“Blossom’s fine, Mr Benson. We’ve got someone watching over her, keeping guard. She’s not alone.”
“No, you don’t.”
Illya was confused. What did that mean?
“What are you talking about?”
“No, you don’t have someone watching over her.”
Illya glanced at Ivan. He had hurried to his brother’s side. Anton was a little way behind him. Illya put his phone on loudspeaker.
“What do you mean?”
“Jenny asked me to go and check on her. Someone rang the bell while she was on the phone with Blossom. She asked me to see if she was okay and there’s no answer at the door.” Jeremy audibly swallowed. “And I found the guy guarding your place out in the garden with his throat slit.”
Illya couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He could feel his body going cold. Sergei was dead and Blossom wasn’t answering the door. Did that mean someone had her? How? His place was locked up tight, Illya had made sure of it.
He looked over at Anton, whose expression was grim. Anton nodded.
“Go. Both of you.”
Illya wasn’t about to be told twice. Hanging up, he ran towards the stairs, Ivan close behind him.
*****
Blossom’s head hurt. There was no part of her skull that didn’t hurt. Her nose felt like it had been split apart and there was a very sharp throbbing under her left eye.
Whatever she'd been hit with had been incredibly hard.
How had her stalker gotten into the house? How had they managed to turn off the security system? Illya had said it was fool-proof. Evidently, it wasn’t.
As Blossom came to her senses, she realized that she was tied to a chair. Her arms were manacled tightly to the arms and her legs were tied at awkward angles to the legs of whatever . Her head felt very heavy from lolling forward onto her chest. It was a struggle to lift it up and open her eyes. Even opening her eyes hurt.
Where was she? The room wasn't one she recognized. It looked like an abandoned office, a desk even shoved into the corner of the room. The windows were blacked out and the lights overhead were on but flickering. With her eyesight as hazy as it was, Blossom could barely make out what else was in the room.
Or who else was there. She could see someone sitting in a chair by the desk but they were in shadow. Blossom squinted and tried to see more closely. It wasn’t Adrian, the shape was too small, too compact. And it certainly wasn’t Louisa, either.
Then the shadow spoke, its voice lilted with their accent.
“I was wondering when you were going to wake up. I thought I had clobbered you too hard.”
Blossom knew that voice. It was one she'd last heard threatening her outside her own house. She squinted and began to make out more of the shape. Her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe it.
“Nicoletta?”
Nicoletta shifted forward, moving her face into the light. She was smirking, looking as if she was gloating at her. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, wearing all black, right down to her sneakers.
That didn’t bode well.
“What…” Blossom tried gently pulling with one arm but it was tied fast. “What’s going on?”
Nicoletta snorted.
“What does it look like? I’m doing what I promised I would do to you.”
For a moment, Blossom couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening. Adrian, she had been expecting. Louisa, Blossom could handle. But Nicoletta…Blossom had had no idea that the Romanova girl would ever do this.
Things started to fall into place. And what she saw made a lot more sense.
“You’re my stalker? You’re the one who’s been doing these things to me?”
Nicoletta’s eyes glinted. She looked very pleased with herself.
“At least I didn’t get rid of all your brain cells. Although, I must admit, I am surprised you didn’t realize it sooner.” Then her smile faded and she scowled. “But, then again, you were getting fucked out of existence by Illya Chekov. I’m guessing that’s what happens whenever Illya makes love to a woman. I’ve not been lucky enough to find out for myself but I can imagine.”
Blossom didn’t want to imagine. The thought of Nicoletta and Illya having sex turned her stomach. She tugged a bit more at her bonds. They weren’t going to give way.
“You destroyed my house? You attacked Jenny?”
Nicoletta stood in one flowing movement. She looked as though she was putting on a show.
“That was all me. The house part was fun. I haven’t had so much fun in years, shredding your panties like that. And your friend…well, I thought she was you. I was getting into it before I realized I got the wrong woman.” She shrugged. “No matter, I think I got my point across. But then Illya wouldn’t let you go anywhere without him. You weren’t to leave the house with that alarm system he had had installed. And I had to get you alone.” Nicoletta spread her hands. “I didn’t get that chance when we talked so I had to change tactics.”
