Page 38 of Kept By the Bratva
“Fuck you. Fuck you all. You?—”
He straightened, losing the glare of bravado that shone in his eyes. As the door opened, squealing slightly as the heavy metal panel into this soundproofed room swung open, he wizened up to this newcomer.
Another clean-cut Cartel leader entered, but with him was a man I’d never seen before.
In a gray suit, tailored to perfection to frame his thin body, a distinguished, older man stepped in. His face was blank, and he didn’t show a sign of being bothered about the evidence of blood and violence.
Silvery black hair had been gelled and smoothed down. His cufflinks reflected the light from the single bulb overhead. Steadily and quickly, he strode right into the middle of the room and held his hands in front of him. Like this was any other business meeting. Just another day in the life.
He held power. He had to if the Cartel members all went quiet and stepped back to defer to him.
“These?” He gestured at me and my brother, waving one hand before folding it with the other again. “These men have her?” He spoke in clear English, not the broken Spanish the other men did.
I detected a trace of something else, something foreign, and I knew this man was a stranger to the organization, or at least a more remote person from afar.
“Yes, Diego. They are soldiers within the Bratva.”
He tilted his head to the side, eyeing Dmitri but settling his narrowed gaze on me. “I demand to have her returned. Immediately.”
I raised my brows, uninterested in telling him that we wouldn’t plan on doing any such thing.
“You took our women,” said the Cartel leader I recognized. “All of them, and our acquaintance here has already purchased one in particular.”
I spat again, removing the blood from my mouth.
“You will return her,” Diego ordered, staring at me for a long, terse moment.
Suspense grew thicker, but I didn’t blink. I didn’t budge at all, staring right back and letting him see how little his words or bluster impacted me. They didn’t. He wasn’t in any position to tell me what to do or how our family should care about his wishes.
I didn’t give a fuck what he wanted.
With a glance at the Cartel leader, he nodded once, then turned to leave.
I didn’t understand how that fucker could have so much power over all these men, but the fact that he did told me he had to be an influential player they wanted to appease.
Or feared.
“You’re going to bring back that fucking blonde,” the leader said once the door was closed once more. “I don’t give a fuck about the others. Kill them. I don’t care. But you bring that short blonde with the hazel eyes back.”
Amy.My blood turned to ice.
“No.” I knew better than to negotiate or talk back. Silence was the goal here. The less we said, the better. It was less for them to use against us.
He’s talking about Amy.That creepy old fucker had paid for Amy.
“He’s not going to stop,” the leader said. “He’s already had his personal security slaughter my men.”
“Cry me a goddamn river,” Dmitri retorted.
“Diego…” The leader looked up at the door, almost as if he feared being overheard. “He will not stop until he has that blonde again. He’s already paid a significant amount for her, and every minute he’s delayed…” The man shook his head, showing clear fear as he rubbed his hand over his mouth. “The sadistic freak doesn’t like being told no.”
“Too fucking bad,” I said dully, without any emotion. I had to force myself to keep this mask of indifference. Inside, I was roaring and heaving with fury at what he was suggesting.
“He won’t rest easy until he’s got that bitch.” The Cartel leader scowled. “He had one look at her and it was a done deal.”
“I don’t care,” I growled.
“You wanted to hit us, you wanted to give the message to the Ortez.” He tapped his chest and nodded. “Noted, motherfucker. Kill the women. Do whatever you want. It won’t stop us. You haven’t shut us down and you never will, but you need to give that woman back so he can have what he claimed.”