Chapter 40

40

GWEN

" Y ou have terrible taste in men, Gwendolyn," the salt-n-pepper man comments as he folds the duct tape in on itself. I swipe my tongue over the bleeding skin, my mouth filling with the copper taste.

I spit out the bloody, thick saliva on the floor, and cough out, "When a man is shit, you blame their father."

The man laughs to himself, disappearing into a dark shadow of the basement. "And what do you say when the man is good?"

"His mother must have been a saint."

The man's laugh is loud, cruel and almost sinister as he returns back into the light with a closed water bottle. "Well, you can't blame me for Nikolai. I am not his father."

My eyes widen. Is this the man who has been sending Nik pieces of his mother? Is this the man that has Nik on high alert, barely sleeping or eating? This man who has the body of an ex-military sergeant and the aura of a serial killer ?

The man unscrews the water bottle in front of me, and then places the tip to my lips. I open my mouth and greedily drink the lukewarm water as if it was the nectar of the gods. After three big chugs, he pulls the water bottle away and flashes me his cruelly piss yellow teeth. "Be nice and you get more water."

"Before I start being nice," I rasp out. "Are you the guy who likes to cut up pieces of his ex-wife and send them to his children?"

His smile spreads to show the sharpness of his teeth. "You can call me Boris, sweetheart."

"Well, sweetheart." I smile before sucking all the salvia in my mouth and launching it onto Boris's chest. "I'm not so nice to scum."

Boris doesn't flinch. Instead, he chuckles, a full-fledged belly shaking laugh. His eyes flash with a dangerous glint as he leans in closer, his breath warm and fetid against my face. His grin widens, revealing a glint of cruel amusement. "I can see why Nikolai likes you."

In a swift, jarring motion, his hand rises, and before I can react, it crashes against my cheek. The force of the slap snaps my head to the side, and I can feel the sting spreading, a fiery line of agony that pulses with every breath he breathes in my face.

My cheek throbs, and a coppery taste floods my mouth, mixing with the lingering warmth of the water I drank moments before. I can't help but wince, the sharp pain radiating through my jaw and into my skull.

Boris's laughter fills the air, rich and unbothered, while my eyes water from the sting. "You're a bitch just like his mother. "

I click my head to the other side of my body, the weight of my head after that hit feeling too heavy to move. "Oh, I get it."

"You get what?"

"The type of man you are." I let out a drunken laugh. "You're the type of man who lacks the emotional intelligence to use his words, so you hit because you're too caveman to talk."

Boris's eyes darken with irritation, and in a blink, his fist is hurtling toward me. The punch connects with brutal force, slamming into the side of my face. It's a solid, bone-crushing impact that sends a wave of shock through my body. The force of his punch is like a sledgehammer, crashing into my cheekbone and forcing my head to snap sideways with a sickening crack.

The pain is immediate and intense, a blinding burst of agony that leaves me gasping for breath.

"Want to keep talking, sweetheart?" Boris mocks.

I spit out a lump of blood from my mouth and give him a lazy smile. "Come on, sweetheart, I thought we were just getting started."

"You and Nikolai have the same problem."

"That we both can't stand you?" I cock an eyebrow.

"No, you have distractions that keep you from your goals." He pulls up a chair across from me, crossing his arms over the back of the chair. "You, a stellar lawyer, fails because her gambling addicted father owes money to a gang. A gang that put a price tag of hundred thousand dollars on your head to track you down and you being given back to their leader Mason. "

"I knew you were a bad guy, but sex trafficking is a new low, don't you think?"

"Don't worry about me, love. Mason didn't specify if he wanted you dead or alive," he teases, and I swallow a dry lump in my throat. "I'd prefer for you to be dead."

"Is that what you do when you don't get your way with a girl?" I counter. "You kill her?"

"Gwendolyn, I am not one of your boyfriends." His knuckles run down my swelling cheek as he speaks. "You can't manipulate me. I feel no guilt for my crimes."

"How original!" I deadpan as I pull my face away from his touch. "A villain who is proud of his crimes."

"If you give me a reason to kill you, I will, but until then." Boris pulls a phone out of his pocket and points the camera at me. "Smile for Nikolai while you still can."