by Bella Rose
“You think I enjoy hurting people?” he asked coolly.
“You’re selling more than just alcohol and a good time at that club. Drugs. Sex. Money laundering. Extortion.”
“My women are well taken care of. I launder my own dirty money. I only extort the wealthy who deserve it, and those who buy my drugs deserve everything that’s coming to them.”
Ella shook her head as she sat at the kitchen table. “How can you say that? You can pay for those women to get an education and follow their dreams. They can’t sell their bodies forever. You have no idea what goes on in their head.”
“If I didn’t hire them, they’d sell themselves on the streets.”
“So don’t hire them to be whores. Hire them to tend bar or dance. Hire them to market for you or help out behind the desk. And those drug addicts that deserve what’s coming to them? You have no idea their past. You have no idea how they got hooked. When I was growing up, there was this kid in my neighborhood. He started shooting up when he was twelve because his mother was a junkie, and she told him it was food. He died when he was fourteen.”
Erik twirled the pasta around his fork and gazed steadily at her. “I’m sure you’re going to give me a reason why extortion is wrong.”
“You chose them because they were already corrupt. Simply rerouting their corruption to meet your needs is just as bad. You’re not helping society by exposing them. You’re using them to get what you want.”
“Ella Davis, are you trying to turn me into an honest man?”
She rolled her eyes. “The only person who can do that is you. Of course, we could die tomorrow, so it probably doesn’t even matter. Had you agreed to marry Valeria, could all of this been avoided?”
“No. The Yashin family decided to screw me long ago.”
Ella snorted. “Please. She wants you. If you had married her, you would have been just fine. Hell, if you slept with her, you probably would have been fine.”
“She killed my man before I even made the decision,” Erik argued.
Shrugging, Ella took another bite of pasta. “You probably did something to convince her that you were never going to marry her. Women know these things.”
“Really?” he asked, interested. “And what do you know about me?”
“I know that you’re a control freak. You don’t like the thought of anyone using you, and you hate showing emotion. And apparently, you like pasta.” She grabbed his empty bowl and stood up. Pushing her own uneaten pasta his way, she left him to finish cleaning up. “I’m going to bed. Is there a plan for tomorrow?”
“Lay low for forty-eight hours. Once my father’s backup gets here, we can make our move.”
“Fine.” She gave him a tight smile. “Good night.” Heading upstairs, she mentally apologized for lying to him. Forty-eight hours was too long. She was leaving tonight.
Turning out the light, she slipped into the strange bed and tried to listen for Erik’s footsteps. When the door to her room opened, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to regulate her breathing. There were three other bedrooms, but of course he would choose hers.
The bed dipped beside he pushed the covers back and moved close to her. “Ella?” he asked softly.
She so desperately wanted to turn around and put her arms around him, but he’d made their non-relationship clear. He’d just leave her when he got tired of her, and she had obligations. She couldn’t get distracted by him. Squeezing her fist around the sheet, she tried to push the pain away and pretend to sleep.
“You’re not wrong,” he whispered in the darkness. “But I don’t know how to be anything else.”
As Erik wrapped his arms around her, he snuggled in close, but he didn’t try to wake her up. When his breathing finally evened out, she relaxed. For a few minutes, she just enjoyed the intimacy. At least in his sleep, he couldn’t lie to her.
Finally, she slowly inched her way out of his grasp. He stirred but didn’t wake. Quietly creeping across the floor, she grabbed her shoes and eased out the door. When she closed it, she turned around and pressed her hand to the wood. “I know you’ll never change. Not for me. Maybe one day, you’ll change for yourself, but I can’t stand by and watch you live this life. Not even for the limited time that I’m allowed to have you,” she murmured. Biting back an expletive, she hurried down the stairs and grabbed the keys on the counter. With one last look behind her, she escaped the safe house and slipped out into the night.
Traffic was light as she drove to the hospital. Aware that she had a borrowed car, she stayed just under the speed limit. Normally, she’d welcome the police, but it would take too long to explain everything. By then, anyone could get to her mother.
Visiting hours would be over, but she didn’t actually have to be in her mother’s room. She would camp out in the waiting room and keep an eye on things.
There were still plenty of cars in the parking lot. That was the thing about hospitals. They never closed.
Pulling into a parking spot, she killed the engine and took a deep breath. For the past few hours, adrenaline had kept her going. First the guns, and then Erik. Now that she’d put all of that behind her, exhaustion was setting in. Forcing herself to her feet, she climbed out the car and yawned. Shutting the door behind her, she leaned against the car and closed her eyes. Guns and kidnapping and strip clubs and mobs. This wasn’t her life. She had absolutely no idea how she’d gotten into this mess.
You wanted an adventure, a little voice whispered in her head. Ella had wanted the money, but she’d longed for a chance to do something different with her life. Even being a maid to a wealthy and sexy Russian was more exciting than her job at the grocery store.
“See where adventure got you?” she muttered to herself. “Just stick with what you know.”
There was a distinctive sound of heels striking the concrete ground behind here. “Talking to yourself, Ella dear?”
