Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I crammed everything into a single hour and haven't risked another attempt since, not wanting to do too much and get caught.
My eyes are on fire as they jump from one screen to the next, and there’s a dull pain in my left bicep. My left pinky is freezing, as if all the blood flow has been cut off and no warmth can get to it anymore.
The numbers and letters blur for a second, then it feels as if my vision drifts to the side. It started happening last week.
Working eighteen hours a day is quickly taking its toll on my eyes and body.
I don’t keep much of the food down, and the clothes they’ve given me hang on me from the weight I’ve lost over the past two months, one week, and two days.
My heart whimpers as I enter another site where it shows more than two hundred thousand members, selling videos and images of minors.
As soon as I see the first video, I lurch to the side and grab the trashcan, losing the meager contents in my stomach along with bitter bile.
I have no idea how much longer I’ll last.
Either my body is going to give out, or I’m going to lose my mind.
“What. The. Fuck!” A man roars suddenly, making my head snap up.
I’m so overworked that it takes my mind way too long to recognize him.
Rodian Volkov. Yegor’s second-in-command.
He pins Kirill with a dangerous glare. “Who the fuck authorized this?”
“Danil and Yegor,” the emotionless robot that’s my guard replies.
Straightening up, I grab a tissue and wipe my mouth before taking a sip of water.
Rodian comes closer and looks at the screens before making eye contact with me. Seeing the shock in his blue gaze confuses me.
He glances at Kirill. “Get Danil!”
As my guard walks away, Rodian again stares at me. “You’re alive.”
“Yep.” I sit back in the chair and close my burning eyes. “I take it you didn’t know about this little slice of heaven?”
“No.” I hear him move, and when I crack one lid open, I see him walk closer to the door. He stares into the other hall where the hackers are hard at work, then shakes his head before he comes back to me. “This is a fucking mess.”
“Ya think?”
Danil rushes into the room with Kirill right behind him.
“Rodian? Yegor didn’t let me know you were coming.”
“Imagine my surprise when I looked at the finances and saw millions coming from a new operation,” Rodian mutters, his tone barely controlled. “Yegor authorized this?”
“Yes. Take it up with him,” Danil says, his tone lacking respect.
Suddenly Rodian moves, and I jerk back when his fist slams into Danil’s jaw, making the man stagger before landing on his ass.
Ohhhh, that’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen.
I have to resist the urge to applaud Rodian.
The underboss of the Bratva towers over Danil as he climbs to his feet while rubbing his jaw.
“Watch your fucking tone.”
“Yes, sir,” Danil quickly replies, more respectful this time around.
“Leave!” Rodian snaps angrily, and when Danil hesitates, the underboss of the Bratva reaches for his gun that’s holstered at the side of his chest.
Danil and Kiril turn and run, making it out the door right as Rodian fires a shot into the doorjamb.
I know more about Rodian than Yegor. While the head of the Bratva is in his early seventies and likes to make people do his dirty work, Rodian, who’s much younger and in his thirties, is known for being brutal.
Things have never been good between the two men. I don’t know why, though.
Rodian’s jaw is clenched, and his eyes are filled with rage when he directs his attention at me. He doesn’t stop looking at me as he pulls his phone out and dials a number, and a moment later he asks, “Why the fuck do we have a capo of the Cosa Nostra?... Fuck the money, Yegor. This is an act of war we didn’t need right now.” Grim lines cut into his face, making fear trickle through my chest, but his tone is in total contrast, almost sounding friendly as he says, “Fine…. Sure… Of course… I think I’ll hang around a bit and see how everything works.”
He ends the call, then takes a moment to calm down before he looks at me again. “How are you holding up?”
From all the strain of spending long hours behind the screens, I’m unable to keep my eyes open and close them as I say, “I’ve had better days.”
“Mikhail,” Rodian calls, and again, I have to crack an eye open so I can watch as one of the guards comes in.
Rodian gives him an order that makes the guard jog through the room to the other door on the opposite side. When he shoves it open, I hear machines whirring, then it shuts again.