by Nikki Ash
Talia.
Bullets spray at me and I dive down into the mud, wincing at the pain searing through my hip where I’ve been clipped. The guy I’d pushed away splats beside me, his head blown off.
“Boss,” Adrian calls out from nearby. “Stay the fuck down. I’m gonna get the bastard!”
Rolling onto my back, I wince when my arm screams in protest and my hip burns like a motherfucker. I strain my neck, searching for the shooter. The rain is relentless and it’s dark as fuck. I work myself into a squat and rush around to the back of the car. Popping can be heard just north. I see Adrian’s big form not far away. We make eye contact and I nod at him, pointing in the direction of the shooter.
We’re coming for you, asshole.
And you’re going to wish you’d never been fucking born.
Talia
With Zoe clinging to my chest, I listen to the front door slam closed. Zoe, the six-month-old that she is, squirms, wanting to play in the closet. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, or that she was born into a world where the villains and monsters I read to her about, the ones who always get taken down by the white knights, are real, and they don’t get taken down as easily in real life as they do in her books. Sometimes, in fact, they don’t get taken down at all.
Once upon a time I thought Kostas was a monster. But now that I’ve seen Aris in action, I know the difference. Whereas Kostas is powerful and smart, and makes calculated decisions, Aris is cruel and vindictive, and makes decisions based on his emotions. His need for revenge. Kostas may not be like the knights in Zoe’s books, but he’s still my knight. And I know without a doubt my dark knight will do everything in his power to make sure his princesses are safe.
Where is he?
What’s taking so long?
The booms we heard sounded like explosions. I pray Mom and Stefano are safe someplace. I should try to call and check on them, but not until Zoe and I are in the clear. Kostas would lose his mind if I left the closet to look for them. I have to trust my stepdad will take care of Mom.
Fear clings to me and I can’t shake it off. An ominous feeling washes over me. I’m not safe here in this closet. Deep down, I know it’s Aris. He can’t let his brother win. It’s all he’s bitched about for a year. Destroying him. Toying with him. We’re Kostas’s weakness and Aris is smart enough to know that. He’ll hunt us down. Nothing will satisfy him until he has us.
Over my dead body.
I’ll shoot him in the face before I let him take us again.
I can’t live as a captive ever again. I won’t do that to Zoe.
“Ba-ba-ba,” Zoe babbles around the pacifier I keep trying to push back into her mouth to keep her quiet. She’s getting annoyed that I won’t let her loose to play. In a few minutes, she’s going to get frustrated and will soon be screaming her tiny little head off. My daughter doesn’t do well with being confined. Hopefully, whatever is happening, will be over by then.
Hope is worthless at a time like this. My brain trumps the hope flittering in my heart. These people are mobsters, not normal men. That means hope is useless, unlike the gun beside me.
Feeling around in the dark, I find a shoe and try to hand it to Zoe to distract her. She takes it for a second before she drops it to the ground and wriggles, trying to get free.
“Ba-da-da,” she babbles some more, frustration evident in her tone.
Come on, Kostas.
We don’t like being alone without you.
“Shh, baby, let’s go night-night.” It’s close to her bedtime, so maybe she will go with it. Lifting her into my arms, I start to rock her back and forth, when I hear something shatter. Zoe hears it too because her head, which was lying against my arm, pops up, smacking me in the face.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Footsteps on glass.
Oh, God.
Someone’s in the house.
Grabbing the gun from beside me, I’m preparing to do as Kostas said—shoot first, ask questions later.
I strain my ears, hoping it’s just the storm. But I can hear voices inside. Whispers. Something crashing to the floor. A door slams and more voices. The bedroom light turns on and shines in under the crack of the doors.
People are here.
They’re going to find us.
My body trembles with fear and adrenaline courses through me. If we can be quiet, maybe they won’t think to look in the closet.
“Ba!” Zoe screeches, and I wince. If someone is in here, Zoe’s voice just gave us away.
