by Brook Wilder
My sobs echo back to me off the stone walls. He’s never going to find me in time if he finds me at all. I rest my forehead on my knees in the cold, dank basement, and pray whenever Francesco and his men come back, I’ll be strong enough to keep fighting.
Chapter 20
Danya
“Here, drink this.”
“I’m fine,” I mutter without looking up at Lukas.
“You’ve been sitting in the same position for the last three hours. Drink the fucking coffee, Danya.”
I lower my hand from my forehead and grudgingly take the mug. “Thanks.”
He nods in reply then stalks away. “No news on Bennet yet. The fucker’s just disappeared.”
The coffee I just drank settles heavily in my stomach, and I can’t bring myself to drink the rest. It’s half-past eight in the morning. Stella’s been gone from my arms too damn long. In Lukas’ search for Jack, he sent men to the journalist’s apartment. What they found made me tear apart the house in my madness. Jack’s working for the fucking twins. He has an entire wall dedicated to the Ivanov family. It didn’t take long for Lukas to find messages going back and forth between Jack and someone calling himself AA. My goddamn, traitorous brothers. Him talking to Stella was a setup from the beginning. He knew exactly how to get to her because the twins watched her and me so closely and I hadn’t even realized it. The second we find Jack, I’m going to enjoy cutting him to pieces and tossing his body into the harbor where no one will ever find him.
If we find him. I glare into the depths of the black coffee then, with a shout, chuck it across the room. I’m on my feet and pacing like a caged animal.
“Aleksandr. Any word on him?” I demand, not slowing.
“None. Or his wife.”
“Get my fucking mother on the phone.”
Lukas frowns. “You think she has something to do with this?”
“Jack was working for the twins,” I say stiffly. “Something tells me she knew. Get her on the phone now.”
Lukas looks as if he wants to argue, but he says he’ll have one of the men get her on the line. He’s reached the door of my study when the doorbell rings. His hand immediately goes to his gun and I pause, waiting. Lukas presses his finger to his ear then turns to me.
“You have a visitor.”
“Who?”
“Elena De Luca.”
What the hell is Aleksandr’s wife doing here? “Bring her to me.”
I stay right where I am in the center of my study as Lukas relays the order. Then he steps to the side, flanking me. It only takes a few seconds for Elena and two of my men to appear at the end of the hall. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days and wrings her hands as she approaches. She gulps when my men block her in and she’s forced to face me.
“Why are you here?” I snap.
“I, uh, I have some news for you about your wife.”
I cross my arms to remind myself this woman might not have chosen to marry my brother, and she’s pregnant. She’s not someone I can interrogate, not the way I’m used to. “If you have information, then I suggest you tell me right now.”
“Just please,” she whispers, “I’m coming to you out of good faith. I can’t live with myself if I let him hurt her.”
“Who, dammit?” I shout, and she flinches away.
“Francesco,” she replies. “He took her to Francesco.”
“Why should I fucking believe you?”
She hugs herself, shaking her head. “I didn’t want this,” she tells me quietly. “I didn’t want to be married to that monster, but we found out I was pregnant, and Francesco said I had no choice, especially after that damn will was read.” She lifts her head, and she’s gone so pale I worry she’s going to pass out. “It was all a fucking setup. All of it. I wouldn’t normally get involved, but Stella is pregnant, and I know my father.” She squares her shoulders as she says, “I know what he’ll do to her to get information. To get to you.”
“He kidnapped her to get to me.”
“He wants you out of the way. They all do, but you, you actually care about Stella, don’t you?”
“I do,” I say without hesitation.
“She’s being held at my father’s mansion outside the city,” she explains. “That’s where he took her.”
“He being Jack Bennet?” I ask for clarification.
Elena’s face twists in disgust. “He’s the one Aleksandr cares about, not me. He’s the one who falls into my husband’s bed. Who plots with him at night. I’m just his property, but Jack is who he loves.”
I’m shocked into silence at the revelation that not only are the twins working with Jack, but that my brother is his lover. As if this shit show couldn’t get any more complicated. I study Elena, willing myself to be thorough before I rush over to Francesco’s house and barge in to find Stella. She could be lying. All of this could be part of the setup to get me and Stella killed.
“I need proof.”
Elena frowns. “I can’t give you that, but she’s there, all right? The longer you stand here arguing with me, the more time he has with her. Is that what you want? Your brothers have no respect for the old ways, or any ways, and my moronic father is more than happy to watch them tear a bloody path through the city.”
“Brother,” I correct.
“What?”
I glance at Lukas and he shrugs. There’s really no good way out of this situation, not anymore. “Andrei is dead.”
“Where’s Camilla?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
Elena yells at me, demanding to know where her sister is, and Lukas steps forward to stop her from reaching me. She only shuts up when my cell vibrates on the desk behind me. I hurry to grab it. It’s from a number I don’t recognize, but when I open the message, all I see is red.
