Chapter 84 Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Nikolai’s POV
The control room in the safe house felt like a goddamn tomb. Dim lights, cold metal walls, and that massive screen taking up the entire far wall. Four high-definition feeds streamed in from Nina’s necklace and earrings—every angle, every sound, every breath crystal clear. We’d set it up that way so nothing got missed. Right now I wished we had missed everything.
I sat in the middle chair, fingers hovering over the keyboard like they had a mind of their own. My eyes were glued to the screen, but my stomach was somewhere on the floor. There she was—Nina—completely naked except for those stupid diamond waist beads and the heels that made her legs look endless. She was kneeling in front of the open drawer, holding that thick black dildo like it was a live grenade. Her face… God, her face. Wide eyes, jaw slack, trying so hard to stay calm while her cheeks burned red.
I couldn’t watch her like that. Not exposed. Not for us. My hand moved before I even thought about it. I hit the blur filter on her feed only—soft edges, pixel haze over everything from her shoulders down. It wasn’t perfect, but at least her body wasn’t on full display for the three of us like some cheap show. She deserved better than that. She deserved to be safe in her med-school apartment studying for exams, not standing in some mafia bitch’s bedroom waiting to get hurt.
Beside me, Enzo leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, eyes wide like a kid at a fireworks show. A low whistle slipped out of him as the scene on the unblurred part of the screen played out—Sabina strapping that thing on, the other girl already on her knees, ass up, back arched like she’d been born for it.
“Damn,” Enzo breathed, shaking his head slowly. Another whistle, sharper this time. “Didn’t know lesbians got down like this. Look at the way she’s taking it—shit, that slap. That girl’s ass is gonna be bruised for a week.” He actually laughed under his breath, the sound too loud in the quiet room. “Respect, man. Respect.”
I wanted to punch him. My fists clenched so tight my knuckles cracked. Anger boiled up hot and fast in my chest, the kind that made my vision tunnel. I hated this. Every single second. Nina shouldn’t be there. She shouldn’t have to watch this, let alone be part of it. She was supposed to be our girl—the one we protected, the one we teased until she blushed and called us idiots, the one who stitched Enzo’s arm last week while pretending she wasn’t scared of the blood. Not this. Not standing naked in front of strangers while they used each other like toys and eyed her like fresh meat.
I felt sick for her. Really sick. My mind kept flashing back to that night on the beach house porch when she’d fallen asleep against my shoulder after patching up Dante’s graze wound. She’d smelled like antiseptic and vanilla shampoo, and she’d mumbled something about hating the way our stories made her thighs press together. I’d wanted to wrap her up and never let the world touch her again. Now she was in that room, heart probably slamming so hard we could see it on the monitor, and all I could do was blur her out like some coward.
Dante was on his feet, pacing the length of the room behind us. Back and forth, boots silent on the concrete, hands shoved deep in his pockets. He hadn’t said much since the feed started rolling, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. His jaw was locked, eyes narrowed on the screen even though he wasn’t staring directly at it. The man thought best when he moved.
On screen, Sabina slammed into the girl harder, the wet sounds coming through the audio feed loud enough to fill the room. The girl screamed, body shaking, clear fluid gushing down her thighs. Sabina didn’t stop—she kept going, drawing it out until the girl was a trembling mess. Then she pulled out slow, that black dildo glistening, and turned her head.
Nina’s hand was on the wallet.
My breath caught.
Dante stopped pacing mid-step. “I think she’s with the device,” he muttered, more to himself than us. His voice was low, thoughtful, like he was working through a puzzle. “But then why are they not making a move? Asking for ransom or anything of that nature?” He rubbed a hand over his jaw, eyes distant. “No demands. No threats to her father yet. Just… playing with her. Something’s off.”
Enzo finally tore his eyes off the screen long enough to glance at Dante. “Maybe they’re waiting for something bigger. Or maybe they just like the game.”
I didn’t answer either of them. My blood was roaring too loud in my ears. Nina’s fingers trembled on that leather wallet—I could see the shake even through the feed. She slipped two fingertips inside, searching. Brave. So fucking brave. And then Sabina noticed.