“How did you get into the house?” Blossom tried to concentrate through the soreness. It was an incessant throbbing. “Illya said it was top of the line.”
“I used to work for the company who installs them.” Nicoletta winked. “It’s amazing what a man will show you if you promise him a good time. I knew how to disable the system from the outside. Once I got past that and the dog hanging around, it was easy.”
Sergei. Blossom’s heart dropped. She hadn’t killed him, had she? Nicoletta giggled when she saw her expression.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about Sergei. He’s dead. Which is a shame because he would have been a very good fuck.” She sighed. “But he had to go. I couldn’t have him cornering me while I was dealing with you.”
Blossom thought she was going to have a panic attack. Sergei was dead? Her heart was going so fast she thought she was going to break out into a sweat. Blossom tried to get herself back under control but it wasn’t easy. From the look on Nicoletta’s face, she was enjoying this. A lot.
In those two brief moments their paths had crossed, Nicoletta had come across as an immature, obsessed little girl. But she was really a psychotic, deluded woman who seemed to have no idea what she had done.
Blossom swallowed hard, feeling her pulse racing in her throat.
“You would go to all these lengths just to have Illya?” she gasped. “You would kill anyone who got in the way?”
“Wouldn’t any woman?” Nicoletta sighed wistfully. “Any woman would kill to have Illya Chekov in their bed. I’ve always had a thing for men who use both their heads.” Then her face darkened as her scowl deepened. “But he had eyes for only you. Has ever since he moved into that house. And that was the worst thing possible for me. I was being replaced by a black whore.”
Chapter 11
Blossom gritted her teeth to bite back a snarl.
“I’m not a whore!” she snapped.
“All black bitches are,” Nicoletta snorted. “You can’t honestly be insulted by that.”
“And I didn’t replace you, Illya didn’t see you as a bed partner in the first place.”
Blossom had half-expected Nicoletta to attack her but not so soon. Nicoletta practically flew across the room at her. Her hand came out of nowhere and punched Blossom in the face, right over the pain under her eye. Blossom cried out as the pain was magnified and felt her chair rock back. But she didn’t topple over, Nicoletta grabbed the arms before it went and slammed it back onto the floor. Her face was inches from Blossom’s.
“He would have if you hadn’t come along and crooked your finger at him,” she hissed, practically spitting in her rage into Blossom’s face. “I was wearing him down. I could tell. And you had to ruin that for me.” She straightened up, still scowling. “No one gets in the way of what I want.”
Blossom tried to focus but it wasn’t easy. Her face was in agony. She wanted to burst into tears.
“So, you committed assault, kidnap and murder all for that?” she rasped. It was gett
ing harder to breathe through her nose. “Don’t you realize how much trouble you’re in, both with the police and with your own people? Just because you acted like a child throwing a tantrum?”
Nicoletta regarded her thoughtfully. Then she kicked out. Her foot caught Blossom in the chest and knocked her onto her back. Blossom tried to catch herself as she hit the floor but her head was thrown back and bounced off the concrete. More pain shot through her skull and threatened to make her black out again.
Nicoletta stood over her, her legs bracketing Blossom’s torso. She knelt down, her knee touching Blossom’s chest, and pressed down. Blossom winced. Nicoletta giggled.
“That was very naughty, Blossom. Soon, you won’t be able to say a bad word against me. I’ll make sure of it.”
*****
Illya’s heart was racing as he drove through the streets. He was a fool for believing that Blossom would be okay. He should have stayed home or taken Blossom with him, to hell what Anton might have said. Illya couldn’t see anyone guaranteeing Blossom’s safety unless it was him.
But it wasn’t Rollins who had kidnapped her. And it certainly wasn’t Louisa if she was still in jail. Besides, Illya didn’t think she was crazy enough to slit a man’s throat, especially not a man who could pick her up with one hand.