“Danya?” Lukas asks.
I can’t answer as I scroll the pictures, each one worse than the first. A man’s hand holds Stella’s face toward the camera. Her lip is split and there are cuts on her cheeks. Bruises are already forming around her eyes and her neck. In the next photo, she looks like she’s screaming at whoever’s taking the picture. Lukas curses as he peers over my shoulder to see.
When the next message comes in, it’s not a photo but a video. My finger hesitates over the play button, but then I hit it. It’s like someone’s squeezing a vise around my chest and my heart pounds with growing rage. There’s no one speaking, but a man is holding Stella with a knife to her throat. She’s on her knees in some dimly lit room. She struggles, but the knife digs in and she’s forced to stop. I grip my phone tighter as the man’s hand trails down her body and rips her shirt open. He drags the knife along her exposed skin as he yanks her head back by her hair. Two more men move into view of the video, then the feed cuts off just as Stella screams.
I’m moving before I even realize it, aiming for the front door. Lukas barks orders without me having to say a fucking word. I don’t know how old that video is, but she’s alive. I won’t let myself think of her as any other way than alive.
“Let me drive,” Lukas says when we reach my jeep. “You want to get there in one piece.”
I don’t argue and climb into the passenger side. He speeds away from the house, a line of vehicles falling in behind us. I’ll kill every last man who touches Stella but not before making them wish they’d never been born. I’ll ensure they can never call themselves men again. I check my pistol as Lukas drives out toward the outskirts of the city.
“Extra ammo and weapons are coming,” Lukas informs me. “How do you want to do this?”
All I keep hearing is Stella’s scream and seeing the fear in her eyes. I grip my gun hard and picture putting a bullet in Francesco’s head, followed by Jack’s.
“Danya,” Lukas snaps firmly. “We need a plan. Don’t lose it yet. She needs you to stay clearheaded. Plan. How do you want to do this?”
I force myself to look past Stella and focus on the room she was in. “Basement.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, I do. If they hear us coming, they’ll kill her. We have to sneak in quietly. No mistakes, Lukas. None.” She was already so beaten up. Fuck, and the baby. What if she loses the baby?” I erupt in furious shouts as I bash my fist on the dash. She’s alive, and the baby’s fine. I won’t be too late.
Chapter 21
Danya
I grip the man’s head in my hands and wrench his head to the side. The audible breaking of his neck doesn’t do much to satisfy the bloodlust coursing through me. I carefully follow his body to the floor and lay it down. Lukas nods beside me and motions our men forward.
The five men guarding the mansion outside were easy enough to take care of with silencers. We knocked out the security feeds but didn’t cut power to the house. We’ve cleared the front entry and the living room. I send two men upstairs to check for more guards as Lukas follows me deeper into the house. There are doors everywhere, and I quietly curse Francesco for bringing Stella here. Lukas rushes forward when a shadow appears in the hall to our right. He takes out the guard, barely managing to stifle his yell.
There are only two more doors to try, but when a scream echoes from beneath our feet, we don’t have to bother checking them both. Stella’s scream comes again then is abruptly cut off. A man’s yelling downstairs and doing who knows what else to her. I rush to the door and quietly turn the knob, pull it open, and peer down a set of stairs.
“Get her up,” Francesco snaps from below. Shadows shift along the floor.
When the sound of a harsh smack reaches my ears, I nearly run down there, but Lukas grabs my shoulder. We still have the element of surprise. If I run in there now, we’ll lose it. He motions me back from the door then clears his throat.
“Got trouble up here,” he yells down the stairs, his voice gruff and deeper than normal.
“Deal with it,” Francesco snaps. “Now. We have work to do.”
“Danya!” Stella screams, and when she yelps from being hit again, I grind my teeth and remind myself that every man down there is going to die very, very soon.
“You can scream for him all you like,” Francesco tells her through his cackling. “He won’t make it in time.”
Two sets of steps sound on the stairs. The moment they’re clear of the doorway, Lukas grabs one and I the other, slamming the basement door shut behind them. They struggle to get our hands off their mouths, but I break the man’s neck in my grip. Lukas stabs the other in the chest and we drop their lifeless bodies to the floor. With pistols in hand, Lukas reaches for the door.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod, and he opens it. I take my time going downstairs. I can just make out two men and Francesco, but the rest of the basement appears to be empty.
“Get the chains,” Francesco snaps, and Stella curses him out. “Time to have some real fun.”
The sound of metal being dragged across the floor rankles my nerves and I can’t wait another second. I charge down and aim my gun at Francesco as Lukas turns to the other men. One of them has Stella by the throat, a knife held against her side. The other has a gun aimed right back at me.
