22. ISABELLA

Chapter 22

ISABELLA

It's been two weeks and two days since Konstantin and Lev arrived at the ranch. Stacy locked herself in her room, where she ran to after she came around from her fainting spell. I know she's in shock, but poor Lev was beside himself but after a few hours they spoke. Then Konstantin got a call, and they had to leave again.

I heard them arguing and Lev telling my brother he was going with him. Lev must've won the argument because I saw them both getting into Konstantin's SUV. I asked Pavel where they were going, and he said they had business—that was two weeks ago..

"If you're still not going to tell me where Konstantin is, can you tell me where Stacy is?"

"She hasn't come out of her room today," Pavel tells me.

"I'll go check on her." He nods and goes toward the kitchen.

"Stacy?" I knock on her bedroom door, but there's no answer. Pushing the door open, I pop my head around, but she's not in there. "Stacy?"

She's not in her bathroom, but the glass door leading outside is open. I know where she's gone—to the horses. As I step outside, I'm greeted by an overexcited, almost anxious Zeus and Hera.

"Hello, my beautiful creatures." I give them each some love, but Zeus grabs my wrist and starts tugging on my arm. "Okay, Zeus, I'm just checking Hera's coat. You look much better, girl. The medication the vet gave you has cleared up that nasty skin rash."

Zeus starts barking and barking, running a little way, then turning and barking.

"Is something wrong?" I stand and let go of Hera's collar, and she starts doing the same thing as Zeus.

I follow them, and my heartbeat gets faster and faster. Oh God, I hope something hasn't happened to Stacy. Hera and Zeus bark in unison as if trying to tell me to hurry the fuck up. I pick up the pace, and as I get to the stables, I see Stacy fling herself onto Lancelot's back. Fuck that's a mean horse, and while he likes Stacy, it doesn't mean he wants her to ride him.

"Stacy. Don't!" I yell as she turns him.

My blood runs cold when I realize I must've spooked him, and Lancelot rears, but Stacy manages to hold on before the horse takes off at a hair-raising speed straight for me. I freeze, watching the enormous red stallion heading for me.

I hear loud barking and growling, but I'm frozen. Even though my brain's yelling at me to get the fuck out of the way, my feet have taken root on the spot. Suddenly, an arm reaches out and grabs me.

"Careful there." A deep voice I've never heard before tickles my ear.

"Th.. thank you." I try to pull out of his embrace, but his arm tightens around my waist.

"Come now, you can be a little more thankful to me than that, Isabella. I just saved your life." He starts rubbing his hard-on against my ass, and a sick feeling laced with fear starts to claw at my gut. "And your hell hounds just ruined my fun, so you owe me."

"Let me go," I warn and start to struggle. I hear a low growl off to the side. "Hold," I yell.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." He licks my face and then screams when Zeus sinks his teeth into his leg. "What the fuck?"

I pull free. My eyes fall on the metal bucket beside the stable we're in front of. While the man is struggling with my dogs, I grab and swing at his head. He turns, his eyes widening with shock, and collapses to the ground.

"Pavel!" I scream, running from the barn. "Pavel. Anyone!" My eyes scan the ground as I see a team of men rushing toward me.

"Isabella, what the fuck are you doing out here?" Pavel looks at me, his eyes narrowing.

"In the barn…" I point. "A man."

Pavel waves over my head, and suddenly, I realize Stacy's also in trouble.

"Stacy's in trouble. She went off on Lancelot." I'm about to run to find her, but Pavel grabs me.

"No. I'll send one of the men." Pavel tells me.

"She's upset. Let me go." I pull out of his grip.

"She's on that crazy Lancelot. You won't catch her. I'll get one of the men to take another horse and find her." He stands his ground, staring down at me.

"You really are Shrek!" Muttering, I call my dogs. "But hurry because what if there are more strangers on the ranch?"

"I've already alerted the men," Pavel assures me. "We'll find Stacy. Now, can you tell me what happened?" He looks over my head, where I hear a commotion and turn.

I see my brother's men dragging the man away. "Do you know who he is?" I ask without turning.

"I was about to ask you the same question," Pavel tells me. "He's not one of our hands either, as I doubt any of them would wear expensive clothing to muck out a stable."

