“I won’t,” I vowed.
He didn’t turn around. He simply answered, “We’ll see.”
I was trying to figure out why I was strapped next to the piano, facing the door, when the heat started searing my back.
I was backed against the fireplace.
My kidneys.
“Shit,” I hissed. He really was trying to dehydrate me. I closed my eyes and tried to meditate on keeping my breathing even.
The guys would come; I prayed they wouldn’t.
I prayed they’d stay and just let me die. Funny, this morning I’d dreamed about following Andi into the afterlife, and now, I would be preceding her.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “Don’t come for me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Sergio
MY HEAD WAS SO HEAVY IT didn’t even feel like it was part of my body anymore; it hung forward. A beeping sounded, and then I was zapped twice around the neck, stunned so hard that I had to clench my teeth.
The fire continued to lick at my back. Sweat drenched the borrowed shirt and jeans they’d put me in.
I was thankful they were larger than I needed, at least providing some vent for the air to come up my back.
I was tired, so incredibly tired that my eyes were having trouble focusing. It didn’t help that the bastard had injected me again with whatever the hell was in that syringe.
Voices sounded down the hall.
Either that, or I was truly going insane.
The door opened.
“Twenty-four hours have passed…” Petrov had two heads.
I blinked, trying to clear the image. Nope, still two heads.
“…and your friends have not come.”
“Told you.” Sweat dripped into my mouth.
“The room is over a hundred degrees, the fire still roaring. I bet water sounds like a slice of heaven.”
I ignored the thirst burning my throat. My mouth was sandpaper; the desire to drink so strong I couldn’t recall a time I’d ever been so thirsty.
“She betrayed you.” Petrov stood in front of me and crossed his arms.
“She wouldn’t.” My voice was weak, unconvincing.
Petrov laughed. “Oh, to be in love. Tell me, did she give you the sob story about her sickness? Did you feel sorry for her? That was part of the plan you know. The easiest way to infiltrate is through the heart — through pity.”
I shook my head.
“You’re an idiot if you think she loves you. She feels nothing — she’s my flesh and blood, after all. She hates Italians. I imagine you saw that hate quite often.”
I ignored the voice in my head that said he was right.
“Haven’t you wondered how we were able to get into your house all those times?”
“Luck.” I clenched my jaw as the fire seemed to roar against my back. I arched and let out a little cry. So. Damn. Hot.
“Ha.” Petrov wagged a finger at me. “She gave us the alarm code.”
My head started to hang.
“You’re a smart man, Sergio. I bet you even suspected her, but, because of your love, you ignored that voice in your head, that voice of logic — reason. She’s good. I’ll give you that. Many a man would fall for her blonde hair and innocent act. Didn’t she tell you? She was trained in the art of manipulation.”
“Stop!” I roared, lunging against the rope that was chaffing my wrists. “Stop!”
“She played you…” Petrov leaned down and slapped my cheek. “…like a fiddle.”
He grabbed me by the hair and slammed his head against mine. Pain sliced through my forehead. I fell forward, and another zap hit my neck.
“Admit it,” he whispered, his eyes black with hatred. “She bested you, and now… you are nothing.”
“You won’t win.” Why was I still fighting when I knew he was right? When I knew— What did I know? The images were blurring more; I saw her snapping a picture of the code with her phone. Was that real? Did that happen? Memories replayed; they all seemed right, but they didn’t fit.
Her kiss had been real.
Our love was real.
“Ah, the doubt.” Petrov stepped back and nodded. “That’s the first to happen, and then the images… the images your brain stored up suddenly float to the surface. Take your time, Sergio. I imagine a man like you will come to the same conclusion.”
“Why?” My voice was ragged from lack of spit. “Why would you go after her then? The first night?”
“A truly good predator is always able to throw off its own scent.” Petrov twisted a large ring around his middle finger. “We wanted to get the layout of the house, and what better way for us to grab you? We get you to focus on Andi, keeping her safe without any regard to yourself.” He let out a low chuckle. “I bet you started sleeping with your gun and knife in the nightstand instead of under your pillow. After all, the bed is for making love, not war.”
Damn it, he was right.
Foolishness washed over me.
“And there it is.” He clapped his large hands slowly. “Admission. She betrayed you.”
She betrayed me.
The love of my life had betrayed me.
I blinked back tears as the fire roared to life behind me. “She betrayed me.”
“Good.” Petrov nodded. “And what are you going to do about it?”
I was silent.
He sniffed, walked away from me, and pulled open the door. “One more syringe, another twenty-four hours, and we’ll get our answer.”
She was so beautiful, like a black widow spinning her web of deceit, just waiting for me, someone so weak, so desperate for love to fall into her clutches.
She waited.
The heat was too intense between us.
I wanted to escape.
Still she waited while I dangled in her web.
And then, she struck.
The poison spread from my back to my legs — heavy, so heavy. The pain seared through my hip and up my shoulder.
So much pain.
I strained against her bite, bucking my body away from her.
She simply smiled and bit harder.
My head fell back. A buzzing hit me in the neck—
I jolted awake.
