Page 84 of Paved in Venom
“Because I’m trying to figure out who’s behind all this shit.” He sighs and puts more pressure on his arm. He’s losing a lot of blood. I can see the puddle forming on the ground, and he’s probably going to pass out soon. He knows it, so he says, “Because they killed my sister.”
It’s the last thing I’m expecting him to say, and I think we’re all stunned by it, because no one speaks for several seconds.
“Explain,” I say, breaking the silence.
“She was traveling with friends around Italy last summer. She was taken, stolen right from her fucking hotel room, and then she was sold to a sadistic fucker who beat her to death.”
I can hear the pain in his words, the rage that’s right below the surface. We all recognize it. We’re all familiar with it, and when I look over at Matvey, the look in his eyes is one that will haunt me.
“That’s not what happened to Alina,” I tell him in Russian. “Look at me, Matvey.”
It takes him several seconds before he finally meets my eyes. He’s barely hanging on. I can see it. We all can see it, and something tells me that if he breaks now, we’ll never get him back.
“That’s not what happened to Alina,” I repeat.
“How do you know?” His voice is raw with emotion, and it’s painful to hear.
“Because I fucking do. I’ve been researching this shit for over a year. I’ve talked and made friends with the men who buy these women, and what happened to his sister isn’t common. They spend a lot of money on buying these women. Most aren’t going to just throw that away.”
Switching to English, I ask Dominic, “Was your sister a virgin?”
“What the fuck business is it of yours if she was a virgin? You think she brought this on herself?” he yells. “Fuck you!”
I hate to say it, but I’m beginning to like this guy. When he’s done yelling, I say, “Because they sort them based on whether or not they’re virgins, and, no, I don’t think she brought this on herself.”
He studies me for a second, and when he chooses to believe me, he says, “She had a boyfriend. They’d been together for years. She wasn’t a virgin.”
I look over at Matvey and say in Russian, “See? It’s a different situation. It’s not what happened to Alina.” Turning so I can see Roman, I meet his eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, but I can tell that what Dominic’s just said is fucking with his mind too.
“What the hell is going on?” Dominic asks. “Why did she run out here to save you? I saw her at that party. You fucking strangled her, and she was acting like she was scared to death of you.”
“We had to do that,” Simona says, answering before I can. “We needed to get into Tom’s office, so I came up with the idea to cause a scene so Danil would have an excuse to leave the room with me.” Her hand goes to the faded bruises on her neck. “I told him to do this to me. We had to make it believable.” She pauses and then adds, “I’m sorry about your sister.”
“Thank you,” Dominic says before looking back at me. “So you like to buy women, but you’re nice to them?” He gives another harsh laugh. “I don’t understand what the fuck is going on here.”
“They took my sister, too,” Roman says. “We’re trying to find her. We’ve been making connections with them, gathering information, and trying to find out who bought her so we can get her back.”
“And when we do have her back,” Matvey says, “we’re killing every fucking one of them.”
“Do you know who bought your sister?” I ask him.
“No. Her body was found floating in the North Sea. There was no way to tell where it had come from, if she’d been thrown off a boat, or just pulled out with the tide. She was beaten so badly, she was unrecognizable,” he says, nearly choking on his words. “The only clue I had was that goddamn black viper tattoo.”
“You said you’re friends with Emil?” Roman asks.
“I’ve spent a lot of money and time into tracking this organization, and it lead me to the group in Romania. It took me forever to gain Emil’s trust, but one night we were talking, and I told him I was very interested in acquiring a few women, but that I wanted them to come from Europe but speak English. For a nice fee, he gives me a heads-up on who to bid on when there’s an auction. So far none of them have been able to help me, though. No one seems to know who’s running this fucked-up show.”
“Do you believe him?” I ask my brothers, switching back to Russian.
“I do,” Lev says.
“Me, too,” Roman adds.
Matvey nods his head, and I agree with them. No way in fuck is Dominic making all this up.
“Why did you say you would’ve hurt me worse?” Simona asks. She’s still clutching me tightly, and I’m not about to let her go, but she’s not shaking like she was, and her voice is steady. “At the party that night, why did you say that?”
