Audra ignored him, her gaze remaining focused on Sarah. “But don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough. It’s also the knife I used to kill your brother with. Convenient, isn’t it?”
Sarah ignored the burning in her arm. “What? You killed Robbie?”
Benas cut in. “Let’s go, Audra. She can’t help us. If they broke up, she has no clout with Rinaldi.”
Now the woman looked at her cousin. “No, we take her with us. Roman will meet with us, or we’ll send her back to him in pieces.”
Sarah knew she had to run. This psychopath had killed Robbie and wouldn’t hesitate to kill her too. She took off down the alley but Benas’ arm wrapped around her waist and dragged her back. A dirty white cloth slammed over her face. Sarah fought against breathing in the sharp stink of the chemical lacing the rag, but couldn’t and chemicals washed over her. She fought to stay awake but her eyes dragged closed. As the world faded to black, all she could hear was Audra’s maniacal laughter.
Chapter Seventeen
Roman had spent the last two days listening to Sarah’s recording over and over. Not the part about her dumbass brother and trying to figure out what bad thing he done now, but the part where Sara admitted she was in love with Roman.
Meanwhile everyone else in his employ was trying to figure out where the hell she went. If they didn’t figure it out soon, Roman was going to kill every last one of them. How hard could it be to find one lone woman without many resources? The only thing anyone had been able to find was that she pretty much cleared out her bank account as soon as she left his house.
Left his house in the middle of the night because he treated her like a whore, debasing and humiliating her in a way she never deserved.
“She’s going to show back up, Roman,” Lukas said from the couch in Roman’s office. “She needed some space, but her life is here and she'll be back.”
Roman took another sip of his Glenfiddich, not caring that it was early in the day.
“Her life is here. In this house. With me.”
“I’m sure those were her exact thoughts as she was scrubbing the words ‘fuck toy’ off her ass.”
“I screwed up, Lukas. I’m well aware of that.” Roman sighed. Took another sip.
Lukas chuckled. “Everybody’s well aware of that. The job up in front of you now is to convince sweet Sarah how sorry you are once you find her.”
He would. If he had to tie her to the bed and kiss her from head to toe while begging her forgiveness for the rest of his life, he would.
But they had to find her first. Since her phone was here they had no way of tracking her. And since she was using cash, credit cards were a bust also.
Lukas was right, she would eventually resurface. But Roman wanted her with him now. Didn’t want to let the ugliness fester between them.
Didn’t want to feel this gaping hole in his chest that could only be filled by Sarah's presence.
“Boss, we got word from a contact in Gulfport.” Saul entered Roman’s office without greeting. Roman didn’t care. Normally Saul was strictly security; muscle, a soldier. But he had taken to helping with the search effort as soon as he had found out Sarah couldn't be contacted.
Roman set up straighter. “When? Where?”
“A beachfront hotel. Looks like she’s been there for the last couple of days, but checked out this morning.”
“Maybe she’s coming back to New Orleans. Has there been any movement at her apartment?”
“Nothing.”
The second Sarah was spotted Roman would know about it. He scrubbed a hand across his face.
“We’ll get her back here, Boss,” Saul said.
Roman looked at the older man. “You get her back here so I can make this right. Give her the respect that’s due to her. I fucked up, Saul.”
Saul nodded. “And you’ll make it right. We’ll get her back here for you.”
Lukas chuckled again as Saul left. “Please, can I stay once Sarah is back? It would really do my heart good to hear you beg. Although she’s so kind she’ll probably forgive you almost immediately. That’s a shame.”
Roman prayed it would be true. But he didn’t care how long it would take. No matter what, he wasn’t letting her go.
Roman pick up the phone on his desk as a buzz came through from his front gate security.
“Boss, there’s someone here to see you.”
“Unless it’s Sarah, send them away.”
“It ain’t Sarah, boss, but it’s her brother Robbie Hastings. And he’s in bad shape.”
