Protected by Shadows

by Aliyah Burke

  How had it come to this? The day was supposed to be the beginning of a new life for them. Not one forged in the deepest pits of hell.

  “Leave him here. We’re burning this pit to the ground.” A man’s voice.

  “So sure he’s out?” Another male. Both with deep voices.

  “Want me to hit you and find out if you stay conscious?”

  “Hell no. Let’s get outside before Trevor has to come find us.”

  “Man should be in a good mood, his whore is back with him.” Derision in his tone.

  “I wouldn’t call her that. Remember what he did to the last one who called Alyssa that. Walked up to him and stabbed him in the chest without a word.”

  Alyssa? His Alyssa? No way. Valentino felt the laces of one man’s boot by his hand. With a deep breath, he struck. He grabbed the ankle and yanked it so the man went down. One of them got a shot off and it tore along his shoulder, burning. It didn’t stop him and when he left the room, two more were dead and their weapons were in his hands.

  Expression set, he went downstairs. Smoke rolled through the lower levels. He would have continued to search for his son, but he heard another cry outside and another from Alyssa. He strode through the shattered sliding glass door into the backyard and found a half circle of vehicles with their headlights offering up light on the group before them.

  Ten men. Alyssa. And his son, being held by a man in the middle. He stood near Alyssa but another was holding her, gun up to her temple. Fear was prevalent in her expression, tears streamed down her cheeks. Her nightgown had ridden up and almost showed everyone her panties.

  “Valentino Cassano.” The man holding his son spoke, voice smooth if not a bit whiny. He had black hair and tanned skin.

  “Let them go.”

  The man’s grin was sadistic and more of a leer than anything, as if he didn’t know how to smile. “No. It doesn’t work that way. Despite the fact you seem to have bested some of my men. It’s still not going to work that way for you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “A lot of things.”

  “Alyssa? It will be okay.”

  “Do what he says, Valentino. Please.”

  The two men dead in their bedroom and what they’d said echoed through his mind. As he stood there waiting for someone to make a move, he thought about the way she’d tried to distract him from leaving the room. Could they have been telling the truth? They had believed him to be unconscious so what would they have gained by lying?

  “Weapons down, Valentino.”

  When he hesitated, the man put the muzzle of a pistol against his boy’s head.

  “Don’t hurt him. I’ll do whatever you want.” He placed the three guns down.

  “Any more?”

  “No.” He held up his hands and turned a circle so they could see nothing was in his waistband. He wasn’t wearing any other clothes. “Give me my son.”

  “No. I like having him as insurance. I’ve been told you’re good with your hands as well.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a husband and father who is trying to protect his family.”

  The expression didn’t change. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me who you work for.”

  “M and C Banking Investments.”

  “No, who you really work for.”

  “That is who I work for,” Valentino insisted.

  The man holding Alyssa cocked the hammer on his revolver and she screamed. “Valentino!”

  “Don’t hurt her, please.”

  The fear on her face was killing him.

  “Tell. Me. The. Truth.” There was only a slight inflection in the man’s words.

  “I am. Let them go.”

  The first shot had Marco crying and Alyssa as well. She sank to her knees. The man had a hold of her hair, keeping her head at an uncomfortable angle.

  “Next time, I will have her killed.”

  Valentino squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m telling you the truth. That’s who I work for.”

  “Valentino, tell him.”

  “I am, baby.” Tears flowed from his eyes.

  The eight men who had their guns on him moved a bit closer. One slammed the stock into his gut and he doubled over, also sinking to his knees.

  “I despise being lied to, Valentino. And my men know this. They also know I exact revenge swiftly. Let me tell you what I know. I know you’re part of a group that works for our corrupt government. You give me names and I let them live. You don’t and you are a widower and a father who lives longer than his boy.”

  Cold slithered into his belly. Either they had a traitor in the organization or Alyssa had played him for a fool. He struggled to get up, but they didn’t let him. A revolver was placed at the base of her skull and the man looked giddy to pull the trigger.

  “Five.” The leader counted down with such lack of emotion.

  “I’ve told you what I do,” he cried.

  “Four.”

  “Let her go,” he begged.

  “Three.”

  He leaned forward only to halt when the automatic weapons on him raised a bit.

  “Two.”

  He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

  “One.”

  He still didn’t say a word. She wouldn’t look at him and he willed her to do so and to understand.

  “Perhaps it’s the kid I should be threatening. Let’s start at one with him.” The statement was made without any inflection or emotion and he knew the man didn’t feel.

  The sight of the weapon against his seven-month-old’s head took any fight he had left out of him. “Fine! Fine. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Anything. Just don’t hurt my son.”

  The dark-headed man turned toward Alyssa and shrugged. “Very well. Let her up.”

  Alyssa’s captor released her and she pushed to her feet. When her face lifted, her gaze was colder than anything he’d ever seen before. “I told you he’d crack if you used the kid.”

  Shock filled Valentino as he watched his wife walk to the man holding their son hostage and kiss him. This was no kiss on the cheek either. This was a kiss between lovers. She barely even glanced at Marco.

  She turned back and shook her head at him. “You know, for such a smart man, you could be incredibly dense. Here’s how this will play out. You will tell us all we want to know or the kid dies.”

