Dark Captor (Dark Syndicate 2)

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to tell Massimo besides the truth, and the way I see it, we’re back to square one.

I’m standing on square one, but now I have her. And I don’t know what to do with her.

She can’t help me and all I’ve done is wreaked havoc in her life. I’m on a quest for revenge. It’s a mission to gain something to fix a wrong that was done.

And I’m still drawn to her.

“Sacha is okay,” I tell her giving her assurance again.

“Thank you.”

“I am sorry I did that to you. Your father’s guards currently believe you escaped and he helped you. They were going to kill him when we took him. I will see to it that no one will come for him,” I add, and she looks at me with gratitude.

“Thanks. Do you… still believe me?” she asks cautiously.

I nod. “Yes. I believe you. I haven’t known you for long, but your eyes give you away.”

“Do they?”

“They do.”

“Yours give you away too.”

I consider this and know she’s right. I’m curious to know what she sees though. “What do they tell you?”

“Terrible things happened to you.”

“Terrible things happened to you too,” I point out and she nods.

“What now Tristan? I can’t help you,” she says and pulls in a staggered breath. “My father has an elaborate set up so no one can reach him. We meet three times a year now for a few hours. On my birthday, Christmas day and then once in the summer. That’s it. Each time he’s heavily guarded and he takes me to dinner like we’re a normal family. Like he’s just spending time with his daughter. Then he leaves. We talk every month by video call. That is all the contact I have with my father.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it and all it has been for years. Ever since my mother died. Before that I saw him more often. There was a period of time that changed things after she died and that’s when I was sent to live in Rhode Island. We lived in Russia before.”

“When did you speak to him last?”

“Last week.” She gives me a stiff smile. “He’s retiring and he wanted me to know that I’d be marrying Dmitri in six months when it happened.”

My brows pinch at the mention of marriage. “What?”

“Yeah. Married. I guess that’s normal. Fathers make sure their daughters get married to men who can take care of them. Not in my case though. Dmitri isn’t a normal person. It was … him who killed Eric.”

I bite down hard on my back teeth when I hear that. I already knew Dmitri killed Eric from the conversations I’d listened to prior to taking Isabella. Hearing her tell me though is different. It angers me and I feel bad for her knowing she lost someone she loved, and her father wanted her to marry the man who killed him. It’s disgusts me and gives me more of a peak into her life.

She moves back to sit on the bed, looking like she’s going to continue and open up to me.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Eric was one of my father’s guards. We got together when I was eighteen. He was Bratva like the rest of circle members and came from a family my father trusted. I guess that’s why he never expected him to be with me like that. We were going to run away. Someone found out about us and my father ordered his execution. Dmitri beat him to death with a hammer and my father made me watch. He held me himself so I could watch and feel helpless, remembering there was nothing I could do. Every day I wonder which was worse… Being made to watch Eric’s death, or watching my father kill my mother.”

My damn throat goes dry. “Your father killed your mother?”

“Yes. That’s the first time I’ve said that out loud.”

I thought it was James Mazzone Sr. a member of the Syndicate who killed her. Mortimer killed him. It was actually the first time they’d had a murder. Maybe that’s because people were playing sides for longer than we thought.

Fuck… When she said she’d been through worse than me I thought it was a bold thing to say without the knowledge of what I’d been through. Now I see she was right.