“Shh,” I whisper. “Shh, baby.”
But she’s not quiet and starts to screech as she squirms.
Come home, Kostas!
When the closet door swings open, momentarily blinding me with the new light shining in, I let out a choked sound of horror. I have no clue who is standing there, but if it were Kostas, he would’ve made his presence known. So, with Zoe wrapped tightly in one of my arms, I raise the gun with my other and shoot.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three shots go off, making my hand go numb and my ears ring.
My eyes adjust just in time to see Selene stumble back. I hit her somewhere based on her howling, but she’s still alive.
“You fucking bitch,” she screams, stalking toward me like one of those crazy zombies who can’t be brought down. “You shot me!” Blood seeps from her lower abdomen and it’s hard to tell if I got her good or just clipped her.
I aim again, hoping to hit her in the heart, and—
“It’s over.” Aris comes out of nowhere and tackles me. Still trying to hold Zoe in my arms, I hit and kick at him. But he’s stronger and quickly disarms me, before pinning me to the floor. Zoe is flung out of my grip, and before I can grab her, Selene plucks her off the ground.
Blood curdling screams.
Zoe! My baby!
She’s screaming for me and I need to get to her.
“No!” I wail. My drive to get to my daughter takes over, and grabbing the first thing I can get my hands on, I plow it into Aris’s face. He’s caught off guard long enough that I’m able to roll over and get out of his grip. I’m about to stand, so I can run after Zoe, when Aris tackles me from behind. With his weight on top of me, my arms give out, and my chin hits the hardwood floor. Something metallic swarms my mouth.
Zoe’s screams go louder, spurring me to focus on her instead of the pain.
My baby. I need to get to her.
But before I can move forward, Aris’s strong hands grip my biceps, and he flips me over onto my back, smashing the back of my head in the process. He crawls up my body, wrapping his legs around my torso. With him hovering above me, I can make out his features.
His eyes scream hate. Fury. Revenge. But the way he’s smirking, it sends shivers down my spine. He’s enjoying what’s happening. Just as I thought he planned all of this, and he’s confident enough to believe he’s going to win.
Not if I can help it.
“Did you really think I would let you and that baby leave that easily?” He chuckles darkly.
“Fuck you!” I spit the blood that’s been building up in my mouth in his face.
“Been there, done that.” He cocks his hand back to hit me, but I see it coming. And lifting my butt into the air, I knee him in the back, forcing him to fall forward enough to lose his balance.
Taking advantage of his current state, I slide my body backward then knee him in the dick as hard as I can. He groans and rolls to his side, as I roll to mine, determined to get to my daughter. We’re both on our feet, running out the bedroom door, when something heavy smacks me in the side of my face.
I fall forward, my face catching the side of the end table.
Gray. Blink. Gray. Blink.
Everything fades so quickly as the sounds grow muted.
“Payback’s a bitch,” Selene screams as my vision goes blurry and then fades to black. I try to fight it, but I can’t.
Wake up!
Open your eyes!
But I can’t. Oh God.
&
nbsp; The last thing I hear before everything goes silent is the sound of my daughter, zoí mou, crying for me. Needing me. Needing to be saved. And I pray that Kostas is somewhere close. And that, just like in Zoe’s storybooks, the monsters lose, and the dark knight saves the princesses.
But sadly, we all know too well that reality rarely imitates fiction.
Kostas
My mind is on one track. Find and kill the man shooting at us. The quicker I can eliminate this threat, the quicker I can find my fucking brother.
“Radio to everyone,” I hiss out to Adrian, though I can’t see him. “I want this place surrounded. No one leaves.”
The static of his device can be heard as he makes the command. My phone buzzes in my sweats’ pocket, but I can’t answer just yet. Not when I’m crouched and running between vehicles hunting down a man.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Bullets whiz past me, but I duck down just in time. It’s dark and pouring down rain, so most likely he’s just shooting in our general direction rather than having eyes on us. Something crunches ahead and then a man makes a grunting sound as though he fell. I charge his way. A form is rising to his feet and I don’t waste any time.
