“You sick son of a—”
Nathan turned to the door. “Bring the woman back in here …”
“Wait!” Vladek shouted.
Bringing his gaze back to Vladek, Nathan nodded for him to speak.
“If I talk, Gwen will be safe?”
“You have my word, Vladek.”
Seeming to trust Nathan, Vladek finally talked. “Your wife was given over to Silas by her half-brother, Cole, and Lucretzia, her half-sister. They are Silas’s two oldest children, and the first children he kept. Years ago, after Silas—”
“I don’t want to know this shit,” Nathan snapped. “Tell me where he’s keeping my wife!”
“You need to have patience,” Vladek shouted. “This is information you need to know. If your wife’s going to be safe, then they all need to be dead!”
After Nathan went silent, Vladek continued. “Years ago, Silas intercepted a hit job. It had been ordered by one of your father’s guys. He let those men kill Robert and planned to take Cecilia and bring her home, hoping it would bring Anastacia Stone back to him. He and Robert had recently had a falling out after Silas found out that Robert and Anastacia Stone were intimate. I was there. I heard everything Robert had told him. He’d said that they were tired of hiding from him, and if it was war Silas wanted, then that was what he’d get. Robert wasn’t supposed to be home that night, but he was. Silas had planned on going in and just taking Cecilia; she wouldn’t have known anyway. He used to visit her all of the time … until Robert cut his face after he’d had a big fight with the child. Robert and Silas did the back and forth thing for years. Neither of them wanted to kill the other, so the cycle just continued. Anyway, after the hit job, Silas was going to take Cecilia and lock her up until he prepared their family home, but his plans were deferred when Cecilia threw in an unexpected twist that Silas wasn’t expecting. He didn’t really know how to react, so he made a new plan. About a year later he called for Lucretzia and Cole to do a mission for him. They were both eager to please him, so he sent them in. He got Cole an apartment and everything he needed in an American area called St. Louis. He lived in America under the name Henry Bradford. Lucretzia was to keep an eye on Cecilia from a distance. Cole was just supposed to befriend her, helping her to kick a drug addiction she’d developed until Silas was ready for them to bring her home. When they’d first found her, she had been sleeping in a church and was high. It took him a full year to get her clean, and somehow during that time, their relationship slipped into a not so appropriate area. It was Cole’s fault, not your wife’s. She was vulnerable and she believed him to be someone he wasn’t. He fell in love with her, completely forgetting that she was his sister. He had sex with the girl anytime she would let him do it. Lucretzia figured out what Cole was doing and called Silas to come and get the girl. Unfortunately, when Silas came two days later, Cole was alone and Cecilia was gone. They didn’t find her again until a few weeks ago. Word came in that Anastacia had found her daughter and Silas lost it.”
“Where is he keeping her?” Nathan asked.
“Cole and Lucretzia stole some of Silas’s tools and went after her with a few other exiled Steeles. They were all hoping to get back in Silas’s good graces by giving him what he wanted, even though they resent Cecilia and Anastacia for being the family Silas loves.”
“What does he want with my wife?”
Vladek shrugged. “For the four days she was there, he just stared at her. He watched her, and spoke of nothing but her beauty and perfection. In the end though, he wants his wife and daughter back.”
Nathan frowned. “Where did he take her
now
?” Nathan had caught when the man said, ‘
For the four days she was there’
.
Vladek leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “This is what I meant when I told you I don’t know where your wife is …”
Nathan shot up from his seat. “What do you mean you don’t know?” he snapped. “You make me sit through this bullshit story, then you don’t tell me where I can find my wife?”
“I knew where she was. She was in a small village named Rigton. Silas owns a castle there. He keeps his slaves locked there for viewing.”
“Where did he take her?” Nathan shouted. Reaching forward, he snatched Vladek up from his seat “You tell me where the fuck he’s keeping my wife or I swear to you I will rip you limb from limb!” He roared the words in Vladek’s face and was happy to see the man finally flinch.
Perhaps Vladek didn’t want to die.
