by Gwyn McNamee
I drop down into a chair opposite him. “You were expecting me?”
He chuckles and places his elbows on his desk. “I figured there was a pretty good chance you would eventually need my help when you screwed over your brother and then fucked his fiancée.”
I had considered coming to Saban then, but I thought I had it under control and that he wouldn’t want to become embroiled in such a mess.
Now, I'm starting to wonder whether Tarek knew where we were the whole time and was just waiting for his opportunity to swoop and ruin our bliss.
No…that's not like him. He wouldn't want me to have any form of love or contentment and especially not with the woman he loves. Whatever information led him to me, it came later. Maybe from Saban, maybe from someone else.
“What is it you want, Konstandin?”
Revenge. The word almost slips out. It’s the most honest answer I can give. But if Saban has any heart at all, a proposition that’s still very much up for debate, I need to appeal to it as well as to his desire for power.
“I need to know where he took Jade. Even though he probably assumes I'm dead by this point, I know he's not dumb enough to take her back to his place, at least not for a while.”
He chuckles and rubs a hand across his jaw. “First, what makes you think I have any idea where he took her? Second, what makes you think I'd help you and potentially piss off your brother? We're allies now, remember?”
Allies is a bit of a strong word for what they are. It’s more like enemies who know they're both strong enough to destroy each other so they don't bother. Talk about a fucking cold war.
“I have no doubt you've talked to Tarek.”
He nods, and the corner of his mouth tips up. “I have. He called to tell me he found you in Denver and to thank me for the information I provided him.”
My hands fist on the armrests of my chair. I'm not surprised. Saban always was a worm, but that doesn’t stop the anger from making its way to the surface.
He waits for a response, and when he doesn't get one, he leans back in his chair again. “Come on, Konstandin, you had to have known I would know you were anywhere within a 200 mile radius of Chicago. I knew the moment you set foot in Rockford.”
No wonder I was so damn uneasy. I should have fucking known we were too close to him and all his connections.
“So you're the reason my brother found us?”
Saban shrugs. “That was well over a year ago. I lost track of you for a while, although I did have my men looking. I knew it was only a matter of time before either they or your brother located you.”
“Why did you help him?”
He raises his hands. “Why wouldn't I help him? From what I understand, he was the wronged party here, and as I mentioned, we made a truce. Telling him where he could find his fiancée, and his backstabbing brother, seemed like basic goodwill and something that may earn me some bonus points for future negotiations.”
Blood roars through my veins like napalm. This asshole is the reason we got caught. Yes, my brother may have found us eventually, but I have no doubt in my mind the information Saban provided helped him along the way. More eyes. More ears. More opportunities to be caught.
“Tell me where Jade is. I could be an ally to you. We both know you've always wanted my brother gone. Why not join forces with me? We could end this together.”
The smile he gives me is about as warm as dry ice. “I don't disagree with you on the fact that I want your brother gone, but there's something to be said for the status quo. I have a good thing going here. Taking on your brother’s territory would stretch my capabilities to their limits. Controlling one city is hard enough. Controlling two, plus all the area between them, would be something else altogether.”
I always knew Saban was a fucking ball-less pussy. It just would have been nice to have a friend with some power in all this. “Fine, but at least tell me where he took Jade.” I try to rein in my anger and not let it show in my words, but the quirk of his brow tells me I probably failed miserably at that.
“You aren’t really in any position to be making demands are you? You have no weapon, you're in foreign territory, and one call would have your brother’s men here before the end of the day to take you to him.”
All true, but Saban underestimates me. A mistake that usually doesn't end well for most people. I scan the room out of the corner of my eye.
“You're right.” I stand and step slightly toward the desk. “I have no leverage. I have no way to force you to tell me anything, but I'm asking you nicely…please tell me where he took Jade.”
Please is not a word that comes out of my mouth often. My throat burns from having even said it, but I’m making one last ditch effort to get what I need without starting a second war.
He tucks his hands behind his head and gives me yet another grin. “He was heading back to Philly, that's all I know.”
Whether he's being honest or lying is irrelevant at this point. He signed his death warrant the moment he admitted he helped my brother find me and Jade.
ELEVEN
The thwack the lamp makes connecting with Saban’s skull sounds like a fucking heavenly chorus of angels. Blood splatters across the wall behind him, and he slumps down in his chair.
Shattered glass from the bulb crunches under my boots when I move to stand next to him.
A groan slips from his lips. I clamp my hand over his nose and mouth, silencing any protests or screams. I’ll have to take care of this fast. As soon as the guys outside realize we aren’t talking anymore, I’m toast. And if they heard the lamp break, I’m well and truly fucked.
His one working eye flies open and meets mine.
“I hope it was worth it…whatever benefit you received from betraying me to my brother.”
He gurgles under my left hand while I yank open one of the drawers on his desk. The letter opener glints in the light.
Perfect.
My hand curls around it, and I bring it up so he can see it.
“I much prefer my own implements, but I’ll make do.”
