“It's just a shame we couldn’t be speaking face to face right now, Vaughan. Return what belongs to me.”His tone doesn’t rise, but my hair still stands on the back of my neck.“Or I will release everything. It’s that fucking simple. He’s mine.”
Nausea surges inside me, but Rafe doesn’t move, interrupt, or even react.
Alexei continues.“You have nothing to offer me. But, if you don’t return him and I have to come after you…”A slight shift in his tone.“There are people who would very much enjoy the company of your women.”
My breath catches.
“Vlad, especially. You know him, don’t you?”
Rafe’s jaw clenches. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“He had plans to visit Waylon, you know. To fuck your wife.”
I clap a hand over my mouth to keep from making a sound.
“Don’t you dare mention my wife,” Rafe says flatly. “You know what I do to men who threaten her.”
“I’d be careful how far you push this. Because I want a turn with every one of them girls. Especially Sinclair. I bet she’s a wild ride.”
Rafe, with a control that’sastoundingme, leans in. “You’re assuming we don’t have anything to push back with, Morozov.”
Alexei doesn’t respond immediately. That pause alone feels like pressure building behind a locked door. I rub my eyes,wideawake now.
Rafe continues, unfazed. “You releaseanythingon him…” he pauses. “And we return the favor.” There’s no threat in his tone. Just fact. “Every piece we have. Every name. Suddenly, this isn’t a controlled situation anymore. It becomes mutual destruction.” His voice softens, almost mockingly. “You don’t survive that, Morozov. We have cards in our hand, too. The question is…are you willing to chance that our hand is better than yours?”
There’s silence on the other end for a beat. Then, Alexei sighs.“Whatever you have on me cannot possibly be as bad as what I have on Jude.He’s fucked. His fate is prison or death if it isn’t by my side. You of all people should know that.”
Rafe glances at me, the corner of his lip pulling up in a smirk. Because there’s an edge in Alexei’s voice now.
“We can make it a public spectacle, if you prefer,”Alexei continues. But before he can add anything else, Rafe interrupts him.
“We go down, so do you, asshole. You’re not getting him back.”
Alexei laughs now, and the sound pisses me off.“Oh, good luck. He’ll die before he comes back to you. I fucked his head up good.”
My stomach clenches.
“And that girl? He’ll kill her. Then, after he realizes what he’s done, he’ll kill himself.”
Rafe allows a second of silence before he quietly hangs up his phone, leaving us sitting together in the dark.
I stare at him, my pulse still pounding. The moon’s soft light is just enough to make out his face. “Can he track your phone?” It’s the first thing I can think to say after just being threatened with getting sold to a known human fucking trafficker.
He shakes his head once. “No.”
“Why not?”
“All of the technology in the house is protected,” he says. “Adela made sure of that. Sinclair Solutions is running constant security protocols. Nothing in here can be accessed externally.”
My fingers curl into the blanket as I exhale shakily. “So he just…called you?”
“Yes.” He shifts, and I feel his attention turning toward me. His hand lifts slowly, giving me time to pull away if I want to.
I don’t.
His warm fingers brush my cheek. “You’re okay,” he says quietly. Such loving energy coming from a monster catches me off guard.
I swallow. “I don’t feel okay, Rafe.”