I shudder, and my heart starts to pound. "Find Stacy, now!"

"We're on it," Pavel promises me. "Are you sure you don't know him?"

"No, I've never seen him before," I tell Pavel what happened.

"Fuck, Isabella! First you nearly get plowed down by a runaway horse, and then some playboy accosts you in the barn." He scowls. "How did the fucker even get him here?"

One of the security guards walks towards us. "Are you okay, Miss Zhukov?"

I'm still not used to them calling me that, but Konstantin said to let them.

"Yes, thank you." I smile at him. "Did you find out who he is?"

"One of the men found Davey down by the gate." He looks at me and then at Pavel.

"What's happened to Davey?"

"He was hit over the head," the guard tells us. "He's fine. Davey said he went to the gate because the vet was here to give Hera a checkup, but Davey didn't think that was right as there were no scheduled vet checks."

"Let me guess," Pavel interrupts. "Davey went to the gate, opened it, and found it wasn't the vet. It was the preppy asshole who tried to accost Miss Zhukov?"

"Yes, sir." The guard nods. "Davey said he knows the man; his name is Donald Whitman."

"What the fuck!" Pavel and I bellow together.

"You know him?" The guard looks at us curiously.

"No," Pavel says. His voice is low and dangerous. "We know of him. But I intend to get to know him a whole lot better. Put him in the pit."

"What is the pit?" I ask, and the guard is about to answer but closes his mouth when Pavel shoots him a black look.

"Don't worry yourself about it," Pavel tells me and turns back to the guard. "Double your search for Miss Thompson. I want her found NOW!"

"Yes sir." The guard walks off.

"Are you going to the pit now?"

"Go inside, Isabella," Pavel commands.

"No!" I stand my ground. "Either take me with you, or I will find out where the pit is and follow you anyway."

"I'm not going for just a friendly chat with the guy," Pavel warns me.

"I didn't for one moment think you were."

Pavel sighs. "Come on." He turns and starts walking, with me running to keep up with his long strides. "Just try not to throw up."

We walk through the gate into a courtyard where there are doors that protrude from the ground. They look like wine cellars or basement doors.

"What is this place?" I ask.

"Those are the pits." Pavel points to the doors.

"They look like wine cellars," I comment.

"The wine cellars are beneath the ranch house," Pavel tells me. "These were designed as another type of cellar."

"Who does this ranch belong to?" I watch Pavel go inside the doors that have been left open. "Are there other people in the pits at the moment?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Pavel comments, helping me down the wooden stairs.

"And you never answer!"

"Do you really want to know?" He stops and looks at me.

"I do!" I nod

"You're on the MG Ranch," Pavel replies. "It belonged to your late uncle Matteo Moretti and his wife."

"My father's twin brother?"

"Yes. He was the older of the twins by thirty-five minutes and became the Boston Mafia boss at age seventeen when your grandfather died," Pavel explains.

"My father didn't speak a lot about his brother."

"I'm not surprised. It's hard to lose a brother." Pavel tells me, stopping so suddenly I nearly ram into his back. "Your aunt wants to leave this place to you and Konstantin."

"My aunt?" I frown. "My father never mentioned an aunt."

"Your father never mentioned anything to you about your family," Pavel reminds me. "He didn't even tell you that your aunt was there taking care of you ever since your mother died."

"I never met my uncle's wife." I look at him, confused. "I'm sure I'd remember."

"I'm sure you saw her every day." Pavel purses his lips. "She even helped you escape."

"You can't mean…" A ringing starts in my ears as shock zings through my system at his words. "You're mistaken."

"No, I'm not." Pavel shrugs. "Now, this is not going to be pretty, so don't say I didn't warn you."

"What?" I've forgotten where we are for a moment, and I feel the world tilt. I shake my head. "I…"

"You can go if you want to." Pavel's eyes flicker with concern. "You're looking pale."

"Because you've just dropped a fucking bombshell on me," I hiss, glaring at him.

"Are you staying or going?" he asks, no apology for shocking me or anything.

"I'm staying!" I say stubbornly, trying to stop the title that's started spinning in my brain from this new tidbit of information. He nods and starts to walk again. "Pavel?"

He stops and looks at me. "Yes?"

"Are you going to tell me Uncle Matteo's still alive, too?"

