I couldn’t believe that. I couldn’t believe that someone could be that cold about a life.
“And your sister, Anita? Was she raised at this camp?”
Lucca runs his hands through his hair again. “No. It was only for boys. She was with my parents.”
“They didn’t mind you going to a training camp?”
“No.” His answer is abrupt. “Did you really think that by allowing me to fuck your ass that I would do as you wish?”
The grin that graces his stunning face is cold and chills me to the bone.
“You don’t have to be so crude.”
His laughter is like hailstones against my flesh. I just want him to stop.
“You think that’s crude? They really sheltered you. You're naïve to the point that it’s dangerous.”
I stand up. “I kissed you so you might help me,” I admit.
His grin turns into a snarl.
“But then you touched me, and my intentions became something very different. I wanted you to touch me. So, I didn’t allow you to have me.” I refused to repeat his words. “Just to get you to do my bidding. I just hoped by telling you what happened to me that you would see me as a human and not a thing.”
My honesty has the grin slipping from his face. “I do see you, Evie. But it changes nothing.”
For the first time, I detect a lie. It’s small, but it’s there. He does see me as something more than a job, and that will change everything.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LUCCA
I don’t run. I want to, and I don’t understand fully what that means for me. So I keep my feet planted. I’ve come up against some of the most dangerous men in the Bratva. I’ve been in deadly situations since I was a kid. So, I wasn’t going to let this tiny woman have me running with my tail between my legs.
I want her to see the logic in what she is asking, but I don’t want to address it, either.
Her wet hair hangs down her back, and her blue eyes are so bright that I want to promise her the stars, the moon, and the sun. The bastards stole her as a child.
I run both my hands through my hair like I can push that image out of my mind, what she must have witnessed. Yet, she looked so innocent, like she’d never seen a violent act.
“Does your sister have kids?” She asks, and a part of me admires her perseverance while another wants her to shut up.
“No.” I keep it to one-word answers as best I can.
“If it were my daughter…” Her gaze waters over again. “I’d never stop looking for her, Lucca.” My name is a tug to my heart that I refuse to allow her to see.
“If it were my daughter, I’d never stop. My dad will never stop. Eight years.”
“I think Igor needs to know how traitorous you really are.”
My words have the desired effect on her, and she pales, yet I don’t feel the level of satisfaction I should.
“You really think that I care.”
Tears fall from her stunning eyes.
“You really think I’d give up everything I have because I’m attracted to you.”
“No, Lucca. I thought you might help because you’re human.”
She wipes tears away.
“Everyone is human, Evie. The ones that took you, the ones that sold girls, the ones who even raped and abused them.”
She flinches.
“I can’t help you.”
She covers her mouth like she can keep in her pain, but I watch it spill down her face, and I have the urge to run from the room, but I don’t.
“I will find your sisters.” I just hope they are alive.
“And hand them back to Igor.” The sound of her snarl makes it easier to grin.
“Of course.” This time I leave the room knowing I’m leaving a mark on her and that she should stop asking me to care.
Anita is outside the bedroom door with one hand on her hip. Before she even considers going off on one of her rants, I grip her arm and steer her toward the stairs.
“Does this have anything to do with Nicolai?”
Nicolai was the Collector. He collected people and dropped them off to the bosses. Most didn’t want to be collected; most were never seen again. I had helped Nicolai out a few months back. He had fallen for one of the boss’s daughters, and I wasn’t sure he survived the exchange. To hear he was alive was a relief. We had spent time in prison together, and when you survive a Russian prison, you never forget.
“Why would you ask about Nicolai?” I ask Anita once we clear the final step.
She pulls away from my touch and spins to face me. She’s pissed.
“Nicolai rang looking for you. Are you involved in human trafficking? I can handle a lot of shit, Lucca. But not that.”
My sister's head is moving from side to side; I know better than to dismiss her.
“That’s not what I do. Nor does Nicolai.”
My sister calms. “But that girl up there was...?” She raises both eyebrows as she waits for an answer.
“You’re my sister, Anita. And I love you. But keep away from Evie.”
I’m ready to end this conversation, but Anita isn’t.
“Like you kept away? It didn’t sound like that when I passed your room earlier.”
“What I do in my home is my business.” I remind Anita.
Anita’s ready to argue back.
“You know this world. She’ll be gone soon.”
Anita huffs and walks away.
Closing my office door, I ring Nicolai.