Roman met Lukas’ eyes across the room. “Bring him in.”
A few minutes later Robbie Hastings stumbled into Roman’s office, surrounded on either side by Roman’s men. Hastings looked like hell, bruises mottling his face, blood from some sort of much more serious wound—looked like a knife, but could be gunshot—on his abdomen.
“Jesus,” Roman said. “Get some towels before he bleeds all over my floor.” Tomas ran to get some.
Dominic joined he and Lukas in the room and the three of them stood in solidarity facing Robbie.
“I would beat the shit out of you, Hastings, but it looks like that would be redundant.” Roman already knew he wouldn’t kill Robbie. At the very least maybe his life might help him win Sarah back. But Hastings didn’t need to know that.
“You can do anything you want to me as long as you help Sarah. Audra is going to take her, hurt her, if she hasn’t already.”
Roman walked over and grabbed Robbie by the shirt. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Robbie groaned. “Benas is desperate for a meeting with you and Audra is just plain crazy. When she told me she was going to use Sarah to get to you I tried to stop her. But she stabbed me and dumped me in the harbor.”
“Audra Vydūnas has Sarah?” Fear closed around Roman’s throat.
“Audra was looking for her. Said Sarah was the only way to get your attention.”
Fuck. Roman let go of Robbie and looked at his brothers.
“I know calls have been coming through from Benas Vydūnas asking for a meeting. But that’s nothing new,” Dominic said.
“Audra came to me last week and asked me to contact Sarah and get her to set up a meeting between you and them,” Robbie said. “Said you had ignored all their requests.”
“For good reason. And that’s the bad thing you’d done that you mentioned when you spoke to Sarah three days ago?”
“Yes. I told Audra I’d get Sarah to do it, but then couldn’t. So she decided to take Sarah herself and force you into action, even if she had to send pieces of Sarah to you. A finger for a finger, she said. When I told Audra I wasn’t going to let that happen, Sarah is my goddamned sister, that’s when she stabbed me.”
Terror and fury warred within Roman. He turned to his brothers. “I don’t want to make the family look weak by submitting to demands, but I can’t let Sarah pay the price for this. She’s paid enough.”
Dominic and Lukas both nodded. “We concentrate on Sarah now. We’ll wipe out everything having to do with the Vydūnas name later,” Lukas said.
Saul came bursting into the room. “Boss, we just got word that Sarah was at a diner near her apartment about twenty minutes ago, but then she disappeared. Owner thinks someone took her out the back. She left without eating or paying.”
Even with the towels Tomas had given him, Robbie looked like he was about to drop any second. His face was pasty. “That has to be Audra. She has Sarah. They’ll call for a meeting soon, but Audra will still hurt her.”
Roman tamped down the panic. “We can’t just wait for their call. I have to find her.”
“They’re at the west end marina,” Robbie said, his voice getting weaker. “They won’t set up the meeting there, but that’s where Audra has been staying—on her yacht in the very last boat slip. It’s private and would be a good place to take Sarah. You can get there and surprise them before they even make demands.”
Roman was already walking out t
he door, followed by his brothers and the entire security team. “Make sure he gets to a hospital,” Roman told Tomas. He turned back to Robbie. “If I get your sister out of this you can consider your debt with me paid in full. It took guts coming here.”
Robbie nodded weakly. “Please just help Sarah. She doesn’t deserve to be caught up in all this.”
Roman nodded. That had become crystal clear to him over the last two days. “I know.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sarah woke up to pain burning through her arm. She forced herself to pry her eyes open although immediately wished she hadn’t. Audra was sitting across from her spinning her knife between her fingers.
“There you are,” she said. “I was hoping my little marks would help you with the waking up, but it didn’t seem like it was doing much.”
Audra pointed to Sarah’s arm and she looked down to where she was tied to the chair. A half dozen tiny slices marked her arms, blood oozing out of them.
