by Raven Rivers
Dina seemed to be coming right out of her shell, enjoying every moment of the weirdness. Bethany slowly lost her will to object, going along with whatever they wanted.
***
~ Valisy ~
“How can you lose a person?” Timur snapped his finger and Dimitri snagged the phone from his hand and spoke softly into the small device.
“What my friend means is you accepted responsibility for his lovely wife and now you have allowed her to be abducted. That is a slight that will not go unanswered.”
The man on the other end spoke in muted tones. Valisy paced back and forth, unable to reconcile himself with the fact that his wife was missing yet again.
Tossing the phone onto the sofa, Dimitri said, “Moonello Industries, that’s our only lead at the moment. The Italians insist they know nothing of the man, except they recently traded a thriving Asian restaurant for thirty acres with a private landing strip south of town.”
Valisy turned to face his longtime friend. “Is there anything unusual about the property?”
“It butts up against over a hundred acres of isolated property that’s been owned by the Moonello family for almost a hundred years.”
“They are an import, export business,” Draj informed them.
Dimitri stepped forward. “That’s not all. Viktor and Tony pulled the video from the bar. It seems that Dina saw the man forcing Bethany out and got involved. I’d say your wife’s chances of survival just increased by about a hundred fold.”
Valisy felt something in his chest loosen. If there was any way humanly possible, Dina would protect his wife. His longtime friend might be really screwed up in some ways, but she was quite loyal to those they considered family. As long as there was a marriage contract binding them, Bethany was family. “Let’s load up. I want my wife, and we might just as well rescue Dina while we’re at it.”
Timur spoke for the first time. “I texted Viktor while you were talking to Tony. He will meet us there with all the men he can get his hands on.”
Valisy ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll go in first and talk to this man. Violence risks the women getting shot. I’ll not have another incident like the one at her aunt’s home. One stray bullet is all it takes to take away my happiness.”
Dimitri nodded. “Agreed.”
Silence hung in the air as they geared up. Sticking weapons all over their bodies was something they’d done a thousand times. It came as second nature for Valisy. As he strapped body armor under his shirt, his mind clicked through all the possible outcomes.
Within three hours, the dirt road leading to the Moonello estate was lined with over fifty men, all armed to the teeth. Valisy drove his SUV down the dusty road straight to the main house. Surprised that he was given entrance without incident, he’d been stopped momentarily and divested of his weapons by a security officer with a wand. Since he could kill most men with his bare hands, being without weapons didn’t bother Valisy all that much.
He was led into a large dining hall where three people sat the end of the table. The man he suspected was Gregory Moonello sat at the end, with Dina on one side and Bethany on the other. The man was chatting away, without a care in the world.
“Come and dine with us, Valisy. Your wife is as charming as she is beautiful.”
Dina turned to him. The look in her eyes was one of complete seriousness. “Join us. I have something of importance I wish to discuss.”
Strolling up to the table, he sat beside his wife.
Gregory snorted a laugh. “Such poor manners. Don’t you know wives and husbands never sit side by side at dinner?”
“I came for the women.”
“You know something? I just realized what’s missing in the world. It’s small talk. These days, everyone just drops down into a seat and gets right to the point.”
“You abducted my wife and split her lip in the process. You were also none too nice to my friend. You will be lucky to survive the night.”
Waving away the two men who stepped forward, Gregory sighed. “I’m keeping the princesses and you’re leaving after dessert.”
“I’ve brought almost a hundred armed men.”
“You’ve got seventy-eight at this point. Most of them are lined along the road leading to my castle. I’ve mined that area with high grade explosives. They won’t set it off walking on it, but I can detonate it with a voice prompt to my computer system.”
“You lie.”
Folding his hand into his lap, Gregory leaned back in his chair. “Am I? My family has been protecting what’s ours for upwards of a hundred years. Do you not think we’ve taken measures to protect our ancestral lands?”
“You would kill over fifty men?”
“Of course, without even blinking an eye.”
“I have something to say. Valisy really came for his woman, not me. Let her go and keep me,” Dina interjected.
“Why should I do that when I can keep you both with very little effort?”
“You and I are alike. We enjoy playing the same games, my lord.”
Taking a sip of his wine, he appeared to be thinking it over.
Dina slid her hand over and touched his as he sat his glass back down. “I like you and the world you’ve built here. I’m a princess on the inside, just waiting to be tickled by the right prince.”
Valisy gaped at his friend. Nothing about this situation made sense.
“I’m not leaving you here, Dina.”
Without looking his way, she stated quietly, “I wish to stay.” Bringing Gregory’s hand to her mouth, she placed a kiss on his palm. “However, I’m a very jealous princess. I don’t want anyone touching what’s mine.”
Bethany’s outraged voice rang out. “You have some freaking nerve, bitch.”
Gregory frowned. “Language like that will not be tolerated in the royal household. Don’t make me wash your mouth out with soap, my little princess.”
Valisy didn’t like the man’s eyes on his wife. “Her name is Bethany and she’s actually my princess.”
