Page 11 of The Bratva's Innocent Forbidden Bride
There was a muffled shout in the background, and the man on the phone groaned. “Yeah. We just found it. The tracker.”
I swore a blue streak. The bastard discovered it and ditched it. Whether or not he got rid of it so close to my location as some kind of warning remained to be seen, but as of now, I had no way of keeping tabs on him. The one man who could get me answers. The one man Tati was determined to meet with, and who would tear her to pieces if he got the chance. Neither one of those things was going to happen.
I told him to search the area, but I knew it would be fruitless. Running on fumes, I slugged back a shot of vodka and managed to force myself to fall asleep as dawn crept in with a low light through the slats in the blinds.
Only to be jolted awake again by a terrified scream.
Chapter 8 - Tatiana
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. The beginnings of ice-cold fear made my feet feel heavy as I made my way down the darkened path. This might be a game. It might not. I was already regretting the decision to come here, already doubting the sincerity of the message I received inviting me.
Luring me.
Out of nowhere, masked figures swarmed me. Their harsh fingers dug into my arms as they shoved me further into the darkness. Despite the masks, I knew exactly who they were, and they’d shown me nothing but cruelty before. The threatening notes, the wilted flowers splashed with paint that looked too much like blood.
This could be a joke. But it might not be, as their hands continued to dig all the way to the bone, and they dragged me further and further from the light.
I sat straight up in bed, a scream tearing from my throat. A nightmare, only another nightmare, brought to the forefront of my subconscious after such a long time by being tossed into Kon’s trunk. Pale blue walls surrounded me, warm morning light spilled through the gap in the linen curtains. I was fine now. Perfectly fine.
Just bathed in cold sweat, the smooth, high thread count sheets cling to my bare skin. Oh yeah, and locked in. That didn’t do anything to help calm me down. Before I could fully get myself under control, Kon was bursting through the door to my room, waving his gun around as if there was real danger in there, and not just phantoms from my past.
An avenging angel, or a demon? I blinked as he snapped on the overhead light, gasping when his gaze fell on me, roamingfrom my rumpled ponytail to the tips of my toes. I could almost feel the path his eyes traveled, lightning fast, before locking on my face.
I had fallen asleep in my underwear, the robe in the bathroom much too thick to get comfortable in, and now I wrapped the damp sheets tight around me, my heart thudding double time, and not completely because of the aftermath of the nightmare, either.
Kon’s eyes were glued to me, wide with fear, but his entire huge body was coiled to fight.
I managed a tight laugh as he finally turned away and stormed into the bathroom to search, then slammed through the closet, finally dropping to look under the bed.
No monsters. No real ones, anyway. The jury was still out on Kon.
“I thought this place was supposed to be impermeable,” I said, forcing a sarcastic tone past the lingering dread. “Who do you think could have gotten in to harm me?”
He didn’t laugh, and his eyes felt like they were boring straight through me. “Why were you screaming?”
The heat of embarrassment replaced the searing heat from his stare. There was no way I wanted to admit I had a nightmare like a small, helpless child, but he wasn’t going anywhere until he got an answer.
“It was only a bad dream,” I said with a shrug, waiting for him to ridicule me.
He didn’t. “What was it about?”
Did his voice seem softer? How was that possible when his face grew harder than before? He lowered the gun still gripped in his hand to his side, his finger moving from thetrigger as he waited patiently for an answer. As if once I told him he’d finally have something to shoot.
I shrugged. “Don’t remember now,” I lied. It was as vivid as it ever was, but somehow his big presence helped make the shreds of anxiety still clinging to me disperse. “It probably had something to do with being kidnapped.”
True enough, only it wasn’t him in the dream.
He scowled and stormed out as suddenly as he blasted in. He really didn’t give a shit at all. There was nothing to beat to death, so no reason to linger in the prisoner’s room. That shouldn’t have affected me at all, but there was something oddly comforting about not being alone.
Fighting the bereft feeling, I reached for the robe and wrapped myself in it, trying not to dwell on my miserable failure to help my father. This wasn’t over; it couldn’t be.
To my shock, Kon returned a few minutes later with a pot of tea and some toast, along with a little jar of strawberry jam.
“Wrong this time,” I said. “I prefer apricot.”
His lip quirked up. “I’ll make note of it.”
He turned to leave again, but I didn’t want to be alone with the nightmare still hanging on. I didn’t want to hear the click of the lock or the thud of his footsteps receding down the hall. I just plain didn’t want to be alone anymore. At least for a little while, until the memory of hands dragging me inexorably into the darkness was completely gone.
