by Maddie Wade
“Love the sound of my name on your lips when you come, baby,” he moaned as his hips began to jerk as he came, little aftershocks making her jolt. His lips on her shoulder were soft, then he turned her head and kissed the wetness from her cheeks before gently kissing her, making her throat clog again.
“Too much?” he asked.
Jace always seemed to know what she needed or how she felt. They shared a beautiful connection that allowed no barriers or secrets between them. He’d seen her at her worst, loved her through it, and carried her when she could hardly walk from grief. He was her everything, and she knew he felt the same about her.
During sex, her love for him was so strong it always erupted into an earth-shattering climax which left her in tears. The first time it’d happened, she’d tried to hide it from him. Jace had told her to never do it again, that he wanted all of her, and she trusted him enough to give it.
“No, not too much. Perfect.”
“Good.” He kissed her one last time and moved out of her, and she felt his loss. She watched as he pulled himself from the pool and turned to haul her out behind him, and to hold her against him. “I can’t wait to marry you,” he said, looking at her with love on his face.
“Me, neither. Two days and we’ll be husband and wife, and then you’ll never be able to get rid of me.”
“Babe, that isn’t an option. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again.”
“Good. Now how about we hit the pool and join the others for a drink?”
“Sounds good to me. We can get some food from the pool bar.”
Lucy walked inside to grab a clean bikini and a beach cover-up and slid her feet into flip flops. “Cool. Do we know what the others have planned?” she asked as they left their suite and headed towards the pool.
“I think Dane and Lauren are doing something at the beach. Zack, Ava, Meg, and Daniel have gone to the water park. Nate and Skye were taking Mateo and Noah kayaking with Lizzie, and Roz and K have gone into town.”
“What about the oldies?” she asked with affection as she saw Drew’s friend Mara walk with her friends towards the pool.
“They’re playing golf.”
Lucy stepped into the pool area and saw their friends on the far side that faced the sea. The infinity pool made it feel like they were on the beach but without all the sand. She and Jace walked towards the area where Will, Aubrey, Drew, Zin, Celeste, and Jack sat. Smithy, Liam, and Astrid were playing tennis in the adjacent court.
“Hey, guys.”
“Good morning,” Will said, looking at his watch. “Or should I say afternoon?”
Lucy laughed. “It’s only twelve-thirty.”
Will cast a look full of suggestion at Aubrey. “Yes, but some of us have been up since seven.”
“Will, if you ever want to have sex again, I suggest you shut your gob,” she said as a blush heated her cheeks.
Will turned his grin on her but she just scowled back. “Babe, come on, you know you love me.”
“I might love you, but right now I’m thinking of several ways to make you pay for embarrassing me.” Her words were hard, but the tone was a mix of long-time suffering and indulgence.
“Well, we’re going to order some food from the bar, does anyone else want anything?” Lucy asked, looking around the group.
Jack nodded. “Yeah, I could do with something.”
Jace looped his arm around Lucy’s waist. “Why don’t you relax and me and Jack will order some food.”
“Okay, get me shrimp salad and a side of onion rings. Oh, and maybe some fries.”
Jace smiled at her. “Anything else?”
Lucy grinned back. “Nah, that’s it.” Jace nodded and kissed her lightly before he walked away.
“Jace, wait up, I need to ask you something,” Will called as he rose and jogged after Jace and Jack. Drew stood as well and headed over to talk to Mara and her friends.
Lucy sat down beside Aubrey and Celeste. “I need to talk you about the flowers,” Lucy said and saw Zin roll his eyes before standing.
“I’m going to grab a drink from the bar. You want anything, Pixie?” he asked Celeste, cupping her cheek. The love in his harsh face was enough to make Lucy melt.
“A strawberry daiquiri would be nice.”
“Only for you would I order such a froufrou drink.”
Celeste smiled at his retreating back. “I think you scared them all off with more wedding talk.”
“Who knew men could be so scared of a little wedding talk?”
“So, what did you want to talk to us about?”
“The flowers—”
“Are handled. Everything is being delivered to the hotel at eight o’clock. I’ll meet them and Aubrey and I’ll make sure they’re held in the cold store until twenty minutes before the ceremony, so they’ll stay fresh.” Celeste smiled when she finished.
Lucy laughed. “Well, okay then.” She knew she’d been somewhat of a bridezilla, but it was important to her that nothing spoiled this day.
“Hey, is that Princess Taamira al-Kamali?” Aubrey asked, nodding her head at a woman on the other side of the pool heading towards the luxury day beds. The guard following her was paying more attention to the women in the pool than the one he was guarding.
“Yes, it is,” Lucy said slowly as she watched two other guards move in behind the Princess.
The air around the pool seemed to freeze as the hair on the back of Lucy’s neck rose. Her mind processed several things at once—the five men from the airport stood in different positions around the pool area and pulled out automatic weapons, and four men dressed as staff members did the same. A spray of bullets hit the pool area as screams filled the air. Lucy’s eyes found Jace, who looked at her with horror and fear etched on his face. The movement of his lips was silent but Jace’s voice screaming her name in her head was not.
