by J. L. Beck
“Can I help with something?” Kai offers. It’s only because he doesn’t push me that I answer him this time.
“What is Novak up to?”
Kai shakes his head, uncertain, a place he definitely doesn’t like to be. “You mean Ms. N—”
“Not fucking Val.” Although now that he mentions it, I do want to know why she isn’t currently in my bed naked and sleeping off an orgasm. But I don’t tell him that. “No, her father. He’s been out of town for a while. His business trips don’t usually last so long, and when they do, he takes Sal with him. I want to know where he’s been, what Sal has been up to in his absence, and where Valentina is at all times.”
Kai nods, clearly relieved to be given a task in his purview, and heads out of the dining room. I should eat something, but I can’t focus. Even more so now that I have spilled coffee all over the place and need to change.
I’m forced to put up a mental barrier to Val and the disruption of her in order to focus. As soon as she’s here, and she’s mine, I’ll be able to relax. Until then, everything reminds me of her and the fact that I don’t have her here with me, safe and sound.
Once I’m cleaned up, I head down to the command center, a large room my trusted lieutenants like to use to debrief or prep for something. It’s a big enough space to hold us all and doesn’t feel as formal as the dining room or living rooms.
Vincent, my first lieutenant, second only in rank to Kai, has his big feet slung up on the desk, his blond ringlets mussed, his white button-down straining against his solid frame. I shove his legs off the table when I come around it and take a seat between him and my fourth lieutenant. Alexei is dressed up today in a suit and tie, which isn’t his usual uniform.
“Kai have you on recon today?” I ask Alexei, even while glaring back at Vincent, who’s grumbling at me.
“Yeah. Kai is sending me to monitor your little princess.”
I shove him out of the chair before he can react and spin away from my grip. “She’s not a fucking princess. And when she does come here, you’ll be the perfect gentleman.”
“But what about you, boss? Are you going to be the perfect gentleman?” he says, backing toward the door.
I stand, my hands crushing the leather of the chair I’d been sitting in. “Let’s be very clear. If anyone touches her or so much as looks at Valentina, I will kill him.”
The room is deadly silent as I continue. “You may be the people I trust most in the world, but she will be my wife. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Both men stare at me with their hands up in an attempt to calm me. I feel foolish. Snapping at my men is not something I usually do. I’ve seen how easily a man can tear down his entire world by treating his men poorly.
Alexei rushes out before I have time to come up with some kind of an explanation. I won’t apologize, but he deserves to know me snapping at him was more about me than him.
That leaves Vincent. I glance over at him, resuming my seat, and stare up at the oversized monitor on the wall. It keeps track of any current operations in my range. But today, it’s blank, nothing but a news show on mute with the subtitles scrolling at the bottom.
“You okay, boss?” Vincent finally dares to ask.
“I’m sure Kai has already briefed you. I’m waiting on something, and you know how much I love to be kept waiting.”
He snorts his agreement and shifts in his chair to snag his phone off the table. “It’s Kai. He’s on the fiancé and says he’s acting stranger than usual.”
I consider this new information. With Val’s father out of town, that leaves Sal alone with her and her friend she mentioned…Rosa, Rose…What would make him start acting erratically?
It bothers me, a low thrum in my gut, that I feel like I’m missing a key part of this puzzle. And once I find that missing piece, I’ll regret slipping it into the slot to see the entire picture. It doesn’t matter, leaving it unfinished isn’t an option.
“Go, follow him, let Kai figure out what the elder Novak is up to. If you get anything weird, send me a text so I know immediately.”
Vincent scoops up his keys, pockets his phone, and leaves the room without another word. Something I like about the man.
I trust my men, but the itch to have her here under my own gaze is too much, so I try to focus on other things. An upcoming job we were hired to facilitate that should go off without a hitch. Even with Kai at the helm, as he usually is since my father’s death, there shouldn't be any problems. So why do I still feel so off?
