CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“I found a way to get your money,” Jade announced breathlessly, as she entered the loft style apartment above the nightclub, her darting eyes coming to rest on the sight of Kira and Jeremy, tied and bound to chairs situated in the middle of the sparsely decorated room with a pair of twin gags stuffed into their mouths. “What are they doing up here?”

“Never mind about them,” Gabriel replied, taking on Jeremy’s distinctively haughty tone. “Tell me about my money. When can you get it to me?”

“Soon,” Jade replied, her eyes continuing their frantic scouring of the room, this time landing on the image of The Dragon’s Breath laying on a nearby folding table like a discarded butter knife with it’s scabbard next to it. She suppressed the urge to smile.

“Good girl,” Gabriel cooed as he patted her cheek with his hand. “I knew that you’d come through for me.”

“I always do,” Jade replied tightly as she began edging closer to the table.

“Which is why I have no doubt that you will do this one last little thing for me,” Gabriel announced as he grabbed her by the arm, stopping her from reaching the table.

Jade eyed him warily. “What last little thing?”

“Kira and my brother have become liabilities. They both know too much.” Gabriel reached into his jacket with a handkerchief and pulled out a small, silver-plated handgun. Taking Jade by the hand, he placed it into her open palm. “It’s time to dispose of them.”

“You want me to kill them?” she asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“No. Just Kira. I'll take care of my brother,” Gabriel replied smoothly, running a finger gently down the side of her face.”

“I..I.. don’t understand,” Jade stammered as she studied Gabriel’s eyes closely as if trying to decode the method to his madness. “Why not kill them both yourself or better yet have Cheng or one of your other triad goons do it.”

“Because I want you to be the one to kill Kira,” Gabriel explained patiently.

“But why? Surely, you're not squeamish about killing a woman.”

Gabriel laughed softly as he grabbed a handful of Jade's hair into one fist and gave it a sharp tug. “You know me better than that, darling. That’s why you were so prompt with finding a way to get my money.”

Jade licked her lips nervously as Gabriel's mouth hovered a mere breath away from her own. “Then why do you need me to kill Kira.”

“As a sign of unity between us,” Gabriel explained as he released his grip on her hair and began to slowly wrap her fingers around the gun. “We are supposed to be partners in this but it suddenly occurred to me that my hands are a lot dirtier than yours. Or should I say bloodier. By killing Kira, you will prove to me that you are in this one hundred percent, thereby preventing anymore unpleasant understandings like the one that occurred between us the last time I saw you.”

Jade gulped at the memory of The Dragon’s Breath being pressed to her throat as her eyes once again flitted towards the dagger. Grabbing her by the shoulders, Gabriel turned her body towards Kira.

“I need you to do this for me, baby,” Gabriel whispered in her ear, making the request sound strangely sexual as his hands slid sensuously down the length of her arm and cupped her hands, coaxing her to point the gun at Kira. “I need you to do it for us. All you have to do is pull the trigger.”

Removing his hand from Jade's, Gabriel stepped back and waited.

Tears streamed out of Kira’s eyes as they flicked back and forth between Gabriel and Jeremy, begging Jade to finally realize that she was dealing with Gabriel, not Jeremy. Begging her to realize that she was being set up.

And most of all begging her not to pull the trigger.

Kira’s heart sank like a rock when she saw Jade’s hands suddenly tighten around the gun, her finger slide over the trigger and her eyes harden with cold determination.

Oh, my God! She’s going to do it! She’s going to kill me! Kira’s inner voice screamed in warning, causing her to shut her eyes tightly as she braced for the bullet, the only image in her mind being that of Ethan’s face.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The sound of shock in Gabriel’s voice caused Kira’s eyes to snap open and then widen at what they saw.

“I’m bringing an end to our little partnership,” Jade replied as she pointed the gun at Gabriel.

“It’s a little late in the game for that,” he replied, watching her with a reptilian-like coldness. “You’re in way too deep.”

“I’ve found a way out,” Jade replied as she inched her way to the nearby table. Using one hand to keep the gun trained on Gabriel, she used the other to grab The Dragon’s Breath. “And this is my ticket.”

After sticking the dagger into her oversized purse she then scooped up the scabbard and tossed it in as well. She then wrapped both of her hands around the gun. “Get over there,” she commanded, gesturing with the gun for Gabriel to move closer to Kira and Jeremy, thereby clearing her path to the door.

“You are one stupid bitch,” Gabriel spat angrily as he watched her back out the door.

