by Sadie Jacks
But it had been too soon. She had been too close. Too fucking close.
I pushed it aside. She was fine. She was with Jessa now. She was fine. Please, whoever is out there listening, let her be fine.
Sliding to a stop in the south hall, I smiled as I saw that Karine still had the knife stuck in her face. Every once in a while, Mas would reach out, flick the handle with his finger.
“Anything left for me?” I asked, walking in a normal speed.
“Maks, you have to help me. They’ve brainwashed me.” Karine tried to scoot forward on her knees.
Mas stopped her forward momentum with his palm against the base of the handle. “Don’t move, bitch.”
She stopped immediately, a whimpering screech fell from her lips. “Just pull it out. Please, just pull it out.”
“That’s what he said.” I smirked, bumped fists with Mas as he chuckled.
Karine yelled again.
Roger reached out, slapped her in the face. “I’m getting a headache. Keep your voice down.” He glared at her.
“Where is Amara?” Mas asked.
Karine shook her head. “I told you already: I don’t know.”
Mas whipped his hand out, slapped the knife in her eye socket. “You’re lying.”
I winced. Mas didn’t play, that was for damn sure. I was kinda in awe of him and his casual brutality.
“She came to you, whining and crying. Bitching and moaning. She would have unloaded all over you. Where is my daughter?” Mas asked again in the same cool tone of voice.
Karine shook her head. Tears leaked from her good eye. “I don’t know. Toni never told me anything about a daughter.”
I bumped my elbow into Mas’. Jutted my chin at Karine.
He nodded, stepped back.
Crouching down, I got at her eye level. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Kare Bear. You were doing good. Running both sides, playing them off each other. I haven’t seen that kind of sneaky in a long time.”
She blinked, smiled like a teenager. “I thought you would enjoy that. The sheer planning involved. If nothing else, you would appreciate the planning.”
I nodded. “I did. It was almost beautiful. Too bad you got caught up in your own game.”
She jerked back like I’d hit her in the gut.
I shook my head. “You got too involved. Made the game about Talia and your weird jealousy. You don’t love me. I know you don’t. So why did you put all of this together?”
She rolled her lips in, a sparkle in her good eye.
I sat down across from her. Crossed my legs, leaned back on my palms. “Honestly, the brains that it took to put this together. I knew you were good. Hell, I even knew you were great. But this is a whole other level. Something my government certainly hasn’t seen before.”
She preened under the praise. If she’d been able to, I bet she would have fluffed her hair and blown me a kiss. Bitch.
“But that it all fell apart around you.” I shook my head. Gave her a sad smile. “That’s rough. Too bad Barrikad did an end run around you with the snuff film. You would have had Talia wrapped up in her own flesh if he hadn’t gotten in your way.” I leaned forward, lowered my voice. “Remember that day? March 23, 2018?”
She nodded, her cold blue eyes hazing over slightly. “It was beautiful.”
It turned my stomach. The day everything in my life had fallen apart. But I did my job. I needed to get her talking.
“We’d just gotten done fucking.” I laughed, hoped no one else could hear the strain in it. “We destroyed that hotel room.”
She giggled. “I didn’t know solid oak furniture broke that easily.”
“It wasn’t easily. We were just that mad for each other, Kare Bear.”
She smiled at me through her lashes.
“But that night?” I groaned, long and low. “That night was amazing.”
“You were so squeamish when we started. But by the end, I could see the lust in your eyes. The need for more blood. More pain. More…everything.”
She was wrong. Wrong now, just as she was then. But I didn’t correct her. Didn’t try to change her mind.
“What was that guy’s name? Morton? Martin? Mortimer?” I asked, putting a hazy, lazy quality in my voice.
“Marvin.” She said it like a sigh under a lover’s caress. “He screamed so well. And his flesh.” She gave a delicate shudder. “It just peeled off.”
“Yeah. You made a little bow for him. Put it on his head. Told me he was a present for me.”
“I was so surprised that day. Surprised that you’d gone along with me. When I’d gotten the message earlier that day, I could have sworn you weren’t going to come to me.”
