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The hallway was blessedly empty. “If we run into anyone, I’ll say that we’re going to find Yuri,” Emilia instructed. We reached the end of one hallway and turned down another––where muscle man was apparently busy watching the woman deep throat her companion. With his back to us he didn’t notice anything until we had passed him and the couple.
“Where you go?”
“To find Yuri,” Emilia answered over her shoulder in Albanian. Every second of silence felt as if my head was being held under water.
“Send Vlad. I need break.” Neither one of us turned to look at him; Emilia simply nodded. We didn’t uttered a word until we reached the main part of the club.
“Thank God, I didn’t speak Albanian,” I said anxiously.
“A lot of these guys are part of the Albanian mafia. They’re working together now.”
“Drugs?”
Emilia’s troubled eyes met mine. “Girls.”
That one word stole my breath away and made my stomach burn. “Let’s get out of here.” If we didn’t get out in the next few seconds, we stood a very good chance of becoming someone’s personal fuckpet as Sebastian had put it.
Holding onto her wrist, I pulled her through the melee of bodies on the dance floor bouncing up and down with the music. Suddenly she was yanked out of my grasp, most of her scream blotted out by the deafening mix of music and people surrounding us. I turned swiftly to find Yuri holding onto her upper arm in a cruel grip, while Emilia, plastered to him, had her chin tipped down and her long black hair hanging in her face.
“Let go of her, you bastard.” I put as brave a face on as I could considering how my pulse raced. If it weren’t for the chaos swirling around us, he would have easily noticed how scared I was.
His impassive, blue stare jumped from her to me. He whispered something in Emilia’s ear that made her cower even more, her bony shoulders curving in.
“How did you get into my club?” he calmly asked, only a hint of a Russian accent to his English.
“If you don’t let her go, I will call the police.”
“You’ve caused me quite a bit of trouble. First the police are in my house and your boyfriend screams in my face. Then Etienne, my best man, is arrested because of you…and now you want to steal my girlfriend.”
“You hurt her––repeatedly. She doesn’t want to stay with you any longer.”
“Nobody screams in my face.” It was the lack of anger, of any human emotion that frightened me most. He turned his attention back to the woman cowering next to him. “Emilia, tell this troublesome friend what you want.”
“Emilia, let’s go.” I said, talking over him, because I knew where this was headed. Emilia’s voice was barely audible. I moved to grab her other arm, but he jerked her closer to him. “Emilia let’s go,” I shouted.
“I’m going to stay,” I heard her mumble. Her face was still tilted in the direction of her feet. She wouldn’t look at me. He’d thrown a proprietary arm around her neck, his thumb caressing the bare skin of her collarbone. The threat camouflaged by tenderness. It made me sick. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t leave her there. The punishment he would inflict on her was something I didn’t dare contemplate.
Yuri’s gaze moved beyond my shoulder. I was too petrified to look. God help me if it was muscle man. Slowly, the people crowding around me bled away and a halo of space opened up. I was just thinking how grateful I was not to have all those bodies smashed up against me when a very tall and very familiar one walked up beside me…
His Highness to the rescue. I’m ashamed to say that on the inside, I was screaming in unabashed glee.
He barely spared me a glance. The cold, hard look on his face was all for Yuri. “We’re taking her with us,” was all he said.
“No.” Emilia replied. Head shaking, she pressed herself closer to Yuri as if seeking shelter from us––as if we were the enemy. “No. I’m staying here.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was terrified of him.
Yuri petted Emilia’s hair. “There, you see––this was simple misunderstanding,” he remarked, his English faltering. I wondered what that meant.
Sebastian’s jaw clenched, his nostrils flared. He tipped his chin at me, continuing to avoid my gaze. “We’re going.” Grabbing my arm, he turned to leave.
“I’m not going anywhere without her,” I screeched. Then his eyes crashed into mine, burning with barely contained fury. I’m surprised I didn’t drop dead from the glare alone.
“We. Are. Leaving,” he ordered through clenched teeth, a staccato of words fired at me like bullets. He yanked on my arm, dragging me away. Bear, right next to us the whole time, brought up the rear. I hadn’t even noticed his presence until that moment.