The room was spinning; my back was on fire; my face fell forward again, this time slamming against the keys of the piano.
The zap jerked my head up.
Eyelids heavy, I fought for the sleep I needed, prayed that water would pour from the ceiling as I tried to lick my dry lips.
Andi’s fault.
She’d done this.
She was the reason I was here.
Rage burst inside of me. I let out a hoarse yell.
The door to the room opened. Petrov walked in, his boots slamming against the hardwood. I saw four of him, maybe six — I lost count of how many blurs were in front of me. All I knew was that he was the key to everything. The key to water.
Sleep.
God, I’d do anything for sleep — for hydration.
Petrov pulled out a chair and snapped his fingers. The door opened again.
Water.
I moaned.
“Ah, see?” Petrov took the pitcher of water and poured it into the glass that accompanied it. “See how I take care of what is mine?”
He lifted the water to his lips and sipped, droplets fell down his large chin onto his chest. “It’s very fresh. Cold.”
My breathing was erratic; I couldn’t focus on anything but the water. The drops he was wasting… the drops I would lick off him if I could just reach… That was all I needed in life — two drops of water.
“She betrayed you,” he said as he slowly dumped water from the pitcher onto the floor.
“No!” I screamed.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Y-yes.” I hung my head. The zap didn’t come, but neither did sleep; instead, a frenzied madness took its place. “Yes!” I lifted my head. “The bitch betrayed me.”
Petrov rose, his knees cracked as
he held the water to my lips. “And what are you going to do about it?”
I met his glare. “I’m going to kill them all.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Andi
”NIXON!” I YELLED INTO MY CELL PHONE as it went to voicemail yet again. “Answer your damn phone!”
I hit the accelerator harder, ready to ram the gate that led into his house. Dying before my time wouldn’t help Sergio. I rubbed my head where I’d been hit; the bruise looked horrific. It had probably caused brain damage, but I couldn’t think of that right now.
Sergio had been taken…
By my father.
And I was going to get him back even if it killed me — or if I needed to kill my own flesh and blood to do so.
The stupid-ass idiot who’d knocked me out had tied my hands and feet together and stuffed me in a closet then dropped what felt like a hundred pounds of clothes on top of me…
I wasn’t sure what he was trying to accomplish, other than suffocating me, but once I had fought through the clothes I had a new problem.
How was I going to get to a phone?
By the time I managed to kick down the closet door, I was exhausted. My sickness wasn’t allowing any sort of Xena-warrior-princess tendencies. Instead, I turned on my side and puked.
When I was done tossing my guts I inched and hopped down the hall. He’d put me in the farthest room in the house — a million miles away from a phone.
When I passed the upstairs’ study, I noticed that it was already starting to get dark again.
How long had I been out?
The pain in my ass was intense; bruises would cover my body by the time I made it to the phone.
I had no concept of time — only that I had to call Nixon… or find a knife.
When I reached Sergio’s room, I nearly burst into tears. No phone. They’d taken all communication from his room. No cells, nothing.
Knife. I needed a knife.
Or a machete.
Another few hours, and I was at the stairway.
It was going to hurt. But time wasn’t on my side. Gritting my teeth, I rolled to my hip and tucked my head toward my chest, causing myself to roll down the stairs. Each stair bit into me. I held my scream in — I wouldn’t scream, I wouldn’t focus on me. Only him, the man I loved.
I was going to save Sergio…
And put a bullet between my father’s eyes.
He was trying to start a war, and I was going to be the one to end it, after I cut off his head and put it on a freaking spike.
I hit the bottom floor hard. Something cracked in my wrist as I tried to catch myself. Ignoring the jarring pain radiating down my arm, I inched into the kitchen and located the knife drawer.
With a wince, I leaned back and kicked my legs up. The drawer slowly opened. I kicked out harder. One final kick, and the drawer fell to the ground.
I’d never been so happy to see a machete…
“Nixon!” I honked my horn for the fifth time. I was driving one of Sergio’s cars and doing a crap job of it, if the scratches on the sides were any indication.
I pressed the buzzer to the gate again.
“What the hell, Sergio?” the voice barked on the other end.
“He’s been taken!” I yelled frantically. “Nixon, let me in, or so help me God, I’m going to use Sergio’s machete to cut out your heart and feed it to you!”
The gate opened.
I hit the floor with the accelerator and barely put it into park when Nixon and Trace came running out of the house.
Nixon helped me out of the car. His eyes took in my appearance. “Shit, Trace, call the guys now.”
He threw a phone at her; she caught it mid-air and started dialing, not missing a beat.
Nixon didn’t say anything else; he simply lifted me into his arms and carried me inside the house. I knew if I relaxed, the pain would be worse. If I stopped freaking out, the stress would stop protecting me, the adrenaline would stop, and I’d feel all the broken parts of me. Rigid, I waited until we were in the house, until he set me down.
And then I started screaming.
Trace’s eyes widened briefly before she ran out of the room, returning minutes later with a syringe.
“No!” I held up my hands. “No drugs. Let me feel the pain.”