I’d been ordered to. My handler had not only okayed the action, but demanded I go. He’d put the op together, he’d done all the work. All I had to do was show up and pick up the asset. A simple stop and snag.
I’d walked into a slaughterhouse. Orchestrated by my handler, a lesson and a warning to keep my mouth shut. To keep my head down and follow the line.
It hadn’t worked then. It sure as hell wasn’t going to work now. And not when Talia had been pulled into the middle of it all.
“Your Petter clan has got the goods, that’s for damn sure. And now that we have you, we’ll get them. Each and every one of them.”
She jolted, her eyes widened. Her mouth gaped.
“Yeah. We’ve got a better team these days. Too bad for you, you stepped in the middle of their playground. You won’t be leaving this building alive. But if you have any last words…we’re all ears.” I cupped a hand around my ear.
“Y-y-you’re bluffing.”
Mas, Roger, and I all laughed.
I shook my head. “You only wish we were bluffing. You might be able to buy some goodwill for a family member from Mas, but you know what the cost is going to be.” I got to my feet. Brushed off my hands. “Time’s ticking away, Karine. Better speak quickly.”
I ripped the knife from her face.
Tried to block the screams from my mind. It reminded me of Marvin.
“She’s in Zagreb. Zagreb.” Karine leaned forward, clutched at my pants. “You have to save her. Don’t let them hurt her.”
“Hurt who? You don’t love anyone but yourself.” I shook her off.
“Marika. They will kill her if you show up.”
“Who is Marika?”
“Marika Novak.”
I looked at Mas.
He shrugged, shook his head.
“We’ll keep that in mind.” I turned to Roger. “If you wouldn’t mind.” I jerked my chin at Karine.
He smiled, walked around and held her head back. “Just don’t nick me.”
“I’m wounded, good sir. Wounded.” With her head wrenched back, her throat exposed, I held the knife to her neck. Nicked her just enough to let the blood slide down her flesh in little rivulets.
“You shouldn’t have hurt my woman.”
I pulled my arm back, slammed the knife back into her skull. This time her scream washed me clean.
Yanking on the knife, I plunged it back inside her eye socket. Forced it as far into the cavern of her cranium as possible.
And again.
And again.
Until Mas caught my arm.
My chest heaving, I saw that Karine was gone. Too far away for the pain to reach her ever anymore.
“Let’s go find my sister,” Mas said softly.
Chest heaving, I nodded. Tossed the knife down. Stepping over Karine’s body, I pushed her from my mind. She would never bother any of my loved ones again.
Chapter 39 – Talia
I blinked, couldn’t see past my lashes. Groaning, I lifted my hand. Or tried to. Something was stabbing the back of my hand.
Trying my left hand, I let out a soft sigh at getting it to move the way I wanted it to. I rubbed my eyes. Blinked some more.
Finally.
Low light brightened the space, but it wasn’t familiar. I looked all around, tr
ied to find something in the weirdness that was recognizable. There. In the far corner was a man I knew.
“Ark,” I said. My voice was so quiet, I wasn’t sure it even made it out of my mouth.
But he heard it. He jolted awake, grabbed his belly with a groan. “You’re awake.”
I nodded. Probably more of a chin wiggle than anything else, but it worked. “Yeah.”
He bolted up from his chair, his arm cradled his belly. “Let me get the doctor. Hang on.” He tapped the end of my bed as he raced by. Ripping the door open, he stuck his head out. “SHE’S AWAKE!”
He pulled his head back in and made his way back to my side. “You’ve just come out of surgery. Although how she did it outside of a hospital, I’m not really sure. But you’re good.” He reached out, grabbed my cold hand in his warm one.
“How are you?” I flicked my gaze down to his belly, back up to his face.
His smile was a little lopsided. “Svetlana is a bad shot.” He winced. “Sorry. She was a bad shot, at least in my case. She only clipped some body fat.”
I snorted. “If you have body fat anywhere, I’ll eat it.”
