Dmitry came to my room at once. Nadia stood to the side while he put hands on either side of my face and examined me for injuries. I worked tears into my eyes and trembled as he pulled me against him. The performance wasn't difficult. All I had to think about was how much I hated him and his father for what they had done to me and my family. Dmitry, self absorbed as he was, only saw a woman crying, not a woman plotting to end him.

"I am so sorry, kitten. Today was supposed to be a relaxing day."

"You couldn't know she would go crazy like that," I said, dabbing at a tear in the corner of my eye.

The bastard. He knew precisely the kind of woman Greta was when he arranged this day. The moment we were safe, I was going to take great delight in detailing all the ways Lochlan and I had fornicated under his nose. That was if he survived the fallout.

"I'm glad Nadia was there to protect you."

"Me too. I hope she will be my permanent protection after we are married."

His eyes widened. Then they filled with a dark lust that nearly choked me with its intensity. "Oh yes. I intend to have you two together all the time."

His phrasing wasn't lost on me. Or Nadia. Two slashes of red were the only color in her face as she stared across the room.

Dmitry pushed a strand of hair out of my face and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Not flinching took all my concentration, and when he pulled away, the tears in my eyes were no longer fake. I wanted to crawl beneath scalding water and scrub away every place he touched me—with his hands and his eyes—and then I wanted Lochlan to mark me as his, again and again, until all memories of anyone else faded.

"Get some rest, kitten. Tomorrow, we have an early morning." His bottom lip rolled between his teeth. "And a late night."

"Of course."

"Nadia," he said, pausing at the bedroom door. "Father will want your first hand account later. Do not be tardy."

She bowed her head. The movement exposed bruising on her neck, and my hatred ramped up tenfold. How had I ever thought he was kinder than his father?

Counting to thirty before speaking, I finally demanded, "What's the plan?"

"Lochlan and Alex are arranging interference with the security this evening, and I will lead you all through a tunnel Volkov built on the property. A car should be waiting for you, and once you're off the property, you all need to either disappear or be under constant protection until Volkov and Dmitry are eliminated."

"Eliminated? How do you plan on that? You can't do it alone?"

"Yes, I can."

"Why do you refuse to accept help?"

She bristled, drawing her black hair over her shoulder and toying with the ends. "Because helping will get you killed. It's taken an entire lifetime for me to learn the weaknesses in this organization. If getting out was easy, I wouldn't be here—"

"Go to the police. You've witnessed crimes. You have to have evidence."

Her laugh was brittle and brief. "Yes, I've witnessed crimes, and I've committed them. You don't think my father wouldn't make sure my hands were as stained as his? And the police... what a joke. Those rooms you saw. You wanted to know what they were?"

"Yes," I said, far more confident than I felt. Did I really need to know what horrors happened behind those doors?

"Those are holding rooms for girls before they're sold to the highest bidder. My father keeps some of them for his own pleasure. The ones who don't have as high of a value because they aren't virgins. He dresses them as maids and parades them about in public, and whenever he pleases, he takes them or passes them out to his buddies. When he grows bored with them, he gets them hooked on drugs and farms them out to the strip clubs."

I covered my mouth, cold rage flooding my body. Nadia's jaw flexed. Her fingers curled and uncurled on her lap. When I put my hand on top of hers, she hesitated only a second before flipping her hand over and threading her fingers through mine.

Clearing her throat, she continued, "They could raid this house at any time, and they would find girls here. Some are as young as fourteen. I can't go to the police because their pockets are heavy with Volkov's money, and I only get one shot. Tell the wrong person... and I will wish to be one of those girls at the clubs."

"Nadia," I whispered. "I'm sorry. You're risking everything by freeing us. At least come with us and be safe. We can work together to take him down."

"Maybe," she said, patting my hand. We both knew she was lying. "Get some sleep now. You'll need to be well rested for tonight."

"You really think we can get out of here? It sounds too easy."

"Leave the worrying to me. Now sleep."

She pushed me down on the bed and drew the blankets over me. After a few seconds, she lay beside me, humming a familiar tune I couldn't place as she stroked my hair. I didn't think I was tired, but the longer I listened to her song, the heavier my lids became, and when I slipped into unconsciousness, I wasn't worried at all.