Boston Avant-Garde 5: Bellicoso

by Kaitlin Maitland

  “Enough, Desiree,” Nicolai murmured. He gathered her close and gave both Demon and Malachi a look of respect. “This is about more than just your daughter for you both. Yes?”

  Demon gave Nicolai a curt nod, all he was willing to reveal at the moment. He and Malachi had already discussed the best way to opt out of the yards and yards of red tape Lars would have to work around. Jace and Lucas had been staking out the address where they’d been scheduled to take Seraph for the final meeting she’d never attended on the Boston wharf. Malachi had dispatched Owen to that warehouse to see if he could discover where Allie—and now Selena—were being held.

  “Erik, I’m taking my wife back to the estate. You get your ass in your car and follow me,” Nicolai ordered. “We can wait there with your mother where we’re out of the way.”

  “The hell I’m going to leave!” Erik snapped. “I want to know why my sister was abducted by the Yakuza!”

  “Wrong mob,” Lars said. “Seriously, would you please listen to your brother-in-law and back off?”

  “Why?”

  Nicolai grabbed his wife’s hand and gazed at Demon. “You don’t know them, but I do. If they say they’re going to bring Selena and the kid home, they will. But I’m getting out of the way, because they’ll burn the whole city to the ground if they have to.”

  The headmistress was looking ashen. Demon wished he hadn’t brought misery to this woman’s door, but it hadn’t been his intent.

  “You guys can’t do what you’re intending to do,” Lars said.

  “She’s your cousin, Lars,” Malachi said softly. “Do you really want us to step aside and wait for the law to do its thing?”

  Lars’s eyes slid closed briefly. “No. I’ll keep everyone off your tail. I can buy you maybe three hours.”

  Demon turned and strode back out. His bastard cousin had taken the only two things that might induce him and Malachi to level the city. Kun had best be prepared to die.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Selena wrapped her body around Allie’s and tried to keep the girl from shivering to death. They had to be close to the harbor. She could smell the salt and fish in the damp, clammy air. At least Blondie had taken the ties off their hands and the bags off their heads.

  After the scene in Selena’s dorm she and Allie had been immediately herded out of the school and into the back of an SUV with their hands zip tied and paper sacks over their heads. The whole ride Kun had yapped loudly in whatever language he spoke. She hadn’t understood a word, but she’d gotten the tone. He was pissed. Probably because they’d had to leave Scarface behind, thanks to Allie.

  “Are we going to suffocate in here?” Allie whispered.

  Selena cuddled her close and prayed she wasn’t telling a lie. “There’s lots of air in these containers. Besides, I think we’d be worthless to them if we died.”

  “That guy Kun was talking to Dee’s Uncle Han on the drive here.”

  Selena marveled at just how clever Allie was. Would Selena have been able to handle this kind of thing at thirteen? “What language is he speaking?”

  “Cantonese.”

  “And you speak it?”

  “So can Daddy, although not as good as I can. Dee taught me when I was little.” She sounded near tears. “How are they going to find us?”

  “I don’t know, baby, but I promise they will.”

  Selena had replayed the daydream of the container door swinging open to reveal Demon and Malachi so many times she’d even perfected the ending where they both forgave her for walking out on them and said I love you just as soon as she admitted she’d fallen head over heels for both of them and their beautiful baby girl.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and imagined them both, not as she’d last seen them the morning she’d walked away, but during those stolen moments when she had watched them while they were sleeping—Malachi with a fall of silky, dark hair framing his bold features, and Demon with his understated exotic beauty. She wanted to fall asleep between them every night. Curl up with her back to Demon’s rippling chest and bask in his soothing aura while she snuggled up to Malachi’s broad-shouldered warmth. Demon, the stolid, impassive protector, and Malachi, the silver-tongued badass with a teddy-bear center.

  They were a perfect blend, but she knew how to make them even better for each other and for her. Selena longed to be their sunshine. The one who tugged them from their hard shells and made them laugh. She wanted to teach them to cuddle. Not just with her but with each other, and with Allie too. She wanted to layer their lives with bright moments, maybe inject some pink into their gray lives to make Allie shine all the brighter.

