Force
“What’s going on, Liam?”
He just smiled.
Brie immediately stood up, clutching Hope as she started toward the door, muttering, “I think I left the formula in the car…”
Liam moved to block her way. “There’s no reason to be frightened. Everything’s been arranged for your travel.”
Brie backed away from him. “What are you talking about?”
“We’ve come to unite you with your rightful Master.”
Brie felt her mouth suddenly go dry as fear gripped her heart. “I’m collared to Thane Davis. I have no other master.”
“I beg to differ,” Liam stated. “My employer paid a hefty price for you and has been patient. It’s time for that debt to be paid now.”
Brie shook her head. “Lilly had no right to make that deal. I will not go with you.”
Liam’s twin laughed. “Do you really think you have a say in this?”
Brie glanced down at Hope, who was staring up at her innocently. “You can’t have my child. She was never a part of Lilly’s deal.”
“Your child is the only reason our employer agreed to wait.”
“You cannot have her!” Brie screamed, edging slowly toward the door even though she knew she would never make it in time.
Hope began to cry in her arms.
Trying to reason with them, she warned, “Lea will be back any second.”
Liam glanced at his watch. “Actually, she won’t be coming back. Not anytime soon, at least.”
“Why? What did you do to her?” Brie cried.
Liam chuckled. “I’m simply going to meet her at the store and let her know that your husband had to call you back home. I’ll put the bottle of Sherry back on the grocery shelf and take her out for a fancy dinner instead. I know she will be disappointed that her best friend left so abruptly, so it’s the least I can do.”
Brie looked around the room, trying to formulate her plan of escape. But there were two of them, and the apartment was small. She watched helplessly as the twin picked up her purse from the coffee table and took out her phone. Turning it off, he stuffed it in his pocket and smiled at her while Liam explained, “I’ll take my fiancé out for the evening, while my brother transports the merchandise to our employer.”
“I’m not going anywhere with either of you!” Brie spat savagely.
“It’s not as if you have a choice,” his twin informed her. “By the time they discover you’re missing, you will be safely on your way.”
Brie glanced around the room wildly, looking for a weapon—anything to protect her while clutching Hope against her chest. “I would rather die than go with you.”
“There’s no reason for the dramatics,” Liam said. “You are being offered a life of luxury, being pampered and coddled. I’ve heard he spoils his property.”
Brie clutched the collar around her neck.
He looked at her possessive hold on Sir’s collar and laughed. “You have a new Master now. Nothing’s really changed except the location.”
It frightened Brie how calm they both seemed, as if they were discussing a simple trip instead of a kidnapping.
Brie tried to defuse the situation by engaging Liam. “You know how much I love my little girl. I’ll do anything to protect her. Hope wasn’t part of this, so leave her here. I’ll go quietly if I know she’s safe.”
He sucked air in through his teeth, making an irritating sound that grated on her nerves. “Actually, our employer does have plans for the child. There’s a substantial bonus if she’s delivered.” He looked over at his brother. “Naturally, we plan to collect on both.”
“But,” his twin warned, “I will not hesitate to dispose of the child, should you prove difficult.”
Liam looked at his watch nonchalantly and then nodded to his brother. The two came at her from both sides, cutting off her escape. Brie picked up a candy dish on a side table and hit Liam with a solid blow to the head before his twin grabbed her arm. Brie screamed bloody murder, hoping someone would hear and call the police.
His twin covered her mouth, hissing in her ear. “Shut the fuck up.”
Before she could react, Liam snatched Hope from her. Brie’s muffled cries of anguish filled the room.
“You’ll have to go in my stead,” Liam said, wiping the blood from his forehead.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” his twin howled. He angrily turned Brie around, binding her arms behind her back. Stuffing cloth into her mouth, he wrapped duct tape around her head to keep it in place. Pushing Brie to the floor, he tied her feet next before binding her so she was curled into a ball.
Liam set Hope, who was crying hysterically now, in the carrier. He pulled out a large suitcase and unzipped it. Both men lifted Brie up, as she squirmed desperately against her bindings. However, she could do nothing as they set her in the suitcase and zipped it back up.