Pop!
My bullet hits him in his lower stomach and he groans from the impact. He drops his weapon to apply pressure to the wound. Adrian flies up out of nowhere and tackles the fucker.
“Get him to the cellar,” I growl. I’m blinded by the rain that’s running from my hair into my eyes and everything fucking hurts. I’ll need to get my shit dealt with because I won’t be able to run on adrenaline forever.
I stumble a little, my hip screaming in pain, but manage to keep myself upright. My phone buzzes again. “I need to check on Talia,” I bark out at Adrian. “Let’s get this asshole there for questioning. Aris is still missing.” My blood runs cold with fear that he might have gotten to her.
Men are staked out around the villa.
Aris would have to go through an entire army of men to get to her.
She has a gun and knows how to use it.
It provides some semblance of relief, but not much. Just as we push into the groundskeeper’s house, I dig my phone out of my soaked pants pocket. Adrian hauls the fucker to the cellar while I wait in the living room. My hands are shaking and it takes a few tries before I’m able to enter my code to open it.
The door flies open behind me. I’m on autopilot as I sling my AR around, ready to spray bullets into my assailant. As soon as I see who it is, I nearly fall to my knees in relief.
“Kostas!”
It takes me all of two seconds to take in her appearance. She’s soaked to the bone from the rain, but so many things click into place all at once.
Blood smeared all over her teeth and running down her chin.
Blond hair matted to her face and clothes clinging to her form.
Giant bruise on the side of her face.
Sobbing. Sobbing. Sobbing.
Gun shaking hard in her grip.
No baby. No baby.
No. Fucking. Baby.
“Where’s Zoe?” I demand, terror burning through me like accelerant to an already out of control inferno.
She falls against me, nearly knocking me over. I toss the AR to the couch to hug her to me.
“Talia, where the fuck is our daughter?” My chest hurts and violence thrums through me.
“T-They took her,” she sobs. “You said we were s-safe. We were n-not safe.”
Guilt and fury wage war inside me.
I left them alone. I thought I could eliminate the threat.
“Who?” I ask, my voice low and deceptively calm.
She looks up at me, her bottom lip wobbling. “Aris and Selene.”
I should have known Aris wouldn’t storm the gates so brazenly. That he’d have a plan of attack that would throw me off.
“Adrian,” I bellow. “Get a car and let’s go.”
Three seconds later, Adrian storms into the living room. I don’t have to say the words because he takes in our appearances and mutters out, “Motherfucker!” He rushes out into the night as I walk Talia out the door to wait for him to bring up a vehicle. Soon, he arrives with an SUV and I pile into the front while Talia jumps in the middle row seating behind us.
“Where to?” Adrian demands.
I scrub my palm over my face to swipe away some of the water. The asshole hid from me for an entire year right under my nose. He’s a sneaky bastard like that. But now it won’t be so easy. He’ll have an infant in tow and a mouthy bitch. Someone will see him. I need every goddamn person looking for him.
“Airport,” I utter, though I’m not sure he’ll try that. The jet is always fueled and ready. At the very least, I want to make sure he’s not leaving Crete Island.
Adrian hauls ass through the dark. My fingers tremble as I dial Basil.
“Yeah, Boss?”
“Make them talk, but don’t kill them. I need answers.” I close my eyes and breathe heavily. “They took Zoe.”
“Aris?” he growls.
“I need you to have the men eliminate the threat at the hotel. Get the bodies out of there and make sure the hotel guests are okay.”
“Minister of Public Order?” he asks.
“I’ll call Josef. Just clean up the fucking mess and keep the roaches on a leash in the cellar. I want to know anything, no matter how insignificant.”
“Talia?”
“She’s safe with us but have someone check on her mom, please.”
Talia squeezes my shoulder from behind in thanks.
“On it, Boss.”
