“I don’t care for ultimatums Dane but I can appreciate your...desires. You, however aren’t the only one here who can demand a fucking price. I need something from you too Dane. Shall we call it a show of faith?” Macek’s pale eyes glittered as he walked past us and stopped in front of Nic.
“I want your strength and intelligence Dane, and I want the men who will follow you. Lazar, as former boss brings power in numbers as well and keeps up the appearance of a unified leadership. But I’m afraid I can find no use for his fucking son.” Macek’s eyes glistened threateningly. “Nic led me to believe he’d switched his loyalty to me some time ago and I have no fucking use for a man I can’t trust.” Macek turned to the guard with a nod and I heard Dane’s sudden intake of air. The shot rang fast and loud. Nic screamed out before his head slumped forward, his shoulder bleeding profusely and saturating his shirt.
“I need to know if I can trust you to finish what I have started Dane. You’ve killed stronger men than Nic with your bare hands before,” Macek turned his unnatural eyes to Dane and his lips curled back in a slow and terrifying smile. He swept his hand in a path from Dane to Nic’s bleeding body. “This is my price Dane. The price to keep the girl.”
There was only a moment that the room was held by a stunned silence, but it was time enough. Lazar, stunned and shaken, looked from his bleeding son to where I stood close behind Dane. He watched as I slipped the gun from my own waistband and smoothly tucked it into the back of Dane’s.
Dane
My beautiful fucking girl.
The blood poured from Nic’s shoulder as I felt her slip her gun to me. She’d kept her wits and moved fast, trusting me. Macek was fucking insane but he was right about one thing. I didn’t need a weapon to kill. My hands were more than enough.
“Down!” I roared, throwing myself headlong at the guard. Abby hit the floor and was under the desk. Good fucking girl.
The guard squeezed off a single round into the ceiling as my shoulder took out his knees and he buckled to the ground. A second later his neck was crushed between my thick forearms and his legs thrashed. With a violent jolt and a crunch of bone he went limp, his eyes staring and I was on my feet face to face with fucking Macek, my weapon shoved into the soft flesh of his neck. I kicked the guard’s gun to where Lazar and Nic still sat tied. Macek’s jaw ticked madly and a trickle of sweat beaded his lip.
“Untie them Abby. Get pressure on Nic. Stop the bleeding.” I never took my eyes from Macek.
Abby moved out from under the desk and a minute later she’d cut the zip ties off both men and the huddled girl. The girl’s eyes darted and then she fled, disappearing through the doorway.
Lazar picked up the gun from the floor and stepped up to Macek, frisking him quickly and pocketing his revolver. Then he was back at his son’s side. He handed his jacket to Abby and she folded it, pressing it hard to Nic’s wound. The bleeding had been steady but not pulsing with Nic’s heartbeat. If she could stop the bleeding soon he might still have a chance. Lazar put his hand on his son’s forehead for a moment, then he stood and turned.
“You shoot my son, you fucking goddamn bastard,” Lazar’s steps beat out the words as he approached. He held the dead guard’s gun in his hand, but his arm dangled at his side. He moved slowly like a cat stalking prey, his voice quiet, unnervingly calm. I knew this man. The calmer he appeared, the more deadly he was.
Stopping at his desk, he reached underneath. There was a soft click, the sound of sliding wood and he brought out a large steel hunting knife. He stepped forward slowly, looking only at the knife blade. I stepped back, making room for Lazar to move within an inch of Macek but keeping my gun trained on his chest. This fucking bastard had started a mob war to take over Lazar’s organization and he’d nearly killed this man’s son. My trigger finger ached to blow the fucker’s brains out, but I stood back. This kill was Lazar’s right.
Lazar never took his eyes from his blade until the tip was poised below Macek’s right eye. Then he burned his dark eyes into Macek’s pale frightened ones, his quiet voice belying his rage.