The fear in his eyes warms my otherwise cold, dead heart. The heart that never felt anything before Jade walked into my life and has been slowly dying again since she was taken from me.
The blade of the opener slides into his ear easily with one hard shove. I muffle his scream with my hand and press down, watching him struggle for breath as I impale his brain. He jerks and spasms under me before finally going limp.
His one remaining eye stares back at me blindly as I step back and survey my handiwork. It was a far too easy and good of a death for him, but desperate times call for quick action.
Muffled voices outside the door draw my attention away from my latest kill, and I quickly rummage through the drawers on his desk looking for anything useful.
Two handguns and a small pile of ammo later, I make my way to the corner where a safe hangs open. Stacks and stacks of cash line the inside.
“Thanks, Saban.”
My mumbled words go unheard by the dead man in the chair as I grab bundles of bills and shove them into a duffel bag next to the safe on the floor.
This stash will certainly come in handy.
I press my ear against the door, listening for any signs of life in the hallway, but all is quiet. I'm not dumb enough to believe there isn't anyone out there, though. Saban always has at least two goons milling about in the back hallway. And they saw the big guy bring me back here.
Both weapons are loaded and ready to go.
So am I. I sling the bag over my shoulder and ready myself before I yank open the door and step out.
Three shots to the chest take out the guard to the right of the door and the suppressor on the weapon gives me enough time to maintain the element of surprise on his buddy down the hallway to the left. The asshole has a cell phone pressed to his ear, and when he turns and his eyes meet mine, they bulge just before two bullets enter his chest.
A few more guns and some extra magazines join
my friends in the bag, and I peer around the corner toward front of the restaurant. Clanking of dishes and silverware and the light din of voices echo down the hallway toward me.
The back door down at the other end of the hallway is an option, but there are likely to be more guards that way than if I go through the restaurant. I know they congregate in a room back there. I just hope these assholes aren't dumb enough to shoot at me in such a public space.
I tuck my guns away and walk as casually as possible down the hallway past the public bathrooms and out into the restaurant. I'm just another guy. No one seems to be paying any attention to me until my hand curls around the handle on the front door. The big guy out front sees me through the windows. A brief moment of confusion flashes across his eyes before he draws his weapon.
It’s all I need to see to know he never expected to see me again. Saban was going to kill me, or at least have someone come in and do the dirty work. Tarek may have wanted me back alive so he could personally finish the job, but Saban wanted me as a trophy.
The front door sticks slightly, losing me a precious second of time before I can fire at the large guard and empty the magazine into him. A burning flash of pain in my shoulder lets me know he managed to get at least one shot off before I took him down. His two buddies scramble and fire shots back at me. Another hits my left arm and a searing blaze of agony shoots through it.
I stumble momentarily but manage to fire a few more rounds before I dive into my car and hightail it away from the clusterfuck that was my Hail Mary.
Blood seeps into my shirt and trickles down arm. Drops land on my leg and cover the steering wheel.
This one is bad. There’s no way I can take care of this myself and stay standing for long.
I need help.
And there’s only once place I can think to go in Chicago. I just hope he hasn’t closed up shop since the last time we were here and needed his special brand of assistance.
TWELVE
Her tongue snakes out and trails along the underside of my cock. A shudder rolls through my body, and I tangle my hands into her hair and tug. She moans and wraps that wicked tongue of hers around the throbbing head, lapping up the bead of precum. A hum of approval vibrates around my engorged flesh as she sucks my entire length into her hot mouth.
My hips buck and roll, pushing me even further down her throat.
“FUCK! Rea!” She hums, sending shockwaves of pleasure coursing through my body.
I won’t last long. No way.
Not now that I finally have her exactly where I want her.
Not now that Rea has finally offered herself to me, body, mind, and heart.
Not now that Rea is finally mine.
Her sinful mouth suctions around my dick, and she starts a rhythm sure to having me blowing my load down her throat in ten seconds flat.
How can someone so sweet and innocent be so damn good at this?
The tingle in my balls warns me of my impending release. I grip her hair tighter, urging her head up and down faster, shoving even deeper.
Wave after wave of electrifying bliss shoot through my body as I come down her throat. She moans her approval and sucks me until I’m so sensitive, it almost hurts, and I have to yank my cock free from her warm depths.
I release her hair and cup her face, ensuring she’s looking up at me and paying close attention. Her jade green eyes bore into mine with a love and compassion I’ve never seen from anyone in my life before. One I surely don’t deserve.
“We can’t go back, Rea. You are mine, and I am yours. But we must leave now. There’s no other choice.”
***
I jerk awake, the memory of my first time with Rea—and my last time with her as Rea before she became Jade—so crystal clear in my mind, my hard cock throbs between my legs. I shift on the bed.
Barking.
Chirping.
Scratching.
The unfamiliar sounds fill my ears and cause my swimming head to split with an agonizing headache.
Where the fuck am I?
I open my eyes to take stock of my surroundings. Blurry vision doesn’t help the disorientation as I try to raise my head.
