Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Helena

The small, dingy room wasn't hospitable, and the mattress was probably filled with germs. Motel rooms always gave me the ick, but I supposed I had more significant problems than whose bodily fluids were on the mattress and the floor other than mine. Was this a motel? Light flooded into the room, but the window was small. It looked old and not particularly motel-ish.

I'd thought about crawling back to the bed but stayed where I was. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that Sergei had broken a few of my ribs. With every breath, I was inhaling razors. He'd also somehow managed to break one of my nails, which somehow pissed me off more than anything else. Fucker.

He strode in then as I calculated everything from the tenderness of my cheek to the potential contusion on my thigh. Eyeing him with the utmost hatred, I couldn't help spitting out, "Verified my story, huh?" I could already see my barb had hit the mark.

That had been a huge gamble, one I'd not been sure would pay off. Of course, I was entirely out of options at this point. Now, it was just a matter of stalling for time and hoping against hope that Maddox and the Brotherhood could find me in time before this psycho killed me.

"Yes." He crossed his arms and looked at me with such intensity that his glare would have murdered me if it were possible. "The pakhan said that Makarovich had lied about having permission to go into the flesh trade." His jaw tensed, and he looked at the wall momentarily.

Wow. Interesting. This was either good for me or bad for me. If he had verified my story, maybe I wouldn't have needed it anymore. Perhaps that was it, and I was dead. I'd seen Sergei's face. It was kidnapping. He was probably in pretty big trouble with the Bratva. I almost felt sorry for him but reminded myself that he'd just beaten the crap out of me and was a horrible human. He deserved what he was going to get.

"Then you know that I have information for the pakhan." It was another gamble, but at this point, I needed to ensure that I wouldn't be fish food or whatever the terminology was.

"That's what he believes too. I hope it is valuable and worth his time because the pakhan is coming for you, suka," he said, grinning so maliciously that I cringed back.

This was unexpected, but there was still hope that Maddox would find me first. He had said he'd been in contact with someone from the Volkov Bratva, so maybe the pakhan was on our side. Maybe? At this point, I was a little too exhausted to do anything but grapple at straws as they came. I was living moment to moment right now.

"Then he's coming for you, too," I pointed out smugly. If there was one thing I knew about any criminal activity — fuck-ups didn't just get a free pass. It wasn't wise to egg him on, but my stubborn streak couldn't let me keep my mouth shut.

"I guess so, Helena Marsh." He nodded at me somberly, accepting that we would both be before the pakhan without any protection from anyone.

Leaving me to my thoughts, he slammed back out of the room, supposedly to let me stew on the fact that I'd be meeting the pakhan soon. I didn't care, though. Every breath was an effort now, even though I stayed curled on my side. I thought about rolling onto my back but didn't want to risk it. I'd give a kidney for some Tylenol right now. Knowing something was wrong with me didn't mean anything when there wasn't much I could do about it. I'd need to hang on.