"No. He's dead." Pavel doesn't mince his words. "Probably thanks to your father and best buddy Ivan Belov."

"Seriously?" My shoulders slump. "I doubt my father would murder his twin."

"You don't know the real nature of your father," Pavel reminds me. "Now, are we going to torture this motherfucker that hurt our Stacy or not?"

I want to smile at our Stacy part. "Let's go torture the motherfucker that hurt our friend and rubbed his fucking dick on my ass."

"What?" Pavel stops going dead still.

"Fuck, did I say that out loud?" My eyes widen.

"Isabella, when I ask you what happened and things like this happen, you need to disclose everything ." Pavel's eyes bore into me. "I don't care how embarrassing or irrelevant you think it is. Understood?"

I nod and swallow. "Are we going to do the torturing of him now?"

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" Pavel asks me.

"I set Zeus on him." My eyes widen. "Oh, and he knew my name."

"Anything else?"

"No." I think. "That's it."

Pavel looks at me for a few seconds and turns, and we walk a little further.

"How fucking long is this tunnel?"

"Long," Pavel says over his shoulder, stopping by an open door, and we turn in.

Pavel turns so I can enter and I stop, seeing the man who Davey identified as Donald Whitman chained to the stone wall. He looks dazed, and blood oozes from a gash on his head.

"Did I do that?" I whisper to Pavel.

"You did." Pavel nods. "Nice shot."

I'm not sure if thank you is appropriate right now or what the proper response to that would be. I just bashed a man in the head with a metal bucket. My stomach lurches, but I swallow, making myself remember who this man might be and what he did to my best friend.

"Come to finish what we started, Isabella?" Donald lifts his head, giving me a crude sneer. "I don't like to be the sub, though."

"You f…"

Pavel stops me. "Don't take the bait, Isabella. That's what he wants."

Okay! I glance at Pavel. This is the first torture scene I've been to. In all the survival training I've done nearly my entire life, there wasn't a Torture 101 class.

"You're not allowed to torture people," Donald tells us. "Unless it is consensual, that is." He gives me another suggestive look. "You could all go to jail for this."

"Like you could for attempted rape!" Stacy's voice booms from the door.

I pivot and breathe a sigh of relief before rushing toward her, engulfing her in a bear hug. "Oh, thank God, Stacy. I was so worried." I pull away from her and see the fury in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to spook Lancelot."

"You didn't." Stacy gives me a tight smile and looks past me. "He did when he tried to rip me off the horse."

I feel Pavel stiffen beside me. "Maybe you ladies should go inside." His voice is low, controlled, and deadly.

"No!" Stacy and I say in unison.

"I want to know how he found us." My eyes narrow, looking at Donald. "Stacy, is this that Donald?"

She nods. "That's him."

"Stacy, my little whore, did you tell them about our night together?" Donald sighs. "I've never been able to get it out of my mind. I could kill that fucking bastard Lev Belov for interrupting what was going to be your second obedience lesson."

"She's not a fucking dog, you sick bastard!" I can't help it.

The anger overwhelms me before I can bite it back. I fly across the room, my eyes catching a battery with jumper cables on it.

"Aww, coming to play, Isabella?" Donald leers. "I must admit, I promised I wouldn't touch you, but after feeling your tight little ass against my cock…"

Before I can stop it, my hand grabs the jumper cables, flips the switch, and the next thing I know a howl is splitting the air. It sounds like a siren going off. It's so loud in my ears.

"Well, fuck me!" Somewhere through the screams, I hear Pavel's voice. "I guess it's true about angry hormonal women."

As the ringing in my ears clears and the rage inside me starts to subside, clearing the haze, I hear clapping and cheers behind me. I blink for a minute before the world comes back into view, and my eyes widen.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck!" I see that one of the clamps from the jumper is attached to Donald's pants.

"Remind me never to piss you off." Pavel snorts, looking behind me at one of the men. "Get something to wake this fuckhead up." He looks at me. "Are you okay?"

"Did I…" I feel shaky. "Did I kill him?"

"Nah!" Pavel shakes his head. "The amps were barely turned up. It would've given him a jolt, but the clamp to the nuts…" He sucks in his breath and shudders. "The pain made him pass out. Seems the prick loves to dish out what he can't handle himself."

