He wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Fuckin’ hell.”
Michelle screamed and yanked at the door, but it was locked.
The cars behind him slowed down.
Jaxon steered the BMW between the two buildings.
A man strolled across the walk paused, staring at the headlights.
“Move,” Jaxon barked at the man.
At the last second, the man sprinted out of the path of Jaxon’s car.
Ahead of them the only plane with its lights and engines on was slowly turning toward the runway.
“Is that Yuri’s plane?” Jaxon yelled over his shoulder.
“Yes! Oh my God, you aren’t—”
The BMW had more speed than the plane. He shot down the tarmac and swerved in front of the lumbering bird.
Jaxon would not allow the plane to take off. At least not while he was still breathing.
He jammed on the breaks, watching the plane behind him.
It bore down on them, turning slightly, but it didn’t have the maneuverability of the car.
“It’s slowin’.” Ian twisted around to watch behind them. “What are we goin’ to do when they stop?”
“No fucking idea.” Jaxon hoped the feds weren’t far behind, but if they weren’t, well...he’d think of something.
“It’s stoppin’.” Ian drew his weapon. He glanced at Michelle. “You might want to get down.”
“You’re going to get me killed,” the woman sobbed.
A door on the small jet opened, the cabin lights illuminating a figure leaning out.
“He’s got a gun,” Ian said.
Jaxon hit the unlock button as Ian kicked the back door open and got out, gun first. Bullets hit the ground first, then Ian fired back.
The man fell from the jet to the tarmac.
Jaxon shoved the car into park and got out on the other side.
“You can’t just leave me here!” Michelle yelled after him.
He could, and he would. She was no longer his priority.
Freya was on that plane, which meant he would be, too.
Jaxon ducked right, to the opposite side of the jet’s open door. Ian fired back. Someone yelled.
Jaxon crossed under the plane as it began to roll into reverse.
Shit.
“Jax, move!” Ian yelled.
Jaxon quick stepped it until he was just under the door.
Ian fired, sparks flying up off the ground.
A loud pop, almost like an explosion, rang Jaxon’s eardrums, followed by a heavy thud and the grinding of metal. Jaxon blinked at the front wheel, now destroyed and flat.
The jet wouldn’t be going anywhere, not fast enough for takeoff with a wheel like that.
Feet thudded on the ground.
The others jogged up, armed and ready.
“Hanger is secure. Backup is on their way,” Shelby said.
“We just need to hold them here.” Kade took a knee, pointing the business end of a rifle at the open door.
Jaxon stared at the opening.
Yuri wouldn’t wait around to be captured. He was doing something in there. If they waited, if they simply reacted to what he was doing, Freya would pay the price.
This plane couldn’t go anywhere.
Yuri was coming out of that plane before the cavalry arrived, the question was—when?
“I’m not waiting,” Jaxon said.
He ducked under the wing of the plane and crossed to where the body and wing met. He grasped the edge and hoisted himself up.
Movement inside the plane caught his eye.
A man leaned out, throwing something silver to the ground.
“Look—”
A flash of light below was mostly blocked by the wing. It was the bang that had his ears ringing.
The same man dropped to the ground, wearing some sort of mask. Another one stepped up to the entrance.
His friends, the people helping him, were going to be picked off one by one.
Fuck.
Jaxon hoisted himself up onto the wing. The second guy caught sight of him, but it was too late. Jaxon took two strides, grabbed the guy and flung them both down to the tarmac, hitting the first bodyguard on their way down.
Jaxon landed on top of the second, driving his elbow into the guy’s chest. He pushed up and slammed his fist into the guy’s face.
The first man lay on the tarmac, not moving a muscle.
Ian lay on his side, gun up, his other hand pressed to his leg.
Goddamn it.
Jaxon couldn’t hear, but he didn’t need to. Ian was shot. And it was Jaxon’s fault.
Another figure dropped from above.
