Nikolai knew someone had gotten their filthy hands on you. Despite his best efforts to keep you safe and somewhat of a secret to the other people who worked in his line of business, it seemed he might've dropped the ball somewhere.
It took him a while to find you, running into dead ends over and over again for days in a row. As time went by, a sense of anxiety was starting to settle in the pit of his stomach, something he wasn't quite accustomed to and didn't think he'd ever experience again after that incident that had occurred when he was around 15 years old.
He got to you eventually after a reliable resource had sent him on the right track. Getting there wasn't too difficult, but Nikolai found himself irritated with the large number of guards that were roaming around. It wasn't because he couldn't handle being stealthy now and then; it was just that his patience was running low and he couldn't stop thinking about how you might be dead by now.
"Fools," Nikolai muttered under his breath, sniping a guard from afar, "so many guards, and are they doing their jobs? They are not." He silently shook his head. "Amateurs."
It didn't take him too long to deal with the guards. Nikolai wondered if these men and women had ever received any training, or if they'd just been there to scare people away. Regardless, they didn't get in his way too much, merely slowing him down a bit.
After searching the — now seemingly empty — building twice, he finally gained access to what seemed to be a laboratory. "You better not be infected, Y/N," Nikolai grumbled as he entered the lab and started searching the rooms. Nobody appeared to be present here either, causing him to wonder if this could be a trap. As always, he proceeded with caution, checking room after room, growing increasingly impatient until he finally stumbled upon you.
You were lying on the floor of what looked like a hospital room, wearing nothing but some underwear. Your back was facing towards him and he could see your wrist was chained to a metal pipe that was sticking out of the wall.
As he slowly approached you, he realized you were injured. You weren't moving and some blood surrounded your body; blood of which he wasn't sure it was yours or somebody else's until he noticed the deep gash on your forehead that was still bleeding a bit.
Panic seized him as he carefully placed you on your back to check if you were still breathing.
You were, but that was the only positive thing he could find at that moment, as he now got a full view of what had been done to you. They hadn't just given you a head injury. He could see similar gashes on your right upper arm, bruising around your neck, and several small burn marks on your thighs.
Gently he placed a hand on your shoulder, softly calling your name. He shook you a little bit, hoping to wake you up. It seemed to be working, as you opened your eyes and glanced around, not understanding what was going on or where you were.
"Y/N, can you hear me?" Nikolai caressed your cheek with the back of his hand. "I'm so sorry, kroshka," he muttered under his breath, "what have they done to you?"
The sudden sensation of Nikolai's hand on your face filled you with a sense of panic, memories of being beaten suddenly flooding back to you in the blink of an eye. "Get the fuck away from me!" you attempted to scream. You tried to lift your hand to slap him away from you, causing you to gasp in pain. "I have nothing to fucking tell you!" Your voice sounded weak and raspy, you were struggling to get the words out of your mouth.
"Shhh, kroshka, it's just me, nobody is going to hurt you again, I promise," Nikolai whispered, sounding uncharacteristically tender. "Look at me, Y/N, just look at me."
Confused, you tried to focus on the face hovering in front of you. You knew you recognized it, but something inside you was telling you you were still in danger. "No, just... Please just go away, I don't have anything to tell you."