Jade laughed. “I may be a stupid bitch but in a few hours, I’m going to be a stupid bitch lounging on a tropical beach somewhere with a cool twenty million dollars in my bank account.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Cheng said as he suddenly appeared in the open doorway behind Jade along with a trio of other triad members. With the ease of a man taking candy from a baby, he disarmed her before she even had a chance to react.

In the very next instant, a tinkle of broken glass could be heard in the room followed immediately by a loud bang and a blinding flash of light as a flash grenade came hurtling through one of the windows of the loft.

Through the billowing smoke emanating from the grenade, the deafening sound of exploding glass could be heard as four pairs of metal enforced shoes suddenly came crashing through the four large windows that surrounded the loft, swinging from ropes anchored to the top of the building.

Kira didn’t need to see the faces behind the dark masks the men wore to know that Ethan, Donovan, Dylan and Kyle had arrived.

Survival instinct had Kira using her feet to tip her chair over to the side. Jeremy followed suit mere seconds before bullets started flying across the loft, shredding the walls, meager furnishings and anything else in their path as Cheng and his men opened fire on the invaders who matched them bullet for bullet.

During the ensuing chaos, Kira realized that the wooden spokes that comprised the back of the rickety chair she had been tied to had fallen apart as a result of her fall to the floor, freeing her from the chair. With her hands still tied behind her back, she rolled behind the dubious cover provided by a leather love seat situated not too far away. Looking to her right, she saw that Jade had done the same. Rubbing the side of her face against the edge of one of the sofa cushions, Kira managed to roll the gag out of her mouth. Then, closing her eyes, she eyes waited for the shooting to stop, reminding herself that Ethan and the guys had the element of surprise on their side but still sending up about a million prayers nonetheless.

After what seemed like an eternity the sound of gunfire stopped and was replaced by the sound of a calm, masculine voice. “All clear.”

Opening her eyes, Kira let out a sob of relief at the sound of Ethan’s voice. Through the clearing smoke, she saw the dead bodies of Gabriel, Cheng and the other triad members littered throughout the room, while the four masked men appeared to be unscathed.

“Kira!” Ethan yelled as he ripped his mask off.

“I’m hear!” Kira half laughed, half sobbed as she rose to her feet and prepared to sprint across the room and fling herself into his arms.

“Not so fast,” Jade said as she grabbed Kira by the arm, preventing her from running to Ethan. Having grabbed a gun from Cheng's dead body, she pointed it at Kira.

“What are you doing?” Kira asked, her mind struggling to make sense of what was happening as it shifted from terror to relief and then back to terror again in the course of just a few seconds.

“I’m getting the hell out of here,” Jade said, as she wrapped an arm around Kira’s neck and began tugging her towards the door, keeping the barrel of the gun pressed firmly to Kira’s head. “And you’re my guarantee that I won't be detained by your boyfriend and his fellow ninjas in the process.”

“That’s not necessary, Jade,” Ethan said, keeping his voice as calm as possible as he raised his gun above his head, signaling that he meant her no harm. “We won’t stop you. All we want is Kira.”

“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe you,” Jade said as she maneuvered herself and Kira towards the open door. “I’m a little low in the trust department right now and I have no desire to spend the rest of my life in prison for the mess that Jeremy created.”

“I promise you that won't happen,” Ethan said.

“I promise you that won't happen either. Not with good, old reliable Kira as my shield.”

“You want me to take her out,” Donovan asked as he aimed his Kimber 911 in the direction of Jade’s head.

“No,” Ethan said, immediately deeming the move to be an unnecessary risk given that the tracking device that he had planted on Jade's clothing back at her apartment, the one that had led them to the loft to begin with, would keep her from getting too far away with Kira. “Put your gun down. All of you.”

At Ethan’s command, Donovan, Dylan and Kyle all placed their weapons on the floor.

Jade smiled. “Smart move. I knew there was a reason I liked you so much. Now, I’m afraid that Kira and I must be going.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Kira said flatly and she meant it. She had already experienced being kidnapped at gunpoint by Gabriel and didn’t much care for it. There was no way that she was going to repeat the experience with Jade.

“You don’t have any say in the matter,” Jade replied.

“This is your last warning Jade. Let me go,” Kira entreated, glancing down into Jade’s purse as it hung limply at her side, bouncing lightly against her thigh. Inside, she could just make out the handle of The Dragon’s Breath.

“Shut up!” Jade demanded as she backed herself and Kira out the door.