“You fucking shoot my son and try to steal the life I’ve made, you sick shitless bastard. Did you think I’d just kill you… Did you think you could die quietly in my office, like you ever belonged in this fucking room?” Lazar’s voice was nearly a whisper and the sweat ran down Macek’s face, soaking his collar. “No Andrei. No.” He shook his head slowly. “I’m afraid that cannot happen. The men outside these doors are mine. They always were. And you will die in front of them all Andrei. I will take you apart one piece at a time and they will watch as you die. They will know only one man runs this organization and that man is me.” Lazar drew a line down Macek’s face from his eye to his jaw with his knife and I watched the blood bead and run. I turned to see Abby’s white face as she watched us, the pressure of her hands keeping Nic alive. I caught her eyes and the moment between us lengthened and slowed. I could feel the pull in my chest that connected me to her and the air seemed to warm around us. It was the last moment of peace before the room around us erupted.
Abby
A deafening blast threw the doors to the office wide and flames licked up the wooden frame. Smoke billowed in with a terrifying crash of men and gunshots.
“Dane, oh god Dane!” I had lost him in the thick smoke. I leaned down over Nic, trying to protect him. Shouting filled the room and a flurry of bullets flew overhead. Ceiling plaster rained down. I called for Dane again, knowing he’d never hear me over the chaos in the room. The flames from the explosion doubled in seconds. I couldn’t see but I could hear the crash of feet around us. A leg caught me hard in the ribs and I fell over Nic’s body. I couldn’t catch my breath in the smoke but I knew I couldn’t abandon Nic. “Please…Dane…,” I choked out the words.
“Abby,” Dane’s voice was beside me, deep and urgent, flooding me with relief. He took my arm and pulled me to my feet, sheltering me with his body. “Move baby, fast. Head for the doors. Get out, now! I’m right behind you. GO!”
I stumbled for the doorway, past the heat and the flames. I was out and running blindly through the hall coughing, my lungs sucking for air. I could hear Dane’s pounding run and shot a look behind me. He had Nic over his shoulder and was moving fast, his long legs pumping. “Go, go go!” Dane yelled as we headed for the end of the hall. He caught up with me on the turn and led the way down another long hall. We passed a dozen bodies as we ran, turned and ran again. I was breathless when he finally stopped at the bottom of a stairwell and gently put Nic down. He stretched to his full height and turned for me. Dark, huge, powerful. I looked up into his face, my heart pounding in my chest like a caged animal.
“God, Abby,” the words rasped out and then I was in his arms. He crushed my body to his and I wrapped my arms around his huge shoulders. He lifted me off the ground as he kissed me and my hands tangled in his hair. My breasts were pushed up, mounded on top of his rock hard pecs. All I could feel, all I wanted to feel was his lips on mine, his delicious skin on my skin… I wanted us to be safe and far, far away from here.
“I’m so damn sorry Abby,” he kissed me again, stroking the hair back from my eyes. He swallowed hard and leaned his forehead into mine, our lips inches apart. He was breathing fast and hard. “I’m sorry but we’ve got to go back.”
“What happened Dane? The blast and the men. Which side were they on?” Fear twisted in my stomach.
“I saw some faces. Those were our men back there. But I lost Lazar and Macek in the fucking smoke. I have to find them Abby.” His eyes blazed into mine. “This isn’t fucking over until Macek is dead. I owe that to Lazar. And to Nic.”
I looked down at Nic, still unconscious and frighteningly pale. I looked up to Dane. “We can’t leave him here alone.” I hated the idea of staying behind but I knew there was no choice. “I have to stay with him.”
He let me slide down the length of his body to the floor. I felt his heartbeat in his rigid cock as I moved. “This is going to be
over soon Abby. I promise you, my beautiful girl.” He took my face in his warm rough hands and kissed me one last time. “I promise you so much better than all this. I swear I will give you so much more.” His black eyes looked into the deepest part of me and held us both in silence.
“I love you Abby.”
He pressed his gun into my hand and then he was gone.
Dane loved me.
