Luciana
I heard two gunshots, then talking.
He’d told me to stay, but if they were talking, surely that meant one of the other guys had shown up, right? The good ones? I frowned. They all shot at each other, but I was beginning to side with Chase. He never attacked them; he was always attacked first. That had to be a vote in his favor, right?
I opened the door and made my way down the hall and paused at the stairway. Chase was just lowering his gun as the tall guy started clapping.
“Andrei,” Chase sounded bored. “Tell me they weren’t yours. They were loud as shit.”
Andrei shrugged. “They were De Lange associates. I brought you a snack. You should say thank you.”
Chase grunted his response, while Vic, who stood behind him snarled and then left the room like he didn’t have time to talk, only shoot.
Andrei had leather gloves, a long wool coat, and handsome features if I could look past the anger that seemed to wrap around him just like his coat. Was everyone angry who did what Chase did?
I gulped and waited.
“What did you need, Andrei?”
“I need nothing. My assets have been unfrozen. I’m living the high life.” He put his hands in his pockets. “No, I’m here for you.”
“To kill me?”
“We both know the Italians are too useful to kill.”
Italians?
They did drink a lot of wine.
Organized crime.
The payouts.
Two billion dollars.
My mind worked.
Murderers.
Police calling him sir.
Dread washed over me as I waited.
“True,” Chase smirked. “And the Russians, well, there’s only one of you left… How sad. Daddy doing okay in prison?”
Andrei didn’t even flinch. “I hated my father as much as you did. You know that.”
Chase seemed to soften a bit. “Yeah well, none of us really liked our fathers. They didn’t do things right.”
“No,” Andrei spat, “they didn’t.”
“I should hate you,” Chase said.
“And yet you don’t…” Andrei flicked off something from his jacket as if he was inspecting it for lint. “I am sorry she died, but you know I did what I had to do. I did what you would have done — what any one of you would have done. I think that’s the problem. You know this business. I know this business. If she was willing to betray you—”
“Stop.” Chase clenched his teeth.
“Then…” Andrei shrugged. “…how long before she would betray me?”
She?
“Again, why are you here?” Chase crossed his arms. I could tell he was annoyed.
“Locations.” Andrei held out a piece of paper to Chase. “There are fifty-seven individuals left, not including any of the wives or children.”
Chase took the paper and examined it. “And what am I supposed to do with this?”
Andrei winked. “Follow your heart?”
“She took it with her,” Chase fired back.
Pain sliced through my chest. Ridiculous. No wonder he couldn’t even look at me, didn’t even flinch when I was naked. The man belonged to someone else, a dead someone else.
Andrei let out an impatient sigh. “Then you’re the dumb bastard who let her.”
Chase moved, his hand toying with his gun. “Watch it. Still my house, my property. I could end you, and the FBI wouldn’t even blink.”
“That,” Andrei chuckled, “is where you’re wrong.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
He didn’t answer just turned on his heel and then called back, “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you didn’t have to do it.”
Chase was silent.
“Shooting one’s wife would not be a nice memory. Better that Phoenix did the hard thing than either of us. Better he end his line…”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands, garnering the attention of both Andrei and Chase.
If he wasn’t going to shoot me before, he most likely would now. He’d told me to stay. Why hadn’t I stayed?
Andrei’s eyebrows shot up. “Moving on so soon?”
“Employee,” Chase said through clenched teeth. “Who apparently doesn’t listen to instructions well.”
I trembled.
Andrei smiled at me. “Pretty, though.”
It felt like an insult.
His eyes raked over me. “Innocent.”
Chase looked ready to murder him.
With a tilt of his head, Andrei looked from me to Chase. “How much?”
“Excuse me?” I stupidly interrupted.
Andrei put up his gloved hand as if he wanted me to stop talking.
“She’s not for sale,” Chase bit out.
“Five hundred thousand.” Andrei examined me again. His blue eyes seemed to look through my thin pajamas. “On second thought… two million. I’m going to wager she’s a virgin.”
“I’m not.” Of course now I would speak.
It seemed to only encourage him more. “I like her spirit.”
“She’s not a horse,” Chase spat. “Stop insulting me, and her, and leave. We’re done here.”
Andrei shrugged. “Your loss.” He walked out the door and shut it quietly behind him.
My knees knocked together as Chase, very slowly, took the stairs one at a time, then faced me at the top of the landing, his breathing even, his eyes crazed.
“I’m s-sorry. I thought it was over and then—”
“When I tell you to stay—” He gripped my chin in his right hand. “—you fucking stay.”
I nodded jerkily.
He released me and turned then slammed me against the wall and kissed me so hard I couldn’t breathe. The gun was by my right ear pressed against the wall, just like me, and this man, this beautiful, scary man, wasn’t shooting me.
He was kissing me.
So I kissed him back.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on.
I told myself it was adrenaline.
I told myself that it was his face, his body. It was convenience.
It wasn’t any of those things.
It was just him.
I couldn’t explain it.
His teeth nipped at my lower lip, and he lifted me with one arm. The gun clamored to the floor as he moved against me, his mouth assaulting mine in a way that had me clinging to his shirt, and then his biceps, as he swept his tongue past my parted lips and into my mouth as if he belonged there. I squeezed my eyes shut as he twisted my hair in his right hand and deepened the kiss. The heat from his body pulsed between us, and I let out a moan. He drove his body against me harder, leaving no space between us. I moved my hands to his hair, tugging at it in an effort to get closer. I’d never been so consumed by a kiss, by another person, and the way his rock-hard body pressed against my softness, my thighs clenched when he lowered his hand to my ass.
My breath caught when he pulled away, dragged a kiss down past my jaw, and bit the sensitive skin where my neck met my shoulder. I cried out just as the door slammed downstairs.
“Chase? It’s Dante. Got your 911 text— Oh shit, more bodies… Should we open up our own morgue? Might be lucrative if you keep this up.” He rounded the corner just as Chase released me. I almost fell to the ground, but my jelly legs caught me.
Dante looked between us and then quickly turned around and walked off, a smile on his lips.
“You—” Chase heaved, stabbing a finger against my chest, and then caressing that same finger across the bite mark he’d made on my neck. “—belong to no one.”
Not what I expected.
My stomach sank to my knees.
“I’d kill you before I’d let him have you.”
He cursed and kicked the wall, making me jump a foot, then stomped down the stairs.
Tears filled my eyes as I numbly walked back down the hall and shut the door to my room, my lips trembling the entire time.
What had just happened?