Making a snap decision, he snarled, “Take your little foul-mouthed, non-game playing complainer with you and be gone from my palace. I’m leaving orders for my men to kill you on sight if you dare to come back.”
Before Valisy could object, several men rushed forward, grabbed him and Bethany up from their seats, and began manhandling them towards the door. Valisy shot Bethany a quick glance and they both began fighting their way back to Dina.
Gregory saw them coming and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her back towards a doorway. The folds of her ball gown swirled around her legs. Dina didn’t seem to be objecting. “Get your wife out of here, Valisy. Clear the men out. I’ll contact you soon.”
Getting shoved out the door, he yelled, “Stay strong, my friend. I’m not leaving without you.”
He shoved Bethany in his vehicle, jumped behind the wheel, and headed back down the road.
Pulling out his cell, he called Dimitri. Speaking over his friend’s greeting, Valisy shouted, “Get everyone the hell away from here. Moonello says the ditches are mined with explosives and I’m not taking any chances with my wife. Get everyone away. We’ll regroup at the warehouse.”
Bethany’s small voice broke into his anger. “I don’t understand why she did that.”
“She sacrificed herself for you. It’s what she does.” Roaring his frustration, he punched his fist through the side window without even slowing down. “I am not fucking leaving her to be abused again.”
“I’m right there with you. I paid attention to the layout of his place, what little I saw of it. I think I can draw a sketch. It won’t be great, but it will get us to her room. Our best chance is to go in at night.”
Valisy forced himself to take a deep breath. He’d gotten Bethany out. He would go back for Dina. She was a strong, capable woman. She’d had her idiot abductor eating out of her hand. He bought her little charade about loving his crazy little world.
Valisy’s phone rang aga
in.
Dina’s voice came on the line. “Can you pick me up? Gregory threw me out.”
Jerking the steering wheel, he spun the SUV around. “Be there in under two minutes.”
To his mind, it didn’t matter why Gregory had let her go. Knowing Dina, she’d figured out what he hated most and poisoned the well. She was smart that way. Pick her up and get the hell out of there, he told himself.
Bethany was speaking, but Valisy couldn’t hear for the rush of fury flooding his mind. This situation felt just like being back in Russia when they were children. This man had endangered and harmed the only two women in the world he cared for and he would pay the price for his stupidity.
Coming to a screeching stop, Dina tore the door open and dove inside. Struggling to move her abnormally large gown out of the way, she finally got the door shut.
Back down the road he drove, careful not to wreck. “Buckle the fuck up, both of you.”
Silence hung in the air for a moment or two before he heard one click and then another. What kind of crazy man stole women and then just sets them free? The kind of man who knew a Russian mobster had a long memory, he imagined.
Rolling up to the warehouse, he stopped the car and turned the motor off. His anger was still raging but at least the women were safe. Several men rushed forward to open the doors. They all headed into the warehouse and Timur’s medic gave them the once over.
Everyone’s voices turned into a blur as he thought of all the different ways he wanted to kill Gregory Moonello. Finally, Dina came to him and wrapped him in her arms. It calmed him somewhat. Looking up, he found Bethany’s eyes on him and he realized he was accepting support from the wrong woman. Pulling back, he took a step towards his wife. She turned her back on him and allowed herself to be hustled out the door by Tony and Viktor. Tony placed his hand in the small of her back and she moved closer to him.
Something about the man having his hands on his wife was the last straw in Valisy’s stressful day. Turning, he picked up a huge table and bashed it against the brick wall until it fell apart in his hands. Standing there, out of breath while everyone was staring at him, felt like getting pulled backwards into a dark hole. One he’d never dig himself back out of.
Dina’s hand came out to touch his arm. Without looking at her, he spoke the words to separate them forever. “Don’t ever touch me again. Don’t talk to me. Don’t even look at me. This dysfunctional friendship has cost me everything.”
Walking out of the building and seeing nothing but the dust trail Tony’s little caravan had left behind drove home the finality of his loss. He was now married only on a piece of beautiful paper. He climbed into this vehicle and sat for a moment as the full realization of what that one moment of being consoled by the wrong woman had cost him.
Chapter 27
Divorce Papers
~ Bethany ~
Bethany pushed the sweating muscle-bound man back with both palms flat against his chest. Pushing with all her might only bought her a scant inch…enough to avoid his horrendous breath. She gritted her teeth. All she had to do was hold him at bay long enough for one of the overzealous bouncers to notice. Within moments, a huge mountain of muscle forced the terrifying man to release his bruising hold. She glanced up just in time to see Valisy manhandling the intoxicated man to the door.
She stood motionless on the dance floor, staring after them. When they were out of sight, Bethany looked around. The entire room seemed oblivious to what had just transpired. Either they were too busy drinking and dancing to notice, or they noticed but just didn’t care. She suspected that if the man had forced her toward an exit, it might have gone unnoticed, at least by the other patrons.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach and shuddered to think of what might have happened if Valisy hadn’t intervened. She watched her dark knight come back into the bar. His eyes searched her out for the briefest of moments, as if to assure himself she was unharmed. For a split second he wore his emotions clearly, but then the blank mask came down. He turned and headed straight for the bar.
