Page 114 of The Bratva Stalker's Ruthless Claim
He nods frantically. “Plane…she’s on a plane. Moving now. They—they’re taking her out of the country.”
I release a breath, slam the operative to the ground, and sprint to our SUV. Engines roar around me, smoke and gunfire filling the air, but nothing else matters. Ellie is in the sky, and every second counts if I’m going to reach her.
I slam the car into gear. “We go. Now,” I growl to Timofey and Konstantin.
The airstrip is only minutes away, but it feels like hours. Tires screech over cracked asphalt as we barrel toward thehangars, dodging abandoned crates and flaming debris from the ambush. Gunfire still echoes behind us, but I don’t look back. Ellie is airborne. That’s all that matters.
Timofey’s voice cuts through the chaos. “Mike, calm down!”
I nearly throw my phone at him. Instead, it buzzes—unknown number. Normally, I wouldn’t answer. But now…now, I do.
“Hello, Mike.”
I freeze. That voice. I don’t know how, but I know it. Katerina.
“If you hurt her, I swear, I will kill you. I will—”
“Relax. Your Ellie is safe. Untouched. Not a scratch. I assure you, she isn’t a hostage. She’s…a collaborator in the making, not a pawn in a game you think you control.”
I tighten my grip on the wheel.
“I’ve been watching her,” she continues, almost conversational, almost gentle. “She’s a genius; she’s an evolution. She sees the world in vectors and vectors alone, in patterns no one else can even sense. That intelligence, Mike…it’s rare. Too rare to waste. And I want her to use it. Fully. Freely.”
I blink, my knuckles white.
“She could be a prodigy the world fears for her intellect,” Katerina says, voice smooth, almost proud. “She could reshape entire systems—markets, logistics, even the shadow networks you think you control. Elegantly, invisibly, untouchable. And I don’t want to cage her. I want her to rise.”
My chest tightens.
“And she will understand,” Katerina presses on, voice now sharper, almost challenging. “She will see that this is opportunity, legacy, and influence on a scale she’s only dreamed of before being dragged into your…chaos. She can be immortal in her field, Mike. The world will remember her name long afterthe rest of us are forgotten. Your name is a prison, and I want her to break free.”
The words land like a blow. I realize something terrifying. Ellie might actually consider it. Intellectual legacy. Global scale. Recognition. Everything she ever wanted before I pulled her into my world.
The call ends abruptly just as we reach the airstrip. I slam the car door open before it even stops and rush forward. But the strip is empty. Ellie is gone.
My eyes catch something on the tarmac: a single folder. There’s no way they forgot or lost it. It was left deliberately behind. I snatch it up and flip it open. Inside, a flight manifest. Destination: Romania. This is a taunt. Katerina knows it’s territory the Rusnaks abandoned long ago. A place I cannot—or should not—go.
Timofey takes the manifest from me, whistling low. “Well, she’s moved fast,” he mutters, eyes narrowing.
Konstantin looks at me, tension etched into his face. “What’s next?”
I let my jaw tighten. “I’ll go to war,” I say, voice low, cold. “Anywhere. Everywhere. I will bring my wife home—no matter the cost.”
Chapter 25 – Ellie
The private facility I’m taken to isn’t a prison. Not in the traditional sense.
It feels…eerily like the life I once wanted for myself. The polished floors hum with quiet energy. Advanced servers line the walls, laboratories hum with activity, and analysts sit at terminals, heads bent over streams of data. The difference is the shadows funding it. Everything here is immaculate, precise, and undeniably dangerous.
A tall man in an expensive suit walks beside me, clipboard in hand. He introduces himself as Matthew. His tone is polite, almost rehearsed. He guides me through corridors, pointing out labs and workstations with a pride that’s unsettling.
“This way,” he says finally, stopping at a room filled with monitors, projectors, and arrays of blinking devices. “Boss will see you shortly. Wait here.”
I nod, but my stomach twists. I was flown out of the country, transported like an asset. I have no idea where I am. No idea if Mike can find me.
I should have listened to him. I can almost hear him in my head, warning me, commanding me to step back. And now—I know he’ll blame himself for what happened, even though this was entirely my idea.
I sit on the edge of a chair, eyes scanning the room, trying to steady my breathing. Every fiber of my being tells me I need to be cautious. This isn’t just about safety. This is about survival. And about knowing that even when the world offers you brilliance, it can also be a gilded cage.