  He glared at her, rage pumping through his veins.

  She crouched before him and slipped a hand through his hair, an action that would at one time have allowed him to touch the moon. Now it repulsed him, but he didn’t move. “You were a great fuck. I wouldn’t mess with Trevor, he isn’t the nicest when he doesn’t get what he wants. So I’m going to need you to cooperate.” She leaned closer. “If you do, I’ll come visit you in your cell, we can have fun for old time’s sake.”

  Valentino had never wanted to hurt a woman before that moment.

  “No comment?” She shrugged. “I hope you said goodbye to some of your friends. Same thing is happening to them right now.” She stared at her finger with the rings on it and took off the gold band. “I’m keeping the diamond one to sell. You can have this back. Personally, I hope you don’t answer him and then we can torture you. I miss the days of doing that. Sinking my blade into someone’s flesh. God, it was so boring being your dutiful little wife.”

  He flicked his gaze to somewhere past her shoulder. Smack! “Don’t look away from me!” she screeched.

  “Enough. Let’s take him with us.”

  Behind them all, his house had turned into a bonfire. There was no need for the headlights to be on anymore. The light was day-bright. In the distance sirens could be heard.

  “Get him up,” she snapped.

  Two men hauled him to his bloody feet and shoved him unceremoniously toward the semi-circle of waiting vehicles.

  “Trevor Mansfield!” The voice came from the woods via a megaphone. “Let him and the kid go.”

  Chaos erupted. Guns fired,
people screamed and ran. Valentino headed for the man holding his boy. Marco was being used as a shield. Someone hit Trevor in the leg and when he went down, he dropped Marco.

  Valentino immediately covered Marco’s body with his larger one, trying to keep him safe from the barrage of bullets. Wrapping his arms around him, he began inching his way out of the line of fire. This was all that mattered.

  Pain entered his mid back and he faltered before continuing. Along the edge of the area lined by cars and more, he lifted his head and saw Kenyon Brooks and other men coming into view. More were leaving in a squeal of tires. Alyssa shot at Kenyon and the man fell back, firing in return. She collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from her throat. Trevor grabbed her and tossed her in the back of a truck then hopped in and it squealed off.

  Fire trucks arrived on the scene and began working on the shell of a house. One man stopped by him and said, “Sir, we have an ambulance there, you’ve been shot. Get checked out.”

  He didn’t have the energy to move. Lowering his arms, he stared at his son and knew. In that moment, his heart shriveled up and died. The bullet had passed through him and into his son.

  A chopper arrived and he found himself watching a few people he knew jump from it. Beauregard reached him first.

  “Shit! Get me a medic,” Beau cried.

  Anabelle Lee and Ethan arrived shortly thereafter.

  “Where’s Alyssa?” Ethan asked.

  “Shot. She was working with Trevor. All along.” He stared back at his lifeless son. Tears not falling. “What are you doing here?”

  “The last group you were with in Argentina all fell under attack today. Masters wanted us to check on you. We were too late.”

  “This is my fault.” He struggled to his feet. Anabelle Lee covered Marco with a blanket but didn’t try to take him. “All of it. I trusted the wrong woman. Did the others survive?”

  “No. All dead.”

  Ignoring the pain in his feet, Valentino walked until he saw Alyssa’s wedding ring. He picked it up and went with the others to the chopper. They ignored those yelling that they couldn’t leave. As it rose in the sky, he stared down over what his future should have been. Happiness. Family. Love.

  Instead all he saw was flames of destruction. Pain. Death.

  “I will find him and kill him,” he vowed. He glanced down at his son in his arms. “Marco.”

  * * * *

  Lexy stood in the doorway and listened to Valentino cry out for someone named Marco. The amount of pain in his voice tore at her. His dream had woken her and she’d left her room to come see if she could help him. Dream, hell, it was more like a nightmare than anything.

  The way they’d left things three days earlier no longer mattered. Sure, they’d avoided one another and had barely spoken inside the house. All the talking was done if others were around. They were setting up for the funeral and as far as she believed—or so she’d convinced herself—there was nothing more to say to him. That song had become her lifeline however, and she listened to it repeatedly.

  Only muttered snatches of the conversation were anything she could catch. But she got the gist of it. Someone named Marco had died and he wanted revenge for it. Could it be it his son? The name Alyssa popped up and Lexy wondered if she was the one who’d betrayed him.

  She wavered with the idea of waking him. While she doubted he’d want her to know he talked in his sleep, she couldn’t explain away leaving him in this situation.

  Moving silently, she made her way to the edge of the queen bed. Even now, he mumbled and mentioned that name, Marco, again with such passion and raw emotion, it tore at her. Shredding her from the inside out.

  Lowering her body to the mattress, she reached out a hand to touch him. Seconds after she made contact, she found herself on her back with him over her. It didn’t take a genius to know what was pressing into her side.

  “Don’t move,” he rumbled in her ear. No trace of sleep in his words.

  “Back off, Val,” she said, proud her voice didn’t wobble.

  “Lexy?”

  “Yeah, it’s me, hotshot. Think you can take the PPK out of my side and get off me?”

