Hostile Ground

by Cara Carnes

  Addy mentally noted the women’s battered faces and bruises along their throats and arms. Whoever had them hadn’t given a damn what damage they’d done. Anger rolled through her, but she forced it back and focused on the current objective—get the women secured and to Zoey.

  “We can take them to the facility Kristof was treated at,” Gavriil offered. “I can call ahead and order them to clear a floor for them and provide additional security if you’d like. You’re familiar with the layout and whoever is helping you has already proven their ability to hack its systems.”

  “Oops. Apparently, our new friend is thorough,” Zoey said. “Accept the offer without the security. We’ll use drones for the area.”

  “Thank you, that’s perfect. We won’t need the extra security, though. You’ve done enough.”

  Gavriil nodded and pulled out his cell. He stepped into the other room.

  “You’re trusting him and me with more than I expected,” Kristof said. Intensity resonated within his gaze. “Thank you. And Hummingbird.”

  “Trust goes both ways,” Addy said. “Maybe you’ll start trusting us with whatever the hell is going on with you. I know our mission is nearing the end, but until it’s finished, we’re protecting you.”

  Kristof took a step forward and wove his fingers through her hair. Anticipation quickened her pulse as their gazes locked. “It isn’t that I don’t trust you. That’ll never be a problem with you and me.”

  The rightness of the declaration settled within her, a warmth that cascaded through her. “Then what is it?”

  “I can’t let you protect me from this because then I’m not protecting you.”

  She should shove away and say she didn’t want or need his protection, but she couldn’t. Trapped within his gaze, she let her mind wander down the path she rarely traversed—one where he was the boy who was always there when no one else was.

  How long had it been since someone cared enough to protect her outside of an op? Sure, she had her team and her friends, but they were part of her world. Her job. She’d never formed a bond outside of the world she lived within, never had someone that was just hers who wanted to keep her safe. Care for her because she mattered.

  “I fear you’ll hate me even more if you get the answer you seek,” he said. “I’m not ready to let you go, even though I should. I’m nowhere near the man you deserve.”

  Let her go? He’d let her go long ago. Anger spiked within her. “You can’t let go of what you don’t have.”

  “And therein lies my problem. It’s taken me too long to admit I screwed up, Addy. I won’t ever get closer to you fighting this war my way. I see now we’ve got to do this on your terms.”

  “We aren’t at war.”

  He smiled. “That right there proves we are. Every time we get closer to what we could be, you push away. Just know I’ve decided I’m not surrendering. This is a war I intend to win.”

  “We aren’t at war,” she repeated. Her heart thudded hard in her chest. She tried to pull back, but he gripped the back of her neck firmly. “Let me go.”

  The double meaning loomed between them. She couldn’t let whatever the hell this was get any more out of control. Sure, she wanted what possibility he offered but she couldn’t take the risk.

  Could she?

  The internal struggle she’d combatted more and more often since arriving in Russia weeks ago became harder to ignore. Kristof was a threat in so many ways, one she couldn’t chance. Too many people relied on her. She couldn’t let what’d once been intersect with her life at The Arsenal. Not now.

  “I’ll let you retreat but know I’ll follow. I lost you once. Then I screwed up. I won’t make the same mistakes again.” He traced her lips with his thumb. “The war is for you. The Addy you bury so no one can get to her. She’s in there and I will rescue her from the rubble your brother left in his wake.”

  An ache blossomed in her chest. She wanted that. The admission loomed in her brain, but reality shoved it aside. She couldn’t risk opening that vault she’d shoved her former self into.

  Focus on the anger.

  “Don’t,” she warned. “Don’t you dare think I’m a prize to win. She’s gone, you know. She died way before Peter when the only person she…”

  Addy bit back the rest of the reply. She wouldn’t give him a look into what remained of the Addy he remembered. He didn’t deserve to win this so-called war because he’d been AWOL for nineteen years when he’d left on the mission for the camp and never returned.

  He’d left.

  “She’s in there,” he whispered.

  Then he took a step back and turned to face Gavriil as he entered the room. Though only a couple minutes had passed, Addy felt as though she’d run a hundred miles in the desert. Tumultuous memories banged around in her brain. For those few minutes, she’d forgotten she was an Arsenal operative on a mission. She’d been nothing more than a woman wishing to hell the man she’d once trusted more than anyone would bridge the gap between them with the answers she so desperately wanted.

  Why had he left her back then?

  Why was someone trying to kill him?

  Why did she even care?

  A knock sounded at the living room entry. Gage entered, concern on his face when his gaze locked with hers. “We’re ready for the others.”

  Right. Addy nodded and refocused on what mattered. The mission.

  Kristof Lavrov was a memory. Nothing more. He’d ghost from her life once the missiles were secure. Then she’d move on like she always did.

  Kristof was an idiot. He bit back the curse rising in his throat as Maksim drove them toward his home. It’d taken three hours to get the women settled with what they needed. A different Arsenal team arrived on a private plane and took over their transport out of Russia.