Audra began spinning her knife again. “I’ve become a little obsessed with this knife. And your boyfriend. I’m pretty sure Benas doesn't know how bad it is.
“Benas wants to meet with Roman to discuss how the Vydūnas family can get back in their good graces,” Audra continued. “Nobody seems to care that I lost a finger out of our relations with the Rinaldi family.”
“You stole from them. A hundred thousand dollars. Roman wanted to kill my brother, so I’m sure losing a finger is better than being dead.”
Audra gave a half shrug. “And yet your brother’s dead anyway. Bummer.”
Sarah closed her eyes. She would have to mourn Robbie later. Right now it would take all her focus to survive and get away.
She felt another line of fire burn across her arm and she cried out, her eyes flying open. Audra was cutting her again.
“I don't like it when people ignore me.”
“I'm sorry. I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I’m just sad about my brother.”
Audra nodded. “Yeah, he was good in bed. Not overly smart though. Although it should make you happy that he died defending you. Didn't like my ‘cut her up and send her to Roman in pieces’ plan.”
“Roman won't come for me. He won’t give you the satisfaction of meeting with you. It doesn’t matter what you do to me.” Somewhere deep inside Sarah hoped the words were a lie, that Roman might agree to a meeting if it would save Sarah a torturous death, but she couldn't be sure.
She knew Roman didn’t hate her, but she also knew he didn’t love her either. He would not put her well-being above family business.
“Actually, I don’t care about the meeting.” Audra leaned forward as if they were having a heart to heart girl chat. “I just want to kill him.”
“You’ll never get close enough to do that. Roman isn’t stupid.”
Audra nodded, then winked. “Maybe. If I can’t kill him, I’ll just have to be happy with killing you.”
Sarah looked around and realized they were on a yacht, parked at the dock but far away from other boats. Audra probably could kill her and no one would be any wiser.
Benas came bounding up from below deck, a huge smile on his face. “I got through! Roman agreed to meet with us in two hours. Now we’re not going to have to leave the country, Audra. We can fix this.”
Audra looked furious rather than excited. “So that’s it? He takes one of my fingers and we’re supposed to be grateful that we can stay in the country?”
Benas shook his head. “You stole from him. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Someone has to pay for what was done to me!” She held up her hands showing fingers numbering nine. “Fine. If he cares enough to meet with us because we have her, then she can pay. I won't be the only freak missing fingers.”
Audra untied Sarah’s right hand and grabbed her arm and put it on the table.
“Audra, wait,” Benas said. “This might make Rinaldi unhappy.”
“Someone has to pay, Benas. An eye for an eye. Or in this case a finger for a finger.” She held Sarah’s arm tight against the table. “You’re not gonna want to move. If you do I might accidentally take more than just one.”
“Audra, please, I’m not a part of this. Hurting me to hurt Roman won’t work. He doesn’t care about me.” Sarah felt tears welling in her eyes and tried to force them back down. She didn’t want to cower in front of this woman.
“Actually, I care enough about her to put a bullet in your cousin’s brain if you don’t drop the knife right fucking now.”
The voice came from behind her. Roman’s. Except strangely tight. Audra spun around to look at him but didn’t let go of Sarah’s arm.
Audra immediately shifted her knife from Sarah’s hand to her throat. “That would make Benas very upset. All he wanted to do was talk to you. You know, grovel a little, like the pansy he is. So I say go ahead and kill him. I’ll have this jabbed through her carotid artery before Benas even hits the ground.” Audra crouched behind Sarah so Roman wouldn’t be able to get a shot at her either. As she moved, Sarah got a clear picture of Roman.
That wasn’t him. That was Dominic holding Benas. Audra couldn't tell them apart but Sarah could.
Sarah felt the blade begin to pierce her skin but didn’t cry out. She didn’t know what to do.
“You know what?” Audra continued. “You’re going to kill me anyways, so I might as well take her with me.” The knife slid deeper into her neck.
