Her head was throbbing as she heard his words loud and clear.
“That was years ago, and Viktor and his team took over that club. They saved me from the Cubans, and I never looked back. I don’t know how they got Polo off my ass, and Viktor never told me. I haven’t heard from Polo or anyone in that organization since they tried to kill me that night outside of the club. I am not part of this. I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t know what else I have to do to make you believe me. Look into whatever you want. Ask me anything. I’ve got nothing to hide. I don’t know what Zinc was thinking.”
Cramer nodded. “I’ll keep digging, maybe find out what was taken and who is looking for it. We’ll take it from there. Meanwhile, watch your back. These men won’t think twice about interrogating you themselves—and in their own way.”
Nina watched Cramer leave the club. She needed to figure things out quickly. One look at Mirella giving her the evil eye and she headed back to work. She needed to talk to Viktor. Then, she needed to figure out what Zinc was involved in (and how the hell she was going to fix it) in order to get everyone off her ass. Her world was falling apart, and everyone’s lack of trust just showed her how unimportant she was, even to the men she’d given her heart and soul to. Could she wind up back under Polo’s control? Would Viktor and the family send her that way to be rid of the trouble Zinc caused them? The trouble that they now associated with her, too? Trepidation filled her soul at the possibility. She wouldn’t be Polo’s whore. She wouldn’t be anyone’s whore. She’d made a mistake trusting Corona and the team. Nina wouldn’t make the mistake of trusting any other men again. She was on her own, and now she had to start thinking like a survivor again.
* * * *
“Jessup? Are you fucking paying attention?” Atlanta called to him through the radio. He jerked at the sound of Atlanta’s voice, then held the gun steady and looked through the scope again.
“It’s still all clear,” he whispered into the mic. He was lying down low in the overgrown grass, some heavy bushes and the camouflage he wore as his only cover to keep him hidden. Jessup was finding it hard to concentrate. The past two weeks, it had been the same thing. As soon as he was out here, keeping watch, waiting for this asshole arms dealer to show his face, his mind would drift back to Salvation and, of course, to Nina.
He couldn’t help it. He was different in so many ways. Since the last mission, before being asked to watch over Nina, he’d felt different. He’d been shot twice and nearly died. He was aggressive, angry, and mean, yet, somehow, Nina and her sweetness, her willingness to open her heart and help him, actually did more than that. She touched all their lives. She changed each of them.
Atlanta had been more of a prick than usual. He was all business, just like Corona. Freeman looked lost in thought several times and even fucked up the first coordinates during the practice run they’d done a few days ago. Freeman never fucked that shit up.
Jessup inhaled the smell of sweat and dirt, and the feel of fear, anticipation, that flowed freely, nearly suffocating his breathing. He used to live for this shit. To take out the bad guys, to remove weapons, drugs, terrorists from potentially making it into the United States and onto the streets. Right now, he couldn’t help but wonder what he could have had with Nina. Sure, she was young, and maybe it wouldn’t have lasted forever, but it would have been worth it. That thought shocked him so much that he grunted and rubbed his eyes before refocusing on the dirt road leading up to the small compound. He just couldn’t get her off his mind.
The sound of an engine approaching brought him back to the present as he forced thoughts of another life, a fairy tale life, from his mind. That was went he saw the convoy of vehicles.
“I got three vehicles approaching. Looks like our targets.”
Jessup swallowed hard. Suddenly, the anticipation and determination to bring down the bad guys was overpowered by fear. The fear he might never see Nina again, never hold her, make love to her, possess her—never mind hear her voice, see her smile, smell her scent. It seemed as if nothing mattered more to him than she did, and he damned himself for the thoughts. Who the fuck was he? What could he give her?
“Jessup!” He heard Atlanta’s hard tone just as the target they needed to eliminate stepped from the vehicle. He was now halfway toward the first small building. There were others behind him, monsters of men that raped, tortured, and killed innocent women and children. They had their orders. Jessup took the shot. Then chaos erupted around him.