Nixon cursed and kicked the couch. “Have you seen yourself?”
“No.” I shook my head violently. “Don’t want to. We need to go get Sergio, now.”
Nixon checked his watch. “Shit, they need to drive faster.”
“Nixon…” I pleaded, tears in my eyes, “…my father has him.”
Nixon’s eyes narrowed. He leaned over my body, his face menacing, so frightening it was like staring into the depths of hell. “If you double-crossed him, I’ll be the one cutting your heart out, princess — while you’re breathing.”
“No!” I slammed my hands against his chest. “I would never. I LOVE HIM!”
Trace joined me on the couch and grabbed my hand. “Nixon, she wouldn’t.”
“How the hell are we supposed to know that?” Nixon kicked the couch again then reached for his gun and pointed it at me. “You’ve left me no choice.”
I closed my eyes and hung my head.
The gun never went off.
I opened one eye then two.
“A liar would fight for her life.” Nixon lowered the gun.
“Or maybe I just don’t value my life anymore — but I do value his — and I promise you I’ll kill my father before you get the chance.”
“If I suspect anything—” Nixon pointed the gun back at my face. “—I end you.”
“Deal.” I exhaled.
The door opened. Tex stormed in followed by Frank, Mil, Chase, and Phoenix.
“What the hell happened to you?” Tex glanced between me and Nixon.
“Sergio,” I choked. “Petrov took him.”
“Not you?” Tex’s eyes narrowed. “Swear on my unborn child I will chop off that pretty blond head of yours if you double-crossed him.”
I sighed. “Look this is getting old. Nixon’s already threatened me. I get it. You guys actually like him, which is a giant shock to me, considering you haven’t even visited.”
Tex gritted his teeth hard. “You don’t know shit.”
“Oh yeah?” I was picking a fight with a giant. I knew it, but I didn’t care. I was too upset; all my feelings were boiling to the surface. I was helpless to stop them.
“Girls…” Chase stood between us. “…stop. This is about Sergio. Time’s wasting.”
“Any idea where they took him?” Mil asked, voice calm, demeanor rigid.
I shook my head; that small movement hurt every bone in my body. “No idea.”
“His phone on?” This from Frank.
I rolled my eyes. “No offense, but I’m not stupid. I’ve already tried to use the GPS locater.”
Phoenix cleared his throat. “The listening device in the hand.”
“What about it?” I shrugged.
Phoenix’s eyes met mine. “Sergio put the listening device in. He also put a locator in it, remember? My money’s on Petrov taking Sergio to his compound on the lake.”
I nodded. “Well, how do we turn the thing on? Our resident nerd has been captured!”
Nixon rushed out of the room and returned with an iPad Mini. His fingers worked smoothly across the surface, his eyes frantically searching the screen until they stopped. “Got him.”
“That easy?” I was dumbfounded. What the hell kind of technology did they have?
Nixon flipped the screen around and pointed to a green dot. “The hand is still at the same location. There’s no way of knowing if Sergio is actually in the same location. The transmission from the watch wasn’t functioning properly, and we were unable to gain any useful information.”
I blew out an exhale between my cheeks. “Okay, so what are you saying?”
The room fell silent.
“No.” I shook my head violent
ly. “No. I’ll go myself if I have to.”
Tex cursed under his breath. “Sergio wouldn’t want you to.”
“The hell he wouldn’t!” I yelled, though in my heart I knew there was truth to what Tex was saying. “I’m going after him.”
“Think about it.” Tex held up his hands. “We all go. We storm the compound, and he’s there… How many men do you think are holed up inside? At least twenty — maybe more. Say he’s not there, and it’s a trap. Petrov gets all our heads on a platter.”
My legs felt weak; I crumpled onto the couch and put my head in my hands. “We can’t just leave him.”
Mil walked over to me and leaned down. “Think logically about this, Andi. If you were in his position, what would you do?”
I lifted my head, my eyes blurring with tears. “Or you can think of it this way. If it was Tex in that house, what would you do?”
Mil’s nostrils flared. “Storm the freaking castle and get my man.”
“Right.” I stood. “Thanks, boys, but I think I’m going to go with my own plan. Firearms?”
Nobody moved.
“I said…” I yelled. “…firearms? At least arm me before I go marching off into enemy territory.”
Tex nodded at Nixon, but Nixon didn’t budge. He stared at me, hard, like he was trying to figure me out, like he couldn’t figure me out.
Tears filled my eyes. If there was a way to open up my chest and show him my heart, show him how desperately I needed Sergio, if only for a few short weeks before I left this earth, I would.
He nodded slowly then tilted his head. I followed him down a large hallway. We stopped at what I thought was the door to the garage; instead, he opened the door and then another immediately to his left. We went down a flight of stairs.
Lights flickered on.
Holy super-hero sanctuary, Batman.
Rifles lined one wall.
Nice rifles.
The kind you pay a lot of money for.
Knives, daggers, machetes — all hanging from the opposite wall.
Elude (Eagle Elite #6) Page 20
