"NET!" one of the brothers shouted. Restrained with only an inch between our faces, I sighed a breath around the agony in my lungs as she was hauled off. Two guards frog-marched her to the far side of the room. They never once let go of her arms. Gathering my strength, I turned to look at the brothers Kuznetsov. "Is it time for the raping to start yet?" I smiled at them. Felt the blood well and ooze over my mangled lips. My belly quivered and twitched as the blade caressed my guts. Sweet fuck, who knew getting stabbed was so freaking awful?"Da." The oldest brother rose from his seat. He walked to the end of the table, slapped one of the guys on the shoulder. "He will go first. But we must get setup."With that, he swung a hand in a weird twirling motion. From behind the table, a small group of men came running. Cameras, lighting equipment, and something I was pretty sure was a boom mike were carried in. They scurried around like rats through the garbage. Little did they know
No, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Not again. Not like this. The blood that covered Talia had my gorge rising as I tried to apply pressure to her unconscious body. They'd fired too early. Not everyone had been in position. We'd lost two men, two more were injured, and Talia was dying. Black anger slid over my mind. They should have listened to me. Should have waited. I told them not to go. I told them not to start. "Move, Fancy Pants." Someone shoved me to the side. I elbowed them back. They caught me in the face with the butt of their gun. "If you're not going to help her, move the fuck back," Roger said in his calm voice. "I'll take you down before I let her bleed out." There was no anger, no emotion. Just the simple statement of fact. I leaned forward, brushed him out of the way. "There's too much blood.""Then it's good Dr. House just arrived at the new location. Get your ass up, Fancy Pants." He knocked me out of the way again. Pulled Talia up and into
With everything going on around me, I was about to push to my feet and stumble after the man who'd run off with Talia. Smashing against walls, I tripped and slid down the halls in their wake. "Wait," I called out. I was pretty sure the knife had either nicked a lung or fractured a rib, because breathing was becoming more and more strenuous. Someone stepped out of a connecting hall. A gun in his hand. I sucked in a breath. "DOWN!" I screamed as loud as I could. The guy holding Talia dropped to his knees immediately. With the last of my strength, I gathered myself and launched myself between the shooter and Talia. I felt the bullet graze my temple as I fell against her rescuer. "You've got to get her out of here," I said as I felt him move under me. "I will." He pushed me off him. Turned and used my body as a tripod to steady his shot. Within moments, gunshots filled the space. "He's down. If you can get up, you can go with me," the man said. I nodded. He pu
"What?" I growled low as I stabbed at the keyboard again. "She made it to Jessa," Nik said in my ear. "She's lost a lot of blood, but Jessa thinks she should be fine."I blew out a breath, felt the band around my chest relax slightly. I didn't make it go away completely. Nothing would do that, but holding her in my arms. And I was fucking stuck in this stupid hellhole trying to read Cyrillic so I could give Nik direct access to the computer. I wasn't even in on the fun of questioning Karine. Or Svetlana, or whatever else she wanted to call herself. "Last line of code, FP. I promise," Nik said in my ear. I pushed everything else aside, focused on the problem at hand. If I could get Nik what she needed, then I'd be able to get out of here. Go smash some heads in. Well, maybe not smash them in. Turns out Interpol agents still adhere to the Geneva Convention over here. More's the pity. "YES! That's it," Nik crowed in my ear. "You can run along now. As long as no one shu
I blinked, couldn't see past my lashes. Groaning, I lifted my hand. Or tried to. Something was stabbing the back of my hand. Trying my left hand, I let out a soft sigh at getting it to move the way I wanted it to. I rubbed my eyes. Blinked some more. Finally. Low light brightened the space, but it wasn't familiar. I looked all around, tried to find something in the weirdness that was recognizable. There. In the far corner was a man I knew. "Ark," I said. My voice was so quiet, I wasn't sure it even made it out of my mouth. But he heard it. He jolted awake, grabbed his belly with a groan. "You're awake."I nodded. Probably more of a chin wiggle than anything else, but it worked. "Yeah." He bolted up from his chair, his arm cradled his belly. "Let me get the doctor. Hang on." He tapped the end of my bed as he raced by. Ripping the door open, he stuck his head out. "SHE'S AWAKE!"He pulled his head back in and made his way back to my side. "You've just come out of su
