by Penelope Sky
I cupped the back of her head and returned her deep embraces, getting lost in the chemistry that had been there since the moment I’d laid eyes on her. Something about her made me weak. Something about her made me question who I was.
When she pulled her lips away, her hands continued to cling to me. Her tears were on my lips now. She looked at me with those beautiful, warm eyes, the gratitude deep inside. “Thank you…”
“Before you thank me, you should know that I expect something in return.” I held her gaze with authority, wanting her to understand that my decision wasn’t made based on the goodness of my heart. I had other motivations to risk everything for her. She was asking me to make a huge sacrifice, and I wanted my actions to be rewarded. “Do you understand me?”
Her eyes shifted back and forth as she held my gaze. “Whatever you want, Carter. If you give me back my son…I will gladly submit to you.”
Hearing her say that word made me melt on the spot. Submit. I wanted to fulfill my desires, and I wanted it to be consensual. I would finally get what I wanted—without the guilt. “Then we have a deal.”
Her eyes emitted more tears. “Thank you…I don’t know if I’ll ever say it enough times. I dream about my son all the time. I wonder if he’s having a good birthday. I wonder if he thinks about me. I miss him…miss him so much.” Both of her hands gripped mine on my thigh. “The idea of seeing him again…gives me so much joy.”
I stared at our joined hands. “If this works, both of you will have to live with me for a while. I’ll be moving to Tuscany where we can have more privacy. It’ll be at least a year before the two of you can go off on your own…just in case Egor’s watching.”
She nodded. “I understand. Wherever you call home, we’ll call home. I’ll make you a home and give you whatever you need, Carter. As long as I can raise my son, I don’t care where we are. I used to read a story to him every night before he went to sleep… I’m looking forward to doing that again.”
Hearing these confessions made me hate myself more. I should have helped her a long time ago.
“What’s your plan?”
I told her everything I’d discussed with Griffin.
“You’re right,” she said. “Egor will want to see that I’m dead with his own eyes. You have to make sure you find someone as similar to me as possible…not sure how you’re going to do that.”
“I have a guy.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to kill someone, right…?”
“No, of course not.” I never asked Griffin, but I didn’t need to. He would never do that, especially with Vanessa in his life.
“Okay. When are we going to do this?”
“Tomorrow.”
“When are you supposed to give me back, again?”
“Friday.”
She nodded. “We don’t have much time left.”
“No, we don’t.”
“You think he’ll believe you?” she whispered.
“I hope so. Sometimes fear of something is worse than the actual thing itself. So knowing you have to go back to him might have been enough for you to take your own life. You realized there was never any hope that you would escape and find your son, so you just ended it. It’s believable.”
“True. And you’ll give him back the money?”
“I’ll wire it after I discover your body.”
She gripped my hands tighter. “How long do I have to wait to see my son?”
“Do you know where he is?”
She nodded. “An orphanage in Milan.”
“Egor knows about him?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have to pay someone to adopt him, someone not connected to me. That way Egor won’t know we took him.”
“Yes…that’s smart.”
“It’ll take me a few weeks to get that taken care of.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer.”
“And I’ll need to hide you somewhere when Egor comes snooping around. I’ll hand you off to my friend Griffin. There’s nowhere safer in the world than by his side.”
“You think we can trust him…?” Fear entered her eyes. Mia had only one kind of experience with men. It was impossible for her not to assume Griffin would do the same thing every other man did.
“Absolutely. He’s one of the best guys I know. He’s in love with my cousin Vanessa. He won’t even touch you. I promise. And you’ll love Vanessa. She’s pretty amazing.”
“Oh, okay,” she said in relief. “Then that should be fine. When will I be with you again?”
Did she want to be with me? “After I buy the house in Tuscany. I’ll move you there in the middle of the night.”
“Okay. So…we start this plan tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Tomorrow.”
She sighed then cupped both of her cheeks. “God, I hope this works. Just thinking about my son brings tears to my eyes. I never thought I would see him again, and now I’m so close…it terrifies me.”
I watched this strong woman break down right in front of me, her son being her only vulnerability. “It’s really happening, sweetheart. I’ll get him back for you…I promise.”
Griffin showed up the next day, bags under his eyes and exhaustion in his limbs. It didn’t seem like he’d slept much the night before. He stepped inside the house, and we got straight to work. He had the equipment we needed to burn the bedroom, along with the candle that started it all.
We carried everything to the bedroom and set it on the ground.
He was in a particularly sour mood. “The fire will have to originate near the nightstand. Just in case he hires men to really check everything.”
“Didn’t sleep much last night?”
He looked me dead in the eye. “I had to pick up the body.”
“You found one that quickly?”
“My guy is good.” When he stood to his full height, we reached the same level. He was thicker than I was, having more muscles than any other man I’d met in real life. His tattoos made him innately formidable. With sleeves of black ink, he seemed like a difficult man. Mia might have a hard time leaving with him.
