Niko laughed.“I’ll allow it. But I can’t leave you here if I don't hurt you. It’s no fun.”
The knife was moving before I could flinch, and the material around my wrists was gone.“What are you doing?”
“I’m freeing you. I can’t leave you here for Kirill, and I’m not ready to kill you yet, not when your existence could serve me so well. But I suggest you give Kirill a run for his money. Don’t go easy, little one.”
I dragged my arms down and waited as the blood rushed back. I sat up warily, watching Niko for the slightest sign he had changed his mind.
He lounged there and watched me. “The door is open, and the guards are incapacitated. Kirill already knows and is on his way. I’d suggest you get out of here if you want to stand a chance of getting away from him.” Niko nodded toward the door. “Here, you’ll need this.’ He tossed me the elevator key card.
I caught it, stumbled away from him, and grabbed my handbag, forgotten on the dresser. Backing away from Niko, I made it to the hall and sprinted down it. My shoes were on the floor by the door, where I’d left them. I shoved my feet into them and ran out the open door. In the hall, three men lay still on the ground. I couldn’t tell if they were dead. I didn’t stay to find out.
I turned and ran.
25
KIRILL
Shit wasn’t going my way today. Luckily, I was too hyped up to notice. A morning of torturing information from a potential mole who had a heart attack before he spilled the info was a minor annoyance. Finding out the latest shipment we were awaiting from Russia was delayed was a hindrance, nothing more. My good mood was all thanks to Molly. Knowing she was precisely where I wanted her, in my home, in my bed, bound and captive, was all I needed to keep a cheery smile on my face. From the startled looks of my crew, it was more disturbing than heart-warming.
Max strode into my office when I returned from Brooklyn.
“What is it?” I could tell from his expression that he’d come to tell me something serious.
“Your brother went to your apartment. Attacked the security guys. He’s still there. I think he’s waiting for you,” Max said, his complexion ashen.
Cold worry and dread lodged in my throat as I thought of Molly.“And Mallory?”
“Gone. He let her out.”
Twisted relief and annoyance filled me as I grabbed my keys and phone and headed out. Letting her out was better than killing her. I’d caught her once, and I would catch her again. With the truth out between Molly and me, the games could begin. When I hunted her this time, she’d know what waited for her in the dark. I looked forward to catching her.
I got into a town car, and we pulled away from the curb. Max was beside me, waiting to hear the plan.
“Collect Henry Madison immediately. I have to speak to Nikolai, then find Mallory, wherever she may be.”
My brother was sittingin my lounge when I got home, calmly drinking my best whiskey and watching TV. I resisted the urge to smash his damn face through the balcony window.
“Finally, you’re home,” he said, switching off the TV and smiling at me.
His shit-eating smirk dared me to say something about finding him in my home, not to mention how he’d fucked up the guards. Thankfully, none of them were dead. Good men were hard to find, and those who protected my apartment were among my most trusted.
“Why are you here?”
“Can’t a guy visit his brother?”
I didn’t bother answering.
“Straight to business, then. I found your little toy tied up tightly like a fucking Christmas present. Who is she?”
“Didn’t she tell you?”
“Right,Lori Wilson.I’m intrigued as I’ve never known you to play with your food before,” he teased.
My mask of indifference was beginning to itch. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“I think I know you pretty well. She was delicious, by the way,” he tossed at me.
Violent anger ripped through me, coupled with the need to shed Niko’s blood, but I pushed it down. I couldn’t let it show. My mask of cold indifference had been honed during my father’s brutal lessons, and it was crucial to my survival.