Chapter 9
“Get down!” Jace yelled and everyone dropped to the floor, he and his friends included. The gunfire stopped but the screams were loud and terrifying. Hands over his head, he looked at Lucy, his eyes running desperately over her as he tried to see if she was okay. His heart stuttered in his chest and then beat once more as he found nothing to suggest she was injured. He turned his gaze to Aubrey and Celeste and let a sigh of relief shudder through him at finding them safe.
Raising his head and turning slightly, he looked for Jack, who was on the ground beside Will. Zin was a few feet away, his eyes not leaving Celeste and the fury in them promising retribution. Drew was down beside Mara, his hand on her head and his body half-covering hers. He looked over at the tennis courts where he’d last seen Liam, Smithy, and Astrid and couldn’t see them anywhere. Jace hoped they were safe and could raise the alarm. The silence of the pool terrace was littered with the sounds of crying and fear.
A large man with dark hair, thick muscles, and a scar running down his face from the brow to the edge of his chin began to speak. “Do as we say, and you will not be hurt. My men will come around and collect all phones and media devices. Do not disobey me or you will die.”
The warning was clear and Jace had zero doubt in his mind he meant every word. Unfortunately, none of the men wore masks and their identities would be easy to find. Which all added up to the fact that these men had no intention of letting any of them leave there alive.
The men began to move the people around the pool into the bar area, zip-tying their wrists and making them sit against the wall. Drew stuck with Mara and her friend, putting his body between them and the gunman as best he could.
“Up,” a pale man said, Eastern European if he wasn’t mistaken, motioning for him, Jack, Will, Zin, and two other men at the bar to stand.
Jace rounded his shoulders, making himself look small, and watched as Jack, Will, and Zin did the same. It wasn’t easy for Jace to appear weak and non-threatening when every pore in his body demanded vengeance for daring to hold a gun to Lucy, but his training prevailed.
They were shuffled
to the same wall as the others but to the other end, away from the women they so desperately wanted to protect. The zip-tie didn’t bother him, he knew he could get out quickly if he needed to.
Jace watched in silence as two of the men walked around with a bucket, shoving their automatic weapons in people’s faces and laughing as they screamed and dropped in their phones. He saw Lucy tip her phone in but not her watch. She was calm and collected but was giving nothing of her training away, bowing her head in a submissive, scared manner.
He glanced at Jack, who was watching the corner of the bar. Jace followed his line of sight and saw two of the men were leading Princess Taamira into the centre of the room. She, it seemed, was the target.
The sounds of distant sirens didn’t seem to deter the men, which meant there were safeguards in place that allowed them to feel the threat of police storming inside was minimal.
“Jace?”
He heard her voice in his mind, and his eyes moved to her as he answered her using the connection they shared to send her his thoughts. “Luce, are you okay?”
“Yes, fine, just pissed off these pricks are ruining my plans.”
Jace smiled despite the situation. Never one to overreact in these types of cases, his fiancée was cool and more worried about her wedding plans than the immediate danger.
“Do you recognise any of the men?”
“No, do you?”
“No, but Jack might. Have you accessed the alarm on the watch?”
“Yes, hopefully the others can organise something. If it were just us, I’d say we could overpower them. But with no weapons and so many civilians, it could end in a blood bath.”
“I agree. Let’s hold tight and see what they want. My guess is a ransom.”
“Mine too. She looks terrified.”
Jace looked at the Princess who did, in fact, look terrified. Her guard was dead, shot when the first round of bullets had hit. It was a miracle nobody else was injured or dead, but then maybe not.
These men looked like they had been planning everything for a while. The sound of the sirens went quiet. Jace noticed the doors to the back of the bar being rigged with explosives and figured all the entrances were the same. The local police wouldn’t have anyone able to deal with that and would need to call in help from the mainland.
He needed to listen in to the men’s thoughts and hope he could interpret their language clearly enough to give him some insight. He concentrated on the one with the scar as he seemed to be in charge.
Two hours.
Jace wondered what that meant but was distracted by a scream from one of the girls in Drew’s group. He glanced over to see her stand, and in a panic, make a run for freedom.
“Nooooo,” he heard in his mind and in his ears as Drew dove to grab her.
A hail of bullets mowed the woman down, her body jerking with each round that ripped through her. Jace watched in horror as she fell to the ground lifeless, blood spatters all around her, including on the sobbing woman Drew now held in his arms.
“Would anyone else like to try me today?” the leader growled as he looked at the hostages with hatred. He glared at Drew and Mara. “Shut her up or she’ll be next.”
Jace felt his hands clench into fists but locked eyes with Drew and nodded. Drew lifted his chin slightly as he spoke quietly to Mara who sniffed and stopped crying but averted her eyes from her dead friend.
“Jace.”
He flinched at Celeste’s voice in his head, never having heard it before. Her abilities weren’t communication, and he wondered what was going on. “Celeste, how are you doing this?”
“I don’t know, but I knew I had to try. Can you talk to Zin?”
“I haven’t tried. Normally I can hear thoughts but not usually have a conversation. I can try.”
“You need to.”
She sounded upset, and for the first time since the gunmen had started shooting, he felt real fear curl through him.