After we hang up, I dial Josef. My body feels cold and I fight a tremble. Awkwardly, I fumble for the heater. Adrian shoots me a worried look before swatting my hand away to do it for me.
“This better be good,” Josef growls. “I have everyone blowing up my goddamn phone.”
“Terrorists after a politician,” I lie. That’s the lie he’ll spin for me too and he’ll be paid handsomely for it. “Set up a press release for the morning. They took my daughter.”
He barks out some orders to someone before saying, “No shit?”
“I need…” I suck in a deep breath, blinking away a wave of dizziness. “I need you to have your men out there looking for my brother.”
“Aris did this shit? Your father would be disappointed.”
No, Father would have already found him and put a bullet through his skull. I’m softer than Father and it shows. I can’t hold onto anything precious to me. Not my mother, not Talia for so long, not my daughter.
“Have the police looking for her. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Six months old. I’ll text you a picture to send to your men.”
“I’ll keep it discreet. We’ll find her.”
I wince as I adjust my position in the seat. Blackness eats at my vision.
“And if we don’t by the time of the press release tomorrow…” Josef trails off.
Adrian shakes his head at me in warning.
“Then what?” Josef asks.
“We go wide with it,” I bite out. Tell all my enemies I have something I want back, even it if means presenting to them my weakness.
Josef is silent. I pull the phone away to make sure we’re still connected before pressing it back to my ear.
“You heard me?” I rasp out.
“That puts a big target on your most vulnerable possession.”
My heart pumps fast and furious. “Right now, I need that target to find her. Make it happen.”
“Of course,” he says with a sigh.
We hang up and I fade in and out the entire trip to the airport. Adrian keeps getting calls and barks out orders. My phone buzzes a few times with texts from Basil. Eventually, he sends me a text with a picture of two very freaked out looking people, but they’re alive. I lift my phone to show Talia and she sobs in relief.
Melody and Stefano are okay.
My phone slips from my grip and tumbles to the floor. Talia picks it back up. Her hand is
warm as it brushes along mine.
“Kostas,” she cries out in alarm. “Your hand is like ice.” She runs her palm along my cheek. “What’s wrong with you? Are you hurt?”
“He’s been hit,” Adrian alerts her. “Took a bullet outside and not sure what got his arm.”
“Knife,” I hiss out.
Talia practically climbs onto the console to look me over. Adrian pulls up to the airport and exits the vehicle.
“You’re bleeding everywhere,” she whispers. “And you’re so pale.”
“I’ll be fine,” I grunt out.
“We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Fuck that,” I snarl. “They’ll hold me when I need to be out here searching for Zoe.”
Her lips press together in a worried line. “I want her just as bad as you do, but we can’t look for her while you’re dying on me. I need you.” Tears leak from her eyes and her chin wobbles.
“But Zoe,” I choke out.
“Aris never hurt her or was cruel to her,” she assures me, though I hear the doubt in her voice. “He still thinks Zoe is his. We have to have faith she’s going to be okay with him.”
I close my eyes, suddenly very tired. “I’m sorry I failed you.”
Hysterical sobs escape her and she slaps my face, forcing my droopy eyes back open. “Don’t you dare fucking take the blame for what your brother did. You have done nothing but try to protect us.”
Lifting my weak arm, I swipe away her tear. “He fucking hit you.”
“I hit back,” she tells me icily.
“Good girl.”
“I shot Selene,” she whispers. “But she got away anyway.”
Energy surges through me. “You put a bullet in that bitch?”
“Yes.”
Gripping her neck, I pull her to me and kiss her mouth that still tastes of blood.
“You’re so cold,” she whimpers. “You’ve lost too much blood.”
“I’ll be okay,” I assure her as I text Josef.
Me: Selene—Aris’s bitch—got hit. She might need medical attention so keep eyes on the hospitals.
A wave of dizziness has my head thunking against the window. Talia slaps my face again, rousing me.
“Wake up,” she says firmly. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