I fell back against the wall and slid down next to Nic. His bleeding had slowed but he was pale. I pressed my bare hands to the wound on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I could feel his heartbeat. It felt fast and faint. I took a long steady breath and let Dane’s words flood through me. I love you Abby, he said. I love you.
Huge and powerful and deadly. I remembered the first time he’d held me in his arms. He’d just killed Arseny and I had been sure he was carrying me off to kill me too. But he’d kept me alive instead. He’d protected me from Cutter and Andrei Macek. Risking everything, he’d saved me. My dangerous black eyed killer.
I remembered the feel of his hard muscled body naked and crushed against mine, the steel strength of his cock stroking me deep. I clenched inside and flooded wet with the memory of coming on his thick length, his heavy balls tightening as he pumped inside me. I thought of his black eyes caressing me and how safe I felt in his arms. I remembered his hands as he bathed me in the woods and I knew. He led a life I could never fully understand even after all the brutal reality I’d seen for myself, but I knew I would share it with him if he wanted me. The feeling spread through me like warmth and light. Like an instinct I was born to, yet only just recognized.
I loved him too.
I’d never felt so excited, so alive, so safe as when I was with him. He led a dangerous life, but he was a dangerous man. My dangerous man. My perfect match.
I took a long slow breath and exhaled, opening my eyes. I felt something deep in my chest, drawing me to him. The further from me he was, the tighter the pull. “I love you too Dane,” I whispered, praying that he could hear me.
I felt Nic shift under my hand. “What, what…I need...” he mumbled faintly, trying to sit up and falling back. “Oh…god…”
“Stay still Nic. You’re wounded. Don’t move, it could start the bleeding again.” I felt warmth seeping between my fingers and I pressed down harder.
“Where’s Dane…and my father?” he asked and coughed. His chest made a rattling sound. I couldn’t help him, he needed a doctor.
“Please just try to rest Nic. Dane’s gone to find him. There was a blast and Macek got away in the confusion. Lazar may have gone after him. Dane will find them both Nic. And then it’ll really be over. Dane said our people have control over the compound now.”
“Our people, Abby?” Nic smiled gently, his eyes glazed with pain.
“I love him Nic.”
“I know Abby. He loves you too.” He shifted with a grimace and his lips made a hard blue line in his white face. “He has for longer than he knows.”
I smiled at Nic and he smiled weakly back. “It’s what I always wanted for him Abby. He needs someone who won’t ever leave. Someone like my Hope, who can love him and accept him for who he is. You need him Abby, I can see it in your eyes. But he needs you too, more than he knows.” He coughed again and a fine spray of blood misted his lips.
“That’s how it is with my wife,” he said so quietly I had to lean close to hear. I watched, holding my breath as his eyelids slackened and dropped. “Tell Hope I love her without end. Tell her to kiss my girls.” He coughed again and I felt the spray of his blood against my cheek. I put my hand on his cold forehead and my tears ran down, mixing with his blood.
“Please don’t do this.” I took his face in my hands. “You need to live Nic. You need to tell her yourself. She can’t lose you.” I sobbed as he struggled for breath in my hands. “It can’t just end like this.”
“That’s it,” his voice was no more than a whisper. “It doesn’t end at all. I take her with me…in my heart and I stay alive in hers. Love Dane like that Abby, the way my wife…loves me. Be his Hope, Abby…” He coughed weakly and blood ran thick from his mouth.
I listened as the last of his breath emptied from his lungs and he fell still. I brushed the hair from his forehead and cleaned the blood from his face gently with the sleeve of my sweater. “I will Nic,” I whispered as the tears ran silently down my face. “I promise.”
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall behind me. An eternity later I opened them and focused on the weapon lying next to Nic’s body. Dane was out there, the man I loved, hunting an armed and deadly man.
And he’d given his gun to me.
Abby
I stood slowly and looked down at Nic. He was so pale and so still, the only brightness was the blood on his face and the dark stain soaking his shirt. I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve and I thought of his wife, his daughters. I’d never even seen them but my heart ached with their loss. They didn’t even know he was gone…
A fresh wave of grief washed over me and I blinked back more tears. I couldn’t help Nic anymore and I couldn’t help his family. I stood up straight and leveled my shoulders. But Dane was out there and I loved him. I picked up the gun he’d given me. I was going to find him.