I resolve to stop being so fucking pussy whipped, especially since I haven’t even had her yet, and get back to work. It’s not until Kai throws a file folder on the table in front of me later in the day that I realize I’d finally managed to focus and get some shit done.
“What’s this?” I ask, already opening the brown kraft folder to peruse the contents.
“It’s the surveillance I ordered on Novak. He’s in New York. He has been for over a week maybe? There wasn’t any definitive answer on when he left. And my spy on the inside of Novak’s place was MIA when I tried to contact him.”
I shove the maps I’d been working on to the side and bring the file flat onto the glossy surface. While thinking, I slip out of my jacket, roll up my sleeves, and settle back into the chair. Novak is working on an oceanic smuggling deal. The idea looks lucrative with very little oversight from law enforcement if they’ve already lined up a ship and forged customs documents.
Knowing this stuff about my enemy always helps inform my next move, yet I’m annoyed there isn’t one mention of Valentina.
“What about the girl?” I ask, still scanning the images he provided.
Kai shakes his head. “She hasn’t left the house in days from what I can tell and was last seen on the night she came to the casino. Maybe she decided to hide out since her father is gone and her creepy fiancé is lurking around.”
“Why is Sal around? Doesn’t he usually go with Novak on these trips? What’s he been doing all this time while Novak has been gone?”
Finally, Kai takes the seat beside me and settles in to talk. “From what I can tell, he’s been beating on prostitutes and spending Novak’s money right under his nose. Mostly on the prostitutes and then to their pimps to keep them from bashing his head in. It helps his family has a solid foothold in that industry.”
If an industry is what you could call it. I always preferred the term human trafficking for what Sal and his family get wrapped up in. While I have no problem putting a bullet in someone’s ear, I draw the line with hurting women and children like that.
A vision of my mother’s face flashes in my mind for a heartbeat before I shake it away and look back over Kai’s report. “Get Vincent back here. He hasn’t texted me, and I want to know more about what this jackhole has been up to since his babysitter has been gone. And for fuck’s sake, find out where Val is.”
“She’s at the house, boss,” he supplies. “I’ve had people on it since we took her home the other night. She hasn’t left the place once. Why does she need to with the size of her staff?”
With Sal out doing whatever the fuck knows what, and Novak in New York seemingly indefinitely, this might be the only shot I get. I check my watch and then the window. The sun will be going down soon. Perfect.
“Round up the team. We’re going in to get her.” The minute the words are out of my mouth, I know they are the right move. I can feel it under my skin, urging me to find her, take her, touch her.
“What are you thinking?” Kai asks, not even pretending to move on my orders.
I drag him up by his very expensive suit collar. “We’re going after her, and once she’s here, I can stop thinking about her and actually get some work done.”
It takes Kai another minute to follow me. Of all my men, he’s often the only one who will disagree with me on things. Something I’ve always appreciated about him.
“Are you sure about this? If Novak finds out it was you who took his daughter, he’l
l declare war.”
“Aren’t we already at war? And we both know he doesn’t give a shit about her unless it’s to use her in a bargain. It’s the only reason Sal is in her life to begin with.”
With no further argument, he rounds up the rest of the team until all seven of us are standing on the driveway waiting for the cars to take us. Technically, I could have done this alone or with Kai, but I want to be prepared for any strange security Sal might have put into place during Novak’s absence. Without our usual spy, our intel is too old to risk going in alone.
I feel better on the drive to the house. But then as we pull up to the gate, my stomach drops out. The entire house is dark, and it looks deserted. Even on lower staff days, the lights would all be turned on, security would be monitoring the gate, and hell, even a chubby guard dog was known to roam the property on occasion. But now, there’s nothing but eerie quiet, which settles unevenly across my shoulders.
If something has happened to her, then Sal is the next person who will get a visit tonight. I don’t care if he helped or not.
We pull up down the road and hoof it to the gate, Andrea pulling up last since she can work the charm on the mostly male staff if necessary.
Even the sounds of the woods around the property feels quiet. We enter through a servant’s side door, the one the staff usually take, and find the entire place empty. Everything is shiny and clean. It’s like someone told the staff to take a few days off and not return.