Jaxon turned, batting the gun aside and punched the new threat, once in the chest and a second time in the face. The man swung, catching Jaxon in the side and driving the oxygen out of his lungs.
A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye was the only warning Jaxon had. Something cracked into the back of his head, and he saw stars.
Jaxon whirled, catching the second shooter by the arm.
Kade and Shelby stood over Ian, weapons up, their attention focused above Jaxon.
“Jax!” The thin, high-pitched voice broke through the ringing.
He whirled, staring at Freya, a gun pointed to her head, Yuri behind her.
“Back up,” Yuri yelled. At least Jaxon assumed that’s what he was saying.
Headlights bounced toward them, the vehicles too small to be cars. Golf carts?
Jaxon took a step toward Ian and the others.
Where were the feds?
An ATV screeched to a stop.
Michelle sat in the front seat, her face impossibly pale.
Of course she’d bolted at the first opportunity, the bitch.
The still-standing gunmen helped Freya down from the plane. Yuri jumped down of his own free will. Was that blood on his trousers? Whose blood was it?
Yuri crossed to the ATV and got in. The gun man helped his friend, holding his arm with one hand, and kept a tight grip on Freya with the other.
Now or never...
Jaxon sprinted forward, barreling into the two would-be gunmen. Freya flung herself sideways. Jaxon went to the ground with the two men under him. A bullet hit the tarmac inches away.
Sirens rent the air, followed with cries of, “Go! Go! Go!”
Jaxon scrambled. Kade and Shelby were there, weapons up.
“Jax!”
Jaxon hadn’t gotten his feet fully under him before Freya launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He stood there, almost afraid to touch her for fear that it wouldn’t be real.
Freya was free...
But Yuri was still out there, and he had Michelle.
“God damn it,” Yuri roared. He kicked an empty gas can, sending it skittering across the garage. “Fucking hell.”
“Sir? We need to go. Car’s ready.”
Yuri stared across the greenway at the red and white lights.
They’d been so close.
Now, it would be the hard way.
He’d been perfectly willing to put everything in Seattle behind him, but now...now he wanted revenge. And Yuri always got revenge. It wasn’t often worth it, financially speaking, but this? This was personal.
“Let’s go.” Yuri turned and his gaze fell on Michelle.
He still had her, which was something.
Freya could hold a conversation at least, but Michelle would do.
“I said—let’s go.” He gestured at the SUV.
Michelle got up and scampered to the open door.
Their window of escape was closing, and fast.
Yuri got in behind Michelle, while Sergi circled around to the driver’s seat.
“Where are the others?” Yuri frowned at the empty seats. The other two were outside, standing guard, but the rest? Where had they gone?
“I don’t know. I gassed up the truck and they were gone.” Sergi didn’t meet Yuri’s gaze in the
rearview mirror.
Meaning the rest of Yuri’s team, like rats, had jumped ship.
“It’s easier to move with less weight,” Yuri said to no one in particular.
He’d get out of the country, and they’d see about collecting Michelle’s trust fund money. Who knew? Maybe he’d like being married after all. Charles had seemed enthusiastic about it right up until the end.
16.
Freya sat in the chair, listening to the quiet sounds of life all around her. The silence of the hotel room was different from the Queen’s Nest. Comforting, if there was such a thing.
Beyond that door, the FBI stood guard. Others were working furiously to figure out where Yuri Gabor was, what he was doing with Michelle, and a hundred other things Freya wasn’t ready to think about.
The sight of Charles, dead in the hanger, was trapped in the forefront of her mind.
He’d done that for her. A man she’d barely known, who believed in a version of her that hadn’t exist, had died so that she could get away. Charles hadn’t been a good man, but he’d done something selfless. He’d sacrificed himself for her.
She’d subjected herself to two months of being a prisoner, all for a sister who might as well have put her there.
Michelle should have been the person trying to get her free, to protect her. Not looking to profit over Freya’s captivity.