The familiar Russian voice froze her to the bone. “Valeria, is it?” she said with fake bravado. “Visiting someone at the hospital?”
She and two of her henchmen rounded the corner of the car. “Well, I thought with you on the run, your mother might get lonely. I was just on my way to say hello and chat. I’m just dying to know all about the woman who stole my man.”
“You leave my mother alone,” she hissed. “If you want me, you can have me, but you don’t touch her.”
Valeria clicked her tongue against her teeth and shook her head. “Oh, my dear Ella. I think you have the wrong impression of me. I’m not a cruel woman. In fact, if you come with me, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”
Her men moved their hands to grip their guns, and Ella pushed her shoulders back. “Fine,” she muttered.
“I knew you were a smart woman.” Valeria smiled at her and shuffled to the side. As Ella passed her, the Russian woman grabbed her hand and wrenched her arm behind her back. Ella cried out in pain, but Valeria only shoved her against the car. “It makes me sick that I have to use you to draw Erik out, but don’t mistake me. I don’t give a damn about you. I’m just disgusted he’s so weak that he would care about someone like you.”
“You’re wrong,” Ella gasped. Sharp pain raced across her shoulders. “His business means more than anything. He won’t come for me.”
“You better hope you’re wrong,” Valeria snarled as she released her. “Because if he doesn’t, you and your mother are dead.”
“My mother has nothing to do with this,” Ella said through gritted teeth. “Threatening to kill her will do you no good.”
The Russian woman merely smiled coldly. “On the contrary. It would give me great pleasure to see the pain it will cause you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Panic settled in the pit of Erik’s stomach when he woke up and reached for Ella. The space next to him was cold and empty. With a start, he sat up and stared at the clock. He’d been sleeping for hours, so she could be long gone.
; Anger washed over him. Whether it was fear or disgust driving her away, she was going to get herself killed. There was only one place he could imagine that she’d go, and if Yashin had done his homework, he would have men—or a woman—waiting for her.
With shaking fingers, he grabbed the phone and dialed the hospital. “I need to be connected with your long-term care ward.”
“Is there a specific patient you’d like to speak with?” the operator asked.
“The nurse’s station. I need to see if Heather Davis has had any visitors in the last couple of hours.”
“On moment, please.”
The dreadful hold music started playing, and Erik slipped off the bed and began grabbing his clothes. Peering out the window, he felt his heart sink. She’d taken the car.
Finding another wouldn’t be a problem for him, but stealing cars around the safe house wasn’t the smartest thing to do. The last thing he needed was the police sniffing around his property.
“Long-term care,” a woman said, her voice dripping with impatience.
“I need to know if Heather Davis has had any visitors.”
“Sir, I can’t give out that kind of information.”
Damn it. “Her daughter was on her way to see her this morning, and I’m unable to get ahold of her now. I’m concerned that she may have been in a car accident,” he lied.
“Hold on.” Erik listened the to the muffled sounds of the PA system and the chatter of the nurses while he waited. “I’m sorry, sir, Mrs. Davis has had no visitors this morning.”
No visitors. Ella never made it. “Thank you. Please don’t tell Mrs. Davis. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“Of course,” the woman said. She sounded more sympathetic. “Please let us know if there are any updates.” Erik hung up the phone and raced down the stairs. Grabbing a gun from the small weapons stash hidden in one of the closets, he checked the magazine before slipping it into his back pocket.
Peering out the window again, he called Matvei. “Boss, I was worried.”
“How is everyone?”
“Fine. They’re just waiting for instructions.”
“Good. I’ve notified my father. He’s sending reinforcements, so we should be able to go home in a couple of days.” Erik hesitated. Normally he would ask either Matvei or Leonid to stand guard at the hospital, but one was dead and the other was watching his staff. That left only one other option. “I need you to send Danil to the hospital to watch over Heather Davis.”
“Danil?” Matvei growled. “Damn man doesn’t even know how to shoot a gun.”
“I can’t send you, can I? Ella is gone, and I’m fairly certain they’ve taken her. They’ll use her mother as leverage against her and get any information they want from her.”
“Boss, they’re going to use her as leverage against you,” Matvei said quietly.
Erik ignored his comment. “Danil might be useless in a fight, but Yashin isn’t going to shoot up a hospital. Danil is nothing if not resourceful. All he has to do is keep them out of her room.”
“And what are you going to do? Keep your head down until your father’s men get here?”
“No. She’ll be dead by then.”
“Damn it, boss. You’re going to get yourself killed if you go up against them alone. You’ve done your best to keep her safe, but you need to think about yourself.”
The problem was that thinking of himself was what got her into this mess to begin with, but it wasn’t just guilt that was sending me on the suicide mission.
He couldn’t bear to lose her.
“Do as I say,” he commanded. “If you haven’t heard from me by the end of the day, contact my father and follow his instructions. Above all else, you keep my people safe.”
Before his most trusted man could object yet again, Erik hung up the phone. Valeria and her father would use Ella to draw him out and get the information they wanted. To save her life, he was willing to give up his most powerful weapons, but there were smarter ways to go about it. It was only suicide if he went in without a plan.
