Chapter 110
NIKOLAI’S POV.
Just as I was walking, my eyes fall on the car and I froze immediately. It was a sleek black SUV. Tinted windows. No plates. Not the kind of cat that just accidentally sits idle at the edge of a quiet street especially not at this hour.
Something in my gut twisted.
I quickened my pace, turning into a narrow alley beside the corner deli. I didn’t want to risk it. Not tonight. I needed the park. The silence. Some air.
But I only made it a few steps before I heard it. The car door. Then footsteps. They were fast, heavy and they were coming for me.
“Hey!” someone shouted but I ignored him. I instead began to run and didn’t even turn to look back.
My lungs burned as I sprinted through the alley, my injured hand throbbing as I used the walls to keep balance. I could barely see where I was going, but it didn’t matter. I had to lose them.
Then-
Bang.
A shot cracked the air. It wasn’t aimed at me. A warning. A threat. But it was enough to send my heart into overdrive.
I kept going. But I wasn’t fast enough.
One moment I was running, and the next a crushing weight tackled me to the ground. My shoulder slammed into the pavement. My head bounced hard and the world spun.
“Get off me!” I yelled, trying to kick, to punch, but a boot pressed hard against my back, pinning me down.
Rough hands yanked my arms behind me, zip–tying my wrists so tight that I cried out. They were hurting my hand.
“Put him in the car.” Another person spoke with amusement in his voice. “No Let go of me! I swear-” I didn’t even finish.
Someone punched me. Hard. Right across the jaw. My head snapped sideways and everything went fuzzy. Another one pulled a black sack over my head. “No!” I roared, trying to claw it off, but they were already lifting me, dragging me back the way I came.
My feet scraped against pavement. My voice cracked from yelling. But no one heard me. No one came. They threw me into the back of the SUV like I was nothing. The door slammed shut, the engine revved, and the tires screeched as we peeled away from the curb.
Trapped. Blind. And completely alone. Without Alessandro. “Let me go!” I shouted again, but a fist cracked across my face, silencing me with stars.
Then came the voice. Chillingly calm. “Shut up, Nikolai. You’ll know soon enough why you’re here.”
I froze immediately. They knew my name which meant this wasn’t random. This wasn’t some unlucky robbery.
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Chapter 110
This was personal and within seconds my mind blacked off.
What pulled me back wasn’t sound.
It was pain.
A sudden splash of ice–cold water hit my face, forcing me to gasp. I choked, sputtering, my senses clawing their way back as 1 jerked against restraints I hadn’t even realized were there.
I was tied to a chair. Ankles bound. Wrists still zip–tied, but now looped through something behind me. My head lolled forward. The sack was gone.
And the air-
It was stale, damp like mold and rust.
A basement?
Concrete walls surrounded me, cracked and stained. A single bulb buzzed overhead, casting flickering light. Shadows danced along the edges, and somewhere nearby, water dripped in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
My teeth chattered from the cold. My lip was busted. My shoulder screamed from where I’d landed, and my hand, my already injured hand was swollen, bloodied, and raw beneath the zip tie.
Footsteps echoed and I raised my head instantly.
And there he was.
A man stepped forward from the shadows, sharp suit, darker eyes. A scar ran across his cheek like a jagged reminder that he’d survived something and made sure others didn’t. “You’re awake,” he said, almost pleasantly. “Good. I’d hate to have
to wait much longer.”
“Who the hell are you?” My voice cracked. My throat was dry but I still asked.
He ignored the question. “You’ve made some very powerful people unhappy, Nikolai.”
And suddenly… the cold terror in my chest turned to ice. These people knew me.
‘W–Who are you and w–what do y–you want?‘ I asked again trying to hide my fear that I miserably failed.
He still didn’t respond, I was starting to loose control on myself, His silence was killing me and I started to shake in fear. Then he spoke and caught all my attention:
‘You’re so cute when you’re afraid pet, no wonder Alessandro likes you so much“,
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Chapter 110
Pet.
That word slithered down my spine like a blade dipped in venom, and the mention of Alessandro, him hit harder than the fists that had dragged me here.
“You…“, I choked, the words barely forming past the lump in my throat. “You know Alessandro?”
The man laughed. A quiet, amused sound that curled with something darker. He began to circle me, slow and measured, like a wolf deciding which part of me to tear into first.
“Blindfold him again and drag him to the bed“, Another man came and spoke.
“I’m going to fuck you and know why Alessandro is so interested in you,“,
My heart stopped, the moment I heard those words.
“Please, please, don’t do this…” I cried, looking around for something to hit him with.
“No… no, wait…!” I thrashed against the chair, but the plastic groaned under my weight and refused to budge. My wrists burned from the restraints, the injured one screaming in agony, but I didn’t care. Panic surged through my chest, hot and suffocating.
Hands grabbed me. Too many of them.
“No! Get the hell off me!” I yelled, kicking out, trying to bite, anything–but a rough palm slammed over my mouth, muffling the scream as they yanked my head back and shoved the black sack over it again.
Darkness. Hot and choking.
I couldn’t see. Couldn’t breathe right. I was drowning in fabric and fear, the world spinning as they cut the zip ties and hoisted me up by my arms. My legs barely worked. I stumbled, half–dragged as we moved. I felt the floor change–from cold concrete to something softer beneath my feet. A rug?
Then I was thrown.
My body hit a mattress.
I tried to roll off but a heavy hand pressed down on my chest, holding me in place. Another gripped my ankle, strapping something around it. A cuff. Then the other.
My breath came in short, frantic gasps.
“Lay the fuck down on the bed and spread your fucking legs for the cameras” he chuckled and one by one turned on the recording option of all the cameras “For your boyfriend…”
