I’d come to a decision…
I would let Isla live. Even if she ran from me I would spare her life.
I’m a cruel, heartless bastard. An evil, callous, dangerous motherfucker who fucks over anyone that gets in my way. But, unbeknown to me, I want Isla and I will have her.
Her delectable young body. But not just that lured me to her. No…there was more. Her strength and courage. The fierceness she displays to protect the people she loves. The integrity she has even though I have used her for my business, she still holds her head high, like nothing bad could ever touch her or penetrate her happiness.
I’ve been unfair to her… Of course, it’s in my nature. Blackmailing and hurting people is what I do best and how I get the best from others. Money talks, but the threat of personal death or more potently, a loved one, always seals the deal.
It’s how I lived my life from the beginning. Strict Russian family. Members of the Bratva long before I was born. My life has always been about getting what they want.
Young, silly, and with my first true love. Fuck, Isla reminds me so much of her. A challenge. Not letting me get away with anything. I had a heart for her, only her. She was the only one that could push my buttons, tempting me, making me forget my position and place of authority. It didn’t work on her. She had the power and she fucking knew how to use it against me.
Fuck. Isla penetrates my black, dark soul. Just like her…
Until it was brought to my father’s attention, by a soldier that she was the daughter of one of the biggest rivals in our area. My father instructed me to get information from her, but I couldn’t. We never spoke about our connections or business. It was always about us and our future. How we would travel together and leave this heartless place behind us. We had to make our rendezvous secret, which worked for a while but when I came back with no information each week, my father became suspicious and had me followed.
They killed her. In cold blood. In my arms she lain limp because I wouldn’t ask for information.
A lesson was learned that day. To survive this world, I had to do the hurting first.
Now, twenty-four hours on from Isla’s disappearance, no one knows where she is, still… Petya has kept me updated. Other families have joined the search. Our men are tailing everyone they have flagged associated with Isla. We’ve brought in teams of bounty hunters to find her. There’s updates every half an hour, but nothing I want to hear. Her mother and brother haven’t been seen since the night either, which gives me sinister thoughts. Has she been playing me for a fool?
The one piece of information that I have received is that of the fucker Raven. Maksim has found him at a hospital in Sydney. The only thing he can tell me is that his sister’s in labor and he has approached the waiting room and there is no sign of Isla anywhere.
I still don’t trust him…
My bets are on him having my fiancée somewhere…
A deep ache has settled in my chest. Sitting at my desk for hours, casting my thoughts back to my younger years, and to Isla has taken my full attention. It’s so bizarre. The water beyond the full wall glass window churns about, much like my thoughts have today. The phone vibrates on the desk.
“Yes…” I’m rude and aggressive and out of fucking patience.
It’s Maksim. The one man I trusted to stay guard on Isla…”Raven was in the cafeteria on the phone. I overheard part of the conversation. It could have been Isla he was talking to.”
Straightening up in my chair, “Fuck, was it?”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain, but he seemed genuinely happy to be talking to the other person.”
“Bastard. I knew it. Stay on him. Do you hear me, don’t lose him too.” Hanging up the phone abruptly, I call to Petya to come to my office.
“Get me everything on Raven. His houses, his family’s houses, businesses. I want everything, now.” My face is drenched in sweat and I’m yelling like he’s at the other side of the building. “Don’t miss any little detail.”
It’s dark before we finally get a hit. A family house on the outskirts of Sydney. Maybe it’s a place to stash beautiful princesses or my fiancée. Maksim hasn’t called back, so I presume Alex is still there.
“Get some men to check it out. I want nothing left unturned.” Feeling more like myself, giving commands, I search the internet to find all I can about this fucker Raven. I should have done it myself the first time I heard his name.
Some hours pass. I still haven’t heard from the men Petya organized to take a look. I ring Maksim. “Any news on our man? Still there?”
“He hasn’t left his sister’s room again. But others have joined them, so I think the baby’s been delivered.”
“Let me know immediately when he leaves. You follow him, and I will join the party too. So, keep your phone on.”
An hour later, the call comes.
Alex has left the hospital.
I’m coming for you, motherfucker…