All Chapters of Kiss Me, Bravta King: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

LaraIn the morning, I woke up unsettled and still bothered about how quickly I'd lowered my guard for that man who'd chased me into the alley.I sat up in bed, frowning at the time. I'd overslept, but it was just as well that I had. When my alarm clock went off earlier, I lacked any energy to get up and start my day. Plus, my stomach was upset. Sleeping in helped, but I couldn't avoid reality for good. I had a second shift to deal with at the clinic.Yawning wide, I stretched and slipped out of bed. I didn't have an appetite for toast, all that I had in the cupboards for breakfast, and I gagged at the smell of coffee."When is this going to be over?" I rubbed my stomach and sat down on the couch. The place wasn't messy yet. I'd only moved in a couple of weeks ago and I still hadn't emptied all the boxes.I didn't have much to unpack. I was orphaned when I was three, and my life had lacked stability ever since. I was in and out of foster homes, then once I was eighteen, in and out of

LaraTime stood still. I rolled back to the other side of the van's cargo space as they sped away. My head hit the cold metal surface hard. I wasn't knocked out. My eyes worked. I saw the darkness back in this windowless space.But I was stunned, suspended in this numbing paralysis of stark, sickening terror. My heart thundered a furious beat against my ribs, and I couldn't suck in enough air. I didn't think. I couldn't. My body did what it had to do, and I couldn't control any motion. Thoughts didn't file through my mind.I locked down, frozen with the utter doom that I'd been kidnapped.A gag was strapped down over my mouth, roughly and hastily tied there by one of the masked thugs as they'd carried me to the van.Hard braids of ropes cut into my wrists and ankles, coiled there by yet another thug.In the blink of an eye, I was captured, mercilessly thrown back here with no hope. I couldn't run. I couldn't even sit up. No options were available to me.All I could do was stare out at

AnatoliZakh tried again to come along with us on this mission to steal the women from the Cartel. He'd asked me—since I was delegated as the head of this specific operation, his right-hand man—several times if I thought we could use his help onsite.My brother wasn't an idle Pakhan. He fought just as much, if not more than, the Bratva soldiers. He'd personally sacrificed and had gone above and beyond to ensure we'd get rid of our uncle and cousin. He wasn't asking if we needed him on the frontlines because he thought he had to. His devotion to me and our brothers, our men, simply ran that deep. Unlike Mikhail, Zakh would always step up to take a hit. He'd never let us do his dirty work for him, but he had to accept that his central leadership role changed things.Hard not to be in control, huh?I shook my head and patted his back. "No, Brother. We're set." And we were. I'd checked each soldier recruited, and I had utmost faith that they'd succeed in this, the first show of power in a

LaraThe man held a gun to my head, daring me with his evil glare to open my mouth. Earlier, he'd threatened to cut my tongue out, and that scared me. Having the end of his gun barrel jabbing at my temple terrified me more.Gunfire erupted outside the room. So much violence. It sounded like a war out there. Shouts and screams. Orders and threats volleyed back and forth. Voices were muffled, but I knew there were many of them.Help? I shook from the fear of having a bullet in my head, but I clung to the hope that all that noise out there meant someone was here to rescue us. That there was a god, and there was some good in the world. Anything. I'd be gullible and believe or pray to anything and anyone if it were true.If all that commotion and chaos wasn't happening because of someone bursting in here to save me and these other women, I didn't want to consider what other trouble was coming our way. If all that fighting wasn't a case of the thugs battling to keep us captive, then what el

AnatoliFor the second time in as many days, I struggled to get over the gut-twisting surprise of actually running into Lara. All that time, I cursed not having a way to find her, and boom. I was finding her in the unlikeliest of places.In the unlikeliest circumstance.Seeing her at the strip club seemed like a coincidence. I'd never believed in them, but spotting her in that gross room at the Ortezes' building?I'd never get over the shock of finding her there.I glanced at her in the passenger seat again, intimidated a bit by her complete silence.Shock. I felt plenty of it. She seemed stuck in a deep pit of it.I sped away from the warehouse, confident my Antonov brothers would ensure we all left safely. We'd gunned them all down, and those who lived were in no condition to fire at our vehicles as we left.In the vans, the women were secure and loaded into the cargo spaces. Lara had shotgun in here, seated next to me but avoiding my proximity.As soon as I pushed her clumsy, slugg