“Well now,” Francesco says, not seeming worried at all, “you came after all.”
“Let her go and I’ll let your death be a quick one,” I say as my eyes flick to Stella. Blood covers her face. Her hair’s matted with it, and her clothes are torn in various places, exposing her body. Her green eyes lock onto my gaze and I mentally breathe a sigh of relief to see there’s still some fight left in her. “You all right, Stella?”
“Peachy,” she mutters.
The man holding her braces as if ready to stab her. Francesco’s smirking like the fool he is, as if he’s not going to wind up dead in the next five seconds. “You know, if you kill me, you’re going to have hell to pay.”
“The way I see it, you kidnapped my wife and tortured her.”
“She’s a traitor. Everyone knows that. I’ll be celebrated by both sides of the family,” he says with a shrug. “Really, Danya, you can do better. I have a niece who is quite fetching.”
“You know what I’ve decided?” I say quietly and keep my gaze locked on Stella. “I’ve decided I’m finished with everyone telling me who I should be with or what I can do. It’s my life, isn’t it? Not yours, not my mother’s, and not my father’s. My life. You all just keep getting in the way of that fact.”
Francesco shifts, his frown giving away his uncertainty at my words. “I always liked you over your brothers,” he says, but I’ve heard enough.
I lower my gun and the old idiot smiles like he’s winning me over. I take my gaze away from Stella just long enough to subtly nod to Lukas. He turns his feet an inch and then we raise our weapons. Time seems to slow as he aims his weapon at Francesco and I pull the trigger twice, striking the men holding my Stella. Their heads fly back from the hits and they crumple to the floor, dead at her feet. She flinches, then blinks at me in disbelief. I holster my gun at my back and rush forward to catch her when she falters.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, hugging her trembling body. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
She clings to my T-shirt, but she’s not crying. When she lifts her head, the woman staring back at me is not the same one I saw just last night. “I didn’t break,” she whispers. “I didn’t.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I murmur and kiss her forehead, heart racing so fast from the adrenaline pumping through my veins, it’s a wonder I don’t pass out. I keep a firm arm around her waist and guide her to the stairs. I glance at her front and stop, remove my shirt, and help her tug it on over her ripped one. I can’t tell how hurt she is, but it’s the mental damage I’m worried about more. “I know. I’m taking you home.”
She doesn’t move and for a horrible second, I wait for her to tell me off. Then she squeezes my hand and bobs her head. “Home.”
We draw even with Francesco, being held at gunpoint by Lukas, when the bastard starts laughing. “You’ll never be safe, either of you.”
“Whatever you did to my wife, I’m going to do to you ten times over,” I promise him, happy to see the color drain from his face. “No one will find you. No one will ever know what became of you. I will break you, and then I’ll do it all over again until you give me every last bit of information you can on this fucking plan of yours.”
Sweat breaks out on his forehead in a fine sheen. “They’ll know it was you,” he says, but there’s no confidence in his voice. “They’ll come after you. Both of you.” He scoffs then adds, “Too bad you weren’t just a bit later. We might’ve had a fine time down here with your wife. She’s quite the looker, despite the blood running through her veins.”
Stella stiffens against my side, then ever so slowly turns to face Francesco. “Fuck you.”
Francesco laughs louder. “Any time, sweetheart.”
I try to get Stella to move, but she refuses to budge. Suddenly, she reaches behind me and the next thing I see is her aiming my pistol at Francesco. She pulls the trigger as she screams, not stopping until the gun clicks empty. Francesco’s bullet-riddled body staggers into the wall then slides down, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
Lukas lowers his weapon and curses.
“Stella, honey, give me the gun,” I say firmly as I reach for her shaking hand. “Just give me the gun.”
She sucks in a breath like she can breathe again and lets me take it. “Danya.”
“It’s all right,” I assure her, not sure I believe what she just did. “He’s dead. He can’t hurt you anymore. None of them can.”
I help her up the stairs then through the house. We step around the bodies of Francesco’s fallen men, but Stella doesn’t even blink. Her gaze is far away, and her skin is cold and clammy. I want to get her to the jeep before she passes out. Then her face screws up and she slumps into my side.
“Danya,” she gasps, then lets out a whine like a wounded animal. “It hurts.”
“What does?” I check her over for wounds,
but aside from what looks like a bullet grazing her calf and the other small cuts, I can’t find anything major. “Talk to me, honey.” She bites her lip and her body shudders as she doubles over. When her hands close around her middle, my stomach drops. “Shit.”
The baby. Please, God, don’t let her be losing the baby.
I scoop her into my arms as Lukas leads the way to the SUV one of our men has brought closer. He climbs behind the wheel as I set Stella in the back seat with me. Tires squeal as we race away from the mansion, heading for the family hospital. Stella squeezes my hand as she sobs.
