“Stop, Marek!”I rushed over to him, pushing the weights off him before he decided to crush himself. He looked up, surprised. As he sat up from the bench, I wrapped my arms around him. Marek could still breathe as I held his to my chest since my breasts were so small but still. I held him tight encompassing him as completely as I could.It had been three days since his outburst. It didn’t get better. I was getting better but his mood continued to darken. He would be close but it felt like he was still too far to reach. Worse, Marek wouldn’t talk to me. As much as I asked what was wrong, he refused to even look at me. Going so far as to slam doors in my face.Lec, who had been keeping an extra eye on him as well, texted me this morning that Marek was going too far. He was trying to force himself and break himself in the gym today. Pushing nearly double his personal record, Lec finally tried to stop him. He called me down when Marek pulled
I found myself back at Goddess Divine. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d stumbled my way, nearly dead, to this one spot. The only sure spot I knew the Russians had taken over this close to the neutral border. Marek wasn’t happy as he led me in, especially since it was two in the morning but he got a call we couldn’t ignore.The bouncer let us through without a word from Marek and we stepped into the loud and dark club. I slowed, falling behind as I looked into the main area of the club. It was dark but there was nothing seedy about it. It lived up to the name Goddess Divine. It had a more ethereal feel, with how the dark drapes were coming down from the ceiling and how the room seemed to flow like water. Maybe it wasn’t a goddess of light but one of darkness, still divine, still beautiful but nothing heavenly.Aleksei used to describe the club to me and the fact that it was his favorite. He promised he would sneak me out one night and we would go dancing. A promise that would never
I was covered in blood as I loomed over my victim. If you looked from his neck up, you’d think he just got back from the most wonderful session of sexual intercourse a man could ever have. But below the next was a different story. Currently, I was flipping the last knife I had left in my hand. All the rest were snuggly using the mercenary as a pincushion.“I have one more question for you, little prick. You’ve done so well. A few…snags here and there, but over all, you’ve been one of my most pliable victims.”He was breathing heavily as he could barely focus on my face. Leaning in, I brushed some of his hair that was sticking to the sweat on his forehead. Taking a deep breath, I smiled.“Who hired you?”His head started to shake and I started to shake mine with it. “You don’t want to start this again…do you? It’s the last question, little prick. The very last one. I keep my promises
Marek walked with me in his arm up the stairs and opened the door. The that guys were standing in the hallway all jumped to attention. They looked from him to me and started to move away.“Keenan.”Keenan stepped forward, looking worried as he eyed the two of us. “Yes sir.”“Bring the car around back.”Nodding, Keenan disappeared from our sight and Marek nodded to room. “Dispose of the body. Clean up in there as well.”“Yes sir!”All the guys moved around Marek as he walked down the hall, the opposite of where we came. Turning around, he opened the back door with a push and stepped out into the night. Looking up, I tried to see if there was any light in the sky but we were still surrounded by tall buildings.“What time is it?”“Four. It will start getting light soon.”Nodding, I rested my head on his shoulder. “I’m tired.”“We can go home and sleep.”I wrinkled my nose. “I need a shower. You do too after carrying me.”“Well, I guess we will just have to save water and take one together
Marek took two weeks to nail down what exactly we wanted to do. He also didn’t want to tip off anyone, so the meeting with Santiago was set to be the week after. The fake meeting was put into his calendar. We were supposed to meet Kamilia and Damir across the city for lunch. That was the cover. It made sense to use the tunnel with the place we were going.Juri wasn’t happy about the plan. He wanted to bolster up. Have us take a caravan of bratva soldiers. Take them out with the combined power. They attacked the Baranov Bratva and they should feel the full force of it. An entire week was dedicated to Marek trying to talk Juri into our plan.Plus, as much as they attacked the bratva, it really wasn’t about them. Not really. So, begrudgingly, Juri only provided us with one of the most tricked out SUV I’d ever seen. That included the vehicles my father drove around. His paranoia meant that safety while driving was his highest priority. Juri beat him by a mile.Mostly because it wasn’t just
I crouched behind the front passenger door. They definitely weren’t expecting us to have the firepower we were showing. AK’s weren’t really my forte but I did get a few good shots in before I needed to reload. As I was slamming the cartridge in place, Marek let off his first shot.The sound rocked my brain, my head rattling and my ears ringing. It echoed so loudly in the tunnel that I wondered if we displaced some of the concrete. Hearing him reload, I counted the seconds until he managed to get another shot out. I would have that much time between his shots of coverage but I had no doubt that whatever he was aiming at would be obliterated.Marek was right. While they were continuing to shoot as I fired, the moment Marek took his first shot, heads ducked. The second one ensured that they didn’t pop up again as he waited for his next target to pop up like a mole.When I couldn’t see an
“Enzo.” His name felt like poison in my mouth.I took stock of what was going on. We were outnumbered completely. These were his segugi and from the looks of it, it was almost all of them. Keenan and Lec were on their knees, two guns trained on both of them. They had hoods over their heads. Slowly, my eyes caught Marek’s. He was on his knees near Enzo. At least four guns on him but they left his head free.“Put the gun down, sorellina. Unless you want me to kill one of your friends.”My gun didn’t move. “Bullshit, Enzo. You don’t care.”Enzo threw his head back and laughed. “You’re right. I don’t.”He waved his hand and one of his guys shot Marek from behind. A scream bubbled up but I clenched my teeth. Dropping my gun, I put up hands keeping my eyes on Marek as he breathed through the shot. Enzo continued to laugh, shaking his head.“And here I thought you had no weaknesses. It seems the Baranov family has made you weak.”I swallowed, pure and vibrant frustration flowing through me.
My eyes widened, as much as they could. “N-no. D-don’t c-come…down…Enzo…”Two heads popped around the corner of the wall. Cecilia and Gia saw me and gasped. I shook my head as they opened up the cell I was in.“You…two…need to go. Now.”“Bianca is keeping watch. Enzo and Dad are gone. You can get out.”Cecilia pulled out a bolt cutter from under her pink daisy dress. I opened my mouth but the two of them shushed me. Going around, it took both of them to cut the chains that were holding me to the chair. Taking the cutters from them, I cut the chains at my ankles.“Who put you up to this?” My throat was raw and ever word took time to get out.“Wizard. He messaged us. Said he’d reward us if we got you out.”I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Next time, say no. It’s too dangerous. If you got caught, you’d be killed.”Gia shook her head. “I’m already engaged to Sir Kirkland and Cecilia is engaged to Mr. Lorenzo. We are already spoken for. Cecilia even managed to get Mr. Lorenzo to agree