  “Thank you for not leaving me, Selena.” Allie’s teeth chattered.

  Selena stretched her cotton hoodie tighter around them both. She’d already given Allie the sweater she’d managed to snag, but they were both in thin flannel pajama bottoms and baby tees with their fuzzy slippers. It wasn’t exactly a good clothing choice for one of Boston’s brutal nights.

  “I would never leave you, baby. Not just because I love Demon and your dad, either. You’re an incredible kid, and I love you too.”

  “You love Dee and Daddy?”

  “Sweetie, I’m so far gone for those two, it’s scary.”

  Allie nestled even closer, if that were possible. “Then we’ve got to get out of here. I have to apologize to them for thinking they screwed it up.”

  Selena bit back her chuckle as the door swung open. Unfortunately it wasn’t one of her daydreams on the other side. Kun stepped into the container, bringing a whiff of Boston’s nasty harbor smell with him.

  “Got a nice buyer for you, pretty Alisa,” Kun said. “He likes little girls.”

  Selena refused to respond. She kept telling herself Kun’s buyer wasn’t going to get a chance at Allie. If he was anywhere near the neighborhood when Demon and Malachi showed up, they’d send his ass to hell.

  If Allie doesn’t do it herself.

  “Let’s go, little girl.” Kun nudged them with the toe of his boot. “Your new owner said to get you ready. I think he’s going to have a taste on the flight back home.”

  Allie stiffened, and Selena struggled with the need to retch at the idea of some sicko child pervert laying his hands on her charge. She inhaled deeply through her nose, trying to force her brain to think past her flight response. She needed to fight. Not with her fists, but with her brain.

  Keeping Allie tucked in close, Selena scrambled to her feet. Her toes felt numb in her flimsy slippers. Considering her smaller frame, Allie had to be even worse off.

  “Hurry up, teacher lady,” Kun snapped. “I’m going to toss you in with the next shipment of goods headed to a brothel in Bangkok. They pay good money for blondes, you know. Very valuable.” He reached for her hair, and Selena flinched away.

  She and Allie walked out of their container prison into the freezing embrace of the warehouse. With her head covered, Selena hadn’t had a chance to see anything of their destination. Now she noted the floor-to-ceiling shipping containers that dominated half of the large space. A lane just big enough for a man to walk through separated each stack. The container she and Allie had been occupying was a lone island, and the only one not part of a larger stack. Selena tried not to imagine the remainder of the crates filled with people waiting to be sold like cheap knockoff jeans.

  Once they’d left their temporary prison, there was no place to go. About half a dozen men lounged across two sofas arranged randomly in the middle of the empty portion of the warehouse. They could have been dropped from the sky, castoffs from some thrift-store reject sale. The men were reproductions of Blondie and Scarface, all Asian, rough-looking, lean, and crabby.

  “Clean her up, teacher lady.” Kun gestured to a makeup station to the left of the sofas that looked even more out of place, if that were possible. The bright bulb lights surrounding the mirror were almost grotesque in the pale, washed-out warehouse interior. “You make her shiny for the new owner, I’ll get you food. Got i
t?”

  Not knowing what else to do, Selena led Allie toward the little stool in front of the counter. Allie perched uneasily on the plastic seat and gazed up at Selena as if trying to decipher what they were supposed to do next. Selena sent a fervent plea to whatever deity might be listening in hopes that they could speed up the timetable on Demon and Malachi’s rescue operation. She knew in her heart they were coming. She just needed more time.

  What would buy me time?

  It hit her all at once. These jackasses didn’t know who she was. They didn’t have any idea how much money her family could potentially pay for her return. Not that she ever intended to give them one red cent, but they didn’t know that. The trick would be to get them to think it up all on their own. If she could keep these assholes confused and busy, it would give Demon and Malachi the time they needed.

  Selena exhaled slowly and gazed at the hairbrush on the counter that had who knows what kind of nasties stuck in the bristles. It was time to pull out her princess persona and let them have a taste of the society bitch. She placed a hand on Allie’s shoulder to gain her attention. “No matter what happens, keep your mouth closed. Understand?”

