Parwiz Mousa was a slim man with yellowing, nicotine-stained teeth. He was dressed in a suit but nothing could take away from the look in his eyes, the cold, dead look of a killer.He walked steadily, making his way out of the auditorium amidst the commotion that erupted when Delano’s boy smashed the jaw and the nose of Basheer the Basher.The killer had no interest in the fight; he had been asked to take out the Mafia Don’s wife and kidnap the older daughter. But neither task looked possible now; not after he had spotted the Israeli woman he had raped all those years ago. Hila Zaidi had been an agent of the Mossad then; when she had been captured because of a plan involving a leak in the agency, he and his men had meant to kill her after torturing her for a few days.Unfortunately, she had escaped when a few of her companions returned to rescue her. The woman who had put up a spirited fight throughout her captivity. When she was free, she had single-mindedly chased and succeeded in k
Mousa came to a halt when he saw the wall ahead of him. Cursing robustly, he spun around and came to an abrupt halt.Hila Zaidi stood at the end of the dimly lit corridor, the backlight framing her still figure. The sounds around them had dulled, for they were in the North Wing, an area housing just the offices of Lucien and his close associates. But Mousa had not known that. He had fled from Hila, knowing that she was tailing him relentlessly.For a long moment, neither of them said a word. Then she began to move forward, slowly, taking her time, like an animal stalking her prey.She had all the time in the world. Her face was blank, impassive. Not the expression of a person who had finally sighted the man who had tortured and raped her brutally, the most savage and cruel of all the so-called fighters.Mousa drew himself up to his full height, his lips drawn back in a sneer as he spoke,“Hila Zaidi. Well, well, well, so you are here, eh?’She was unarmed, he thought, doing a quick ca
HilaShe had been prepared for him, but her focus had wavered for a split second when the man in front of her mentioned Piers. Now, she let out a low hissing sound as she agilely sidestepped the charging terrorist and he skidded to a halt, arms flailing.She smiled now, the cold, confident smile of a killer and he felt his gut clench as he saw her expression. Turning his face red with fury, the man made another dive at her but that was when Hila attacked him.*During the days when she had been injured and barely conscious, with a ruptured uterus and broken jaw among other bruises and broken limbs, Hila had been swimming in and out of bouts of consciousness, heavily sedated and barely conscious.While she had been advised therapy, she had resolved to take matters into her own hands. The pain had motivated her, even when the doctors whispered softly amongst themselves, appalled at the terrible injuries inflicted on her slight body.Dr. Jerome, the lead doctor there, a big man with a sn
Lucien received the news from Piers and his shoulders stiffened. He had been aware of the danger involved in such a major development; there were many who would kill to see that the Delano group did not have a merger with the Bratva, for now he would be even more powerful. His cold gray blue eyes fell on his wife, the Woman who meant everything to him. The last part of Piers’ message as his son spoke hoarsely, urgently, on the verge of panic, echoed in his mind again.‘Piers, Mumma. They are coming after Mumma!’And then again, the fear and terror in his son’s voice making him sound so much younger than what he was as the young man appealed,“We have got to get her out of here, Pappa!”Lucien looked at her. Proserpina looked ethereal, her full figure hidden in the deep grape-coloured gown, her breasts heaving as she breathed tensely, biting those full lips that he liked to bite and suck, he thought.Pregnancy became her, he thought.As though sensing his eyes upon her, she looked up,
Two years ago ‘Hey kid,’ said the voice from the other side of the hostel room, in the usual mocking tone that I had come to dread. I sighed as I turned to look at my roommate, Marianne Weston. A blonde with a figure like a model’s, tall and slim, who hated me for no reason that I could fathom. Except perhaps that I was so different from her—I came from a small town and was not wealthy, perhaps? As always, she was lounging on her bed, looking like a million dollars, a cigarette dangling from her perfectly manicured hand. * Right, let me introduce myself: I’m Proserpina Martinez, from a small town named Annabel’s Run, and I had to literally scrape through to earn my scholarship to get into one of the best universities in the neighbouring big city of Charlesville. My roommate’s parents were rich, and that would be an understatement. They fawned on their beautiful, spoilt daughter, lavishing her with presents that were ridiculously expensive, which she discarded as easily as used
The inside was a total surprise.The walls were draped with lengths of cloth, deep red and black and I felt a twinge of unease. From the distance, for we were in a dimly lit corridor, I could hear the sound of music, muted but definitely loud, and I trotted along the dimly lit corridor, behind the girl who had brought me here, although she was barely acknowledging me now. We passed a few men well dressed and sophisticated-looking, who glanced at me disdainfully, as though I was trash. I felt their eyes linger on my breasts and jogged forward quickly. Marianne was waiting impatiently at a door and she flung me a cool look as she entered, pushing past the bouncers who stood guard. Instantly, we were assailed by music, the smell of sweat and smoke, the fragrance of assorted perfumes and alcohol, and the sounds of…fists on flesh? I almost drew back in horror. But my companion, devious as she was, must have sensed my fear. She turned and gripped my wrist, her nails digging in as she hi
We entered a small cage like an elevator hidden by heavy red drapes that whisked us upstairs. All the while the man kept me imprisoned, his large hand trapping my arm painfully behind my back and I breathed shakily. I glanced fearfully at the man and his companions, with their blank faces, who were behaving as though it was normal for their boss to whisk a girl into an elevator and drag her to some unknown destination. Suddenly, we were upstairs and I blinked, completely disoriented by the change of scene. The entire corridor we had emerged into, was carpeted richly, in dull browns and maroon, the wood-panelled walls giving it a classy finish. Doors led off from the corridor but every wooden door was shut. The silence was also a sophisticated one, I thought hysterically as he dragged me along. It was entirely different from the raw, almost violent atmosphere of the large fighting club we had just left. The sights, the smells of that virile, primitive place were preferable to this co
Aunt Beth had always said that I was bad at telling lies. The man moved closer and I saw that his nose had been broken at some point in time and had healed but not too well. It gave him a frightening look, the thin, well-defined lips that were set in a firm line, those grey eyes that looked as though he could see into my soul. The scarred and pitted face. Ugly but commanding. His presence was unsettling; I wanted to keep my distance but like a moth, I felt drawn to him. Breathing shakily, I stepped back again and came up against the wall as he prowled closer, crowding me in. he was not very tall, but definitely bigger than me. But it was the breadth of his shoulders, the way he was built like a bull, that made me hold my breath. He smiled, a sinister, humourless twist of that beautiful mouth. And then he slammed his hands, palms first, on the wall beside my face and I jumped as I gasped, turning away, squeezing my eyes shut. His breath, whiskey-laden and hot, was on my face as he