“Save your breath.”
Kirill joined me. “I heard another vehicle approaching. Who the fuck are these assholes?”
“It doesn’t matter. Get Mikhail out of here. Take Grigor.”
“What? Are you nuts?”
“Just do it. Double back then head to the plane. Get him out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you. You’re the Pakhan.”
“Fucking do it, Kirill. If I need to ask you again, you’ll become one of the casualties. It’s me they want. Don’t worry. They won’t like what they face.”
He shook his head, cursing.
But finally, he did as ordered, disappearing into the dense foliage seconds later.
I gave them cover, firing off several rounds before the magazine ran out. I jerked back, yanking another one from my jacket and slapping it in.
Sensing movement, I crawled toward the front of the vehicle on my belly, waiting for the right time and the perfect shot.
That came seconds later, the two men dropping like flies. That allowed me the opportunity to rush forward and in the opposite direction. Shadows of the forest swallowed me within seconds, the thick canopy providing some level of protection. With the goal being to provide time for my men to get Mikhail to safety, I stayed close to the road, crouching down behind a thicket of bushes.
It was mere seconds before footsteps approached. Now was time for patience, which I was running out of.
Yet I managed, powering off two shots. One a hit. One a miss.
A sudden jarring caught me off guard, another flash of pain directly in the middle of my back. The pain yanked at my breath, immediately pulling me into a fog. I stumbled directly into the arms of two men. While my mind fought them, my body had already shut down, whatever poison infecting me flowing through my bloodstream.
I was dragged through the forest toward the road, every sound echoing.
Just before I blacked out, I was tossed into a trunk, one of the men laughing before slamming the door and I was pitched into darkness.
CHAPTER 3
Rafaela
“What do you think, Angel?” I asked, holding dress number ten in front of me while staring at my reflection in the mirror.
Golden Angel harrumphed, her tail swishing back and forth.
“No opinion,la mia dolce ragazza?” I could see my efforts at obtaining her opinion weren’t successful.
“You do realize she’s a dog. Correct? If you don’t, I think it’s about time you went out on a date.” Sedona puffed out her glossy lips, offering a giant pout.
My best and truly only friend was the only reason I was bothering to select a dress for my upcoming birthday party. If it were up to me, I’d crawl under the covers in my jammies finishing a book.
But my father insisted on having a party to celebrate my eighteen years on this earth. Of course the actual date of mybirthday had passed with no fanfare. No cake. No presents. No sentiment whatsoever. Why? Because my father had been on a business trip. He’d wanted the perfect date to hold the fabulous glitzy ceremony that would include a hundred guests, most of whom I’d never met.
But that was the way of my life. I was being shown off as a prized possession, now considered eligible for the perfect suitor.
The thought disgusted me.
My father would say he was ensuring my safety by deeming it acceptable who I spent time with. Yes, I understood the level of danger I was in every time I left the house. One of the first words in my extensive vocabulary had been ‘enemy.’ As a young child, I’d thought of the estate as a massive playground, but as I’d grown older and because security had tightened to what it was today, I’d learned the lavish location was nothing but a prison. The shackles might be invisible, but they existed.
That’s one reason my brother had fled years before, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, Dante’s name was never mentioned. There were no pictures, no sign he’d ever existed. All because my brother had defied my father in deciding to live his life the way he wanted. That’s exactly what I intended on doing, but only after I graduated college. If I was allowed to go to college.
My reflection caught my eye and even I could see I was sugarcoating the truth.