It doesn’t bode well. I palm my handgun and lead the way through the kitchen and down the hall. It’s not far to her bedroom, according to the earlier spy’s maps, but it’s not the darkness that makes me stop in the middle of the corridor. It’s the acrid scent of death in the air.
A scent I’ll never forget.
10
Valentina
I don’t know how long I lay there. More than hours, but less than weeks maybe? The time doesn’t seem to have any meaning or form. It doesn’t matter because I can’t feel anything, not in this place I’ve gone in my mind. The place where nothing happened and I’m asleep, comfortable in my bed, instead of tied down like an animal.
I might be able to convince myself if my stench wasn’t so strong. It’s not just unwashed skin, but I know I’ve made a mess of my bed, of the floor no doubt, and no one dared to do anything to help me. I’d always gotten along well with the servants, treating them like family and giving them gifts during the holidays. It would seem that friendliness had always been an illusion. Not a single one of them would risk untying me. Only the maid ventured in far enough to give me a few sips of water the first day he’d left me here. Then she took one look at…she took one look at everything and never returned.
I’ve rubbed the skin on my wrists raw from trying to loosen the ties, but Sal has had enough practice at securing prisoners. The knots won’t budge.
Rose would help me. She’d risk anything to help me. Something flashes in my mind, a vision of Rose’s eyes, but they don’t look right, and I shove the image away for fear of it taking hold and staying in my head. Rose doesn’t look like that. She’s beautiful and vibrant and will help me as soon as she can.
I drift in and out of consciousness, not sure where the nightmares end and reality begins. Everything hurts. It hurts to breathe or move. I've lost most of the feeling in my hands and feet, but I still try to focus on loosening the bonds. It’s nothing but pins and stabbing pain with every shift. Rose wouldn’t give up, so I can’t either.
The next time I wake up, the scent in the room is more pungent. I can’t breathe through my nose, and when I breathe through my mouth, it makes me gag. So I take shallow breaths and watch the light through the window. It fades to nothing until the room is dark and shadows play across the walls. I’ve never been afraid of the dark. Why should I be when the monsters walk around in the daylight?
Each pulse of pain through my body is starting to drift off to a hazy end. A few more and maybe I’ll fall back asleep for a while. If I sleep, then maybe someone will untie me before I wake up again. Maybe Rose will be here with me when I wake up again. It’s the only solace I can find as my body starts to give out inch by inch.
When I open my eyes again, I can barely pull my eyelids apart. Good, why should I anyway? Not when everything hurts, and I can’t breathe right through the smell. But something new happens when I slit my eyes open this time. Someone is leaning over me.
I should be scared, right? Did Sal come back to finish killing me like he promised? Maybe he decided to forget the money my wedding will bring in, in favor of killing me slowly and painfully.
I try to say something to the face. It’s not Sal, nor any servant in the house. But I know his face. He’s familiar to me, yet I can’t think of where or how I know him. His hair looks shiny in the light. The overhead light is now on, I realize slowly.
His mouth is moving. It’s a pretty mouth, full and made for kissing. I don’t know anything about kissing except for what Sal has forced on me. If Sal knew I thought about kissing this stranger, he’d definitely kill me.
I drift again. Hands are on me, and I want to fight them off, slap them away, like Rose would do, but I don’t have the strength. I let them touch me and can’t even open my eyes to look at them.
The next time I inch my eyes open, there’s something wet on them. Was I crying? I thought I’d run out of tears days ago, weeks ago, years ago.
Someone is speaking to me, soothing and low, as a pressure gently taps against my shoulders. It takes me a long time to figure out that the voice doesn’t want me to get up. I lift my hand high, and it flops back to the bed because I’m not tied up anymore. My limbs are still pins and needles punctuated with pain, but I can move them again, so that’s a good sign. Maybe my father came home and saw what Sal did to me. Is it sad that a daughter thinks her father will save her even after years of neglect?
