"Get moving, Bellini."

After hearing what Syrnyk had planned for us I was in a state of shock. I looked over at Lucas and I could tell he was as petrified as I was over what he had heard. There was no one left down in the caverns. Grady and Alek and all of the men we had left down there were dead. And he was sending us back down to the caverns to turn us all into his fucking toys. My body was covered in sweat and my legs were shaking as I was pushed ahead of everyone down the hall.

"Why are you doing this? We didn't do anything to you! It was their father. He's the one you want to punish!"

"Ah, but he is dead and cannot feel the pain his actions have caused innocent others any longer. Someone must pay the price for what Fredrick Bellini has done. And don't forget, little one, he is your father too."

"But I never knew of him as my father! I have no connection to him!"

"Blood is thicker than water. Isn't that what they say?"

I heard Syrnyk laugh at his little joke as he continued to push me toward the elevator.

"If you want to punish someone, let them go and keep me here!"

"Brooklyn, please." I couldn't stand to hear her try and convince him to spare my brother and me. If it weren't for my family's business she wouldn't even be here.

"You're awfully forgiving for someone who was taken as a slave to be trained by these men. It is useless to try and sway me, little girl. You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment. To watch the three of you obediently accompany me to your cells and hear the lock click as you are safely sealed inside is a sight I will remember forever."

Syrnyk pushed me into the elevator, then grabbed the collar of my shirt and forced me against the back wall, holding me there while we descended into the depths of the caverns. Everything he had said was swirling around in my head as I racked my brain trying to figure out a way to disarm at least one of them.

There was no way I was going to let this happen.

When doors opened up into the caverns, I heard Lucas and Brooklyn exit the elevator, then I was thrown out behind them.

"Is anyone down here?" Syrnyk asked his man.

"Everyone is dead. Our men swept the caverns after these two came up into the house and we lost them all in the process."

"How many did you bring with you, Bellini? It doesn't look like your plan worked out very well, after all. Even buying my own men didn't pay off. But now you know how loyal my men are to me. Even to the death they won't betray me. And the ones that do will suffer greatly."

As we rounded the corner into the large, open, cavern I was shocked to see all of the bodies. We had brought upward of forty men with us and there were at least twice that many covering the floor. I searched the faces to see if I could find Grady, but none of them looked familiar. I couldn't tell which ones were Syrnyk's men and which ones were mine.

The girls in the closest cages all moved toward the bars and watched us as we were walked past them. It was horrifying seeing the state they were in. Some were skin and bones and had the pathetic, desperate look of people who were resigned to their fate. While others had hope in their eyes and called to us like we might help them. I figured those were the newer girls.

We were pushed down one of the long caverns that was lined with dozens of cells on either side. Some cells held groups of emaciated and filthy girls that were huddled together in a corner. None of them had any clothing on and they all had that sunken look on their faces like they had no teeth. The atmosphere in the caverns was cold and damp and I didn't see how they had survived down here. Even when Lucas and I kept the girls in Italy at the villa, we gave them blankets to stay warm. These girls had nothing. Just piles of hay to sleep on.

Syrnyk unlocked the barred door to the first empty cell we came to and pulled it open.

"Everything off. Now," he said as he pointed the gun at me.

I stared at him incredulously, unable to comprehend what was happening. And I suddenly saw the sick irony of it all. I was being paid back for every life I had ruined. I was going to experience everything they had experienced. Everything Lucas and I had done to those girls in the caverns of the villa would be done to us. I looked over at Lucas and I could see the fear in his eyes.

"Perhaps you would prefer that the little girl is naked first," Syrnyk said as he pulled Lucas's jacket off of Brooklyn with one hard tug. She screamed and attempted to cover herself up, but Syrnyk grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her over to him.

"Silence! Remove your clothes. I will not tell you again."

I watched in horror as Syrnyk reached around and found Brooklyn's nipple with his fingers. He still had the gun on me, and was watching me with his cold, gray eyes, but he was touching her.

As I started to unbutton my shirt, something over Syrnyk's shoulder caught my eye. It looked like the reflection off of something shiny, and I couldn't think of what any of the girls in the cages would have that would reflect any light like that.

I quickly realized that someone was moving in the main cavern area and the thing that was throwing a reflection in the dim light was a gun. I glanced next to me at Lucas, but I wasn't sure if he knew there was someone down here with us. I wanted to signal him in some way, but I couldn't without letting Syrnyk know.