“Did you see something?” he asked cautiously. His eyes locked on hers, and she gave a slight nod. He could see the fear in her green eyes. “What did you see?”
She was silent for a few beats, and he had a horrible feeling in his gut. “I see you, Zin and Jack on the floor with your hands behind your backs. Your heads are down and the man with the scar is ranting and raving at you. Then he turns and points the gun at Zin and then… he fires.”
Jace swallowed. Fear and grief were tangible in her voice, and he wanted to reach out and comfort her but couldn’t. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, Celeste.”
They both knew his words were empty because Celeste had never had a vision that didn’t happen. He contemplated telling Lucy but decided against it. She’d lose her mind and do something to try and stop it, and he’d rather die and have her live than watch her get killed.
He felt his wrist vibrate and glanced around to make sure he didn’t have eyes on him before he looked down. The screen was dark except for a tiny blue pinprick of light which meant someone was listening in.
The cavalry had joined the party. Now he could try and get them some information. He saw Will and Zin lift their chins at him in acknowledgement that they too had been alerted. He then began to count the men, the weapons, their positions, and any threats he could see. As soon as he got the opportunity, he’d get the information to whoever was on the other end.
Before he had a chance, though, Scarface walked to the Princess and backhanded her, making her cry out. He heard Jack growl beside him. To say his cousin wasn’t keen on men who harmed women was a gross understatement. He glanced at Jack and saw his jaw was rigid, his eyes cold.
“Princess, you are going to call your brother and tell him I want twenty million dollars transferred into this account within one hour or I will have every one of my men rape you until you are nothing but a cum slut for my men and post it on every social media account for all the world to see. I will then slit your throat on live television. If you say anything other than that, I will kill a hostage.” He motioned for one of his men to grab a hostage. A man with a cold, dead stare and bald head grabbed a young man, barely older than nineteen, and hauled him in front of the Princess. “Make the call.”
The Princess raised her head in the regal way that only people of extreme privilege could do. “I will not.”
Jace felt his heart sink at the show of pride and stupidity. He watched with inevitable sadness as Scarface turned and put a bullet in the young man’s skull. The Princess looked in open-mouthed shock at the dead man, her shoulders beginning to shake.
“Let’s try this again.” He lifted his chin to the bald gunman who walked towards Lucy, Celeste, and Aubrey.
Jace felt the men beside him freeze in a death grip. Bile filled his throat and his ingrained training died, fear gripping him and the men beside him. The gunman grabbed Aubrey, and Jace felt Will move.
Jack grabbed his brother back as best he could without being blatant and held him. “Stop,” Jack hissed, and his calm authority seemed to filter through to Will. Aubrey was led towards Scarface and the Princess and pushed to her knees.
“Take me,” Jack said as he stood. “Leave the woman alone and use me as your hostage.”
Jace heard Will suck in a breath. Jesus Christ, this was fucked up. Jack would swap his life for Aubrey if the Princess made the wrong call again. He would’ve done the same in Jack’s position, but the anguish on Will’s face reflected the impossible situation.
“You are either very brave or very stupid.” Scarface addressed Jack, then shrugged. “I do not care either way.” He motioned for Aubrey to be returned to her place beside Lucy and Celeste as Jack was dragged forward.
“Jace.”
“It’s going to be okay, Luce.” He held her fearful eyes and watched as she visibly pulled herself together before turning to watch Jack. His cousin was now on his knees in front of the Princess, a gun to his head. Jace wanted to look away but held Jack’s eyes, wanting him to have something to cling to if these were
his last moments on earth.
The moment seemed to hang in the air as everyone in the room held their breath, but none so much as him and Will—who had gone statue-still as he watched his brother prepare to die for the woman he loved. There had been so much anguish between the brothers, and now when things were finally good again, it was cruel that one decision from a spoiled Princess could snatch it all away.
“Make the call.”
Chapter 10
Dane
Paradise was the only way to describe the small secluded cove Dane and Lauren were in with the twins. The sand was off white and so fine it was soft and warm against his toes, the water was clear and shallow, and the palm trees provided shade from the morning sun.
I could stay here forever he thought, as Leah climbed all over his chest. Lauren was paddling in the warm water with Aaron just a few feet away, her blonde curls piled high on her head, showing off the perfect arch of her neck.
“You want to join Mummy and Aaron in the water, Princess?” He tilted his head at his daughter and smiled as she clapped her hands on his chest. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”
He laughed as he sat up, carrying her in his arms and running to the water, making her belly-laugh as he did. Lauren turned at them and smiled. Her beauty took his breath away. Dane moved to her and kissed her shoulder tenderly before lowering Leah until her feet just touched the water, her tiny hands holding onto his finger as she splashed.
“I love this place.”
Dane nodded. “I can see why K and Roz love it so much.”
“Me too. Lucy chose well, picking this for the wedding.”
He turned to her then as he thought of something. “Do you wish we’d done it separately from Luce and Jace?”
Lauren shook her head. “No, not at all. Sharing it makes it perfect. We’ll have all the people we love together and doing it with Lucy makes it even more special.”