* * * *
Nina was exhausted. She tossed and turned all night, her mind on Zinc and what he’d involved himself in and, of course, thoughts of her American soldiers. She snorted as she slowly got out of bed. Her American soldiers? Ha! What fantasy world was she living in? They had left her so easily, and with not even a glance over their shoulders or a sign that it had been hard to leave her, before they entered that warehouse.
A nauseous feeling hit her belly. They aren’t my soldiers. They never wanted anything more than sex, and she had accepted that they’d made her feel so good and want so much. The experience had been life altering, and she would never forget it, or them. As she stood up, her belly ached a little more, and she felt a little crampy.
“Just what I need, my period to come and make my mood swings worse.”
She noted that she had been pretty on edge and testy the last few days, but considering that she was now a suspect in whatever Zinc had involved himself in, and Mirella was a thorn in her side trying to make her miserable and blame shit on her she’d never, no wonder she was testy.
She walked into the bathroom, but before she got there, the nausea increased. She knew she was going to throw up, and she just barely made it to the toilet.
“Great. A stomach virus. Just my luck.” She rose up slowly, feeling much better, but she rinsed her mouth and then looked into the mirror. She looked terrible. The last thing she needed was to get some virus and miss more work.
She reached for the cabinet, prepared to take her birth control pills and the vitamins she liked to take. Maybe some vitamin C would help? Tea and honey, once she made it to the kitchen? The thought of taking the pills made her stomach churn. She opened the case and looked down. Her heart began to pound. She was already two weeks into a new box of birth control pills.
“No. Oh, God, no.” Nina panicked and looked into the bathroom garbage. She lifted it and turned all the contents onto the floor. She fell to her knees and reached for the case of pills she’d finished, in a blur, more than a week ago. She opened it and covered her mouth. The sugar pills were all gone. She should have gotten her period already. She closed her eyes and counted back the days when she was in Texas, realizing that she should have gotten her period the week she’d returned from there. But she hadn’t. Oh God, she was always on time. Always. But there were three pills in the old box. How had she missed this? When did she miss taking them?
The tears streamed down her cheeks, and she covered her belly. “I can’t be pregnant. Oh, my God. Oh, no.” She fell back against the door, and her mind traveled in twenty different directions. If she was pregnant, then it was one of the guys’. What would they do if they found out? They would more than likely come back to Bailey’s between missions and work to see her. They would want sex from her, and that was it. Nothing more. Corona had fucking paid her. Had he done that in case she was pregnant? More tears fell. She shook her head. No. No, they wouldn’t do that. They didn’t even ask about protection, and she knew she was taking the pill, but shit, she must have missed taking it a few days because they were always making love. It had been a week of constant sex and then making love together that last night.
Nina covered her face with her hands and cried some more. She crawled to the toilet, feeling sick once again. She grabbed the side of the toilet and emptied her belly until she was dry heaving. Her life was all fucked up. Zinc getting killed and pissing off the Cubans had caused her life to be interrupted and forced her to leave with Corona and his team. She stop
ped that train of thought. She was a woman, mature enough to know that having sex was a big deal. She’d made the decision to give her virginity to them and make them her first lovers. But once again, God was playing a nasty trick on her. Just when she’d thought she could move on with her life and be strong and independent, this happened.
“Shit. I don’t even know if I am pregnant.” She stood up. That sickening feeling increased again. She hurried to the kitchen and pulled out some crackers, something dry for a stomach virus. This was coincidental. So she missed taking a few pills. Wouldn’t the protection be in her system?
Perhaps with sex with one man, and only a couple of times, but not with four men and multiple times, over and over again. Jesus, it had been so many times. Oh, God.
She plopped down onto a seat in the kitchen and stared out the small apartment window. She needed to take a test. To see a doctor. She had to confirm that she was, indeed, pregnant, and then she would have to make some decisions.