Oh, God, did I just torture someone? My stomach starts to roll, and I can taste bile rising into my throat. "I'm going to be sick."

"Quick," Pavel yells over my head. "Bring the bucket."

As soon as the bucket is shoved near me, I empty the contents of my stomach.

"Bring a chair," Pavel orders, and when it's pushed near me, he gently helps me into it.

"Bella." Stacy rushes to my side. "Jesus, that was badass." Her eyes were wide. "You killed a man for me."

"He's not dead." Pavel pulls a chair for Stacy. "You ladies sure you want to stay for this?"

"I have to learn to face this!" Stacy nods at Pavel and grabs my hand.

"Wake him up." Pavel indicates to one of the men with them.

"What…" Donald's head shoots up when something is shoved beneath his nose.

"Are you ready to talk?" Pavel stands with his back to us, blocking our view, or Donald's view of us.

"What happened?" Donald winces. "Why am I so—that fucking bitch. I'm going to kill her."

"I'd be really careful what you say right now," Pavel warns him, stepping aside. "I was torn about how to torture you before I started getting answers from you. You know how you like to torture women to get your rocks off." He laughs. "I bet even if you somehow manage to get out of here, you won't be doing that for a while." He shakes his head. "I'm almost tempted just to let you go for that reason alone."

"They'll come for me when I don't get back with the whores," Donald hisses.

Pavel leans over and picks up the jumper lead clamp, snapping it a few times. "Be very careful what you say about the ladies of the house."

"You think those are ladies?" Donald sneers.

Before he can say another word, Pavel has his hand on Donald's mouth, forcing his jaw open and sticking the clamp in Donald's mouth.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Pavel stares into Donald's eyes, which are now filled with terror. "Nod, if you understand."

Donald nods. Pavel steps back.

"You're all fucking crazy!" Donald yells. "I swear you're all going to pay." He starts to laugh. "You won't even see it coming."

Pavel clicks and clicks the clamp, and Donald goes quiet. "Now, we can do this the quick and easy way, or we can do it the hard way." He leans down as Donald is at least three inches shorter than Pavel. "I always prefer people like you to do things the hard way. But I don't have time to indulge in my favorite hobby, which is finding the perfect form of torture."

"You're fucking sick." Donald spits.

"Maybe." Pavel shrugs. "But I don't pick on innocent women and children like you do. This isn't about getting to know each other; it's about you telling me what I want to know. Again, you get to choose whether we do this the quick and easy way or the hard way."

"Are you crazy? They'll kill me." Donald's eyes fill with fear.

"Well, I'll get to do it first as I'm right here, and I don't even know who they are yet. " Pavel's voice changes to one of compassion. "But I can see how scared you are of them . So how about this? You tell me what I want to know, and I'll protect you from them."

"Really?" Donald's eyes widen in disbelief.

"I think we can make a deal." He turns to us and winks at Stacy. "What do you say, Stacy? If he tells us what we want to know, can I let him go?"

"And protect me from them," Donald adds.

Pavel smiles at her, and it is not a nice smile. It's a play-along smile.

"Y… yes." Stacy nods, and her hand tightens in mine.

"It's going to be okay, Stace." I move closer to her.

Pavel turns back to Donald. "How about it?"

"I don't know," Donald starts to have doubts.

"Okay, well then, you're not worth anything to us if you're not going to talk anyway." Pavel sighs. "Hard way it is, then." He cocks his head without turning. "Stacy, could you come here, please?"

Stacy hesitates.

"It's okay, Stace." I rub her arm and encourage her. I can tell she is terrified. That fucking bastard really did a number on her.

Pavel hands her the jumper cable. "Did you ever play that game pin the tail on the donkey?"

Stacy nods.

"Well, we're going to play snap the jumper cable on the trespasser that tried to rape you and Isabella in the same afternoon," Pavel tells her. "Now, close your eyes. I'll push you forward. As we walk forward, remember everything this bastard did to you. Then, on the count of three, reach out and attach the jumper cable to him."

I see Stacy suck in her breath and close her eyes. Pavel leans over and turns up the voltage.

"Ready?" he asks Stacy.

"Ready." Stacy stammers.

