I am the bait - A Teaser from The Cleaner (Chicago Bratva, Book 7)

THE CLEANER

Tropes:  Abduction-Seduction, Sugar Kink, Dark Romance, Posessive Hero, Revenge plot

Here's a little teaser:

“You are crazy girl.” His accent is thick this morning.

“That’s funny. I was thinking you were the psychopath here.”

“No. Not psychopath.” He sits beside me on the bed and picks up the plate. He scoops a forkful of eggs and I open my mouth. “You are not what I expected.”

I close my mouth and turn my head to the side to refuse the food. “Wait…what?”

He eats the bite of eggs himself. “It’s not poisoned. I won’t hurt you if you cooperate.” He catches my eye and holds my gaze like he really wants me to believe him.

“Is this…personal?” I ask, my voice quavering. “Do you know me?”

“I know your father.” He holds another bite out of me. I want the food, but the information is more important. Again I turn away.

“Hang on. Do you work for my father?”

Now it’s his turn to be flabbergasted. He stares at me with his mouth open. “Work for him? You think one of your father’s men would do this to the boss's daughter–” he breaks off and shakes his head. “Yes, they probably would. They are the worst scum on the earth.”

My heart pounds with this new knowledge.

“You’re holding me hostage.” I’m catching up.

“Da.”

“He will kill you.” I say it not as a threat, but with total sincerity. My father is a ruthless businessman. He thinks I don’t know he’s a crime lord, but I’m not stupid. I know everyone around him lives in fear. I have long believed my mother abandoned me to save her own life. Or maybe that’s just what a girl of six tells herself when her mother disappears one day.

A story that ends in a happy ending at a later date. My mother returning to me when she can. Reclaiming her beloved daughter.

But, of course, she never came.

Maybe she’s dead.

Maybe he killed her.

“He will want me dead,” Adrian agrees, like he’s content with this knowledge.

A cold chill runs across my skin. “Are you asking for ransom?”

Adrian hesitates. “Yes.”

More cold prickles shoot down my spine. There’s something more to this. “What is the ransom?” My words come out as barely more than a whisper.

He stares at me like he’s not sure about his choice. “Five million.”

“Five million?” I sound shrill. “Is that all? You know he has at least a hundred million, right?” I know because I heard him bragging to a woman about it once.

“He has to bring the money himself.” There’s something terribly sinister about the way Adrian says the words, and I suddenly realize what this is: a trap.

And I’m the bait.

--

I’VE CAPTURED THE CRIME LORD’S DAUGHTER

She will pay the price for her father’s sin.

I’ll use my beautiful prisoner to get him.

To make him suffer. Make him believe I'm hurting her the way he harmed my sister.

And when I’m done tormenting him, I will offer a trade: her life for his.

I owe him a slow, painful death. Revenge is my due.

But Kateryna is strong in ways I didn’t expect.

Broken before I ever got to her, she's a willing participant for my torment.

She turns the tables on me, seducing me with her laughter.

Her wild, crazy appetite for pain and pleasure.

Now I must choose: Keep her and forgo my revenge

or destroy my enemy and the woman I’ve come to love.