Francisco opened his mouth to say something, but Ricardo stopped him. “I think we should call it a day.”
Nikolay laughed menacingly. “You kidnapped what’s ours and you want to just peacefully to call it a day?”
“Ours?” Francisco asked quietly, menacingly. “Like you’re sharing her?”
He made a choking noise and took a step forward, but Roberto stopped him.
“Catalina. Tell them to let us go,” Roberto said.
What did he expect me to do? Was I supposed to say yes because Francisco claimed he was my father? But … Roberto was here, and I didn’t want him to get hurt.
Nikolay scoffed, but Damien looked back at me, his eyes curious.
I nodded. He frowned.
Roberto continued. “Let us go, and we’ll call off the men. Catalina can safely go home with you. Do you really want to risk her life?”
“Damien, we can fucking take them. We have men around the building,” Nikolay said.
Damien walked over to us. He cupped my cheek. “Okay, pet?”
I nodded.
He turned to Nikolay. “You really want to risk her life?”
I grabbed Damien’s arms. “Let them go, please. Roberto with them, and he’s …” My lips trembled. “He’s the only one who had ever cared for me, loved me while I was living in that house.”
Damien closed his eyes as indecision waged a war on his face. Mikhail was still holding them off with his gun. “What do you want to do?”
I held my breath as silence followed Mikhail’s question.
“Let them go,” Damien said finally.
Nikolay opened his mouth to say something, but Damien placed his hand on Nikolay’s shoulder. “It’s okay. You can take Catalina home while we sort out this mess, okay?”
Nikolay didn’t reply but held me closer to him.
Francisco, Ricardo, and Roberto walked past us out the door. Mikhail kept his gun trained on them, but he didn’t pull the trigger, and I had to hold myself back from reaching for Roberto when our eyes connected.
He took me in before he disappeared from sight, and I turned and buried my face in Nikolay’s chest.
“Shh, it’s okay, princess. I got you. I got you.”
He led me out of the room and up some stairs. It turned out I was in an abandoned warehouse of some sort.
I didn’t pay much attention when Nikolay led me to a waiting car, and then he climbed into the driver’s side. After that, we took off in silence.
I didn’t say anything on the long car ride home, still reeling.
What a mess.