All Chapters of Kidnapped by the Russian mafia: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWELVEOUTSIDE THE DOORAURORAAleksandr’s hand stayed around mine as we crossed the room.Warm.Rough.Steady.His fingers didn’t squeeze mine.His thumb didn’t move again.He simply held on.And somehow that was enough to make me ridiculously aware of every single step between the couch and the door.I looked down once.Our hands looked strange together.Mine smaller.His larger.My skin smooth against scarred knuckles.The same knuckles I had seen bloodied.The same hand that had held a gun.The same hand that had bandaged my feet.Held mine through a nightmare.And now—I was holding it because I wanted to.That mattered.I didn’t know exactly why yet.But it mattered.We reached the door.Aleksandr stopped.So did I.His eyes went to the security screen beside it.Then—his fingers loosened.My hand slipped from his.I looked down.The warmth disappeared instantly.Something inside my chest dropped with it.Aleksandr reached for his gun.Checked it.Adjusted the holster a

CHAPTER FOURTEENLET ME TAKE CARE OF YOUAURORANikolai had asked me to choose.I had.And Aleksandr hadn’t even been in the room.His wrist remained beneath my fingers.Hard.Tense.I could feel his pulse pounding beneath my fingertips.For several seconds, neither of us moved.Aleksandr stared at me.I watched the fight happening behind his eyes.Go after Nikolai.Stay with me.Kill his brother.Take care of me.His jaw tightened.Then his eyes dropped to my hand wrapped around his wrist.Slowly—he turned his arm.His fingers closed around mine.Not tightly.Nothing like the way Nikolai had grabbed me.Just enough to hold me.“Aurora.”“I’m okay.”“No.”“I am.”“No.”My eyes narrowed.“You don’t get to decide whether I’m okay.”“You can barely stand.”“I’m standing.”“Barely.”“I walked upstairs.”“Roman helped you.”My mouth closed.He knew.Of course he knew.His gaze moved over me again.My swollen cheek.Split lip.The bruising already darkening beneath my eye.Then lower.To t

CHAPTER SIXTEENTHE SAFEST PLACEALEKSANDRAurora fell asleep holding my shirt.I knew the exact moment it happened.Her breathing changed first.Slow.Deep.Then the fingers curled into the fabric near my waist loosened slightly.Not completely.She still held on.Even asleep.I stared down at her.Her head rested against my chest.One leg was drawn slightly upward beneath the blanket.Her body curled toward mine like she had decided, somewhere between being awake and asleep, that I was the safest place she could find.Me.That should have been fucking funny.There wasn’t anything safe about me.I had broken bones for money.Put men in the ground because my family told me to.Dragged screaming men out of their homes.Collected debts in ways that ensured nobody ever forgot what happened when they owed the Volkov family.I had done things Aurora would probably never forgive if she knew every detail.I was not a good man.But she had crawled toward me anyway.Not because I asked.Not be

CHAPTER EIGHTEENCLOSE YOUR EYESAURORAThe phone rang.Aleksandr stopped talking.Not slowly.Not naturally.One second he was standing in front of me, telling me that once I was outside these gates, every choice would belong to me.The next—he went completely still.His eyes moved toward the phone on the dresser.I looked at it too.The screen glowed.NIKOLAI.My stomach dropped.Aleksandr didn’t move to answer.It rang again.And again.“Aren’t you going to get that?”“No.”The ringing stopped.Silence.I released a breath.Then it started again.Same name.Same number.Aleksandr’s jaw tightened.“Maybe you should answer.”“No.”“What if—”“I know what he wants.”“What?”“Reaction.”The phone kept ringing.Aleksandr walked toward it.Picked it up.Answered.“What?”No greeting.No brother.Just—What?I couldn’t hear Nikolai clearly.Only the low murmur of his voice through the phone.Aleksandr listened.His face didn’t change.That worried me more than anger would have.“No.”Ano

CHAPTER TWENTYBEYOND THE GATESAURORAI fell asleep sometime before sunset.I hadn’t meant to.Aleksandr had carried me into his room after we left Nikolai standing downstairs among twelve injured men and the wreckage of his test.He had put me back in his bed.This time I hadn’t argued.I remembered watching him move around the room.Remembered him checking the security screen.Checking his gun.Checking the hallway.Remembered asking him whether Nikolai would come after us.Aleksandr had looked at me for a long time.Then said—“Sleep.”That hadn’t answered my question.I had been too tired to fight him about it.The last thing I remembered was Aleksandr sitting in the chair near the window.Watching the light disappear from the mountains.Waiting.I didn’t know what for.Until a hand gently touched my shoulder.“Aurora.”I stirred.“Aurora.”My eyes opened.Darkness.For one terrifying second, I didn’t know where I was.Then I saw him.Aleksandr crouched beside the bed.Fully dres