By the time Bethany caught up with him, he was downing his second shot of vodka. He had kept the bottle and was refilling it himself. She wondered briefly if he drank like this all the time, or if it was a byproduct of her popping back up in his life.
She slid silently into the seat beside him. The knuckles on his right hand were raw. He apparently couldn’t resist giving the ugly drunk a little tune up once he was outside. That was so like Valisy.
Before he could grab his third shot, she picked it up and brought it to his mouth. He stiffened slightly, and kept staring straight ahead as he allowed her to tip the cool liquid into his mouth. She poured another shot, and drizzled it over his knuckles, before gently cleaning them with a soft napkin.
Trying to make polite conversation, she teased him. “You know, you really shouldn’t pick fights with strangers in bars.”
“You should not be out without an escort. You give no care for your own safety.”
“If I kept myself carefully out of harm’s way, how could you come running to my rescue? We both know how much you love being the hero. I’m just trying to be accommodating.”
“Don’t flirt with me, Bethany. I might get confused and think you care.”
“Just because I can’t be married to you doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
“You care so much, you walked out on me without even saying goodbye.”
“Again, I was just trying to be accommodating. When a woman sees her husband in the arms of another woman, it tends to leave her with the impression that he isn’t all that interested in being a husband. I actually like you, you big lug.”
“If I could take it back, I would.”
“So, how is Dina these days?”
“I would not know. She returned to her Gregory Moonello. I have not talked to her in the last three months.”
“She’s with mister crazy pants? Jesus, what’s wrong with you? We need to check on her.”
“Dina video chats with Steiv once a week. Though no one has spoken to me directly, I believe she is working on getting information on Moonello’s operation for Timur.”
“Is she safe there?”
“Dina can take care of herself. She is a bad luck charm, destroying all in her path without meaning to.”
“I know you must miss her.”
“I don’t, really. I was stupid to still attempt to maintain a friendship with her.”
“I was the stupid one. Stupid to think, even for a moment, that one woman would ever be enough for someone like you, especially a mousy little accountant like me.”
“Don’t ever let my foolish choices make you feel bad about yourself. There hasn’t been one moment of one day when I didn’t regret allowing that to happen. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Consider it done. Maybe we can be friends.”
“I would rather have you as a friend than not at all. Will you dance one last dance with me?”
He tugged her reluctantly onto the dance floor. Once on the floor, he folded her into a warm embrace and their bodies began to respond to the slow, soulful melody. Valisy wrapped her arms around his neck before allowing his hands to slowly move along the curve of her back.
Bethany rested her head on his chest and allowed herself the luxury of breathing in his intoxicating scent. It immediately brought back memories of the most carnal type. Images of him on top of her, touching her, kissing her, and spearing her.
Suddenly, her senses were overwhelmed by him. She found herself caressing his hairline. Her nails slipped easily through his short, thick hair. Valisy responded in kind. His hands moved down to knead her buttocks. She looked up at him to object, but the possessive look on his face made her heart skip a beat.
“You are still my wife, Bethany.”
Tilting her head sideways, she studied the stubborn expression on his face. “Didn’t you sign the paperwork? God, that was months ago, Valisy.”
“When hell freezes ove
r, Bethany. That’s when I sign away my rights to you.”
Suddenly, his lips were on hers. She lost control immediately, succumbing to his will. His lips felt even better than she remembered. Instead of taking her possessively, he ghosted his lips over hers. His tongue barely swiped over her lips, begging entry. Once granted, he made good use of the opportunity. It felt like a million sparks exploding around her and coalescing in the pit of her stomach.
After not being touched for a year, then experiencing the raw animal magnetism that was Valisy, Bethany was being swallowed by her own raging need. She realized at some point that he had no intention of letting her go and she was practically climbing him in a panicked need to get closer to him.
Suddenly, an unwanted image flashed through her mind. An image she badly wanted to forget. The image that always came, bidden or not, to spoil any fantasy she ever had of Valisy being her one and only. For the briefest of seconds she saw in her mind’s eye, the image of him standing there while a pretty blonde was looking up at him as she pulled open his pants.
Whatever magical moment that was happening between them vanished in an instant. She planted one hand against his chest and pushed. Unlike earlier, this man immediately released her. She took a step backwards, and they stood staring at each other for a long, breathless moment.
Bethany had a thousand things she wanted to say. Unfortunately, none of them were appropriate for the moment. She slowly shook her head. This had to end. She had to get the hell out of there, right now. She was seriously in danger of proving herself the queen of all fools. Again. She took a step backwards, then another. Three steps and she turned and fled, embarrassed by her lack of control. Instead of heading out the front door, she went back to the office, to get her purse.
No sooner had she stepped through the door, than Valisy was at her back. One huge arm came out around her waist, pulling her back into his massive erection. He kicked the door closed behind them.
“Let me go.”