Brie was in the dark, hearing Hope’s frantic cries as the two men talked, reformulating their plans. She heard one leave, slamming the door on his way out.
She lay there helpless, terrified for Hope, praying rescue would come but fearing it would not.
Liam had planned the kidnapping out perfectly. Sir would not be expecting her home until twelve, and Lea would be out for several hours. By the time her friend returned to the apartment, Brie and her baby would already be on a plane to the Middle East—never to be seen again.
Brie thought of Tatianna and understood what the future held for her…and for Hope. Tears of anger, frustration, and fear rolled down her cheeks as the air in the suitcase became hot and stale.
Liam lifted the suitcase upright and rolled it toward the door. Hope continued to cry, which worked to Liam’s advantage when he was stopped in the elevator.
“She sure doesn’t sound happy,” a woman commented beside them.
Brie screamed into the cloth, but it only sounded like muffled whimpering, and it could not compete with Hope’s screams.
Brie bounced along in the rolling suitcase as Liam walked to the car and, with much grunting and effort, he lifted it into the car. Brie heard him buckle Hope into the car seat beside her.
Liam told Hope, “Thanks for saving my bacon with that crying jag.”
He slammed the door, getting into the driver’s seat and revving the engine. Brie silently screamed to Sir, to Lea, to Rytsar, to Tono, praying that one of them would hear her cries of desperation.
It was frightening how easily these men had been able to snatch her away from everyone she loved. How long had Liam been planning this? His quick romance with Lea made complete sense now.
Liam had attached himself to Lea in order to assess the situation with Brie and the baby before extraction. No one knew his twin existed, giving the two of them time to execute the plan while cementing Liam’s alibi.
Her chance meeting with Liam’s twin at the grocery store could have been her salvation, but she hadn’t picked up on his confusion about the significance of the Winston cigarettes, and he’d been quick on his feet, giving her a reason to keep their encounter a secret.
Sir would never know what had happened to them.
She was Hope’s only chance.
Brie began concentrating on the ropes, but she began to panic when she couldn’t release herself from the bindings. Her rising panic only caused her to breathe faster, taking up the little oxygen left in the suitcase.
When she began to feel faint, Brie forced herself to slow down her breathing. She imagined Tono was with her, and began taking shallower breaths.
The only thing that mattered now was Hope. What happened to her was secondary, as long as Hope was spared this horror.
Brie felt the car slow down and heard Liam cuss. “What the fuck?”
After several tense moments, she heard the window being rolled down and Liam asked, “What seems to be the problem?”
“You need to step out of the car, now!”
“You have to be kidding me. You’re not even a fucking cop.”
“No, I am not.”
“Fuck this shit!” The car lurched forward before a shot rang out and it came to a halt. Liam screamed in pain and she heard the door open.
Someone must have pulled him forcefully out of the car, based on the cries and curses that followed.
“They’re right here.”
Brie heard both back doors open at once.
“Shh…moye solntse.”
Tears of relief filled Brie’s eyes at the sound of Rytsar’s voice.
Someone lifted the suitcase, and it was set down gently outside the car. Brie whimpered as the suitcase was unzipped and a flood of fresh air rushed in.
She looked up into Sir’s eyes and time stopped.
Safe…
The horror on Sir’s face was replaced with concern as he made quick work of the duct tape around her mouth. Brie gasped for breath, her body numb with relief.
“Are you all right?” Sir asked, his voice strangled with emotion.
Brie nodded, unable to speak.
Sir began cutting through the knots while Rytsar moved into view, holding Hope, who had stopped crying. Even though he held the babe gently in his arms, the look in Rytsar’s eyes was one of a rabid dog ready to rip someone’s throat out.
“How…did you know?” Brie finally gasped as Sir helped her to her feet and held her against him.
“Miss Wilson alerted Rytsar to her suspicions weeks ago.”
“Mary?” Brie asked, turning her head toward Rytsar.
“She did not trust Lea’s new man and voiced her concerns to me. Said she didn’t trust him because he was too gregarious, and she didn’t like how he had attached himself so quickly. Thane and I could find nothing on the man, but we decided to play it safe and put a tracer on his vehicle.”