“You didn’t kill anyone, right?”
“No,” he said with a dark chuckle. “Vanessa would leave me if I did.”
Thank god for that. “What the description?”
“Brunette, same age, same body description. The face is charred pretty bad, so her features will be nearly impossible to decipher. I’m not gonna find anyone better on such short notice. This girl was supposed to be cremated. Her family will get animal remains.”
I felt guilty for lying to a family, but since I was saving someone else, I could justify it. “Alright.”
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and then Mia walked into the room. Her long hair was pulled into a braid, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She’d slept in my bed with me last night, even though we didn’t have sex. She took one look at Griffin and immediately flinched, terrified of his dangerous appearance.
His eyes flicked to her, not the least bit surprised by her reaction. “Griffin.”
“Uh…Mia.” She immediately turned to me, showing fear for one of the first times. Even in the face of danger, she didn’t back down. But this time, she was visibly affected by his terrifying appearance. In her defense, he did look like a member of a drug cartel. “Is Vanessa here?”
“No,” Griffin said. “She needed to work today. And I haven’t told her what’s going on…yet.”
“You didn’t tell her?” I asked incredulously.
“Sorry,” he snapped. “I was busy finding a dead body in the middle of the night and getting all this shit for you.”
He had a point. “Alright. Fair enough.” My arm moved around Mia. “I know Griffin looks like a murderer, but he’s not. Trust me. He’s a good guy.”
“Well, I am a murderer.” Griffin crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s what I do for a living, actually. But I’ve never been into hurting women. So we
won’t have a problem.” As if nothing had happened, he picked up the flame gun and carried it to the corner.
When Mia and I had some privacy, I spoke to her again. “He would never hurt you. I promise you.”
She looked into my eyes for reassurance. “I was just hoping Vanessa would be here…”
“You don’t need her to be here. He won’t even touch you. This guy has a done a lot for my family because he’s so in love with my cousin. I understand why you’re scared because of what you’ve been through. But trust me on this.”
She found comfort in my gaze before she nodded. “Alright.”
“You should go downstairs so we can get to work.”
“Okay.” She rose on her tiptoes and cupped my face so she could kiss me. Whether she was fulfilling her end of the bargain or she actually meant it didn’t matter to me. As long as her lips were on mine, I was happy. She gave me a soft kiss then a smile before she walked out.
I turned back to Griffin, who was staring at me with a wicked grin.
“What?”
He shook his head then got to work. “Nothing.”
I walked Mia to the truck.
Griffin was already behind the wheel, waiting for her to join him. The engine was on, and he was scrolling through his phone to keep himself busy.
She looked up at me, her hands resting against my chest. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late…”
It was too late. I’d given her so much hope, and I couldn’t take it away now. “Yes.”
Her eyes softened. “I’ll see you soon, right?”
“In about a week or so.”
“You’ll call me?”
“When I can.”
She hooked her arms around my neck and hugged me, her luscious body pressed against mine.
My chin rested on her head, and I secured my arms around her waist. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of Egor’s wrath. There was a real possibility he might not believe me. He might come to the house and find something that contradicted the lie I’d made up. I’d be risking everything, my life and my family.
But I had to try.
“Thank you, Carter. I can’t wait to see you again…” She tilted her chin up and looked at me again, the sincerity in her eyes. She squeezed my arms tightly before she leaned in and kissed me.
My hands cupped her cheeks again, and I kissed her, finding strength in the embrace. Her affection offset the terror in my heart. And a part of me believed that my family would be proud I was saving a young woman so she could be with her son. This wasn’t about the money anymore. It was about doing the right thing…even though I wanted something in return. “I’ll miss you too, sweetheart.” I squeezed her arms before I opened the passenger door and helped her inside.
Griffin kept staring straight ahead, indifferent to our interaction.
“Tell Vanessa I said hi.”
Mia stared at me with a prominent look of affection, like there were no words to describe how she felt toward me. She’d told me she hated me, that I wasn’t a good man. But now she looked at me like I was some kind of superhero. “I will.”
It was hard to shut the door and walk away. It was hard to do this on my own, to know she wouldn’t be in my bed that night to chase away the stress. If I could get lost between her legs, it wouldn’t be so bad. But I had to wait until this was over before I could finally get what I wanted.
I sat in my office and stared at my phone, taking my time before I made the phone call. Egor was a psychopath. I didn’t know much about him, but I knew he wasn’t an enemy I wanted to make.
But this was the decision I had made.
I had to follow through with it.
I was worried about the grief this would bring my family, but I had to remember that I was a terrifying opponent as well. The Barsettis were loyal to one another, and that’s what made us ruthless. We would stop at nothing to protect each other. A paid army was only loyal for the paycheck, but soldiers bound by love were a completely different story. My family had allies in many places, and now that Griffin was a part of our family, we were even more powerful. Egor had probably heard about the attack on Conway in Milan—and how we wiped out an entire team within minutes.
