Page 79 of Dare To Free Us

Matteo’s eyes hardened to stone as fury turned them black as night. He flung himself against his binds roaring out in desperate anger.

I turned in my captors grip with ice chilling my skin. Shura’s perfectly handsome face looked down at me with a smile no man as evil as him should have. His nose was a touch crooked on the bridge and a barely noticeable scar marred his cheek, but he was still nevertheless just as gorgeous. He seemed taller and much bigger than I remembered as he towered over me. I hissed as air rushed though my teeth. Yanking against his hold without care for how much it hurt, I managed to get one arm free.

Shura replaced his grip and pulled me forward into his chest, staring at me like I was the prize you find at the bottom of the cereal box, after being patient enough to wait.

“Hello, Arianna. Still as beautiful as ever I see.” Shura’s deep voice beat against my heart as it sank down into my stomach. His English was much better than I recalled.

“Fuck you!” I cried, with a bravery I didn’t feel.

“Oh, I plan on it,” he said, smile widening. “But first we have business.”

“Get your hands off her,” Matteo growled. As I turned to face Matteo, Shura spun me in his arms and crushed my back to his front. Crossing my arms over my chest he caged me in with his huge arms and held me like a deer caught in a bear hug.

“Matteo, Matteo. I told you this day would come,” Shura mocked. Matteo spat a mouthful of blood on the floor at our feet as he jerked on his wrists, still trying to get to me. Shura chuckled causing his form to rub harder against mine. I wanted to throw up. “But I do believe in giving a man answers. So, first of all you should know, Vasilisa is not fifteen. She is twenty-one, and she was more than just a set up.”

Matteo’s furious gaze swung to Vaslisa, then back to Shura.

“She was meant to set you off balance. What better way to exploit your merciful tendencies than with a poor, little girl just trying to get free? She was sent to mess with your head, get you all twisted up so I could pull you apart from the inside, out.”

I looked at Vasilisa and wondered how we hadn’t seen it. Twenty-one? However, if you stripped the dark makeup she now wore and the sexy clothing, her round, forever-young face could certainly pass for much younger. Add in a good acting job of portraying a spoiled brat and the picture was complete.

“What if I had just let my men rape her? Or killed her?” Matteo challenged. I swallowed hard knowing he never would have let that happen, but was sure Matteo wished he could put a bullet in her after all.

“I studied you. Learned all I could. You love your mother and your wife. You despise human trafficking and rape houses. You wouldn’t have let anything happen to her.”

“So,” Matteo said turning to Vasilisa. “That little sob story about your mother, hating your father, and your horrible future, all of it was bullshit?”

“Oh, not all,” she said sweetly. “My mother really was powerless. But that’s because she was weak and couldn’t stomach this life. I will be a queen and rule at my husband’s side, not a pawn.” Vasilisa threw me a quick wink. Those were the words she used during our conversation. Everything she told me was probably full of half-truths as well. Definitely not the cons of raising children in this world, but the fact she’d embraced them whole heartedly instead of despised them.

“And that husband would be you, Nico?” Matteo scoffed.

My body was starting to shake. This was all insane, how and why would Nico even get involved with Vasilisa? She was supposed to only be fifteen, but if Shura had sent her to manipulate Matteo she no doubt had the skills to work on Nico as well. But that didn’t mean he was innocent. He stood by and watched as Matteo was beaten, betrayed him and sold him out to the enemy. And me as well. When I looked at him there was no remorse, only determination. I wondered how long Nico had been waiting for an opportunity to arise.

“You’ve changed Matteo.” Nico shook his head in disgust. “You let personal distractions hurt the success of our business. You were willing to throw it all away. Vasilisa heard me voicing my frustration and helped me see you don’t deserve to be Don, and the men deserve a better leader. That was when she told me the truth and we started fucking like rabbits. Especially when my men showed up.” Nico smiled down at her. “We no longer had to stay quiet, or hide in her room for that matter. A few times my men jacked-off on the couch while I bent her over the kitchen table. My men knew the plan before they even set foot in Boston. You were too distracted to see anything was wrong.”

“The baby situation helped out quite a bit,” Vasilisa said without missing a beat, like Nico hadn’t just said he fucked her in front of men that were probably present in the room.So gross. Not mention the fact Shura didn’t even flinch at it.Double gross.“After scaring poor Arianna, who came practicallybeggingfor a reason to run, it made messing with you much easier, Matteo.”

Matteo’s growl vibrated in the room.

My body froze as adrenaline sizzled across my skin. She knew about the baby, everyone did. What would Shura do about the baby? Would he force me to abort it? It would take an army of men to strap me to a table and take my child away from me, if that’s what he was thinking.

But something didn’t make sense, if Shura wanted me and needed me alive for my inheritance, why had he almost killed me in a car crash? “But I was almost killed when your men crashed into us with the truck. How could that have gained you anything?”

“Well,” Shura whispered in my ear, making me shrink away. His breath was minty and warm. As his shoulders curled down against me his hard body tightened around me. My stomach revolted. “The plan was to kill Matteo. You were never supposed to be in that car.” He was right, it had been a last minute decision to let Matteo take me home. “As soon as I heard you were present I pulled my men back, and then killed every one of them for their carelessness.”

“I will never be yours,” I growled. “Why do you give a shit anyway? We met once! You probably already have a plan to kill me. As soon as you get what you want you’ll get rid of me.” Matteo struggled against his bonds. The hissing sound of his pain made my heart squeeze.

“Oh no, Arianna,” Shura said. “I plan to keep you. As my little trophy that I will admire and fuck everyday to remember how I bested the man who took everything from me. Matteo will die knowing I won. Knowing it will be me bringing you to orgasm, and it will be me his child calls father.”

This was all just some kind of sick game to him— to all of them. I’d never felt so horrible about being right. I warned Matteo that men and women with ambitions cannot be stopped if they are willing to pay a heavy price.

Shura had been willing— with Vasilisa’s full cooperation— to risk her safety, and Nico had sold his soul.

“I will never be yours. I will never give myself to you!” I squirmed in his arms, pushing against his hold will all I had. It was like fighting against steel cables.

He laughed and the sound rose the hairs on the back of my neck. “Yes, you will. Because,” one of his hands slid across my belly, “I have all the leverage I need.”

A whimper escaped my lips as my knees gave out. He was right. Tears stung my eyes knowing things were about to get a million times worse. “Please.” I didn’t mean to beg. I was so desperate my heart was grasping for mercy that my brain already knew I wouldn’t be afforded.