of a friend–and I made contact.
Ravil instantly brought me into the fold. Gave me a place to stay and put me to work. Made me a brother. Maxim, the bratva fixer, trained me to be the cleaner. The guy who wipes a scene of all traces of violence, all clues to the crime. No, the work isn’t legal, but I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. I didn’t plan on operating within the lines of any law.