  He’d observed Zoey’s processing of the women from a distance as Addy sat with the women and translated whatever it was the brilliant woman on the computer needed. None of the personnel present made an attempt to disarm the blonde Addy had given her knife to.

  Everything had gone smoother than he’d expected since The Arsenal was in charge. They were far more formidable and honorable than even he’d realized.

  Which was why he was an idiot. He’d lost his patience and declared his intentions when Addy was cornered and not alone. How many of her teammates had heard what he’d said? Likely everyone. Though no one approached him, he’d noted the glares and hostile stances as they kept him at the fringes of the airport hangar.

  Away from Addy.

  No.

  Away from the women.

  Now that they were secured and outside his father’s reach, Kristof needed to separate himself from Addy and everyone else long enough to speak with the bastard who’d been kept on the back burner too long.

  If Kristof had moved faster to take him down, maybe the women wouldn’t have been taken.

  No.

  He couldn’t blame himself for that. Still, the guilt burned. Keeping the truth about what happened nineteen years ago and why and who he truly was from Addy was harder than he’d imagined it’d be.

  The divide between him and Addy was greater than he’d realized. Everything he’d done the past two decades was what she reviled. How could he undo the damage he’d inflicted and gain ground with her?

  Did he even deserve to try?

  “You aren’t listening to me,” Addy said.

  “Sorry, I was thinking of what I must do next.” Focusing on the mission was common ground he could safely traverse with Addy. Their training within the camp had conditioned them both to focus on the assignment and erase their identities.

  “Which is?”

  “It’ll wait until the morning.” He glanced over at the woman seated beside him and realized the car had pulled up outside his estate outside Moscow.

  Addy’s brow furrowed. She rubbed her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. Frustration rose in him. “You have a headache.”

  “How did you know?” Her eyes w
idened.

  “Whenever you rub your temples and squeeze your eyes shut you always reach for the bottle of pills in your purse. The com you wear all the time gives you headaches because you never get a moment alone. Do you?”

  “That’s not your problem,” she said.

  He didn’t argue even though he should. Had she told Zoey or anyone at The Arsenal she needed time away from the com? Rather than continue the argument, he exited the car and headed toward the entrance. The sooner he extricated himself from the beautiful woman charging her way toward him the better. He didn’t want her involved with what he had to do next. She couldn’t find out about his father. Not yet.

  Even though he should meet with Father face to face, a phone conversation would suffice for now. Or perhaps a video chat. Father didn’t like those, but he’d agree given the security concerns.

  “Don’t walk away from me. You don’t get to make statements about my headaches and then disappear. They aren’t any of your concern. You have no business saying that shit and worrying my team.”

  She was wrong. Watching her fight in the underground the past few weeks had been hell. Worrying about her getting hurt or killed… Protectiveness she’d awakened within him the first night they met had returned, a need too great for him to ignore, even if he should. She might be a phenomenal operative more than capable of handling herself, but that didn’t erase the fact a part of him still considered her his to protect.

  “Everything to do with you is my business.” He turned and grabbed her about the waist. He dragged her closer and ran his fingers through her hair. She punched at his chest, but he ignored the pain along his shoulder and claimed her mouth.

  Need exploded within him as he tasted her lips and licked along the seam until she relaxed in his arms and deepened the kiss. Their tongues collided and dueled for control over the contact.

  Cinnamon.

  The flavor ignited within his mouth and was exactly what he expected the fiery vixen to taste like. He caressed her face with his thumb and slowed the kiss to a heady exploration that surged all blood southward to his cock. She pressed against him and wrapped her arms around his head, locking him into place as she nibbled at his lips and explored his mouth.

  He’d thought about tasting her again every day since she’d kissed him that night. Memories of her spread out, naked and writhing on his sheets assailed him. A groan escaped as he took the lead once again.

  He’d love nothing more than to carry her up to his bed and sate the hunger she ignited. But there was too much to be done and he wouldn’t defile his first time with Addy by doing more than kiss when she had a com in her ear.

  Severing the contact, he looked down into her shocked gaze. Pain exploded along his cheek.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” she growled. She charged up the stairs.

  “That was unexpected,” Maksim said as he came to Kristof’s side.

  No. It wasn’t. Kristof smiled and rubbed his jaw. He’d deserved the reaction because he’d appealed to the Addy he knew, the one he doubted she shared with anyone else.

  “Make sure she finds her room. I’m going to call Father while I have the chance.” He turned and headed up the opposite stairwell.

  The private office next to the master bedroom was adorned in the same ostentatious gold accents against dark wood as the rest of the house. Father’s extravagant touches filled the entire eight-thousand-square-foot residence Kristof had been forced to take as his own nineteen years ago.

  He sat at the desk and activated the encrypted laptop. He doubted whatever encryption Maksim had put on it would stand up against The Arsenal if they started prying, but Kristof didn’t care right now.

  A sigh escaped him as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. Cinnamon still haunted his tongue. The soft scent of her shampoo filled his nostrils. Why had he kissed her?