She could abort. No, no freaking way. Every child deserved a loving family, a mother to care for them and love them. She hadn’t had that. No one loved her like that. Her mother had lost her mind, gotten into drugs, disappeared, and then died. Nina would never screw up a kid. She would take care of her baby with her life. That thought made her think about the potential danger she was in. If she was pregnant, she had a life to protect. She couldn’t stay in Chicago. She would have to leave. But she couldn’t leave unless all loose ends were tied and Zinc’s situation resolved. The Cubans would hunt her down. Polo would want her, and if he found out about the baby, he would make her get rid of it. He would own her, and she would become his possession, his object, and be under his control until he had enough of her.
She covered her belly with her hand. The protective emotion was instant, and as she listened to her body and absorbed the silence around her, she knew instinctually that she was pregnant.
She needed to meet with Viktor. It was the only way. But first she needed to take a pregnancy test and confirm this officially. She had to make a plan of action.
She heard her phone vibrating and quickly headed to answer it. She saw right away that it was Dominion. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat before she answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Nina, how are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while. I was checking in.”
“I’m good. Just busy with work.”
“Are you okay? You sound funny.”
“I’m good. Just a splitting headache.” She gulped down the lump of emotion in her throat.
“Listen, I heard about Zinc, that someone thinks he double-crossed some men in the Cuban gang there in Chicago. I heard that Karlicov had you disappear for a few weeks. Are you in danger because of Zinc?”
She felt the tears roll down her cheeks. There was no one to trust, and everyone thought the worse. It was overwhelming to her at this point.
“They think so, but nothing indicates they would come after me. I don’t know anything. The men investigating can’t prove anything either, so this story about Zinc could be a lie.”
“Nina, I know people. This is a bad situation. I’m here if you need me. If you need a safe place to disappear to, you let me know and I’ll get you here.”
She swallowed hard and thought about the offer. Things were so up in the air.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Well, if anything changes, just one phone call and I’ll take care of everything. You can leave that life, that danger behind you and get out while you can.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Dominion. Thank you.”
“Keep me posted, and I mean it. Call me if you need help.”
Nina ended the call and then felt the despair of her situation. Something had to give. She had to make things right and then maybe leave Chicago for good.
* * * *
“Oh, God. Yes, yes, harder, Cramer. Harder,” Mirella cried out as Cramer thrust into her from behind. She held on to the desk, her breasts scraping against the wood, but Cramer didn’t care. He’d attacked her the moment she showed up, dressed in her eveningwear, ready to get fucked by him. He watched her every time he was in Bailey’s, and when she caught his eye, he knew she was interested.
He ran his hands along her bare ass and continued to thrust into her. She had one hell of a body, and she was assertive, ready and willing to get fucked over his desk. As soon as she showed up at his office, he knew she wanted sex.
“You’re so big. I need it harder, harder.”
She cried out to him, and he continued to thrust into her until he couldn’t take it any longer and came. He shook and fell against her a moment. She stiffened up, and he figured it was because he weighed too much against her slimmer frame. He pulled out and then deposited the condom into the wastebasket.
He watched her lift up, pull down her dress, and then adjust her breasts.
The fact that she didn’t wear panties told him she was experienced, and it didn’t bother him one bit. This woman was after something, and he was going to find out exactly what.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and then ran her tongue along it as she watched him pull his pants up and zipper them. As he headed to walk around his desk, she grabbed his arm and pulled him close. He let her, and his gut clenched as he wondered what exactly she wanted.
“That was real good, Cramer. I knew you would be. A big, strong, sexy investigator like you.”
He smirked as he leaned forward, pressing Mirella against the desk again as he reached for his revolver and then pulled back to place it on his hip. She grabbed his wrist and the revolver.
“This is sexy, too. Turns me on, knowing you’re at the club, armed and ready to protect.” As she tried moving her hand over the revolver in some sexy move to make him want her again, he tightened his grip on her wrist.