Yashin and Valeria’s only strength was their manpower. Take that away from them, and they’d have nothing.
An idea formed in his head as he grabbed the evidence they wanted. As he left the safe house, the sun was just peeking over the horizon. Erik took a minute to stare at it. All his life, he’d been trained for one thing. Even if he wanted something else, he kept quiet. Expanding and enforcing his father’s organization was the only thing he was supposed to care about it.
He wasn’t naive. People died all the time because of him. To risk throwing away all his hard work to save a single soul was damning. If he lived through this, maybe it was time to seriously consider his life choices.
The morning air was still crisp as he jogged easily down the street. There were several shopping centers a couple miles down the road. As long as he avoided the security cameras, it would be easy enough to “borrow” a car and head back into the city.
Most of the businesses were still closed, but there were still quite a few cars parked in the lots. Some patrons from the bars in the square must have taken cabs home. Or gone home with stranger.
It took him seven cars before he finally found some innocent soul who still hid a spare key under the car. Thankful that he didn’t have to damage the car, he unlocked the sporty coupe and slid behind the wheel.
Before he could start the car, his phone rang. It was Valeria.
“Still want to marry me?” he said coldly.
“It’s cute that you want to joke when I have the woman who belongs to you,” she hissed.
Erik snorted. “Believe me, Ella belongs to no one.” He heard her inhale sharply and grimaced. While he didn’t mind upsetting her, he didn’t want Ella to pay the price. “I assume you want the evidence for her safe return?”
“For the evidence, I’ll return her alive. For the evidence and a nice long fuck in front of her, I’ll return her bullet hole free.”
Clenching his jaw, Erik fought to keep control of his temper. “I’ll provide you with a counter offer. Put you father on the phone, or you’ll get nothing from me.”
No matter what she might think, her father still ran the business. When Yashin spoke on the line, he was calm and professional. “Erik. I’m upset to see things end up like this.”
“You and me both, Rostilav. I’m prepared to give you what you want, but there are conditions.”
“I’m not releasing the girl until the evidence is in my hand.”
“I want your daughter out of the deal. You and I both know she’s letting her emotions get in the way, and I can’t help but think that she’s prepared to kill the woman whether you get the evidence or not. I’m not gambling if I know I’m going to lose.”
“Fair point,” Yashin said mildly. Erik heard him order Valeria out of the club. Instantly, he knew where they were. Of course he would choose to hold Ella at the Black Orchid. “It’s done. Tell me where you are.”
“I can get to the city in an hour and a half.”
“Then in an hour, I will call you with the girl’s location. I hope this does not affect our relationship, Chesnovak. Surely you understand that it’s just business.”
Erik hung up the phone without responding. If he pushed, he could be there in forty minutes, and he knew Yashin’s location. That gave him the element of surprise.
Chapter Nineteen
The club looked different now that it was empty. Big. Eerie. Horrifying. It didn’t help that the eight other people in the club were carrying guns or that she was tied to a damn stripper pole.
Exotic dancers.
Valeria and her father were still arguing in Russian before she and two of the men stormed off. That left five men. At least her odds were better. Not that it mattered. The duct tape around her wrists was as tight as could be.
“Hi. Excuse me. Does anybody else speak English? Can anyone please tell me what’s going on?
” she called out. Everyone looked her way, and the older man stepped forward.
“My apologies, my dear. I’m sure you’re quite frightened. Mr. Chesnovak assures me that he’ll be here in good time. There were some conditions that needed to be met first.”
Erik was coming for her? Ella tried not to show her surprise. “Were the conditions that you let me go now?”
He smiled. “The conditions are that my daughter not be here when he gets here.”
“Mr. Yashin, I’m really not all that sure what any of this has to do with me. I didn’t even know that Erik was part of the mob until yesterday. I guess I knew that something strange was going on. Mob seems like a reasonable explanation, but I like to believe the best in people. He was a wealthy man who gave me an obscene amount to clean his already immaculate house.” It sounded so bad when she said it out loud. “The point I’m trying to make is that I haven’t known him for that long. I’m sure there plenty of other ex-lovers that you could have chosen to kidnap.”
Yashin looked at her closely. “So you admit that two are lovers?”
Ella reddened. “I’m sure there are other women that he cares more for than me.”
“Even if that were true, it’s a little late now, my dear. You were the bait, and Chesnovak is on his way. There would be no reason for him to lie if he didn’t care about you. The interesting thing is that I’ve known Chesnovak for a long time. He’s very professional. I’ve never known him to sleep with a member of his staff. I think you’re a little more than just a fling.”
“He’s made it very clear that I’m not. If you’ve known Erik for so long, why are you doing this to him? Aren’t you two supposed to be on the same side?” she snapped.
“Just because we are of the same nationality and in the same profession does not make us friends. I wouldn’t go as far to call him an enemy. Perhaps ‘competition’ is the right word. Yes. Erik is my competition,” Yashin mused thoughtfully. “I never thought he’d be as successful as he is, and when he didn’t agree to share his property with my daughter, I had to take what I wanted by force.”