  He rolled away. “What are you doing in here?”

  She sat up and waited for the light she knew would be coming. He didn’t disappoint, it shone softly across the room. She stared at his face. Drawn. Haunted.

  “Lexy?”

  She thought quickly. Let it go, Lexy. He’s allowed to have secrets of his own. “It’s my house. Do I need your permission to enter my office? Just ’cause you’re sacked out here?”

  His eyes met hers and she did her best not to give away she’d been concerned for him. If it meant being a bitch to allow him a bit of privacy, she would do that. She could allow him that.

  “So what? You want me to pay for the use of the room to get some privacy?”

  She stood. “I came in for something. Never mind. I’ll get it in the morning.” At the door, she paused when he called her name. “What, Val?”

  “What in your office is in the bed that you needed this late of an hour?”

  She pasted a sexy smile on her lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Heat pushed away the pain in his gaze and it flared hot. “I would.”

  “Sucks to be you then.”

  She left and went back to her room. Perched on the end of her own bed, she worried her lower lip. An intruder. That was how she’d felt as she went there to try and wake him from the nightmare that plagued him.

  “Who’s Marco?” she whispered.

  Lexy went to gather her sketching supplies and sat on her chaise, unable to sleep again for fear he might have another nightmare. If you’re so worried, go sleep with the man.

  She brushed away her brain’s comment and focused on the page in her lap. She sketched until the sun peeped up over the horizon. Once her items had been returned to their spots, she changed into her running gear.

  Valentino stood by the front door in a pair of shorts that did not help her control her desire for him. He waited for her, she knew that. She wished she had it in her to be upset with him—her runs were her time—however, she was sure she’d approve of the company.

  “How far do you run?” she asked, stretching.

  “As far as you are.”

  “Ahh, you’re just that good then?”

  She walked by him and her belly erupted with flutters when he bent near and whispered, “You know I am.”

  Oh, hell yeah, she did.

  She stowed her key and stepped out on the porch as he drew shut the locked door behind him. This time of day was one of her favorites. When everything was fresh and new. Crisp.

  “Let’s go.” She went down the steps and found her rhythm. Valentino beside her easily kept pace.

  They both were covered in sweat as they walked back up to the porch. She had her hands on her hips as she breathed. Once finished digging for her key, she unlocked the door and entered. He was right on her heels.

  “Coming to the room to get what you need?” he teased her.

  Knowing he knew that she’d lied about what she was doing there, she nodded. He might know it, but she wouldn’t change her story. “Sure.”

  As she walked to the room, she tried to think what she could grab. Anything off the desk really would suffice. She grabbed a small stack of papers from the top left drawer. “Thanks.” She waved them in the air and headed for the door.

  The one he stood blocking. Not to mention he appeared immobile.

  “Yes?”

  “That wasn’t anything near the bed.” He grew more serious with each passing second.

  “It’s what I needed.”

  “Know what I need?” His voice was a deep rasp that stroked every synapse in her body.

  “What?” Goodness, her question was barely comprehensible.

  “You.”

  Her immediate refusal was on the tip of her tongue, but it didn’t fall. The raw honesty in his word wound deep. She steppe
d closer to him, holding his gaze. When they were toe to toe, she dropped the sheaves and reached up to curve her arms around his neck.

  “You’re like a drug, Val. I can’t say no to you.”

  His hands curled around her waist and he pressed their pelvises together. “Do you want to?”

  Being in his arms again was so heady, she was having a hard time following the conversation thread. “Want what?”

  “To say no.”

  The little voice that normally spoke up to keep her safe cried yes. In the back of her mind, she knew and acknowledged for her own sake she should say the word and back away from him. Every time she gave into him, her own feelings grew deeper and she knew it would be even harder to let him go after this thing—whatever it was—between them ended. But the look in his eyes and everything else within her had “No,” falling from her lips.

  He sank a hand in the hair at the back of her head. One finger removed the band holding her ponytail. His other hand, splayed across the small of her back, drew her closer still.

  He didn’t just hold her—he held her. He buried his nose in the side of her neck as he didn’t move for a moment or two. She wound her arms up beneath his and dug her fingers into the flesh of his shoulders. It didn’t matter in the slightest they were both sweaty from the run. She stayed there, her face settled against the hard planes of his torso.

  When he kissed the side of her neck, she shivered. One, then another and another. Slowly he moved back from her and reached for the hem of her shirt. Lexy went to help him, but he shook his head.

  “Let me.”

  Suddenly nervous, she did. This wasn’t how they did things. It typically was fast, hard fucking. He’d never looked at her like this. He pulled her shirt off and dropped it to the floor. Head tilted to the side, he stared at her as she stood there in shorts and her bra. He trailed one finger between her breasts and down to her belly piercing.

  She didn’t speak as he took the bra off—thankfully it was the one that fastened up the front. Her nipples were tight and her breasts were heavy with want. His touch was light as he cupped them and swiped his thumbs over the drawn tips. Her gasp came out as more of a shuddered breath and she trembled beneath his touch. Her heart pounded and she was aware of how fast it was going. He didn’t linger, instead he sank to his knees before her.