A hand presses to my chest and pushes me back down.
“Stay down.”
I don’t recognize the voice, and my first instinct is to lash out at him, but the floaty feeling in my head and limbs lulls me into a strange sense of security.
“I’ve given you propofol and isoflurane, so don’t try to get up until it wears off completely.”
What?
A memory stirs.
Gunshots.
Bleeding.
Driving across town.
The veterinary clinic.
Shit.
“Thanks.” I manage the mumbled word before my world slips into a hazy black fog.
When I come to again, I push myself up slowly using my right hand. My left arm throbs, reminding me of why I ended up here in the first place.
“I removed the bullet.”
The voice makes me jump slightly, but I turn and find the doctor sitting in a chair across the room, a book open on his lap.
“It was fairly deep into the muscle, so it’s going to hurt for a while. The other was just a flesh wound. A few stitches took care of that one.”
I nod my understanding and scrub my hand over my face. Several weeks of not shaving have left a rough beard I’m not used to feeling on my jaw.
“Any chance you have somewhere I can clean up and shave before I take off?”
He raises an eyebrow and sets his book face-down onto the counter next to him.
“You can’t leave yet. Tomorrow morning at the earliest. I won’t be able to hide you once my staff comes in, but you need to rest tonight.”
I shake my head and swing my legs over the edge of the exam table. “No, I have to go.”
An annoyed sigh fills the room. “I guess I can’t stop you, can I? There’s a bathroom with a shower down the hall on the left.” He reaches into a cabinet and pulls out an electric razor. “And you can use this.”
Just stretching out my right arm to try to take it from him makes me wobble and slide from the table. I grasp the edge with my good hand and grit my teeth against the pain in my left arm.
“I’ll grab you some meds to take with you. Antibiotics and pain meds. You’ll need both. That finger of yours, or what was left of it, was a mess. So was that stitch job you did on your side. Another bullet?”
I nod.
“It’s a good thing you came in when you did, or infection would have likely taken that whole hand. I cleaned it up and gave you some IV antibiotics while you were out.”
I mumble a thanks before righting myself on unsteady feet and grabbing the razor from his outstretched hand.
“I won’t be long.”
“There are some clean clothes in my gym bag in the locker in the bathroom. You need them.”
It hadn’t even crossed my mind what I must look like at this point. I glance down. The pants I took from the guy at the ranch house are now splattered with Saban’s blood and my own. The shirt is in even worse condition. Barely anything remains after the doctor cut away the sleeve on the left side and what is there is drenched in blood.
“Thanks.”
He nods and returns to his chair and book, leaving me to stagger down the hallway to the bathroom on my own. As soon as I’m cleaned up, I need to get heading east again.
Jade is out there with my monster of a brother. And now, I have not only his men after me, but also Saban’s. Things just got a hell of a lot harder.
THIRTEEN
The clacking of the rails threatens to lull me to sleep again, but I force my eyes open and stare out at the city flying by me.
Pittsburgh.
So fucking close to home. Yet somehow, I still feel a million miles away from Jade.
Every day, hour, and minute that passes only makes me more certain of what has to happen. Destroying Tarek isn’t enough. His entire netwo
rk needs to go up in flames.
But first…Jade.
The money in my bag, minus a few bundles that went to the vet, is going to be put to good use as soon as we stop in Philly. I managed a few hours of sleep between Chicago and here, enough time to somewhat recover from the backroom surgery I had last night.
And time to plan.
Tarek will be expecting me by now, so I can’t storm in there gun’s blazing, as much as I want to. My fingers are practically itching in anticipation of finally wrapping around my brother’s throat and watching the life drain from his eyes.
He deserves nothing less than the worst of the worst. And I’ll make sure he gets it…once Jade is safe.
Throbbing in my arm reminds me I’ll be somewhat at a disadvantage. But I’ve overcome worse. Seven years in the Special Operations Battalion in Albania exposed me to more death, destruction, and insane situations than most people could possibly imagine.
It also trained me to expect the unexpected and find a way to get the upper hand. Tarek may be anticipating my arrival, but there’s no way he can understand or expect the type of blitzkrieg I plan on unleashing on him and his men.
The time it will take to make the arrangements will tick by slower than the miles on this train trip, but it’s a necessary delay to ensure I can get her out safely.
I pull out the burner phone I bought in Chicago and make the call I pray I don’t end up regretting.
A familiar gravelly voice answers. “Hello?”
The tightening in my chest is unexpected. I never thought I’d be so fucking happy to hear it.
“Lorenc…it’s me.”
Silence lingers over the line momentarily.
This could go one of two ways. Either he’ll hang up on me and immediately tell Tarek I’ve contacted him, or…he’ll offer any assistance I need.
Obviously, the latter would make things a lot easier for me. Especially because I know I’ll be coming face to face with him when I reach Philly. A friendly face and assistance are much needed right now. But Lorenc has always been loyal to my brother, just as much as I was before I left.
“Fuck! Are you okay? Where the fuck are you?”