He didn’t want to fight me either.
I finally made the call.
Egor answered almost immediately. “Carter. I wasn’t expecting to speak to you until Friday. Hope this conversation brings good news.” His voice was slightly cheery, probably because he was expecting to get his main source of entertainment back. “I’m exhausted from my business meetings. I’m looking forward to becoming reacquainted with her.”
I wanted to throw my phone against the wall and destroy it, not out of jealousy, but pure hatred. “She’s the reason I’m calling. We have a problem on our hands.”
“What kind of problem?” He immediately turned serious, slightly hostile.
“When you called me the other night, she eavesdropped. She figured out I was handing her back to you.”
He chuckled. “I imagine that didn’t make her too happy.”
“No…it didn’t. I had to chain her up again because she tried to kill me with a kitchen knife.”
He laughed into the phone. “That sounds like her. I thought we could make this transition smooth, but perhaps we can’t. You’ll have to drug her first…even though I would love to see the look on her face when we make the transfer.”
Now I just wanted to kill this guy, to stab him in the neck and watch him bleed to death. “There won’t be any transfer, Egor. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the fire alarm. The fire was coming from her room, and by the time I got there, the place was in flames.”
“What?” he snapped. “What the fuck happened?”
“She had a candle on her nightstand. I think she set the drapes on fire so the flames would spread… I think it was suicide.”
Egor was silent.
“She wouldn’t talk to me after she heard the phone call. She stayed in her room the entire time, chained to the bed. I didn’t think this was even a possibility. Otherwise, I would have kept an eye on her. I’ve already wired the money back to you since this happened while she was in my possession.”
He still didn’t speak.
I leaned back in my chair and stared my bookshelf, unsure what his reaction would be. He was probably so angry, he didn’t know what to say.
“I didn’t think she was at risk for suicide. She didn’t display any of the signs.”
He finally said something. “No, she never did…”
“Maybe it was an accident, but I don’t think it was. She didn’t scream.”
“Then what happened?” he asked, his voice coarse.
“I ran in there and put out the fire. She was on the bed, burned pretty bad.”
“When did this happen?”
“Just now…” I sighed into the phone. “That whole bedroom is ruined. It’ll have to be restored. I wanted to know what you wanted me to do with the body. I have a guy who can get rid of it, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted it.”
Egor was quiet again.
It was impossible to gauge his reaction over the phone, not through his silence or carefully chosen words.
“You better not be fucking with me, Carter.”
My blood turned ice-cold. “I’m not. You think I wanted to lose a hundred and fifty million dollars?”
“We both know she’s worth more than a hundred and fifty million dollars, Carter.”
I didn’t deny it since that would make me look like a liar. “Get out here and look for yourself. I don’t appreciate being called a liar, not when I’ve always been an ethical businessman. It’s not my fault your slave hated you so much that she killed herself the second she realized she was going back to you. Not my problem, Egor.”
He returned to his palpable silence.
I wasn’t going to be a pushover because that would just make me look guilty. “She’s just a woman. You can replace her in a he
artbeat. If you treat them that badly, they’re a dime a dozen. Now, what do you want me to do with the body? I left it in the bedroom, but I don’t want it sitting there longer than necessary.”
Egor growled into the phone. “My men and I will be there in a few hours.”
Click.
I called Griffin.
He picked up right away. “How’d it go?”
“I’m not sure. He’s on his way to look at the body.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” The sound of the engine was in the background since they were only halfway to Florence. “But our job is spotless. He’ll be forced to accept it. And make sure to be an asshole. The more of an asshole you are, the more believable you are.”
“That shouldn’t be difficult…since I am an asshole.”
He chuckled. “At least you’re honest about it.”
“He told me I better not be fucking with him.”
“He’d be stupid not to be suspicious.”
“But I made it seem plausible that she killed herself, since I said she did it right after our conversation.”
“It’ll be fine,” Griffin said. “There’s no evidence to the contrary. He might watch you for a while, but even then, he won’t find anything. Eventually, he’ll find someone else and forget about her. It’s the circle of life for criminals like him.”
“Yeah, probably. How’s Mia?”
“She fell asleep about an hour ago.”
“Oh, good…she must be comfortable around you, then.”
“Vanessa called me on the drive home, and Mia heard everything. Probably realized there’s nothing more unthreatening than a guy who’s pussy-whipped.”
“Did you just call yourself pussy-whipped?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
“So?” he countered. “You think you aren’t? You called me in the middle of the night to find a burned corpse and help set fire to your house.”
He had me by the balls.
“That’s what I thought. Let me know what happens with Egor.” He hung up.
An hour later, the black Escalade pulled up into my driveway. Undoubtedly, there were four armed men with him. I didn’t have a chance, but I brought my loaded gun anyway. I stuffed it into the back of my jeans, and I walked outside to greet my guests.