Ethan held his breath as he watched Kira stealthily slip her hands, which were still tied behind her back, inside Jade’s purse, keeping his face impassive.

“What about the money?” Ethan asked, desperate to keep Jade’s attention focused on him and away from what Kira was doing. “You’re not going to get very far without it.”

His words caused Jade to pause just long enough for Kira to make her move. Her movements had been so swift and smooth that Ethan didn’t even see The Dragon’s Breath come out of Jade's purse.

He also didn’t see its blade sink into Jade's belly.

All he saw was Jade’s eyes suddenly widen with shock before fluttering shut as a bemused smile flickered across her lips right before she collapsed into a heap at Kira’s feet, still gripping the gun tightly in her hand.

Without looking down at the dead woman sprawled at her feet, Kira raced across the room towards Ethan. With her still bound hands preventing her from throwing her arms around him and holding on for dear life, she launched herself into Ethan’s arms, confident that he would catch her.

“It’s okay, baby,” he whispered gently in her ear, pressing her tightly to him as she buried her face into the curve of his neck and sobbed. “I’ve got you and I’m never going to let you go again.”

***

Kira moaned with pleasure as she sank deeper into the comfort of the hot bath that Ethan had drawn for her in her bathroom. Fluffy, fragrant bubbles tickled her skin as she felt the tension in her body melt away in response to both the heat of the water and the expertise of Ethan’s fingers as they lovingly massaged the muscles of her neck.

“Are you feeling any better?” he asked, as he scooped up a handful of hot water and sent it cascading gently over her back and shoulders.

Kira murmured contentedly in response.

From his seat on the edge of the tub, Ethan smiled down at her through the candle-lit darkness as he stroked a hand down her arm, ending at her wrist. Through the water and bubbles he could just make out the red mark where the rope had been tied. The smile instantly faded from his face. “If I could kill that bastard a second time for what he did to you, I would.”

“Fortunately, that won’t be necessary. Gabriel is never going to be able to hurt me or anybody else again,” Kira said as she felt her body beginning to tense up again at just the mention of Gabriel’s name, still struggling to fathom how completely she had misjudged the man she had once called her friend. “I can’t believe what a fool I was about him.”

“You weren’t a fool for trusting him anymore than you were a fool for trusting me back in Vegas,” Ethan insisted as he tenderly stroked her hair. “You just have a big heart. It’s one of the things that I love the most about you.” Sliding his hand under her chin, he gently tilted her to face up towards his. “However, one of the thing’s that I don’t love about you is the stubborn streak you displayed by getting involved in Donovan’s crazy plan to begin with. You took about ten years off of my life with that stunt.”

“You’re one to talk considering that your entire adult life has been dictated by Donovan’s crazy plans.”

“You’re right,” Ethan conceded as he watched Kira thoughtfully. “And as a result, I know that I haven't given you much of a reason to trust me which played a role in why you did what you did.”

“You gave me enough of a reason when it counted the most,” Kira said as she gently ran her fingers through the fine, dark hairs sprinkling the surface of the lean muscular arm that extended from his rolled up shirt sleeve. “Besides, we both made a lot of mistakes.”

“That’s very generous of you to say but the fact of the matter is that I’m the one who made the lion’s share of the mistakes, with letting you get away two years ago being the biggest one of all. I have no intention of letting you get away again.”

“I have no intention of trying to get away. You're stuck with me,” Kira whispered as she craned her neck in order to brush her lips lightly against his.

“Are you willing to put that in writing?” Ethan murmured against the softness of her lips.

Kira laughed lightly against his mouth. “What do you want? Some sort of written contract or something?”

“Actually, I do,” Ethan said as he gently stroked the elegant curve of her cheek with his thumb. “Although, it’s officially called a marriage license.”

Shock caused Kira to abruptly break their kiss. “You want to marry me?”

“More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life,” Ethan said resolutely, his eyes dark with intense emotion. “So what do you say? Will you have me as your husband?”

Kira stared up in silence at Ethan as she tried to get her mind to wrap itself around the idea of him being hers forever. When her mind finally did, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and dragged him, fully clothed, into the bathtub with her, causing water to spill over the side of the tub and splatter all over the bathroom floor.

Unbothered by the mess she’d made, Kira climbed on top of Ethan and began unbuttoning his shirt, causing him to chuckle beneath her frantic ministrations. “Can I take this to mean that your answer is yes, then?”

Kira covered Ethan’s mouth with a kiss full of all of the love that she felt for him in her heart, answering his question without ever saying a word.