The moment stretched. Sabina’s smile turned sharp and dangerous. She rose from the bed like liquid, naked and glistening with sweat, and walked straight to Nina. My stomach dropped when she picked up the wallet, opened it, and showed the slim black device inside. No cash. No papers. Just that thing.
“You really thought it would be that easy?” Sabina’s voice came through clear as day.
Nina froze. Mouth open, no sound.
Then Sabina leaned in, lips brushing Nina’s ear. “The boys listening through your pretty jewelry? Tell them hello for me.”
Ice shot down my spine. She knew. The whole time. Every moan, every thrust, every terrified breath Nina had taken—we’d been feeding it straight to her and she’d been laughing.
Sabina’s next words hit like a slap. “Now, let’s see how long you can keep pretending you don’t want this.”
Her hand slid between Nina’s thighs.
Nina gasped on screen.
Sabina tasted her finger and smiled. “Mmm. Sweet.”
“Last chance, kitten,” she murmured. “Join us willingly… or we do this the hard way.”
That was it. The switch flipped inside me. I shot up out of my chair so fast it rolled backward and slammed into the wall. “I won’t let her touch her,” I growled, voice raw. My hands were already moving toward the gear rack. “Not one more second.”
Enzo was on his feet too, but his tone stayed low and urgent. He leaned close to Dante and whispered, “Dante, I’m getting the guns and cars. We roll now.”
Before any of us could even turn fully toward the door, Dante was already moving. Long strides, no hesitation, heading straight for the exit. He didn’t raise his voice, but the command in it cut through the room like a blade. “You boys should go ahead. I will join you with the chopper.” He paused just long enough to look back at us, eyes hard and serious in a way that made my chest tighten. “Nina’s life is in danger. The nuclear hard drive can wait.”
He meant it. The thing we’d been hunting for months—the encrypted drive that could topple half the politicians in the city, the reason her father hired us in the first place—it didn’t matter anymore. Not when she was in that room with a woman who knew we were listening and still wanted to break her.
We sprinted.
Boots pounding down the hallway, coats snatched off hooks, keys already in Enzo’s hand. The cold night air hit us the second we burst outside. Snow crunched underfoot, same snow we’d watched on the feed earlier. My breath fogged in front of me, but I didn’t feel the chill. All I felt was the rage and the sick guilt twisting together. Nina was enduring that because of us. Because we’d sent her in. Because we’d promised to keep her safe and then let her walk into the lion’s den wired up like bait.
Enzo was already sliding into the driver’s seat of the black SUV, engine roaring to life. “Nikolai, come on!”
I stopped at the door.
My feet wouldn’t move. Not yet.
I turned back toward the control room, heart slamming. I was the tech guy. Always had been. The one who made the gadgets, the one who kept the feeds alive, the one who could turn a necklace into a weapon if I had to. There was still one thing I could do before I left.
Enzo leaned out the window, engine idling. “What are you doing? We should go save her!”
“Go ahead,” I told him, voice steady even though my hands shook. “I’ll be right behind you.”
He hesitated, eyes searching my face, but he knew better than to argue when I used that tone. He nodded once and peeled out, tires spitting snow.
I walked back inside alone. The screen was still running. Sabina’s hand was still on Nina. The other girl was watching with that lazy, satisfied smile. Nina’s eyes were wide, frozen, terrified and something else she probably hated herself for feeling.
I sat down at the keyboard again. Fingers flying. I bypassed the main feed, dove into the secondary protocol we’d hidden in the jewelry’s firmware. A little something I’d coded weeks ago just in case. I rerouted power, overloaded the signal, triggered the hidden secondary transmitter I’d planted in the diamond beads. Then I keyed in the sequence that would flood Sabina’s entire estate with a cascading virus—lights, cameras, alarms, even the garage doors. Nothing lethal. Just enough chaos to buy Nina thirty seconds, maybe a minute, of pure distraction.
My finger hovered over the final key.
I let out a cold, satisfied nod to no one but myself.
“This should buy her time,” I said under my breath.
I pressed the button.
On the big screen, chaos began to happen.