Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Why not? You’re the Volkov Bratva. You can do whatever the hell you want.”
“That is true. Ivan can do whatever he wants, and no, Charlotte, you are not a prisoner. You are my wife. If you were my prisoner, you’d be locked away in a cage, and trust me, I wouldn’t be suggesting the café for Hubert to take you. You are the wife of a Brigadier. That makes you a very valuable asset. Your life comes with a bigger price now. Hubert is your guard. He is responsible for your life. If you die on his watch, he will die. If you are hurt in any way, he will die. You have the same freedoms as other wives, and trust me, that is not a lot. Everywhere you go will be monitored by our enemies, by anyone who’s looking for a sign of weakness.” He took a step toward me. Each one he took brought him closer.
I didn’t step back.
“And so, if that is what you think makes you a prisoner, then so be it, that’s exactly what you are. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, but if you would like to experience life as my prisoner once again, say the word, and I will show you the difference.”
I heard the threat, but the truth was, I was kind of focused on something else he said.
“You told Hubert the café I should eat at?” I asked.
Ive frowned. “They have the best hash browns. I wanted to see what you thought of them.”
And just like that, my anger evaporated. He wasn’t keeping me prisoner. He was taking care of me.
“I loved the hash browns and the bacon. Also the mushrooms.”
The smile that didn’t reach his eyes before, finally did. I liked making him smile.
Chapter Nine
Ive
One Month Later
Hank and Benjamin hadn’t come out of hiding, but that was okay. I happened to locate several of their workers, and in fact, I smiled as I watched the man before me who was hanging upside down. I’d captured him a month ago, on the very day my wife had come to the office at my casino and asked me if she was a prisoner.
No, my wife wasn’t a prisoner. I wouldn’t treat her like this.
The man before me, David Butters, was a known thug. He was one of the men who carried the girls out of my nightclubs. He helped to round them up, and from my information, he’d been the one to purchase the grounds. Here are the sticky details: the man was broke and had no money. An amateur thug who collected money for Hank. He wasn’t even that high up in the ranks. He was nothing, and yet, he suddenly had the funds to buy property. Again, I couldn’t help but believe that Hank and Benjamin were working for someone else. So far, Vlad hadn’t been able to locate any information that backed up my theory, which pissed me off big time.
“Please, let me down. I’m going to be sick,” David said.
He’d not eaten in a week.
“Then be sick, and don’t worry, I’ll be sure to feed it to you.”
In the past month, there had been a lot of mess to clean up in Oleg’s territory. I had to leave my own for a week to handle it, with the rest of the brigadiers. There was a threat from the fucking Irish mafia, who felt they had a claim to it.
Ivan needed to get his shit together and put someone in place. There was a rumor he already had someone in place, and if so, we were all fucked because they were doing a shit job of it.
I was angry. And this man in front of me wasn’t helping me feel any better. All I wanted to do was slit his throat, but that kind of death would be too easy. I needed answers.
David didn’t vomit. He got his shit back in control, and then he began to scream, yell, and curse me out. Now, that I could deal with because that was fucking easy.
I was impressed because for ten minutes straight, I listened to all of David’s threats about what he would do to us, as well as Hank and Benjamin. How they planned to take over, and that we didn’t have a fucking clue what was in store for us, and we wouldn’t be alive to see how they intended to take over every single part of the Volkov Bratva. All you needed was a little bit of patience and a lot of fear, and people had a tendency to talk, like now.
David’s long tirade ended in tears and begging as he knew he’d said too much. I crouched down so that I was eye level with him.
“And how are your friends going to do all of this exactly?” I asked. “I got word that the girls are back home with their families and it was nothing but a game gone too far. Your friends have nothing. I took that away.”