Page 137 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

“How many Russians can one Lake Tahoe mansion hold, anyway?”Finn complains.

“Time to find Frankie,” I say, just as an entire team of heavily armed commandos come around the corner and right at me.

“Welp, it’s holy racket time, Declan,” Finn says in our shared comms.

Declan’s voice whoops and hollers in my ear.“Finally!I thought you were never going to ask!Hold on to your balls, boys!”

Declan barely finishes his sentence when a huge explosion rocks the building, and the entire castle jumps like there’s just been a major earthquake.

CHAPTER 69

Frankie

The punch—the one I know will kill me—never comes.

Instead, a tremendous explosion cracks the night, and the aftershock is so violent that it shakes the floor beneath my feet.From the wine cellar down the hall, I hear the sound of thousands of wine bottles exploding on impact with the stone floor.The percussion rocks Niko off balance and slams him against the wall.

“What the hell?”he screams.

I find myself smiling.Because I think I know the answer.And then I laugh out loud, my heart suddenly leaping with hope.“It’swhothe hell, Niko!”I scream over the noise.

And as soon as the first blast rolls to a stop, another hits.It’s bigger.

Now’s my chance.I can make a run for it, though the door is closed.The only light is from the phone, which just fell face-down on the stone floor.I don’t know how much damage has been done to the basement hallway and stairs, but I have to try.

Niko beats me to the exit and presses his back to the wood and iron door, blocking my way.“You know what’s happening, don’t you?”He sneers when he makes the statement.His eyes go completely black.

I’m silent.Whatever I say will only throw gasoline on his blazing fury.But I’ve got a damn good hunch about what might be going down.

I watch his bloated face tremble.Rage explodes from his every pore as he shoots his murderous stare into me.My body urges me to shrink from him, avert my gaze.

But I’m a stubborn woman and my brains are scrambled.And I know—somehow, I know—that the man I love has come for me, and Niko and his crew are about to pay the price.

I will hang on for Special K.If he can do this for me, I can stay strong for him.

I can stay alive.

I gasp in shock when Niko rushes me, grabs me by my shoulders, and shakes me violently.“What do you know?”he screams.“What is happening?”

“You should run,” I say, my voice quiet.“The devil himself has come calling, and he won’t stop until he drags you to the depths of hell.”

“Kakogo khuya!You fucking worthless bitch!”Niko claws at my arm, yanks open the door and hauls me into the dark hallway.

My whole body hurts.It’s hard to keep up as he tugs me up the stairs in my bare feet.We have to step over a fallen beam and loose stone that blocks the basement doorway.

Whatever bomb Special K’s dropped on this place, it’s enough to cause major damage.

Good.I hate this fugly house of horrors.

I hear the sounds of fighting, and so does Niko.“Open your mouth and you die,” he hisses.He drags me into his office, my silk camisole now wrapped around his hand and pulled tight at my neck.He’s strangling me.

Niko grabs a gun from a drawer and presses it between my eyes.He unlatches the safety.

“I’ll shoot you in your hideous face if you say a fucking word.Nod if you understand me, whore.”

I nod, closing my eyes.The metal gun barrel is cold against my skin.

He wrenches me around so that my back’s to him.With one hand he yanks my wrists behind my back.With the other, he presses the gun barrel into the back of my head.