He chuckled. Grimaced. “Don’t make me laugh.”
The door swung open silently. Two familiar faces filled the doorway. “Hey,” I said. Right before the tears filled my eyes and slid down my cheeks.
Jessa rushed to the bed, curled up beside me on the right side. She pulled me into her arms. “You’re safe, T. You’re safe. Nothing and no one are going to hurt you.” She petted her hands down my hair, over my back.
I buried my face in her neck and wailed like a baby. Clutching at her slim frame, I felt the bed behind me dip. A familiar body wrapped around me from behind.
My brother pressed kisses to my back and my hair. “Tali, Tali, Tali.” I could hear the tears in his voice through the soul-wracking shudders of my own.
We sat there in a huddle for a long time. By the time I eased back from safety of Jessa’s body, I was exhausted, parched, and had a headache. I leaned back on my mountain of pillows.
“When did you guys get here?” I asked, my voice a raw, scratchy whisper.
Jessa wiped her eyes. “Three days ago. We got here the night Foster broke into the mansion.”
I blinked as I tried to process her words. Looking around the room, I saw Arkady still standing at the foot of my bed. “I lost another three days?”
His smile was sad. “But at least this time you were sedated with a catheter.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
My laugh was wet and rough, but it was there. I wasn’t dead. They hadn’t broken me. Tipping my head back on the pillows, I stared at the ceiling as I tried to sort through everything that I was thinking and feeling.
Nico rubbed a hand over my hair, pulling my attention to him. “Don’t give yourself an aneurysm. We just got you back.” He lifted my right hand, pressed a kiss to the back of it.
Jessa growled at him. “Domenico Maurice, that’s a monstrous thing to say.”
I snorted. “Goddess, I’m so glad you guys are the same.”
Nico shot Jessa a superior smile.
Jessa rolled her eyes. “Out. Both of you. I need to check her wounds.”
Wait! I tried to sit up, fell back with a wail of pain. “Foster. What happened to Foster?”
“He stepped out to deal with some Interpol stuff,” Arkady answered quickly. “He’s been glued to your side for the last three days. Most of the work he’s been doing in here, just so he could keep an eye on you.”
I sank back into the bed. Nodded. “Will someone tell him I’m awake?”
Arkady smiled, a real smile this time. “Aren’t you glad?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “I’ll go get him.”
Heat seared my cheeks as I got his meaning. I was damn glad that Arkady and I hadn’t gone any farther than we had that one day after my beating. I wasn’t sure what I had with Foster, but I knew I needed to find out.
Nico and Arkady left the room, pulling the door shut softly behind them.
Jessa stood at my bedside, a slight frown on her face. “What did that mean?”
“Arkady was helping me get cleaned up after the beating. We…got a little carried away.” I blushed. “But he stopped. Said he could tell I was imagining someone while he was touching me.”
Jessa’s face fell into lines of happiness. “I’m so glad he was there with you. That he was there to help you.”
I nodded. “Me too. Honestly, I don’t know that I would have survived without him.”
Jessa nodded. “Then I’m glad we didn’t have to find out.” She cleared her throat. “Now, tell me where it hurts, if it does.” Her voice was professional, brisk, very doctorish.
“My belly is twinging. But more like the skin, not my intestines.”
Her brow furrowed. “I’m going to check. You good with that?”
I nodded.
She grabbed the blanket, pulled it down slowly to reveal my body. Dressed in some weird kind of shirt thing I didn’t recognize, she pulled it up and looked at my belly. A large square of gauze was covering almost half of it.
“We had to go in and do some surgery to repair your intestines.” She laid the back of her hand against my abdomen. Waited a beat. “It doesn’t feel hot.”
I shook my head. “Like I said, just my skin, not inside.”
She nodded. “I’m going to pull back the gauze, check the wound for seepage or weeping.” Jessa waited for me to nod before she put herself to the task. “It looks good. I’m surprised at how fast you’re healing.”
I shrugged. “From the number of times I got smashed in the face with hands bigger than plates, I’m surprised I’m not a jiggly bag of bones, to be honest.”
