Page 127 of Sinful Wrath
“I’d rather die than wait around like a sitting duck while Igor murders her.”
I’m about to lunge for Anton, but Alexei steps in front of him.
“I suggest you take a moment to compose yourself,brat.Otherwise, this will turn into a bloodbath.”
“Your top notch security system already did that for us.”
Alexei’s dark eyes darken with anger, but he doesn’t deny it.
I know I shouldn’t be taking this out on Alexei. I’m only masking my guilt. But the thought of losing Lucia because of my lack of judgment is too much for me to bear.
Not only that, but once Igor learns of the role I played in his son's death, I can only imagine the sort of revenge he’ll plan.
He won’t stop until he’s slaughtered every member of my family, and I’ll have no one to blame but myself.
Alexei crosses his arms over his chest. “We need tofigure out Igor’s angle before we go storming in there. I’ve already lost too many men because we’ve been ill prepared.”
Dimitri stares at him. “What do you suggest?”
“We need eyes on the location.” Alexei turns to Anton. “Find out how many men he has stationed there.”
“On it.” Anton pulls out his phone.
“We also need to consider the possibility that the tracker has been placed there on purpose.”
This time Alexei looks at me, and my shoulders start to sag under the weight of my reality.
"Fuck."
He's right. But I can’t just stand here and do nothing. Whether she is there or not, it is a starting point. It might have some clues about where she is if they took her elsewhere.
"You have an hour, and then I'm going to get her, with or without you."
29
LUCIA
Forcing my eyes open,I glance around the tiny room where I’m being held. There’s no light except for the sliver that creeps in under the gap in the door, but it’s enough for me to realize that there’s nothing here except for the chair I’m sitting on.
Fucking great.
As I pull against the restraints that bind me to the chair, I try not to imagine the life I thought I was going to have with Mikhail.
With each minute that passes, I know it’s slipping further and further out of reach and my heart breaks a little more.
I always knew it would be risky to let down my guard enough to experience the sort of pleasure that I have come to crave with Mikhail. And not just the kind in the bedroom, but from the simple things such as the way he tucks my hair behind my ear or the slight twitch of his lips as he tries not to laugh at whatever inappropriate comment I’ve made.
Perhaps I should be thankful for the throbbing pain inmy head. It’s providing a welcome distraction from the gut-wrenching pain in my chest at the thought of never seeing Mikhail again, never wrapping myself in his arms as we fall asleep…
I’m not sure if the ringing in my ears is from my screams or from the aftermath of the blow I took to the head that knocked me out. Either way, it won’t stop, and my throat feels dry and raw.
But none of this is new territory. I would think having been kidnapped before that I would have learned a thing or two, but it turns out I’m just as fucking clueless as I was at fifteen. The only difference is that this time I have so much more to lose.
I’ve been broken before and managed to stitch myself back together piece by piece until I was a close enough image of my original self, and I’m grateful for the invisible scars. They remind me to always be on my guard.
But then I met Mikhail, and everything changed.
I knew that if I had him by my side, then I would never have to experience pain like that again because hehadme. So, I lowered my guard and let myself imagine a life with him.