Sleight of Hand

by BJ Bentley

  The voice chuckled. “We shall see. I suggest you get some rest tonight, Mr. Magnus. I’m having a package delivered to your home first thing in the morning. You’ll want to be there to sign for it.” With that the line went dead.

  “Mother. Fucker,” I bit out. Part of me regretted not asking for proof of life, but I didn’t want to give the asshole, whoever he was, any more ammunition. Besides, I knew Bertie. She was tough as nails. Whatever was happening, she would endure it. And then I’d spend the next fifty years making it up to her.

  Chapter 28

  Aleksander

  Jensen and Rafe both arrived at my building just after dawn. All three of us got no more than four or five hours of sleep each. We met in the lobby, each with a cup of strong black coffee, and waited. I had no idea what time this package would arrive or what it would be. I just prayed it wasn’t a body part of any kind. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when a commotion at the entrance caught my attention. I bolted up out of my chair and Jensen and Rafe did the same.

  The doorman was struggling with a large suitcase. “Oh, Mr. Magnus! Perfect timing. A courier just dropped of this suitcase and said it was a delivery for you.”

  I turned to Jensen and nodded. He took off through the door to track down the courier and hopefully get some answers as to who sent him.

  “Thank you, James.”

  I dragged the suitcase over to the seating area we had just vacated and looked at Rafe.

  “You want me to open it?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No. Fuck me, but, no. I have to do this.” I stared at the luggage for a few moments, hoping and praying with all my might that what was inside wouldn’t give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

  Those prayers were in vain.

  “Who was she?” Jensen asked. He had come back empty handed after attempting to track down the person who sent the suitcase. The courier claimed he hadn’t seen the sender. The suitcase had been left at a designated location with instructions emailed to the courier service.

  “One of my girls. From Phoenix.” Samantha’s body had been wrapped in plastic and stuffed in an oversized suitcase and delivered to me as a warning. Her body badly beaten if the cuts and bruises were any indication. This is what would happen to Bertie if I didn’t hand over the flash drive.

  “You’re going to hand over the flash drive?” Rafe asked.

  “Any reason why I shouldn’t?”

  “Nope.”

  Rafe, being the tech genius that he is, embedded some sort of super virus onto the flash drive. Essentially, if anyone tried to access the weapons system data, the hard drive would melt or something. I didn’t quite understand it, but then again, I didn’t need to. I just needed it to work.

  Samantha wasn’t the only thing in the suitcase. There was also a note with a time and place for the exchange. “Then I’m going to hand over the flash drive. I’m going to get my wife back. And I’m going to make the bastards pay.”

  The meeting place ended up being in the desert, which I’m sure the assholes thought worked to their advantage. Less chance of an ambush if there was nowhere to hide. Jensen and Rafe rode with me, but Jensen stayed in the SUV while Rafe acted as my second for the exchange. As we walked up to the three men in suits, I realized that I recognized one of them. He had been at the party at Alan Denning’s the night I met Bertie. And when he spoke, I recognized his voice. He was the man I talked to on the burner phone.

  “Mr. Magnus. So good of you join us,” he said snidely. “And you, as well, Mr. Caruso,” he addressed Rafe.

  “Cut the shit. Where’s my wife?”

  The man in charge gestured to one of the men flanking him, who then strolled toward a dark sedan that was parked nearby. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him open the back door and reach inside. Out came Bertie, in tact, but looking a little worse for wear. I felt a muscle in my jaw tick. “You okay, sparrow?” I called when the buffoon at her side brought her a little closer.

  “On a scale of one to ten, I give their hospitality a solid negative four hundred. They fed me a salad, Sven. A salad!”

  “Yeah, you’re okay,” I muttered.

  The man in charge addressed me again. “Now, if you’ll just hand over the flash drive-” the man’s words were cut off by the bullet that landed squarely between his eyes.