“Talk!” Nathan commanded.
“She isn’t with Silas anymore,” Vladek yelled. “She escaped him.”
Chapter 3: Safe Place
Nathan had gone silent, but didn’t release Vladek. He was trying to process what he’d just heard. Did Vladek just say what Nathan thought he’d said? “She escaped?”
“Yes, she got away!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Something happened. I don’t understand how she did it, but she got out of her room. I don’t actually know what happened. Aziz just said she found something. That place isn’t heavily guarded because we don’t have these kinds of problems with the other prisoners.”
“What did she find?”
“I don’t know. Silas is secretive about that place. Aziz, Scott, and Naveed know everything. All I know is that she found something. Whatever it was must have meant a lot because she killed to protect it. Somehow, she got one of the jeeps and hit the road. If you think you know where she’d go, I suggest you go there. I’m not sure what Silas’s next move is, but he wanted us at the castle. He’s never requested that of us before.”
Nathan threw Vladek aside. He’d heard enough; it was time to go back to Russia. It had been three days since Carter had escaped Silas, and he knew for a fact that she would do whatever it took to get to safer, familiar territory. She’d been to Russia with him numerous times, and he would know exactly where she was. “Freddy…”
“I know what to do,
brat,”
Freddy said, smiling in anticipation of his next kill.
Nathan left the room with Kyle following behind them. On the way out, he grabbed the hand of Gwendolyn and exited the building.
She looked up at him with terror in her innocent, bright-blue eyes. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Where is my husband?”
Nathan stopped walking once they stood a small distance away from the house. Turning to the small woman, he stared her directly in her eyes. “Listen to me, Gwendolyn. I want you to know that none of this is your fault. Your husband has been lying to you about who he is, who his family is …”
“What does this mean? I don’t understand. How does he lie to me? He is my husband,” she sobbed.
Nathan nodded. “I know, sweetheart, but trust me. You needed to be saved. What did your husband tell you he did for a living?”
“He is a business man. He has many clients.”
“Did he ever tell you what he sold?”
When she shook her head no, Nathan sighed. The woman looked like a child. He felt sorry for her. “Gwendolyn, sweetheart, he sold people.”
“
What?
”
“Young men, woman, and children.”
“You’re lying, he would never do that!” she exclaimed, tears filling her eyes.
Nathan nodded. “Yes he would, dear, yes he would.”
The woman completely broke down, crying hysterically. Nathan fought the urge to roll his eyes and brought her to him in an effort to make her feel protected. Being married to Carter, he wasn’t used to this type of reaction. Betrayal such as this would only ignite Carter’s wrath. He shook his head. He had to stop comparing every woman to Carter, it wasn’t fair to do that; Carter was one of a kind. He needed to focus on turning on the charm. He needed information from Gwendolyn, but before he could get it, he needed to make himself look like a hero in her eyes and not the villain.
Pulling back from her, Nathan cupped her face gently. “Gwendolyn,” he whispered. Blue eyes full of devastation rose to meet his. “How old are you, honey?”
“Thirty-five years,” she replied in a broken whisper.
Nathan nodded. “I need your help, sweetheart.”
Concern for Nathan filled her eyes. That was the moment Nathan knew he had her.
“I need you to help me save a young girl’s life. Your husband was involved in a kidnapping—”
“Oh my God,” she cried. “Who did he take?”
Nathan pulled every bit of the devastation, sadness, and fear he had felt the moment he’d found out Carter was taken to the surface. He would hide nothing. If he didn’t, if he allowed her to see, he would get this woman on his side.
“My wife …” His voice was full of heartbreak.
Gwendolyn gasped and slowly shook her head in shock.
“She’s twenty-three years old, and possibly pregnant with our first child.” Nathan spoke quietly. He had yet to tell anyone of Carter’s possible pregnancy; emotions had already been high enough. Anastacia was a wreck and everyone else was scared out of their minds. If they all knew that Carter was possibly with child, they’d completely lose their shit. Especially Anastacia and Angelo. No, Nathan would not tell them until Carter was home safe and they confirmed that she was actually pregnant. He would bear the burden of being sick with worry for his wife
and
unborn child alone.