“Stay the fuck down, Val,” a voice says. No one calls me Val. I blink against the bright light of the room, and then suddenly, it’s not as bright. The voice dimmed the lighting so I can open my eyes fully.
I blink a few more times and stare up into the face I thought I remembered from a dream. “Where am I?”
A warm sensation slides down my arm, and I glance over to watch him run a cloth on the same path. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll answer your questions if you stop struggling to get up,” he says.
I immediately like his voice. It’s deep and full of authority and power, but not edged with cruelty like Sal or my father. He makes me want to please him, so I stay still and let him work. Unconsciousness is still hovering at the back of my mind, ready to drag me under again. I know I’m not strong and that I need to rest, but I can’t while he’s there with that face and that voice and those lips. “I like the way you sound,” I grate out. My own voice is scratchy and raw.
From the screaming. I screamed for a long time, but no one ever came to help me.
“Don’t speak, Angel. You need to rest your throat. I’m bathing you since it gives me pleasure and calms me down, and because I want you healthy again. As for where you are, you’re in my home, but I’ve told you this several times, and it keeps slipping your mind. Don’t worry, though. The doctor says it’s normal, and you should start recovering soon.”
I shake my head, and he tsks at me, so I go still again. “Doctor? I don’t remember a doctor either.”
Things are starting to spin, and I let my eyes drift close. “Rest, Val. I’ve got you. No one is going to hurt you ever again.”
And because he says it in that voice, I believe him enough to relax and let myself drift again.
Things seem brighter the next time I wake. I open my eyes and stare up at a white ceiling. The fabric under my hands is soft and lush and smells faintly like ginger. It comes back in a rush, except now, I remember the man speaking to me had been Adrian. Although, I can’t remember how I got to his house, or in his bed, or—I lift the covers gently and stare underneath— in his clothes?
I let myself believe, maybe, I really am safe as I drift off again. This time, it’s not nightmares clawing their way through my mind; it’s a voice, a strong, authoritative voice, telling me to rest and come back to him.
11
Adrian
I stare down at the little man who has served my men and me for years, and it’s the first time I want to crush his little skull. It’s not his fault I’m on edge, nor is it his fault Valentina hasn’t woken completely despite the week of round-the-clock care he’s provided.
“Doctor, if you tell me some gibberish about the body and healing one more time, then I’m going to rethink my no-guns-in-the-bedroom rule. Tell me what to do in order to help her heal enough to be conscious. She’s been in and out of it for a week, and I’m concerned about her memory. She doesn’t seem to remember much of what happened to her, me saving her, or even the fact we’ve met before.”
To his credit, the doctor doesn’t quake under his wire-rimmed glasses, despite my tone eliciting that reaction in greater men than him. “Mr. Doubeck, as I explained before, Ms. Novak was dehydrated, malnourished, and fighting off infections from her various injuries. These things take time and antibiotics to heal. Once she is stronger, I’ll add in a steroid, which will assist in her healing process. You must be patient.”
“And her memory?” I prompted. “What do you say about that?”
“We can get her a CT scan when she can move around on her own. For now, she has no injury to the head that I can tell. What she is going through is likely a reaction to her trauma. I suggest consistency and being gentle with her as she recovers. Can you do that?”
I swallowed the biting reply I queued up. I didn’t like his challenge to me, but I appreciated the ferocity for which he defended her. “Don’t let her die, Doctor, or others will follow immediately afterward.”
He turned back toward my bedroom, where she’d been recovering since I brought her here, and marched straight to her bedside. It grated on my nerves as he adjusted her IV, checked her vital signs, and then inspected her injuries. When I found her, most of her body was covered in bruises and blood. He’d beat her and then bound her naked to her own bed. I feared blinking or else I’d see her like that again. When I’d walked into the room, I saw the dead woman on the floor, her friend Rose, I guessed, and assumed the worst had happened. But when I’d checked her pulse and felt the faint flutter of her heartbeat, I knew she was so much stronger than she looked.