  His hired muscle pulled their weapons and Bertie was thrown to the ground as a result. I raised my hands. “Now, fellas, here’s the thing. I know you weren’t in charge here. He was,” I said, pointing to the body at my feet. “So, what I’m going to do is give you the flash drive that you all came for, and I’m going to take my wife and go home. Deal? And think carefully before you answer that,” I smirked.

  “Don’t do it, Aleksander,” Bertie pleaded.

  The men all looked at one another like they weren’t sure what to do.

  “Tick tock, gentlemen,” I sing-songed.

  The men grumbled amongst themselves before agreeing. I tossed the flash drive to one of them, and moved to help Bertie to her feet.

  “Wait,” one of the men called out. “How do we know this is the right flash drive?”

  “Didn’t anyone think of that before agreeing to this exchange?” Amateurs.

  One of the other men pulled a laptop out from the sedan, inserted the flash drive, and decided he was satisfied. “This is it. We got it,” he told his partners. “Let’s roll.”

  “Pleasure doing business with you. Assholes,” I muttered. I scooped Bertie up into my arms and peered down at her. “You’re grounded, you know. Maybe for the next fifty years or so.”

  Chapter 29

  Bertie

  “Did they hurt you?” Aleksander asked as he cradled me in his lap, settling into the backseat of the SUV.

  “Not really. Not like before.” I winced just remembering the last time those fuckers beat the shit out of me. This time wasn’t nearly as bad. Mostly a couple of slaps. No broken ribs, thank God.

  His hands ran all over me as if verifying my story. “I was so fucking scared, sparrow,” he said softly. “I don’t like that feeling.”

  “Sorry.” I wasn’t exactly sure what I was apologizing for. It’s not like I went and got kidnapped on purpose. “Aleks-” I choked on a sob. “Samantha.”

  “Shh, sweetheart, I know.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight while I cried for my friend.

  When my sobs turned to sniffles, Jensen suddenly reminded us he was there. “Some of my men found Rogers.”

  Aleksander’s hands tightened on me. “And?”

  “Seems his sister was being threatened. He was working for them under duress.”

  “I don’t give a flying fuck what his excuse is, I want him taken out,” Aleksander seethed.

  “Agreed. I’ll take care of it.” Jensen nodded.

  “What are you two talking about?” I asked, my eyes going between the two of them.

  Aleksander sighed. “The explosion at Starlight.”

  “Oh. Was he trying to kill me?” I was trying to make the connection, but I couldn’t see how my death would have benefited them if they had still wanted the flashdrive.

  “No,” Jensen answered. “The explosion was only meant to be a diversion. The goal had been to grab you. Lucky for you, your bodyguard is excellent as his job.”

  “Oh,” I breathed. Looking up at Aleksander, I said, “Bert needs a raise.”

  One corner of his mouth tipped up as he shook his head.

  Finally back at the penthouse, Aleksander tried to tuck me into bed, but I was bound and determined to get a scalding hot shower, first. And since Aleksander refused to let me out of his sight, he got one too. I scrubbed my skin raw and stood under the water long enough for it to turn cold. Aleksander shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, only to come back with a fluffy bath sheet. He dried us both off and scooped me back up in his arms, naked, and carted me to bed.

  Wrapped around each other, as it was our favorite position, we fell asleep.
>
  I woke with a jolt the next morning, my heart in my throat, until I looked around and remembered where I was. The smell of something utterly delicious wafted up from the kitchen, and I suddenly remembered how much I had missed Elaina.

  “Good morning, sparrow,” Aleksander said from the bathroom door.

  “Hi,” I said, awkwardly.

  He raised his brow at that. “Hi?”

  I shrugged, helpless in my quest for words this morning. “I’m hungry,” I stated.

  Aleksander’s brow furrowed. “Okay. Come on. Up.” He extended a hand toward me and gave me a curious look when I hesitated. Once I was on my feet he held my favorite bathrobe open for me to slip into, tying the sash for me like I was a child who needed help dressing.