“Tell me what you want, Mirella.”
She ran her palms up and down his chest. “What do you mean?”
“You’re an experienced woman. Smart, beautiful, assertive. But I can tell you’re after something. What is it?”
She licked her lips again, and he stared down at her breasts and then watched her slide her hands along her hips as she held his gaze.
“Why are you being so cold? What makes you think I’m after something, besides you?” She looked up at him pretending to look sexy.
“You have questions about and interest in something I’m working on, then come out and ask me. Don’t fucking lie or beat around the bush,” he challenged her.
“Okay, I’ll be honest. It’s about Nina.”
His gut clenched as he squinted at her and then stepped back.
“What about her?”
“I don’t think she is who she says she is. I think she’s involved with something like her brother was.”
He raised one of his eyebrows at her and nodded for her to continue.
She looked away from him. “I don’t want to make accusations.”
“But?”
“But she’s been acting funny, and the other night, I heard her talking to this guy at the club, and she said something about locating the stuff and making sure that Cramer ‘isn’t following one of us.’ She saw me nearby and stopped the conversation and ended it with asking the guy if he had any other complaints. You know? Like, covering up talking to him, but I’d already heard what she said. I don’t want to make accusations, and I’m grateful that I was hired into the business and get to make other contacts, but I think she’s up to something, just like her brother.”
“What do you know about her brother?”
She chuckled. “Everyone knows he was working for the Cubans doing some side job. He also had a bad little habit he was trying to keep a secret from everyone. Drugs make people lose their minds and forget about loyalty. Nina pretends to be this lonely woman with no family, but you know she used to work for one of the clubs downtown that was Cuban owned. I heard that the owner had helped her get off the streets and took
a real liking to her. They keep in touch.”
Cramer wasn’t sure what to believe. Perhaps she was telling the truth, but what was in it for her?
“Who was the guy Nina was talking to at the club?”
“I don’t know. Some good-looking guy who I never saw before. It was like he came in just to see her.”
“Well, I’ll have to look into it, but you should keep clear of this investigation. You don’t want to wind up on the wrong side of this in the end.” He reached out and ran his finger along her cheek to her chin. She smiled at him and then pressed closer. She leaned up and nuzzled against his neck then suckled his skin.
“I like you, Cramer, but take it from me. Nina isn’t the sweet little princess everyone thinks she is. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was part of ripping off Viktor and the guys, nor would I be surprised if she disappeared. She’s up to something. Mark my words.”
He ran his hands along her body and then squeezed her ass. “If she is, then I’ll catch her, so don’t you worry. Let me handle this and you can visit me any time late at night.”
She pulled back and looked up at him.
“Oh, I plan on it, Cramer. You’re too delicious for just one taste.”
She began to kiss him on the mouth then plunge her tongue in deep. Cramer wasn’t stupid. Mirella was after Nina for some reason, and he was going to find out exactly why.
Chapter 9
Mirella stood by the building and watched as Cramer entered. It was perfect, just as she planned it to be. That little bitch Nina was going to get what was coming to her. Polo belonged to Mirella, but the man couldn’t get Nina out of his head. Day in and day out for the last few years, he’d talked about her, watched her, and waited for the opportunity to go after her. Then he’d gotten the call the moment he got too close. The warning put him on edge, and he acted as if he’d given up on landing Nina. It was Mirella’s opportunity to make her move and become Polo’s number one woman. She slept with him, woke up with him every morning, and did whatever he asked of her. It was looking good, but he wasn’t giving her much. He hardly spent any money on her, and he didn’t take her out to dinner or to crowded places. He hid her like she was a mistress, a whore, and she couldn’t accept that. He even asked her to keep her ears open at the club. Knowing she worked for the Russians didn’t even bother Polo. As she watched him do business and she learned things, she also figured out how to get what she wanted.
The American Soldier Collection 14: Baby Love (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12