I tucked the gun into my waistband, its coldness against my belly. I only knew the direction Dane had headed. I had no idea where to look for him or where Macek and Lazar might be. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed or who I might find first. I only knew I had to try. It’s what Dane would do for me.
I kept close to the wall as I moved as silently as possible. The compound felt enormous as I crept down the hallway. My footsteps were silent but my heartbeat seemed to echo off the walls. I reached the end of the hall and looked at the stairs leading upward. I thought about the room Cutter had locked me in and pulled out my gun. I knew that room was on the west side of the compound and my thoughts started to fly. It had felt evil in there, so unlike every other room I’d seen.
Lazar’s office was classic, even beautiful. The halls leading to it had been light, the walls hung with the work of master painters. There was no way the Red Room was part of Lazar’s world. It belonged to Macek. I started to move faster as I put the pieces together, something inside me leading the way. Dane and Lazar would look for him in the west wing, knowing Macek would head for his part of the compound on instinct alone.
I climbed the stairs with my heart in my throat. I was breathing hard and it took effort to stay quiet. I gripped the gun tightly in my damp hand and thought of how much Nic had loved his wife Hope…and perhaps how much he loved her still. I trusted my heart would take me to Dane.
I reached a landing with doors leading into a hall beyond. A man was dead beside them with an ugly wound across his neck. I thought about the knife Lazar had taken from his desk and I stepped over the body. The smell in the air sent a shudder through me and told me I was heading in the right direction. I pushed slowly through the door, leading with my gun. “I love you Dane,” I whispered as I moved in inches. “Where are you?”
“Abby.” I heard my name whispered back. Powerful hands took me by the wrist, pulling me through the doorway and I was captured. Dane crushed me to his chest and silenced us both with his mouth on mine. My heart pounded against his as he ran his hands over me, molding my body to his. His hands moved, taking in all of me. I felt dizzy with his warmth and I leaned my head into his chest. “Are you okay Abby?” He lifted my face to his and kissed me hard. “It feels so fucking good to hold you.” He pulled me into his arms and then I saw Lazar standing behind him. “Why did you leave Nic?” Dane’s voice was soft in my ear. Lazar was watching my face and I could tell he knew from the look in his eyes.
“Oh, Dane, I’m so sorry.” I put my hand up to his face, hating what I had to say. “I was with him… I’m so sorry.” I saw his eyes blacken, the muscles working along his jaw. “He’s gone Dane.” A sob caught in my throat. “He died in the stairwell, thinking of you and
his father…and Hope.”
Dane stiffened against me. I looked up to his face, dark with rage as he towered over me. He pulled me into his arms and held me as I listened to the pounding in his chest.
“You did all anyone could do for him Abby. And he wasn’t alone.” He took my face in his warm hands and wiped my tears with his thumbs.
“I couldn’t help him anymore Dane, and I had to find you. You left your gun with me and I had to find you.”
He kissed me hard, the tension in his body making him feel like granite against me. “We found Macek and we have men with us.” Dane let go of me and turned to Lazar. “The bastard is finished.”
Dane
My guts wrenched at the sight of Lazar’s face. Nic had been his only son.
Fucking Macek had shot him because I had demanded Abby. He had wanted me to prove my loyalty by finishing off a man I’d considered my brother and so he’d wounded him, expecting me to finish the job. I looked at the rage and grief in Lazar’s eyes. I felt sick inside.
“Dane,” Lazar’s voice was quiet but steady. He put his strong hand on my shoulder. “This was Macek, not you. This was not your fault, son. Nic would have taken the same risk to save Hope. The same choice I would make for my Sophia.” Lazar looked at Abby and back to me. “This was all Macek, Dane. And it’s fucking time he paid. For everything.”
My Beautiful Killer: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance Page 11