  The trip down to the kitchen was silent. At least, it was until we rounded the corner and Elaina and I laid eyes on one another. We ran toward each other as though I’d just returned from war. In a way, I had. “I missed you so much,” I croaked as I battled the sudden onslaught of tears.

  “Me too, chickie,” she whispered back. “Hungry?” She pulled back and smiled at me.

  “You got any pie?”

  “For breakfast?”

  I couldn’t fathom why she looked surprised. “Have you met me?”

  “Fair enough.” She nodded in understanding. “Can I convince you to eat some protein with your pie?”

  “Does said protein come in the form of bacon?”

  “Have you met me?” she countered.

  I grinned. “Fair enough.”

  So we ate. Bacon and blueberry pie for me. Boring eggs and bacon for Aleksander and Elaina. As we finished up, Aleksander grasped my hand and tugged me off my stool.

  “Talk to me, sparrow,” he demanded.

  “About what?” I hedged.

  “About why you’re so stiff. Why you hesitate at my touch.”

  I chewed my lip as I searched for an answer that wouldn’t start World War III. “Did you ever stop to ask yourself why I went out last night?”

  “I assumed you were just being your defiant self.”

  That made me smirk. “I was. I followed you. First to your office. Then to Bound.”

  “Okay. And?” He looked genuinely perplexed, and that infuriated me.

  “And? Are you serious, right now?” I felt my blood pressure rising, and I swore the vein in my forehead was going to burst.

  “Roberta, from my point of view, I’m the one who should be mad. So, why don’t you just say whatever it is that has you so pissed at me, hmm?”

  That did it. “I saw you, Aleksander! I saw you with her!” I screamed. I didn’t care that Elaina could hear me. “You kissed her!” I sneered. “And the second we got back from our honeymoon, no less,” I hissed.

  “Giselle?”

  “Oh, the little redheaded slut has a name, does she? Giselle,” I said it like her name was dog shit on my shoe.

  Aleksander responded by hoisting me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold and carrying me back to bed.

  “Put me down!” I continued to scream because the ability to speak like a rational, mature adult had abandoned me. Aleksander set me on my feet just long enough to remove my robe before turning me away from him and shoving me face first down onto the bed. I tried to escape, but he pinned me and bound my wrists behind my back with the sash from my robe. I continued to squirm and curse him when he asked me the last question I wanted to hear.

  “What’s your job, sparrow?” he grated in my ear.

  “Fuck you!” I screeched.

  “That’s one of your jobs, wife, yes, but that’s not the one I want you to perform at this precise moment.”

  I swore to God I heard laughter in his voice, and that just fueled my anger even more. “I’m not fucking you, you cheater!”

  He sighed. “I didn’t cheat, love. Giselle and I have a history of playing together. She threw herself at me, I pushed her off, and told her I was married. You have no reason to feel threatened here.”

  I stilled when he called me ‘love,’ but I froze completely at his calm, rational, and completely plausible explanation. “Really?” I wanted so badly to believe him.

  “Really. Now, I’m going to ask you again. What’s your job?”

  I swallowed roughly, feeling the tingle that started in my nipples and mainlined right to my clit. “Obey.”

  “Good girl. But don’t think you’re getting out of this without a spanking,” he threatened. Or promised. I wasn’t sure which, and I wasn’t sure I cared.

  Chapter 30

  Bertie

  In the days that followed, Aleksander and I began to adapt to married life at home. We had discussed what happened that night in the desert. How Jensen’s man, Jason, who was a sniper and a veritable ghost when it came to camouflage, had hidden in the desert and took the shot that killed the asshole who had taken me. I still didn’t know who he was other than he was most definitely American and likely worked for the U.S. government. Our own government was apparently just as shady as any foreign power. Aleksander also explained to me about how Rafe altered the data on the flash drive. Since the flash drive was delivered as promised, he didn’t foresee any future threat to us. Even when the virus was activated, the flash drive had switched hands so many times before it came to me, there was no way to prove when the files had been corrupted. Besides, I had a feeling that Rafe could easily point a very convincing finger at anyone else to take the fall, if it came to it.