“But how could you know what happened tonight?”
“I added a hidden tracer app on all your friends’ phones,” Rytsar told her. “I wasn’t willing to take any chances.”
Brie stared at him in shock.
“It was deemed necessary by both of us, Brie,” Sir explained. “Your safety was our only concern.”
“But…” Brie was still struggling to wrap her head around it. “How did you know what was happening in Lea’s apartment tonight??”
“We’d been keeping tabs on you both tonight with your phones and saw that Liam was at the apartment. We grew suspicious, so Rytsar called one of his men to check on you.”
The man kneeing Liam in the back to keep him immobilized, nodded his head at Brie. “Ma’am.”
“He confirmed when Lea left, but we knew your phone was still in the apartment and assumed you were too. Then he reported seeing Liam leave the apartment without you. When he saw Liam leave a second time with a suitcase and the baby a short time later, we were only minutes behind.”
Brie shivered.
“I realized there was a twin involved and immediately called the police to inform them.”
“What about Lea?” Brie whimpered, realizing she was still with the other twin.
“The police have already located her and arrested the man. She’s fine, Brie,” Sir assured her.
Brie began shaking, the reality of what had just happened filtering through her brain and causing a delayed sense of panic.
Sir held her tight. “You are safe, Brie.”
She held out a shaking hand to touch Hope. “She’s safe.”
“No one will ever hurt her,” Rytsar stated emphatically.
Brie looked at him, her bottom lip trembling. “Thank you.”
Rytsar’s jaw was clenched as he stared at her with tears in his eyes. “I was not too late.”
“No, you saved both of us.”
He nodded his head, sighing deeply.
Brie knew Rytsar was thinking of Tatianna. He had that haunted look in his eyes as he relived her kidnapping, the near rescue, and her eventual death.
Reaching out, Brie touched him. “We are safe because of you.”
Rytsar swallowed hard, nodding again, but said nothing.
Brie leaned her head back against Sir’s chest. “I was terrified I would disappear and never see you again.”
His voice was gruff with the anguish he felt. “I could not have borne it.”
“I know,” she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.
Sir pressed her so tightly against himself that she could barely breathe. Even so, she welcomed the feeling as she listened to the sound of his heartbeat and the far-off sirens echoing in the distance.
Liam started cursing viciously on the ground.
Sir let go of Brie and walked over to him. “Stand him up,” he commanded.
Rytsar’s man lifted his knee from Liam’s back and pulled him up to face Sir.
Sir cocked his fist back and let it fly, connecting with his jaw. In the blink of an eye, Liam was back on the ground, writhing in pain.
Sir shook his hand out and looked over at Rytsar. “That felt good.”
Rytsar walked over to Sir and carefully handed the baby over to him. “Let me try.”
Liam cried out when the men forced him back onto his feet. “Don’t. For God’s sake, have mercy…!” he begged.
Rytsar smirked, nodding his head. “Da, I will show the mercy you showed radost moya.”
“I was just doing a job. It wasn’t personal…oh God, no!” Liam screamed as Rytsar narrowed his eyes and cocked his fist back.
“Don’t kill him,” Brie cried out, remembering what had happened in Russia.
Rytsar hesitated for a moment before letting his fist fly through the air.
Liam shrieked even before Rytsar made impact. Again, he fell to the ground but, this time, he didn’t move or make a sound.
Brie looked at Rytsar in horror. “Please say you didn’t…” She turned her head toward the sound of the approaching sirens. “They’ll put you away, Rytsar. We’ll never see you again.”
Rytsar walked over to Brie and lifted her chin so her worried gaze met his. “I am a responsible dyadya now.”
Liam started moaning on the ground and Brie let out a sigh of relief.
“There was no reason to worry,” Rytsar assured her.
He wrapped his arm around Brie and held out the other to Sir. “Come, brother.”
Sir joined them with Hope cradled against him. Rytsar hugged them both, the baby in the center. “We are an unbreakable force.”
“Yes…” Brie whispered.
The police and emergencies vehicles rolled in with sirens blaring, their lights flashing everywhere around them, but Brie’s focus was solely on her baby and the two men before her.
Rescue had come.
Hope was safe.