Did Rollins hire someone to kidnap Blossom and then planned on meeting them later? It seemed unlikely. Illya was normally a good judge of character. He liked to think he could read people. Rollins had sounded genuinely surprised when Illya mentioned Jenny’s attack. He knew about the house but not the attack.
Was he telling the truth, did he know nothing about those? Illya didn’t know anymore.
Ivan was close behind him in his car as they pulled into Illya’s street. A dark-coloured Mazda that Illya had never seen before was parked behind Blossom’s car. The driver’s door opened as he screeched to a halt in his driveway and Jeremy climbed out. He looked ashen, as if he'd just had someone walk over his grave.
Illya practically jumped out of the car. He could see from the drive that the door to his house was open.
“Have you been inside?” he asked Jeremy.
The bigger man shook his head.
“No, I thought I’d wait for you.” He swallowed. “I did go around the back when I saw the door open. Your…your friend is under a tree near the deck.”
He looked like he was about to faint. Illya urged him to sit back in his car and then hurried to the front door. His heart almost stopped when he saw the splatter of blood on the porch. It wasn’t much but it was enough to tell him someone was injured. And it was smudged like someone had been dragged through it.
“I’ve found some more blood here,” Ivan said grimly, standing at the top of the drive. The blood was more consistent there.
Illya gritted his teeth as he willed the panic to stay down. This was worse than he thought. Ivan reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun.
“Are you armed?”
“You know I don’t normally carry.”
Ivan reached behind him and another gun appeared in his hand. He tossed it to Illya.
“You check upstairs and I’ll take downstairs.”
Illya wasn’t about to argue with his brother. They went inside and Illya sprinted up the stairs. None of the bedrooms were touched, or the bathrooms. The bed in his room was still unmade from when he and Blossom had been rolling around. Blossom had gone back to sleep as Illya had dressed and left.
Had she been in bed when it'd happened? With the bed as it was, it was hard to tell if an attack had happened in this room.
Illya hurried back downstairs. Ivan came running into the hall.
“There’s no one up here.”
“Or down here.” Ivan’s jaw was clenched. “But the back door’s open and there’s a bloody handprint on the railing. The knife was dropped on the deck.”
Illya didn’t want to go out there to look. He would take his brother’s word for it. Ivan glowered at him.
“I thought you had an alarm system.”
“I did. It must have been disabled or I would have been notified.” Illya fished out his phone and checked his messages. “Nothing. All notifications go to my phone.”
“Is it even possible to disable your alarm system? You did get the best in the business.”
“If you know your alarms, yes.” Then Illya remembered the cameras. “But the cameras work on a different system. They should have picked something up.”
“Where can we view them?”
“My office.”
Illya hurried to his office. Nobody seemed to have gone in there, either. Nothing appeared to have been touched. Seating himself at the desk, Illya brought up the security camera footage. He felt a sigh of relief when he saw that they were all still working. Ivan leaned over his chair.
“How far back shall we go?”
“From after I left the house.”
Illya wasn’t about to do the whole morning, not when there were things he didn’t want his brother witnessing. He tapped in the time stamp and the cameras flickered, going to a shot of Illya leaving the house and Blossom still in bed. Illya was glad he hadn’t put any cameras in the bedrooms. He typed in another command.
“I’ll fast forward. Jeremy said Jenny made a call to Blossom. We can start from there.”
The cameras zipped along, making Blossom look like she was speeding along to some invisible music. Illya pressed play when he saw her take a phone call in the dining room. He had scanned the cameras as they fast forwarded and he didn’t see anyone jump Sergei. One moment he had been prowling around the house and the next he had disappeared. He had to have been lured out of sight of the cameras.
Sergei was one of the best. He wouldn’t have let his guard down for anyone. Unless it was someone he knew.
That didn’t bode well for Blossom. If her kidnapper was one of the Russians, Sergei wouldn’t have been any the wiser.
“So, she was in the dining room.” Ivan pointed at the screen. “And the time stamp matches when Jenny called her.”
