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Chapter four
GIANNI
I kept glancing over at Rhys slumped in the adjacent chair, cuddled under my jacket. He was stronger than he gave himself credit for but I could see how all this chaos was slowly ripping him apart. We hadn’t dealt with absolutely anything that had happened at the house and now we were traveling halfway around the country as we pulled him deeper into our world.
I never wanted this for him.
My anxiety was through the roof. Rhys thought that we weren’t panicking? No, we were just that much better at hiding it. Or, well, the other two were. More recently, I felt like I had to catch up or prove that I was still useful. Valentyn and Dmitri always bet on what skill I’d go off and perfect next, but they understand why.
The only reason I knew how to fly a plane was because one incident three years ago left me a little worse for wear and Ipromised that it wouldn’t happen again. How I decided a pilot’s license would make up for that failure was beyond me.
“Where the fuck is Gianni? We’re ready to go.”
Dmitri didn’t sound mad but I was still navigating him. Valentyn, on the other hand, was silent and I didn’t like that. I clutched the certificate in my hand a little tighter, hoping it would make up for what nearly just happened last month. Valentyn kept telling me that it wasn’t my fault, that freezing at that moment was something that could have happened to anyone.
But we now had a wonderful little boy to take care of and I had two men that loved me more than anything. Freezing in this business wasn’t acceptable, especially when we were getting paid for it. The job had been easy enough–retrieve a priceless heirloom that belonged to the client’s father. Unfortunately, the security was a little tighter than we had planned and no amount of quick thinking would have gotten me out of that predicament.
A one-on-one with a man even larger than Valentyn himself.
Memories of my first night in the business had flashed through my mind and I froze. Dmitri whisper-yelling in my ear through the comms saved my poor ass as I dodged at the last minute and scurried off into the darkness. It wasn’t graceful in the slightest but I was still alive.
“Gia?” My name rolled off Valentyn’s lips softer than I ever heard it. I looked up to see him standing in the doorway of our current apartment, his brows furrowed as he cradled a sleeping Paval against his chest. “Why are you standing out here?”
He led me inside and his lack of questions was a little terrifying. He was waiting for me to explain myself but I wasn’t even sure where to start. Dmitri wasn’t as patient as he swiped the paper, eyes narrowing and then widening as he read it.
“A pilot’s license? How the fuck–someone let you fly a plane?” His French accent thickened and my heart sank. I had hoped this would make up for my mistake but it wasn’t enough, was it? I needed something else. But what was better than a pilot’s license? I tapped my chin, mulling through my options.
We’d be leaving this city soon for the next job so I’d have to figure it out and-
A firm hand gripped my chin and angled it upwards as I looked into Valentyn’s blue eyes. “You’re thinking too hard again, Gia. Look at me. There you go. One step at a time. Last month was not your fault. We all freeze. A pilot’s license doesn’t make up for last month because there’s nothing to make up for. However, if we ever need to make a getaway, we are now one step closer. Now, we just need a plane.”
The only thing I heard was that we needed a plane. I mentally started calculating what it would cost and how many more jobs we would have to take on for me to fulfill that request.
His fingers tightened along my jaw just as Dmitri saddled against my back. “And I wasn’t asking you to buy us a plane, Gia. Fuck, you’re adorable.”
I knew what they were about to do. They were going to try and bring me out of my head using those rough hands and sweet words but the moment my gaze dipped to Paval still in Valentyn’s arms, I couldn’t let go.
“Let’s go,” I mumbled, slipping out from between them. “We were supposed to be gone an hour ago.” Their dark chuckles told me that I’d end up between my men at some point regardless.
A deep sigh fell from my lips as I rested back against my chair. The reason why we meshed so well together with Rhys was because I used to be just like him–uncertain of what I could bring to the world and unsure of the love that this family was providing me.
In a time when my entire life was chaos, they were my foundation. And now we were Rhys’. Which is why I didn’t have time to lose my head in frivolous nonsense.
This was no longer just a job. This was Rhys’ safety and his career wrapped up into one tangled mess. Fuck if I let anything happen to him and I knew the other two felt the same. As fast as it had happened, we had become our own little family and nothing and no one was going to tear that away from us.
Not Ada.
Not Liam.
And definitely not this fucking Hawk International bullshit.
Hopefully, France was where we needed to be.
We flew into a small, private airport owned by one of Dmitri’s contacts. The number of favors we would owe after this mission was obscene but so fucking worth it if it gave us a little peace. We’d all joked that we needed a break from this life but after this job, I was throwing in the towel. At least for a little while.
The moment we landed, Dmitri placed one call and then nodded as if that was all we needed. A groggy Rhys followed me into a plain black Sedan. Valentyn and Dmitri were right behind us, Paval curled up in Dmitri’s arms. Few words were spoken as Dmitri navigated the roads, ignoring the hustle and bustle of Paris streets. In another life, I might have enjoyed the chaos and scents of freshly baked items. Each turn took us deeper into an area shrouded by darkness until we pulled up behind a small house buried at the edge of the city.
The makeshift driveway was hidden in this small alley, perfect for a getaway option should we need it. Of course, Dmitri would have thought about anything and everything, including having extra security around the house as he keyed in a code to open the door.
