Sometime in the very early morning, I heard the guard's hard footsteps sound on the stone. The faint jingling of his keys and the smacking pop of his gum preceded him into the holding cell block. The acrid scent of cigarette smoke was a smack in the face I didn't need on so few hours of sleep. Prying one of my lids open, I watched the action across the room.The cell door across from mine slammed open with a harsh metallic twang that shot through my head like an anvil. A migraine bloomed to angry life deep in my right eye socket. Fucker. "Sleep it off. And if I hear you two going at each other again, you won't like it," the guard said in Italian as he shoved someone into the cell. A smaller, quieter guard moved forward. A weaving, tripping man in handcuffs swayed at his side. The scent of booze coming off him made my eyes water. Belching and farting his way into the cell next to mine, I was happy when his odors were trapped behind a cinderblock wall. Trying to get comfortabl
I hovered by the phone as I waited for Nico to call me. Wringing my hands so hard I winced, I shook them out before I started giving myself blisters. I was not cut out for this worrying business. At all. A woman of action, I needed to be doing something. Anything. But actively working towards a solution instead of just sitting around and growing a baby. Not that that wasn't important, but I could literally do that while I slept, so it wasn't really taking a lot of mental focus from the issue of the day right now.Nico. If the Petters were, in fact, behind all this, then I was going to be first in line to start busting some heads. As soon as Nik and Mags taught me how to do it without hurting myself. Hell, I could just use my medical knowledge. No one would ever know what happened to them. I smiled at the thought. Rubbed a hand down my belly. "Isn't that right, baby cakes? Momma can handle herself. Beat the poopy out of anyone who tries to hurt your daddy." I nodded. "Damn
Pushing back from the conference room table, I stretched. As soon as the stars appeared behind my eyes, I let it go. Pushed out a big breath. "Sweet Pete, that felt good."The girls all nodded. "I love stretching. Especially after having to sit through yet another conference call," Mags said. "We need to get everything ready for girls' night. Especially if Nik is going to be joining us virtually. Not to mention, we need to warn the security team not to bother us unless we're screaming for bad reasons," Willow said.Mags' brows rose. "Is there a reason to scream for good reasons when it's an all-girls party?"We all laughed. "You never know." Hooking my arm through Mags', we walked out into the hall and made our way to the living room. "Ksenia, we're going to officially get girls' night started. Are you ready?"Mags snorted. "It's barely nine in the morning. Are you making it so it's Nik night time for girls' night?"I laughed as I looked at Willow and Tali. They smil
I looked at the clock. Just after five in the evening and I felt like my day had been packed full of nothing but brain-numbing meetings. And Interpol hadn't even been that bad. In fact, it was nice to be able to focus solely on debriefing them. Not having to worry about the minutiae that goes into this kind of undertaking.I'd learned the last time with Willow's parents and ex-husband what kind of planning went into a takedown. I was happy to never be part of one again. Fate seemed to have different ideas on that part, but at least we'd been able to hand off the biggest part of it. Now we could tighten our focus to just Jaz and Amara. My woman's sister and my niece. Honestly, Jaz gave me more concern than Amara. The woman had been in captivity for twenty-six years. There was no telling what mental state she would be in. From my association with both Jessa and Willow, I had learned more about human trafficking victims than I ever wanted to know. And what I'd learned wasn't good.
Eden was finally sleeping on her own. We all sat in the living room, a movie on low volume. She was curled up on the oversized chaise, a mountain of blankets covering her small form. "What the hell is going on?" Willow asked softly. We all shrugged. "If Anthony de Silva is trying to scoop her up, then we have bigger problems here than just waiting for our men to come home," she said. Mags nodded. "Yeah. And we need to coordinate with Turo, Momma, and Papa. We need to get more guards here. Make sure no one is going out and about alone. If Eden really was staying at Mas' house, then we have to assume that none of our homes are safe.""But was it Mas' house? Or just a safe house? I'm still not really clear on that one," Tali said. "From what she was saying about the neighborhood, it didn't sound like Mas' home. But even if it was a safehouse, I agree we do need to increase our security protection here.""Our address isn't listed in any official databases," Willow said. "Ni
I slapped my phone off the nightstand as my alarm blared. Grunting into my pillow, I cursed the Petter clan and the assholes who thought dealing in human flesh was a good business idea. I couldn't wait to take them down so I could get back to my woman. My woman. I sighed. More than anything, I needed to get back so I could see her anytime I wanted. So I could hold her. Kiss her smiling mouth. Feel our baby move within her belly. A hard knock sounded. "What?"Penn stuck his head in the door. "Interpol is here. They've apparently been very busy. Get your ass out of bed and into the second ballroom." He pulled the door shut. Throwing off the covers, I launched out of bed. If they were close enough to starting, we might be able to get out of here pretty soon. Please, goddess, let them be close. I threw on some clothes, ran my fingers through my hair, and darted from the room. It was time to get this shitshow on the road. My footsteps resounded in the hallway as I mad
As the screens turned off, I tried to slink away before Momma could collar me into a conversation about wedding details at three-thirty in the morning. "Jessa, I see you trying to crawl away. I will allow it this time. But once you wake up, I own your time, figlia," she said with a smile. I lifted my hands as if I were praying. "Bless you, Momma. Bless you." I ran away before she could say anything else. Sliding back into my still warm bed, I snuggled down into the covers. Let my mind wander as I tried to push the caffeine aside so I could get some more sleep. Babies needed sleep. New and expectant mommas did, too. **I blinked as the sunlight jabbed at my eyeballs. Wincing, I raised a hand against the invading sun. Who the heck opened the curtains? What kind of monsters were in this house with me?Someone came through the bathroom door. I screamed like a banshee as I flung myself to the other side of the bed, dropped down to the floor between the bed and wall. Getti
The screen went black and I tipped my head back and let out a yell. Those fuckers. I didn't care who it was or why they did it. They threatened my woman. My baby. For much less I would have killed them. Now? Now I would draw out their deaths until the streets ran red. Security guards rushed the room, guns drawn. I'm not sure who dealt with them, but someone talked them down and back out. A hand slapped over my mouth. "Get your shit together," Foster said. I punched him in the belly. "Don't ever tell me what to do. They threatened Jessa. Our baby."Foster bent in half with a hard whoosh of air. "And they stole mine and gang raped her." With a hand on his belly, he straightened back up. "I win that one. Not only that, I'm stuck here trying to clean up an even bigger mess." He didn't throw any physical punches, but the verbal one struck quick and fast. "I'm so fucking pissed." I threaded my hands through my hair, gripped it hard. Threatening to pull it out of my scalp, I tri