  Allie’s gray eyes widened to the size of hubcaps, but she nodded.

  Selena put her nose in the air, threw her shoulders back, and gave Kun her best rich-girl stare down. “If you think I’m going to touch any of this stuff, you’re dumber than you are ugly.”

  Kun had been headed back over to his cronies. Now he swung around and acted as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “You do what I say or you don’t eat.”

  She propped her hand on her hip and sneered. “Oh please, as if whatever you have to eat is something I’d touch anyway. I have standards, you know. And this” —she gestured to the room at large—“is so far beneath me, I feel like I need to wrap myself in plastic just to keep from getting a disease.”

  “Bitch, you crazy?” Kun took a step closer. He looked as amused as he was pissed off. “What did you expect? The Ritz?”

  “As if an Aasen stays anywhere else? You abducted me from my room at gunpoint and don’t even have the class to provide decent accommodations! What kind of kidnapper are you? Other than an ignorant one?”

  “Aasen? What the hell is an Aasen?” He waved a hand at Blondie. “Google that shit, will you?”

  Perfect. They were buying into her routine all on their own. As long as she didn’t lose her nerve. Her heart was pounding like a freight train. “Oh. My. God. You don’t even know who you kidnapped? What are you? Retarded? Did your mother drop you on your head at birth?”

  That one hit a nerve. Selena swallowed hard and struggled to keep her bored princess facade firmly in place as Kun’s expression went from mild to hot in a split second.

  “Hey, hey, boss! Look at this!” Blondie interrupted at the perfect moment.

  “What?” Kun demanded without taking his angry gaze from Selena.

  It was possible Blondie had peed his pants from excitement. “She’s an heiress, boss! Look! She got like, billions! Maybe more!”

  “Call the buyer, tell him he got to wait,” Kun said. “We got a bigger fish now. Do her first, then the kid. Way more money. Good business!”

  Blondie hopped up and poked at the display of his phone, which Kun’s flunkies were now all crowded around. “She likes the kid, maybe she make her family pay even more for her.”

  Kun’s face settled into a smile of self-satisfaction. “I’ll go call my father and give him the good news.”

  Selena exhaled in quiet relief. It had gone better than she could have imagined. Now they just had to sit tight and wait for the cavalry.

  MALACHI EASED HIS broad shoulders through the narrow passage between the containers as he followed Demon’s lead. Selena’s tantrum had provided an excellent diversion. While she put on her convincing performance, they’d entered the warehouse through an upper-level window. He might have believed her charade himself had he not seen her quiet sigh of relief when Kun’s blond buddy had started expostulating on how they could get the Aasens to fork over extra cash for Allie too.

  The rapport between Allie and Selena was a tangible thing. It left Malachi feeling warm and buoyant. There was nothing they couldn’t conquer if it meant Selena was willing to become a permanent part of their lives once all this bullshit was out of the way. They just had to get rid of six goons and Demon’s psychotic cousin.

  Malachi nudged his partner before making his right hand into a pistol shape and mimicking a bang-bang motion. He wanted to know what kind of weapons they were dealing with. Kun and friends they could handle. Add a few assault rifles or even a sword, and it would change their approach.

  Demon flattened his body against the containers bracketing their position in order to gain a fuller perspective. He stiffened and grabbed Malachi’s forearm to focus his attention.

  Leaning slightly forward over Demon’s shoulder, Malachi spotted a guan dao and several practice swords on a rack beside what looked to be a sparring area. The swords were annoyances, but the guan dao was a weapon Malachi could have done without. The traditional Chinese polearm was a six-foot-long staff with a heavy, curved blade attached to one end. Not a lot of fun to deal with.

  Kun’s men had broken into a spate of rapid Cantonese, most of which was garbled to Malachi. The language was tricky as hell when you were dealing with a bunch of gutter trash using their version of American ghetto. He managed to get the gist of their chatter, most of it revolving around the cuts they might get from Selena’s ransom.