They watched as Blossom ended the call and went towards the front door. Illya wished they had sound. He switched to the camera viewing the front door.
“There’s no one there.”
“But there was a flash of someone going out of sight.” Ivan then pointed at another camera. “There. Back door.”
Illya looked. Someone was coming up the steps on the deck. Their hands were bare. One of them was holding a bloody knife, which they dropped as they placed the other hand on the railing, leaving a smear of blood behind. They watched as the intruder wiped their hands on their jacket and then used a key to unlock the back door.
Illya tried to get an angle between the two cameras to see the person’s face but nothing. It certainly wasn’t Rollins. It could be Louisa but Illya had never met the woman. It was entirely possible.
But Ivan said she was still in jail.
They watched grimly as the attacker slipped into the kitchen and picked up the baseball bat Blossom had left leaning against the dining room table, hurrying along to the hallway and ducking into the lounge as Blossom fiddled with the intercom. Then Blossom started to run down the hall. Illya guessed she was going to get her cell phone.
They both winced as the bat appeared out of the lounge doorway and hit Blossom in the face. She was knocked off her feet and hit the floor, her head bouncing off the flooring. Then she lay still. Illya watched as the intruder stepped out and dropped the bat. Then they hurried to the front door and opened it. Illya switched cameras to a view of the driveway and saw a car parked in his spot, trunk first.
He had a clear view of the license plate.
Illya’s heart sank. He didn’t need to run the plate. He knew who the car belonged to.
*****
Nicoletta had righted Blossom again, tightening the zip ties around her wrists and ankles even more. Then she'd sat in her chair, feet propped up on the table, as she leaned back and stared at the ceiling. She had
been like that for the past hour. Blossom had no idea what was going on but was sure it was a way to rattle her.
It was working.
“I wanted Illya the moment I saw him.” Nicoletta’s voice made her jump. She was talking as if she was discussing nothing more than the weather. “But I was young. Barely legal. While I wanted to crawl into his bed, I knew Illya wouldn’t look at me as a bed partner or anything more. I wanted him to look at me with desire. Anton had me go to college and I tried to take my mind off him with the guys there. I lost my virginity in an alleyway behind a lecture theatre because I couldn’t wait. The guys were willing to do anything to a girl who was up for practically everything. Some of them didn’t disappoint, others didn't have had a clue what to do unless I told them. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted someone to control me in bed. It’s a massive turn-on.”
Blossom gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to know about that. But she couldn’t go anywhere so she was stuck listening to Nicoletta going on and on about her sex life.
Then Nicoletta’s voice hardened.
“But when I graduated and came back for good, determined to have Illya, he was dating Natalya. They had been going steady since my sophomore year and I hadn’t known. She was beautiful, smart and Illya adored her. She could tell that Illya and I were soulmates and for months she wouldn’t let us be in the same room alone. It was as if she was scared of losing her hold on a man who could never be hers.” Nicoletta giggled. It sounded almost childlike. “So, I began to leave things lying around for her. Little things. To make it look like Illya was cheating on her.”
“You broke them up?” Blossom stared. “That was why she left?”
Illya had mentioned his previous girlfriend before but he said she had just disappeared without saying a word and none of her friends would say anything either. It certainly explained the sudden walking out and why her circle of people gave Illya the cold shoulder.
“Yep. I couldn’t believe how well it worked. Natalya had always said if she caught someone cheating on her, she’d be out of there. Illya still has no idea what happened because she won’t talk to him, as per her declaration. Even now, she lives close by and he doesn’t know. Then I thought I had a chance, that I would finally be his and Illya would recognize what he had been missing.” Then Nicoletta spun her chair around, fixing Blossom with a hard, angry stare. “But then, after I tried to seduce him yet again, I heard him talking to Anton about you. He'd only moved to his new place the day before and already he was going on about his pretty new neighbour.” She sneered the last three words. “It was the way he spoke about you that told me you'd found a special place inside him. I wasn’t about to let all my hard work go to waste.”
In Too Deep_BWWM Romance Page 12