Her smile was pinched. “I hope they find that fucker.”
My brain tipped sideways as my bottom of my belly dropped away. “What?”
She winced. “Fuck. T, I’m sure they’ll get him. You’ll be safe. More than safe.”
I pushed back into the bed, shook my head. “He has to be dead, Jessa. He has to be.” I could hear my voice rising. Could feel my body tense and twitch with the need to run.
The door smashed open.
I screamed, tried to grab Jessa to pull her behind me.
“Hellcat, what the hell is going on?” Foster said.
Limp as a freaking noodle, I fell back. Buried my face in my hands, let the tears come again.
“Out, Jessa,” he demanded.
“She’s m—”
“Mine. Get out. I’ll call you back in when she’s calm.”
I heard the door shut. Felt him climb on the bed with me. “Hellcat, come on. Look at me.”
I shook my head, continued to hide behind my hands. I felt like such an idiot. Such a weakling, sissy, moron.
He sighed, braceleted my wrist. With a puny amount of force, he pulled my hands down. “Hey.” He folded his body almost in half to look me in the eye. “You survived all of this. You’re allowed to break down.”
More tears rushed up my throat, burned my eyes. I shook my head. It wasn’t that. More than ever before, I knew what I was capable of.
“Then what?”
I opened my mouth. Coughed around the words that wouldn’t come. Looking up at Foster, I saw the dark hair that was so out of place. “What happened to your hair?”
He laughed. “All of these tears over my hair?” He ran a hand through it.
“Jessa said that Barrikad got away,” I said, forcing the words out.
Foster lost his smile. “He did. But don’t worry, Hellcat. We’ll get him.”
I nodded. “He’s mine.”
Foster opened his mouth.
“Don’t even try it. That man tortured me, raped me, beat me. He’s mine. What happened to Svetlana? I get to kill her, too.” I looked around the room as if she would simply appear for me to destroy her.
Foster’s mouth twisted into a scary smile. “Tough luck on that one, Talia. I killed her. And I’m not sorry.” One of his hands tighten
ed on my wrist until I was sure I could feel the bones rubbing together.
I put my free hand over his. “Thank you.”
He nodded, eased his grip. “Nik is doing some kind of computer techy thing to find him. He won’t be missing for long.”
I nodded. “You came for me.”
Foster’s mouth dropped open for a second. He snapped his jaw shut with a soft snick. “Of course, I came for you.”
“You were pissed at me,” I said it quietly.
He nodded. “Yeah. I was. Honestly, I’m still a little pissed at you. But more so at myself. I’m sorry, Hellcat. Sorry you got pulled into the shitshow that was my old life. All of this was because Karine—”
I raised a finger. “Who’s Karine?”
He blinked. “You knew her as Svetlana.”
It was my turn for the open-mouthed, dumbfounded look. “You knew her from before?”
He nodded. “She was one of my targets back in the day.”
I wrinkled my nose. “She’s a dirty ho, Foster.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. But so was I, at that point in my life.”
“I’m glad you’ve showered and disinfected yourself since then.”
His laugh was beautiful. It filled me with warmth and an odd sense of security. Not once in our entire relationship—if that’s what it could be called—had he let me push him around. Let me put him on a leash. No, this man was a man in his own right. He didn’t need me to complete him. He was complete on his own.
As his laughter died, he became serious. His piercing blue eyes were steady as he gazed at me. “Talia, I love you. I know you think I’m an asshole. And you’re not altogether wrong. But I want you in my life. I want you to choose me.”
My heart caught in my throat as words deserted my mind. He loved me. He wanted me. He’s an asshole. All three very simple statements. But to me, they meant the world.
“I love you, too.” I waited a beat. “Asshole.”
His laughter shot to the ceiling. “I’m glad we’ve established that. Are you ready for me to bring Jessa back in?”
I looked at him like he was an idiot.
“What? What did I do?”
I rolled my eyes. “I want a kiss, you jackwagon.”