I stood watch at the monitors in my old room. Something was bothering me. Nik still hadn't been able to find some of the files that should have been on the system. I had no idea what files in particular she was looking for, but I was more than willing to help find them. "I'm at my terminal, Nik," I said over the phone. "Good. Now, open up a window and type this." She gave me an executable command. As soon as I hit enter, I watched the screens flicker and shake. Then they went to some kind of gray screen. I told her what had happened. "Yes! Okay, pull up a new window."Following her directions, I watched as the screens all came back up. But something was different. "Do you see it?" she asked. I nodded. "Out loud, Weber, I can't see you."I snorted. "Yes, Nikanya." I picked up the phone. "Let me route you in. You can guide me through."She sent me the next line of code so she could hook into the security system feeds in the estate. "You're golden.""I'm leaving
I sat on the hospital bed. Mentally whining at the knowledge that I'd given up a premium king size bed for a lumpy twin size. What the hell had I been thinking? Kill Barrikad. That's what I'd been thinking. That man was going to die by my hand. We just had to wait for him to show up. That fucker better show up. "Lay down, T. I need to get some blood from you, and you're practically vibrating," Jessa said again as she brought in the tray for the specimen collection. "How did you get privileges here?" I asked as I pulled my feet up and stretched out on the bed. She laughed. "Are you kidding me? This is an overworked urban hospital. They practically shoved me into a room for you. You came into a hospital with your own doctor. Why wouldn't they say yes?""Um, because laws and stuff." I pressed the button to bring the head of the bed up just a little. I hated lying flat when I was awake. Unless I was getting my world rocked. That was the single exception that I could think
I paced the small room again. The sun had set hours ago. This section of the hospital was quiet except for the soft bustling of the night shift nurses. The feeling in my belly told me we were about to meet face first with some danger. "Stop thinking so loud," Talia complained from her bed. "You're giving me a headache."I walked over to her side. Brushed my hands down her face. "I can give you some more meds. Jessa said the thallium treatment can make you nauseous."She shook her head. "I don't want anything else inside me that the goddess didn't put there."I snorted softly. She smiled, peeked up at me through her lashes. "Except you. I think she meant for you to be there.""Damn right she did, Hellcat." I leaned down, kissed her cheekbone. Even though her lips were still healing, the bruises fading from her face, her skin was so fucking soft. I felt like an addict. Like I had this need inside me to have as much of her against as much of me as possible at all times durin
I crept along the rooftop. The target was staying in the long term suites across the road. It was our first night, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders the farther we got from New Trenadie. The next moment, I crashed to the roof's floor. "Damn it." She snickered. "Still a sucky spy, Raphael." She slid her body over mine.I sucked in a breath. Nodded. Hell, I practically begged her for it. But without words. When she got that tone, my words were not necessary. She smiled. "I'm not going to beat you to death. Nor am I going to stuff you into a padded room." She bent down, flicked her tongue over my lips. "But I will tie you up, spank you, flog you, fuck you, and then make you do it all over again. My dick went to iron between her legs. Her laugh was husky. "I'm keeping you, Raphael. Do you understand me?"My heart settled. Skipped a beat. "Yes, Mistress."The end.
My phone dinged with a new incoming text message. Considering my phone had been going off since the wee hours of the morning with Willow and Ryker announcing the baby was finally coming, I was tempted to just shut it off. But it could be something important. And since Angelo and I were at home with the other babies, it fell to us to make sure we kept everything running as it should. I grabbed the phone. Unlocked the screen. A video message popped up. Raphael and his girl, Nia. Their heads mushed together to get into frame. "Momma, I have to leave. But I wanted to tell you I love you. And thank you for everything. I will let you know when I get back." Nia smiled. "I'll keep him safe, Momma. I swear it.""Bye, Momma," they said together before they ended the call.I smiled even as tears filled my eyes. Angelo looked up at me from his spot on the bed. He was restrained, a ball gag in his mouth. I held the crop up high. "Our last baby is finally happy, Angelo." I s
Two weeks later I glared at the woman on the table. "I still don't know why I have to be here. I barely know you."Willow snorted. "Because you're scarier than anyone else in my family. And I don't want those doctors trying to get all bitchyyyyyyyy." Another contraction hit her. She clamped down on my hand hard enough that I thought I was going to need surgery to remove the bones from each other. And this little firecracker had more strength inside her than her grip would show. Raphael had told me some of her story. She'd told me the rest of it. A ritual the Amatucci women apparently indulged in was something called Girls' Night. Really it was a bunch of drinking, talking about sex, and watching movies while we ate enough of Willow's confectionaries to give ourselves diabetes. Willow blew out a breath. "Ryker can't handle seeing me in this kind of pain, so he has to stay out in the lobby with the rest of them. You're second chair." She panted. Demanded some ice chips.