Instead, Jaxon and Charles were the ones fighting for her.
One was a stranger and a killer. The other was familiar and selfless. They both wanted something from her, though Jaxon hadn’t said so, she could feel it.
What did she do with that knowledge? What choices did she have? What came next?
Someone tapped on the door.
She flinched at the sound, so ready to be left alone. Weeks of solitude made being around a lot of people difficult. She’d never been terribly extroverted, unless it was for work, and now all she wanted was to be left with her thoughts.
Did she dare ignore the knock?
No, she didn’t. It could be news about Michelle or any number of other things.
What if it was Jaxon?
Freya sighed and pushed to her feet.
The cops had taken him aside, and then the FBI. They hadn’t had a chance to speak, but she knew he’d come looking for her. Because he always would. That was the kind of man Jaxon was. He was the guy who searched out the sick girl at the club and ensured she got water. He was the guy who walked people to their cars. Called cabs. Looked out for the waitresses and other staff. And he was the man who’d continue to watch over her for as long as she let him.
She peered through the peep hole and paused, holding her breath. She both wanted and dreaded seeing him.
That was not Jaxon.
Freya opened the door and stared into a familiar pair of blue eyes.
“Hello, dear.” Liv smiled back.
“Hi. What are you doing here?” Freya stepped back, allowing Liv to enter.
“Oh, once the boys told them what all happened, they asked me to come in. Or by, I guess.” Liv paused inside the room, hands in her back pockets. “How are you?”
“Alive?”
“That works.” Liv chuckled.
“Sit?”
“Thanks.” Liv perched on one of the queen beds. “I just wanted to check and see how you’re doing. Jax is pretty worried about you, but they still have him caged up.”
“Is...will he get in trouble?”
“Maybe? He’s got a rough past. Doesn’t make him look too good to people who don’t know him.” Liv lifted her shoulders.
“He was just trying to help me.” She chewed her lip. Jaxon had tried to tell her about his past, but she hadn’t listened. Hadn’t wanted to. Should she?
“He still did some bad things.”
Freya stared at the carpet. Jaxon had been forced into beating Donny up because she wouldn’t leave, because she’d prioritized saving her sister above her own safety. Had he wanted to?
“What kinds of things?” Freya asked softly.
“Being young and stupid. Trusting the wrong people.”
“What’d he do?” Freya lifted her gaze to Liv’s face.
“I only know the story secondhand, from his cousin. You should ask him yourself.”
“But I’m asking you.”
Liv sighed and glanced away.
“What did he do?” Freya asked again.
“Jax is a good boy, he just had a rough start of it, is all. His family...they don’t blame him for his dad killing his ma—”
“What?” Freya gaped at Liv.
“You...didn’t know?”
“He said they were dead, but he...” She hadn’t known. Oh, God, that was awful.
“Shit.” Liv winced. “Well, after that, he made some not-so-great friends, looking for a place to belong. He trusted the wrong people, who were doing bad things. One of the beautiful things about Jax is his loyalty to his friends, but when he’s faithful to someone like that, he’s also blind to the right or wrong of what they’re doing.”
“You still haven’t told me what he did.”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.” Liv lifted her shoulders. “His so-called friends never let him join their gang because Jax was only half black, but he knew what they were doing, who they were doing it with, and so forth. He was going to go down for them until one of the guys beat up Andre, his cousin. That’s when Jax woke up and realized he’d trusted the wrong people. Given his loyalty to the wrong ones.”
“The cops don’t arrest people for nothing.”
“Hm, but to the cops they look at Jax’s light-brown skin and see a black man. He’s caught in two worlds, a foot in both, but neither accept him.”
Freya stared at the carpet. She’d never thought of it like that. Jaxon was always just...Jax. She should have recognized it sooner. She was the anthropologist, after all. People had drawn dividing lines over issues of skin color for hundreds of years, and for those who belonged to two sides, it could be an alienating lifestyle.