It was Grady. I saw him for a split second as he moved closer, hiding behind the dead bodies that were littered across the floor. The girls in the cages started moaning and begging for help again, and I hoped that the little bit of noise they made would work as some sort of distraction. I pulled my shirt off of my shoulders and down my arms, then I made a gesture like I was going to throw it onto the ground, but instead I threw it into Syrnyk's face.

"Brooklyn get down!" I yelled as I kicked the gun out of Syrnyk's hand and flew at him, my fingers sinking into the place where his eyes were located behind the white shirt that covered his face.

Immediately shots were fired and the sounds of the girls in the cells around us grew to a fever pitch. I had no idea where anyone was. All I could see was a tunnel of red and black swirling around me and in the center was Syrnyk's ugly face.

I landed right on top of him as he fell backward onto the ground, and when the shirt fell away I saw that I had punctured one of his eyes with my thumb. Blood pooled in the socket and streamed down his face as he tried to grab me. But I didn't give him a chance.

My fists came down on his face until there were no human features left. I kept bringing my fists down on him with full force even when I heard his skull crack and saw his jaw fall into his face. I kept punching him even though my knuckles were bloody and raw, and I would have kept going if I hadn't been pulled back.

It took me a moment to realize that he was dead and that the gunfire around me had stopped. I turned and looked behind me and Grady grabbed my bloody hands and helped me up.

As soon as I was up I saw Brooklyn. She had found Lucas's jacket and had it wrapped around her like a robe. She ran to me and wrapped her arms around me, her little body heaving with sobs as she clung to me and said my name over and over.

"Adrian, you did it. You killed him."

"Oh, God, I'm so glad you're okay, Brooklyn." I closed my eyes and felt Brooklyn's body in mine. For a moment I couldn't believe it was real. I kept thinking something else was going to happen that would pull her out of my arms. I held her so tightly I don't know how she could breathe. But she didn't loosen her grip on me until I pulled her head back and touched my lips to hers. I could taste the salt of her tears on her quivering lips.

When I looked down at her again I noticed the metal cuff was still around her neck. "We need to get this thing off of you."

"That man has the key. He put it on me just before you got here."

As Brooklyn bent down to go through Syrnyk's pockets I looked around and saw Lucas on the ground a few feet away. A pool of blood was forming around his left side. He had been shot in the chest just below his shoulder and blood was pouring out of the wound. Grady and Alek were huddled around him, checking for his pulse.

"Lucas! Lucas!" I yelled as I reached him and held his face in my hands. "Oh God, Lucas, you can't die!"

I looked up and saw one man standing near us. That was all that was left. One of our men had survived along with Alek and Grady, and it was the three of them that had brought Syrnyk's man down.

"Can we get a helicopter here? We need to get him to the hospital! My brother is going to die if we don't do something now!"

Alek nodded and pulled out his phone. "We must take him up."

The four of us picked up Lucas's body and carried him to the elevator, and all the while the girls in the cells screamed for us to let them out. I heard Brooklyn tell them over and over as we made our way to the elevator that we would be back to get them out, but that didn't calm them down. And I couldn't blame them.

When we were on the main floor of the house, Alek got on his phone and spoke to someone in Russian while we found our way back to the room Syrnyk had held us in. After we laid him down Grady went to find the main entrance to the house so that we could have Lucas ready to go when the helicopter arrived.

"The helicopter will be here any minute. There is a hospital in Vologda, not far at all. And the police will be here soon too. I told him whose house this is and they are very anxious to talk to all of us."

"I'm going to the hospital with my brother and Brooklyn is coming with me. They can question us later if they have to, but I'm going with him."

"I'm sure that will be fine. I can tell them a lot. Can you stay, Grady? It will be helpful for me to have someone who knows the history of your situation."

"Sure. I'll be more than happy to tell them everything I know. I'll meet up with you at the hospital," Grady said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Grady. I can't tell you how glad I am that you're still here with us."

I got up and gave him a hug as the sound of the helicopter approached the property. The four of us picked Lucas up and ran him out onto an enormous lawn just as some paramedics set a gurney down. They got him strapped in and loaded onto the helicopter, then helped Brooklyn climb aboard next. Before I climbed in I looked back at Grady.

"I'll see you soon."

"You will. I'll get to the hospital as soon as I can. And don't worry, your brother is going to be fine."

"I really hope so, Grady."

As the helicopter took off and flew over the thick forest that surrounded Syrnyk's secluded property, I was finally able to accept what had happened. We had done it. Lucas and I had killed Syrnyk and his men and my father.

Everyone who had been after Brooklyn was dead and I was taking her away from that place. Brooklyn was finally safe in my arms. I just hoped to God that Lucas was going to make it too.