"Stacy!" Donald starts getting scared. "I command you to stop. Get on your knees. Beg for my mercy because I swear to God, when I get out of here, I'll make sure you suffer."

"Carry on talking," Pavel tells Donald. "I dare you. Now Stacy."

"Stacy, don't you fucking dare, you little whore, I'll…" Donald's voice trails off, and a high-pitched scream replaces it as Stacy jabs her hand out, and the jumper connects with Donald's stomach.

"A little high but still effective." Pavel hugs her and pulls the clamp off Donald. "Want to try again?"

She shakes her head.

"You're all going to pay," Donald pants in pain. "You want to know who sent me?" He gives a demented type laugh. "Stacy's parents. They want Stacy back to get her money. It turns out her parents have expensive, sordid taste, and they owe a very bad person a lot of money. They also can't sell the law firm because it belongs to Stacy. Left to her by her grandparents."

"What?" Stacy and I gasp in unison.

"Oh, and they want Isabella to leverage their debt that they owe her father and Ivan Belov," Donald adds. He lifts his head to look at Stacy. "And Harry misses you. We were going to share you because your mother promised if I got you home, I could keep you. Break you in to be my pet whore."

"You fucking bastard!" A male voice comes from the doorway, and we all turn to see Konstantin and Lev.

Our attention is quickly taken from the newcomers as Donald's voice breaks through. "Come to free me, baby, so that I can put you in these chains. I'd love to see your naked body spread out and chained to this wall. My cock has been dying to jam itself down your throat again."

I turn toward Donald and see Stacy stiffen.

"Lev, no!" Konstantin yells distracting me.

"What the fuck?" Donald screams.

"Here, eat this, you fucking bastard!" Stacy sneers and shoves the jumper into Donald's mouth.

"Stacy!" Lev shouts as she steps back.

I get up and rush to her side, my heart pounding. I turn to see her staring at Donald, his eyes wide open and blood dripping from his mouth.

"You're lucky it wasn't on, asshole," Pavel hisses at him.

"Get them out of here!" Konstantin growls. "Pavel, what the fuck were you thinking letting them be here?"

"That they needed justice." Pavel turns toward me and Stacy. "Let's go. Konstantin will get the rest of the information from the scumbag." His voice softens.

Stacy hasn't moved. She's just standing there staring at Donald.

"Stacy." Lev's voice is gentle. "My love. Let's get out of here."

"Stacy!" I step in front of her to block her view of Donald. "It's over, he won't hurt you again."

"Sweetheart, let's get you inside. You're in shock," Lev tells her gently and looks at Pavel. "Can you…" He indicates for Pavel to take Stacy.

Pavel nods. "Come on, brave little lady." He gently scoops her up, but she turns as if in a panic.

"Lev?" Stacy calls. "Lev!"

"I'm right here, my love." Lev steps up beside Pavel, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Don't leave me again," Stacy tells him, tears rolling down her cheeks, her face pale. "And if you do, take me with you because I'm not safe or whole without you."

"I'll never leave you again," Lev promises. "Take her to the house." He kisses her forehead. "I'll be right behind you."

As Pavel disappears out the door with Stacy cradled in his arms, I turn on Lev.

"You can't make her that promise!" I lash out. "How can you make her that promise? Look at what you do. You live in this dark world full of torture, death, deceit!"

I'm feeling sick to my stomach about what I did to another human being. I actually got that angry to the point where I didn't even realize I nearly killed someone. I'm reeling because I just watched my best friend nearly kill the same man. The worst part is that I can't say I'm sad about it. I'm sick about it, maybe because I never thought me or Stacy were capable of such things.

"I can promise her that because I'm no longer living this lifestyle," Lev replies. "I have a villa where I'm going to grow olives and wine. I'm taking Stacy if she'll forgive me, and we're getting away from all this."

"Where is this villa?"

"Italy," Lev answers.

"Oh great, slap in the heart of Mafia country!" I point out, and he laughs.

"We're in a little village near the sea." He glances at Konstantin, who nods. "I want you to come with us. You and my nephew or niece will be safe." He smiles, and I'm once again bowled over at how much he looks like Andrey. "You get to choose how you want to live your life and raise your children."

"I…" I swallow, and before I reply, I turn and vomit once again.

"I hope that wasn't indicative of your answer?" Lev teases.