Would Jaxon get into trouble because of her? For her?
“It’s all my fault.” Freya shook her head. “All of this. It’s my fault.”
If she’d just kept her forensic job, if she’d gone to school, if she’d stayed away from the promoter job...maybe none of this would have happened.
“No, dear.” Liv sat next to Freya and looped her arm around Freya’s waist. “You can’t think like that. You made the choices you thought were right.” Liv gave her a squeeze.
“How could my own sister do this?”
“When money is involved, people do a lot of strange things.”
Freya swiped at her eyes. Michelle was her twin. She should be the one person Freya understood, but Michelle was now a stranger.
“You know what I found ironic?” Liv stroked Freya’s hair, a bemused smile curling the corners of her mouth.
“What?”
“That that club was called the Swan Palace. Do you know the story of the Swan Princess?”
“Wasn’t that a kid’s movie?”
“It was a Russian ballet first. The original story was about a sorcerer who kept beautiful women as swans. His prize swan was a princess, and every night, under the moon’s watchful gaze, she turned back into a human. It’s in the children’s movie where the sorcerer wants to marry the princess so he can become king. In both stories, the princess meets a prince who discovers how to turn her human again.”
“Do they live happily ever after?” Freya hated the bitter taste of that question.
“Depends on what version.” Liv shrugged. “In some she dies, in others she is killed and the prince dies of a broken heart, and in some, they do live happily ever after. That one’s my favorite.”
Freya stared at the carpet. It was a nice idea, but the truth was, reality was often cruel.
“Did Yuri pick the name, you think?” Freya asked.
“Possibly?” Liv lifted a shoulder. “I’ve
known about Yuri Gabor since I was much younger. He’s a strange man.”
“You have?” Freya stared at Liv’s profile.
“When I was younger, I worked my way across Europe. Spent quite a while in Amsterdam. The working girls used to warn each other about him, that people who took jobs from him didn’t come back. Being a bartender, I heard more than others. The things he bartered in.” Liv shivered. “Yuri Gabor was a broken man. Hurting people hurt people, and he’s made a living off that. I hope he’s caught. I hope they find your sister.”
“Me, too.”
Freya might be hurt and angry with Michelle, but she wouldn’t wish her harm. Not the things Yuri might do to her because of Freya. Michelle had always struggled, and it didn’t excuse her actions but Freya at least understood them.
Michelle thought everyone was against her, even Freya. If Freya didn’t give Michelle what she wanted, Freya was the bad guy. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d told Michelle no for things. In Michelle’s eyes, Freya was likely the problem, because she wouldn’t accept that she needed to work on herself.
Maybe after this Michelle could get some help. Freya loved her sister, even if she didn’t understand her.
Another knock at the door. This time it didn’t startle Freya as it had when Liv was on the other side.
“I’ll see who it is.” Liv rose and crossed the room to the door. She whisked it open after the tiniest peak through the peep hole. “Jaxon.”
Freya shivered at the sound of his name.
“Hey, Aunt Liv.” Jaxon’s voice was heavy. Tired.
Freya gulped and clenched handfuls of the blanket.
“Give me a hug, you. They treat you all right?” Liv asked.
“Yeah, not too bad.” He paused and Freya could feel his gaze on her back.
Something was coming, and Freya didn’t know if she was ready for it.
“You mind if I talk to Freya alone for a moment?” Jaxon asked.
“Go ahead. I need to call and check on Taylor.”
“Hey, is it true?” Jaxon’s voice lilted up. “Is Taylor really pregnant?”
“You’ll have to ask her for yourself.” Liv’s very voice seemed to smile.
Freya wanted to call out to Liv, ask her to stay, but it wouldn’t stall the inevitable. She didn’t know what to say to Jaxon, what she wanted, what was going to happen. She was as ill prepared for this moment as she’d been for anything in her life.
Bad Boy Prince: A Modern Fairy Tale (Twisted Royals Book 3) Page 20