  The next couple of nights would be sweet torture with her in a bed across the house. It’d been too long since he’d been with anyone. Though he’d never shied away from spending a night or two with a beautiful distraction, the past few months since that night with Addy had driven away desire for anyone but her.

  He couldn’t risk exploring anything with her until he’d dealt with Father. He opened the syndicate’s encrypted video chat program and selected Kostya’s name. Though the bastard was unpredictable with most things, the two hours of private time he set aside every afternoon guaranteed he’d be available.

  “Kristof. You know I hate this video nonsense.”

  “I’m sorry, Father. It couldn’t be avoided given the current situation.” Kristof shifted in his seat. “Are you well?”

  “Of course. Why would I not be?” He scowled into the camera, disapproval deepening the lines along his face.

  “Good. I feared whoever attacked me would come for you.” Not that you apparently care, you heartless son of a bitch.

  “No. None of my contacts have leads, though.” Kostya’s brows furrowed. “How are you? The injury?”

  “Healing well enough. It missed the artery by less than three millimeters.” He studied his father’s face. “I will find whoever did this and make them pay. For Ivan.”

  “Good.” His father’s right eye twitched. “Perhaps you shouldn’t go to the auction tomorrow evening. Tell your client to acquire the assets somewhere else.”

  Interesting. Kristof grunted and drummed his fingers on the desk. “That’s not possible. I gave my word I’d attend. I can’t pull out, not this close to the event.”

  “Then I’ll go in your stead or send another.”

  “Your involvement with me can’t be known. Ivan was the only one I would’ve trusted, and he’s gone.” Kristof forced the lie out. He’d never trusted the bastard any more than he did Father. “Surely you’ve learned something about the hit.”

  “Why would you think I have?”

  Pander to his pride. “You know everything that happens in Moscow.”

  “You’ve angered many the past few years. You continued supplying Gavriil despite my caution otherwise. He is one of many you’ve affiliated yourself with that you shouldn’t have.”

  The twitch returned. Father looked down again.

  “Everything I’ve done is to strengthen the Sidorav syndicate. I’ve extended our reach without anyone knowing. Wasn’t that the intent of my forming the underground operation?”

  “Of course; but, we must pull back and focus on our core business. Your radical movements have thinned our manpower. I didn’t realize how much until the attack on you.”

  “So, it’s my fault I was attacked? Because I expanded your empire?”

  “Perhaps.” He shrugged. “How should I know?”

  Tension knotted Kristof’s stomach when the twitch returned yet again. Father was hiding something. He’d have no reason to unless it was him that’d put out the hit.

  Damn.

  Had Ivan discovered something about Kristof’s true mission? Had he outlived his usefulness? Or had Father simply decided Kristof had outlived his?

  And why wouldn’t he want to expand?

  Kristof’s plan had been simple—expand operations enough for Father to see nothing more than a flourishing syndicate. In truth it was bleeding money—a fact Kristof hid with large cash infusions from his own operations. The final strike was supposed to occur when Kristof retracted those infusions. By then his affiliations and arrangements would be fully in place and his father’s empire would collapse on itself.

  Had Kristof managed to collapse it without realizing it? Was the Sidorav syndicate insolvent already?

  “We will speak after the auction,” his father said.

  “Thank you, Father, for everything.” Kristof clicked off and shut the computer down.

  He’d missed something. Without full access to the Sidorav financials, he’d had to estimate revenue streams and expenses on quite a few of the larger operations. If Father was feeling the financial strains, he likely suspected Kristof’s true intent.


  And he’d acted.

  But why kill Ivan?

  9

  Addy wandered the sprawling mansion. The blissful silence on the com was both welcome and unnerving. She’d acclimated to the constant presence on the other end, a reminder she wasn’t alone. After what’d happened hours ago with Kristof, she’d expected Zoey or someone from her team to show up in her ear, but they’d given her the space she needed to get her thoughts under control.

  Installing surveillance drones throughout the massive house gave her the excuse to remain awake. Insomnia was a pain in the ass she’d battled a lot through the years, but never as much as recently. She’d tried to sleep earlier, but her mind had wandered back to the kiss.

  Why the hell had he kissed her?

  The war is for you. The Addy you bury so no one can get to her. She’s in there and I will rescue her from the rubble your brother left in his wake.

  Kristof’s words from earlier in the day had haunted her more than they should. He didn’t know anything about her. Where did he get off saying that shit?

  It’s true.

  No matter how many arguments she constructed, the end result was always the same. He knew her better than she knew herself.

  Damn him.

  Damn him for crossing that line and declaring a war she wanted no part of. Life was complicated enough without intimate relationships doomed to fail because she couldn’t ever put anyone above the work she did. Sex with meaning had no place in her carefully formed world. Needs were easily sated without emotional entanglements.

  Okay, that was a lie. She may have dabbled here and there since she arrived at The Arsenal, but Resino, Texas wasn’t exactly a hotbed of opportunity when it came to finding a sexual partner. Call her crazy, but she couldn’t enjoy a man who couldn’t hold his own with her. She enjoyed men who challenged her, who could handle her being her without being put off by what she could do.