Gwendolyn grabbed onto his hands and squeezed them as she began to weep once again. “Oh God. I’m so sorry … I’m so … sorry.”
She surprised Nathan and tightly wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. It was a warm hug, full of comfort and remorse. Unfortunately it did nothing to thaw the coldness that had entered Nathan’s head and heart the moment he’d found out his wife had been taken away from him. He returned her hug, but only for show. He was more than ready to get the information he needed and head to the city. He needed his wife.
Gwendolyn pulled back from him. “I’m so sorry he did such a thing, but I don’t know what it is you think I can do to help you…”
And there it was, his window of opportunity. Nathan dived for it. “Gwendolyn, I need you to tell me the locations of the rest of the Steele estates that you have been to in Germany.”
She nodded. “I have visited many. Do you think that your wife is there?”
“Yes,” he lied. He was going to destroy them.
“I will help you,” she said with a firm nod. “There are five different estates that I’ve been to, and Vladek was always talking of a castle in Rigton.” She proceeded to tell him the locations of all five of the estates, making him promise that he wouldn’t attack the home where they kept the young children.
Nathan nodded his agreement. That estate would be spared.
After Nathan thanked her more than he cared to, she hugged him again. This time she kissed him on the cheek.
“You saved my life,” she whispered, “and my baby’s. Thank you so much.”
Smiling, Nathan fought to not roll his eyes again. He needed to go … now.
“I pray you find your wife and baby safely.”
Nathan gave her a nod and signaled for two of his men to come forward. “Where are you from, Gwendolyn?”
“Hamburg.” She lowered her eyes sadly. “But I can’t go back there. I chose Vladek over my family three years ago.”
Nathan nodded and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “Take her to her family …”
She looked up at him, surprised by his words.
“Make sure she is safe when she gets there. Help her find a home, pay for it, then leave her with enough money for her and her baby to start a new life.”
“Thank you!” she exclaimed.
Nathan smiled as genuinely as he could. The woman couldn’t even tell when she was being paid off. Either way, it didn’t matter to him. He just needed to make sure she was too busy to open her mouth. “Good luck, Gwendolyn,” was the last thing he said to her before she was led away from him, and driven away from the building.
Nathan smiled, proud of himself. In his opinion, that was definitely fifty percent mercy.
“Listen up!” he shouted. Every eye turned to him just as the tortured screams of Vladek burning to death rung loud in the air.
Nathan smiled. Freddy Russia really did love his fire.
“It seems that our beloved Carterina is no longer a prisoner of Silas Steele,” Nathan stated with a proud smile. “I hear he found out why the rest of us hesitate to even think of fucking with Mrs. Salerno.” The men laughed, cheered, and whistled, but Nathan silenced them by raising his hand. “What do you all say to giving Mrs. Salerno a little gift? Show her how much we care. I received some useful information courtesy of the late Vladek Steele’s wife,” Nathan smirked. “There are five estates, and we’re hitting four of them. Wipe. Them. Out. No one lives. The message will be clear, clean, and quick. I swear to God if one of you motherfuckers die, I’ll kill you.” The men laughed. “They tell me that the Steele family is full of dangerous men and women, so use this advantage I have given you.” Nathan let out a deep chuckle. “Sucker punch the motherfuckers.”
That got them all riled up. A few men began to slap their hands against the car, shouting “
Let’s go kill some Steeles!
” Nathan could feel their excitement thick in the air. This was the type of shit these men lived for. The rush, the adrenaline, the fight, and the kill. They craved living in a world not bound by the laws of society. Men and women of the criminal underworld lived by different rules. If you fucked with the wrong person, you got your ass killed. Nathan understood that the Steele family had once been untouchable, but times had changed. Silas Steele had fucked with the wrong man. Nathan refused to fear any man or woman that came against his family.