Three days laterWalking into my parents house when they didn't know I was alive was a risky thing. A multitude of crappy things could happen. Not the least of which was Momma killing me for real this time. Or Papa crying. Or either of them fainting."Go on," Nia said as she shoved me forward gently. "You're already here. Just go into the kitchen. Nik said she told them to wait for her in the kitchen."I nodded, felt my palms go clammy as my breath backed up in my lungs. This could go terribly wrong. So fucking horribly wrong. Man up, Si, that no longer too small voice said inside me. Since I'd been actively listening to it more, he wasn't so easy to shut up. Even when I wanted to. Thankfully, the nasty bitch who lived inside me was getting fainter. Although he could still throw a temper tantrum to beat a two year old. "I'm right here. And I'll be right here the whole time. They've waited long enough, Raphael." She nudged me again. Even as bile rushed up the back o
We all stood in the kitchen, guzzling water by the gallon. I hadn't been this dehydrated since the last time I got in trouble at Petter Manor. But at least this time it was due to happy tears and reunification. Raphael sat and watched it all. Just absorbed it. But he never got so far away I couldn't touch him. That I even needed to touch him still blew my mind. But I wasn't going to question it. He helped steady me when it felt like everything inside me and around me was bending and flexing too fast for me to catch up. "What are your plans for tomorrow?" Liam asked as he finished his third glass of water. "Tomorrow is the gala. I'm going to string Anders up-the guy who had you kidnapped again. I'm going to tell everyone the Petters have been blackmailing and abusing and paying off that the Petters are dead and gone. That they're all on watch." I studied Liam and Lilly. It blew my mind that they had gone into the government side of this dirty world. That they willingly put t
Nia came over to me while I was helping drag some bodies away. "Hey Raphael, can you come with me, please?"Foster grunted at me as we got the body up on the catering cart. "Go. I've got this." I nodded, turned back to Nia. "Sure, Nia." She took my hand and we walked from the room. Her hand was trembling in mine. It was only the slightest degree, but it might as well have registered on the seismic scale. "You good?" I asked her softly as we walked down a set of stairs. She said nothing, made no movements except to keep walking. I pulled her to a stop. Made her look at me. "Are you good?" I asked again. Her eyes were wide, as if she were trying to stave off the tears. "Amelie and Anton..." she blew out a breath. "They're t-""The only two people you love in this world." I smiled sadly. "I know, Nia."Her eyelids fluttered shut as a tear escaped down her cheek. Her breath was shaky as she exhaled. "I got them away from here. Put them in with a good woman with a hu
Day before the gala "Charlie team in position," the man's voice came through the little earbud I wore in my right ear. I kept a tight hold on my fear. My relief. My heart. All of the planning, all of the tears, all of the arguments. It all came down to this. "Delta team in position," Raphael said through my ear. "Foxtrot team in position," another voice said. I still wasn't quite sure who was who by their voice, but I'd done an okayish job of remembering names and faces. The fact that I had a team full of women with me made me like the Amatuccis even more. They didn't discriminate. If someone had the skill and the drive to join the security teams, they were given a position. "Estrogen team in position," I said. A series of clicks came through the earbud. I'd made a single joke about Echo team being full of vaginas. They called us the Estro team now. Since we were collectively badass, I didn't really care what they called us as long as it wasn't disrespectful. "A
Her babies? She had kids? I shook my head. Knew there had to be a different story, but I needed to get her back with me to learn it. I set her down on the chair. Pushed her head down between her knees. "Breathe, Nia." I made my voice hard. As hard as I dared when all I wanted to do was cuddle her up and carry her away. Nowhere was my fierce and strong Dominant. Right now, she was a broken, hurting woman. I would hold her together until she could find herself again. Ivan came rushing into the room, his gun drawn. He lifted it to the ceiling when he saw what was going on. One of his brows rose in question.I gave him a brief rundown of what I knew. Which was damn little. I shrugged when I was out of information to share. Mas came hopping in behind Ivan. He didn't have a weapon, but he did have concern etched on his face. "Who the hell are you?" a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, putting Nia behind my body as I faced the threat that shouldn't be there. A
After rushing through the shower and the delicious meal that Raphael put together for breakfast, I walked into the space Ivan and Klara had set up for me. Everything was as I left it, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Especially in a place I didn't control one hundred percent. Brushing the weird vibe away, I walked to the computer. Booted everything up. Once it was up and running, I went through my process of accessing my cloud accounts. Jasper had set some up for me that weren't the typical commercial kind. Luckily, I'd memorized the process, or I'd be up a creek with zero paddle at the moment. A ReadMe file was highlighted when I got all the way into my account. I right clicked, read through the metadata how Jasper showed me. Recognizing his signature, I opened the file. Ms. Flower~I've attached all of the information I could find re Cucumber Butt and Pretty Mean. You'll find them in the associated files.I snickered at Jasper's sense of humor. That kid was a genius and