  Aleksander had arranged for Samantha’s body to be sent back to her hometown so her parents could grieve and give her a proper burial, which Aleksander insisted on paying for. Thinking about Samantha brought a pang to my chest. Though we hadn’t known each other that long, we had hit it off right away, even if she was instructed to spy on me. Worse yet, I kept seeing her face in my dreams, begging with the man who killed her to have mercy. I never told Aleksander that I had witnessed it. That Samantha and I had been together when she was killed. I carried a tremendous amount of guilt at my helplessness that night. For some reason, I wanted to keep that pain to myself. Eventually, that would come back to bite me in the ass, but right then, I needed to coat myself in that shame and let it remind me that it was my fault. My actions led to her death.

  “Sparrow?”

  “Hmm?” Aleksander’s voice jolted me out of my dark thoughts.

  “You’re a million miles away.”

  I knew I was. We had been sitting side by side next to the rooftop pool, and I’d been staring off into space. “Sorry.”

  He grasped my hand and tugged. “Come.” He pulled me into his lap despite the fact that it was hot as hell, and we were both sticky with sweat. “Tell me what’s going through your mind.”

  I idly trailed my fingertips down his chest, not wanting to meet his eyes. He gave me a little squeeze. “I guess I’m just wondering what happens next.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I shrugged and tried to turn away from him, but he wasn’t having it. He gripped me around the waist and turned me so I was straddling him instead. He tilted my chin up so I was forced to meet his gaze. “I mean with us.”

  “I’m still not following.”

  “Argh! I mean what happens next for us?” I threw up my hands. “We only got married out of necessity, and now that the threat is gone-” My words were cut off since I was forced to close my mouth when I hit the water. I came up for air sputtering and spitting mad. “You threw me in the pool!”

  “Yes, I did,” he replied calmly. “Because you needed a reality check.”

  I swam up to the side of the pool, splashing water, which Aleksander took without flinching. “I think I hate you,” I hissed.

  “That, my sweet sparrow, is quite unfortunate, because I happen to love you, and I will continue to love you for at least the next fifty years or so. Probably longer.”

  I knew my eyes had to be as big as saucers. “You do?” I whispered.

  Aleksander’s answer was to jump into the pool, grabbing
my leg, and pulling me under with him, so I came up sputtering once more. Backing me up to the pool’s edge, he brushed his nose along mine. “Tell me you love me, too, sparrow.”

  My breaths were coming in pants, but my words were not forced. It was the easiest thing in the world to admit. “I love you, too.”

  “Good girl.”

  Our kiss was hot and deep and full of promise. Our need took us out of the water and onto a lounge chair, where my husband made sweet love to my body and my heart, while still letting me know he was in charge. I was more than okay with that. In fact, I had come to embrace it. Having been on my own for so long, letting someone else take care of me was an adjustment, but I gave Aleksander an immeasurable amount of trust, and he never faltered.

  Epilogue

  Four Years Later

  Aleksander

  “Come on, sparrow, we’re going to be late!” I called out into the penthouse. What the hell was taking her so long? We were already supposed to be on our way to Jensen’s for a get together. I began making my way back toward our bedroom when she didn’t answer. “Sparrow?” I called again and was greeted by giggling. The sight in front of me never failed to make my heart swell. Bertie and our daughter, Minnie, were in the master bathroom apparently redecorating it with everything pink and frilly.

  “Daddy!” Minnie squealed, little fists raised in the air.

  “Hey, Minnie munchkin.” I planted a kiss on her cheek before giving her a raspberry that had her giggling all over again.

  “Sweetheart, we were supposed to leave ten minutes ago.” I gave my wife a pointed look.

  I watched her take a deep breath. “I know, Aleks. We just got caught up in our fun, didn’t we, Minnie?”

  “Okay, well, fun can wait until we get to Jensen’s. Then you girls can giggle yourselves sick, if you want.” I touched the tip of her nose affectionately.