It all happened so fast Sarah wasn’t sure exactly what happened. In a flash water sprayed all over her as Audra was tackled from behind. The attack drew the knife and danger away from Sarah and onto the ground.
Audra shrieked like a banshee, stabbing at her attacker.
Who was Roman, wet from having boarded the yacht from the water so Audra couldn’t see him.
While Roman fought with Audra, Lukas rushed over and picked up Sarah and the entire chair, keeping her from harm’s way. Dominic kept Benas at bay with his gun although it didn’t look like the other man planned to help his cousin in any way.
Audra may have had a knife and a soul full of rage, but she was no match for Roman. She got in one lucky cut across his bicep before he turned the knife on her. Seconds and two well-placed stabs later, it was done. Audra’s body fell to the side.
Roman immediately left Audra and crouched down at Sarah’s side. They cut the plastic zip-ties that still held her left wrist to the chair and Roman put a cloth against her bleeding neck gently. Sarah stared at him then found herself being crushed against his chest, kisses pouring down over her hair and face.
“My God, I thought I’d lost you.”
“How did you find me? How did you know where I was?”
Roman kissed her again. “Robbie. He came to my house. Didn’t care if I killed him, just wanted me to help you.”
“Robbie’s alive?” Sarah grabbed Roman’s cheeks with her hands to hold his face so she could look in his eyes.
“Yes, although I won’t lie, he’s in bad shape. Someone was taking him to the hospital when I came here. Audra had stabbed him.”
“She told me she’d killed him.” Sarah touched her lips gently to Roman’s. “Thank you for helping him.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “Sarah, the other night—I’m sorry. I handled it all wrong. I should’ve listened, understood, let you explain what was going on instead of just expecting you to info dump it on me the moment you got home.”
“Roman—”
He kissed her then kept talking. “You’ve got to understand, I don’t think of you that way. Even when I called you that, I never really thought of you that way. I’ll never call you that again. Just come home with me.”
“Brother, save your groveling for later. We need to take care of things and get out of here. And I think both of you need a few stitches.”
Roman cupped her face in her hands, his brown eyes staring down at her. It was the first time she ever seen anything but utter assurance in his gaze. “Will you come home with me? To
our home?”
He really wanted her there. It was obvious in every gesture and word.
And it was where she wanted to be.
“Can I make more muffins? I don’t think the ones I made last time were very good, even though the guys ate them.”
Sarah didn’t understand why all three brother burst out laughing.
“Yes,” Roman said, kissing her again. “I’ll eat as many muffins as you can make.”
Chapter Nineteen
He had her in his arms.
The sight of that knife at Sarah’s throat as he’d pulled himself onto the boat, knowing Audra wouldn’t hesitate to kill Sarah, even if only to get back at the Rinaldi family, would haunt Roman to his dying day.
He pulled her closer to him in the back seat of the SUV, closing his eyes briefly in relief when she didn’t pull away.
“We need to get you to a hospital.” She was bleeding from the cuts on her arm and the nick at the side of her throat. They’d put gauze around her arm, and a large Band-Aid on her neck, but he still wanted to get her checked out.
“I’m okay,” she said softly.
He kissed to the side of her head. “And thank God. But I still want a doctor looking at you.”
Dominic sat in the front seat next to Saul who was driving. Lukas had stayed behind to make sure the mess was cleaned up before any cops arrived. Although the locals generally stayed out of Rinaldi family business. Audra’s body would never be found, much less identified in New Orleans.
Benas Vydūnas would not be making any demands for justice on his cousin’s behalf. She’d crossed the lines multiple times before today. Then trying to force the Rinaldi family into any sort of position, plus choosing to take her vengeance out on someone innocent of all of this? Audra had led to her own demise. Everybody on that ship, related to her or not, knew it.
“I have Dr. Habersham coming to the house,” Dominic said. “Unless you really think she needs a hospital.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t need a hospital. I probably don’t even need a doctor.”
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