My heart pounded against my ribcage as I stared at the closed door of my prison cell. I had less than an hour to come up with a magical idea of how to get out of this situation. Signing any kind of confession while being threatened was an act of extortion. Did Ricardson seriously think I would repeat those lies later in the courtroom? There had to be a solution that didn't include me surviving gruesome torture. I had to focus…My eyes instantly drifted to the small window with bars right by the ceiling. My cell was on the basement level, so I assumed the window should be right above the ground. It was small, but I should be able to slip through if I managed to open it. The bars securing it looked a little rusty. What was the chance they could be removed? Unfortunately, I would have to climb to the damn window just to check my theory.Drawing a deep breath, I scanned the wall below the window and noticed a few dips and bumps. An idea appeared in an instant. Perhaps I could use the uneve
KILLIANNormally, I wouldn't have willingly dragged my ass to a place that could easily become a raging battlefield. I would have left it all for Gunner and his team to solve, but this was different. This was too personal to be left for someone else to handle.“Are you sure you're coming with us?” Gunner had asked while gathering his team. “I mean, I know you can shoot and fight as well as any of my men, but...”“They took her from me. I will watch them pay for it,” I'd told him then, and from that moment on, the determination to make it happen kept growing.The red dot pointed at an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere—a perfect place for doing despicable things without being seen or heard. Knowing that Josie had been taken there was enough for my guts to twist. My fears and rage formed a feral mixture, and I already felt sorry for the asshole who would do something to push me off the edge.I wanted blood. Never in my entire life had I felt such a need for violence. Looking at
JOSIEFrom that night on, Killian turned from acting like a caring boyfriend to an overprotective parent. He asked me how I felt at least a hundred times a day and forbade me from going to work. Thankfully, there was nearly nothing left for me to do before the app's official launch, and I could fix the few remaining issues remotely while sitting in Killian's bedroom. And yes, I said KILLIAN's bedroom.He wanted me close until I fully recovered. Certainly, repeating over and over again that I was fine had zero effect on him. I cursed him and called him overbearing, but a part of me enjoyed his unreasonable protectiveness. Something had changed between us. I had seen it in his eyes that night. I'd seen all the fears tensing his muscles and the soothing relief when he'd realized I hadn't been seriously harmed.Later, he kept repeating that he should have done more to protect me. I had told him again and again that none of that had been his fault, but even after a few days, I still saw a f
KILLIANHappy App's popularity exceeded my expectations tenfold. It had over one million downloads on the day of the official launch, and that number kept growing. Mia Sunshine's followers helped a lot in that department. Even though the night Josie had done that livestream with Mia was certainly the night I would gladly erase from my memory, nothing could change the fact that this was the factor that made the news about the Happy App go viral.Two days after the official launch, our Sales Department received hundreds of phone calls from companies more than willing to join the Happy Club and place special offers for the Happy App's users. Everyone seemed ecstatic about it—well, everyone except for Michael Kearn. From what I heard, he had tried to cause trouble before, but Josie had somehow managed to put him back in his place. Now he was infuriated enough to demand an immediate meeting with me. I happily obliged.“Director Kearn,” I greeted him, smiling. “What brings you to my office
JOSIEA dumb smile stretched my lips, and I couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard I tried. People actually fell in love with our Happy App. I had never dared hope for such a reaction, but now this was our reality. Certainly, that gave us an insane amount of work, but no one complained. Especially not when we all received a special bonus for our work, courtesy of the CEO...“Wow…” Ashley blew out a slow breath as she opened her bank app to check her account. “I've never seen that many zeros here. I'm not sure I know how to pronounce it right.”“I can help you with that,” Mancy offered. “It's pronounced ‘fabulous shopping and a vacation on an exotic island’.”“Mine is called ‘house renovation’,” Kei interjected. “My apartment is almost falling apart, but with this money... Damn. I will finally have a place where I can invite girls with no shame.”“How about you, Martin?” Mancy grinned, walking over to his desk.Martin's cheeks blushed. “I will buy my wife a wedding ring she deserves
The door slowly opened, revealing another, larger, and more luxurious hall. I stepped on the black, glittering marble floor and slowly looked around at the walls ornamented with silver and golden patterns and crystal chandeliers. Then my eyes drifted to the black and white leather sofas where the VIP guests of the restaurant were, mainly drinking, smoking cigars, and discussing all kinds of things I surely didn't want to know about.“Mr. Aslanov sits in the right corner of the room,” said the concierge, who suddenly materialized next to me. He pointed at the two sofas on the right and the gray-haired man in the black suit. The man looked like he could be in his late sixties, but the dark aura around him screamed not to underestimate him.I swallowed and slowly walked across the hall toward him. My heart hammered, threatening to burst through my ribcage, but I refused to show fear. I raised my chin and focused on my steps. My heels clanged each time I hit the marble with every step I t
Kaiden tightened his grip on my hand as he all but dragged me out of Chernaya Roza.“Kaiden, wait!” I could barely keep up with his pace, stumbling a few times in my high heels.“Not now,” he grunted, pulling me to the main hall.I saw Tony waiting for us by the exit. He didn't seem surprised when he saw Kaiden; what I noticed in his expression was more like relief. Kaiden pulled me toward the door, and Tony followed. None of us said a word until we were in the parking lot, a block away.Kaiden finally slowed down his pace and freed me of his grip. I looked at Tony's pale face and clenched jaw, and then at Kaiden, who paced back and forth in front of a black Porsche, most likely his.I drew a deep breath. “Kaiden, I'm grateful for what you've done back there, but... can you explain to me what actually happened? Why were you even there?”Kaiden stopped pacing and breathed out a laugh, one that lacked any humor. “You have no idea how fortunate you were tonight.”I glanced at Tony, but h
KILLIANNo decent words could describe what I felt after I learned about what had happened to Josie. I was supposed to spend the night in D.C. and return after the morning conference, but I canceled my plans and rushed back to New York.I was fucking furious. Murderous urges merrily danced in my head, filling it with all sorts of ideas. I had begun to debate whether I should call Gunner and end all those fuckers at Chernaya Roza. Yes, I was ready to start an open war with the Russian Mafia. One of them dared threaten my woman. Killing that fucker seemed like an appropriate response.Rage still hummed in my veins as I walked into my penthouse around three AM, but the need to see Josie unharmed turned out to be stronger than bloodthirst. I dropped my briefcase and documents in the salon and ran upstairs to my bedroom. The sight of her sleeping in my bed instantly silenced my inner storm.The relief drew air out of my lungs. I sat on the bed and brushed a few blond strands off her face. S