  Demon and Malachi were running out of time. Malachi could see his little girl sitting like a statue before the mirror. Her eyes were wide and frightened, and her skin was pale. She shouldn’t have to deal with this crap.

  Demon turned his head and met Malachi’s gaze. He held up three fingers to indicate Kun and the two guys who’d broken off from the other bunch in order to discuss their new plans. Then he pointed to himself. Next he held up four fingers to represent the other opponents now jostling each other like obnoxious teenagers.

  Malachi nodded. He’d happily bash in a few heads as long as one thing was clear. “Allie,” he murmured, indicating himself.

  It wasn’t that Malachi had no concerns about Selena. He did. He simply itched to wrap his arms around his baby girl and get her as far away from danger as possible. Demon would protect Selena, even if it came to battling Kun for her safety.

  Demon jerked his chin once and then cast his gaze upward before leaping into the air. He wedged his body between the corrugated metal walls and climbed out of sight. Malachi sighed. Experience told him he’d need to wait less than thirty or forty-five seconds before Demon strolled onto the scene and things got messy.

  Easing a little closer to the edge of his cover, Malachi peered out at Selena and Allie. Selena looked utterly composed until he noted how determined she was to keep Allie close. Her blonde hair was disheveled. She’d haphazardly twisted the length into a loose bun, and several tendrils hung loose in her face. Her delicate peaches-and-cream complexion was smooth, but there was a hint of worry in her green eyes. She had to have known they’d come for Allie, but surely she knew they’d come for her too?

  “Hello, cousin.” Demon’s quiet voice came from the opposite corner of the room, suggesting he’d leaped from stack to stack and covered a lot of ground.

  Still under cover, Malachi waited. When every last eye in the room was focused on Demon’s casual entrance, he slipped toward Allie and Selena’s position. They were less than twenty feet away. It felt like miles.

  Kun gave Demon a look of such loathing Malachi felt the sting from sixty feet away. “Seraph told us you died with her brother and father. You look healthy for a ghost.”

  Although it was likely Seraph had her own selfish reasons for keeping Demon’s existence in Boston a secret from Uncle Han, she’d done them a huge favor.

  Demon spread his hands. “You can see I’m perfectly healthy.”

  “A condition I in
tend to change.” Kun ran, not at Demon, but toward the weapons rack.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Selena’s pulse was pounding so quickly she couldn’t catch her breath. Seeing Demon walk boldly into the warehouse from God knows where had been almost surreal. For five seconds she’d thought she was hallucinating or having another daydream. Then Kun made a dash for a weapon with Blondie and another guy hot on his heels, and her heart nearly stopped.

  Get a sword, or that spear thingy! Get something! Please don’t die. Please!

  Allie’s little fingers were digging into her arm, and Selena pulled the girl to her feet. Everyone in the room was focused on Demon. Selena and Allie had to use this moment to escape.

  Where the hell is Malachi?

  She turned to flee and found her face pressed against a familiar chest. She looked up, and Malachi grinned, the heat in his slate gaze warming her all the way to her toes. He looked like an avenging angel in his black T-shirt and dark cargos. She missed the soft Henley and sexy leather pants, but at the moment it didn’t matter what he wore. He was a welcome sight.

  Allie made a tiny noise when she saw her father. It was barely a squeak, but it drew the attention of the four men standing closest. They shook themselves away from the drama going on across the room.

  All four of them rushed Malachi like a pack of rabid dogs. Selena gasped and pulled Allie out of the line of fire just as Malachi used a powerful leg to kick one of them so hard he flipped ass over teakettle.

  If her big lover was incredible in bed, he was equally so in a fight. He moved with unparalleled grace for a man his size. Kun’s flunkies screamed and shouted obscenities while making bizarre expressions and attacking like something from a kung fu film. Malachi never batted an eye, remaining unfazed as he blocked their punches and rebuffed their kicks.

  With one big hand he managed to snag a smaller opponent and trap him underneath one arm. Malachi used him as a shield while the other three advanced. Malachi flung his captive, knocking the other three down like bowling pins.