“Who do you work for?”
When he fails to answer my question, I keep my eyes planted on the rearview mirror as I lift my shaky hand to the door handle. Upon discovering the door is locked, fear curls around my throat, but I refuse to succumb to it. I’ve spent the last ten years of my life on high alert, always trying to spot the bad guy in a crowd, but the fear I’ve lived with the past ten years is nothing compared to the broken look Katie’s eyes had when she glanced at me for a fleeting second. I need to do this for her. I must fight through my fear if I want any chance of finding her.
When the taxi pulls into a derelict building on the outskirts of town, the driver exits the vehicle and walks around my side of the car. Because he's too busy sheltering his eyes from the rapidly setting sun, he fails to notice me adjusting my position.
The instant he opens the back passenger door, I wildly kick out my leg, smashing my running shoe into his nose. When he stumbles backwards, I scamper across the seat and lurch out of the taxi. I complete the maneuver Colt has demonstrated to me time and time again when the unnamed man wraps his wrist around my ankle. Adrenaline surges through my veins when I execute the move to perfection, not only disarming myself from my attacker, but adding another kick to his already bruising face.
After scanning the area for a suitable location to hide, I charge towards the derelict building. It resembles a warehouse I’ve seen in many horror movies, but it's the only place that will shelter me while I work out my next move.
Gravel kicks up around my feet when I slide behind the rusted framework at the side of the warehouse to hide.
“Dammit!” I curse when I turn my eyes back to the taxi and notice my purse sitting in the back seat.
“There goes my chances of calling for help,” I mumble to myself.
When my assailant gingerly rises from the dirty ground he's writhing on, I scuttle further into the shadows. My heart leaps out of my chest when I crash into something firm—something that feels distinctively like a broad set of thighs.
Using the adrenaline pumping into my veins to my advantage, I leap to my feet and take off running for a cracked open door to the warehouse. I make it halfway across the leaf-riddled concrete before my wrist is seized and I’m yanked backwards. Spinning around, I execute an open palm to the nose technique before bracing myself in preparation to knee my attacker in the balls.
I inhale a sharp breath when I lift my eyes from the cracked concrete to my attacker. With the sun setting behind a low-hanging cloud, most of my assailant’s face is hidden, but there's enough light illuminating from the warehouse for me to recognize one distinct feature: a pair of dark and beautifully tormented eyes.
“Enrique?” I query, my mind spiraling, unable to differentiate between the past and the present.
I maintain my braced approach, prepared to strike at any moment when the shadowed figure takes a step closer to me.
My brave façade of the past two and a half months crumbles when the deep rumble of “Kitten” sounds through my ears from a voice I immediately recognize.
Chapter 35
“Sorry,” I apologize for the fourth time the past thirty minutes when I catch the curious stare of the man I kicked in the face—twice!
He continues holding a wad of tissues to his bloody nose as he talks to Erik in the corner of a dingy office in the back of the warehouse. Ignoring the way every hair on my body is bristling, I move to stand next to Rico. He's shuffling through a range of surveillance photos of Katie displayed across a table. He’s barely spoken to me the past thirty minutes, but I’ve felt his heated gaze on me the entire time.
I’ve spent the past half an hour struggling to grasp the reality that the man in the taxi is anassociateof the Popov entity and he has been tailing me for the past two months to ensure Vladimir’s request of full sanction was fulfilled. I don’t know if that means Rico is aware of the kiss Colt and I shared two weeks ago or not, but I’m not game to ask. And, in all honesty, it isn’t an appropriate time to question if my soon-to-be-ex-husband suffers from the same jealousy issues that plague me.
Even with my body acutely aware of every move Rico makes, and my brain begging for the chance to have some of its unanswered questions resolved, my focus must remain on Katie. I’ve waited for this opportunity for ten years, and I can’t risk another ten years passing because my heart yearns for an unobtainable man.
“It is her, isn’t it?” I ask Rico as my eyes roam over the large selection of photos of Katie.
When Rico and I reach for the same photo, our fingers connect. I gasp in a sharp breath when his meekest touch sends a surge of electricity up my arm. Even after two months apart, nothing has changed. The vibrancy between us is so intense, it's electrifying. I know Rico can feel it too. The stern mask he wears in front of others is still in place, but I witness the quickest flare of emotion spark his eyes from our slight touch. He appears just as helpless as I am in this volatile relationship.
After coughing to clear his throat, Rico lifts a surveillance image of Katie being clutched firmly by the blond man I saw pushing her into the SUV earlier before nodding. “We’ve been tracking Katie the past month, waiting for an appropriate time to get her out. With the contacts I have in this area, it’s an ideal time for my crew to move in.”
Some of the little nicks on my heart heal when he locks his beautifully tormented eyes with me. “I promised I'd get Katie back for you, Blaire. I’m going to keep my promise.”
I exhale a relieved breath, making the weight on my shoulders ten times lighter in an instant. “When can we do that?”
His heavy brow slants. “There's nowe,Kitten. You'renota part of this team.”
I balk like I’ve been physically slapped. Although I could construe his statement as solely referring to Katie’s situation, the raging storm in his eyes doesn’t relay that.
“We. . .” Rico gestures his hand between Erik and himself, “will get Katie out tonight. You’re going home with Brent.”
“No!” I shout, my reply quick and resolute.
I cross my arms over my chest and lock my eyes with Rico. “Katie is my friend. I put her in this situation, so it’s my responsibility to bring her home.”
“No, it isn’t!” His loud voice bellows through the isolated warehouse, gaining him the attention of numerous members of his team gathered in the derelict space.
