Fear finally spurs me into action. I make a break for it. I vault onto the hood of my car and slide down the other side. “Don’t need a ride, thanks, Rafe!” I shout as I take off at a dead run for the stairway in the corner. My damn mouth. Footsteps echoon concrete. Not mine. His. I pump my legs as fast as they’ll go, purse banging against my hip with every stride.Faster. Go.
Escape is futile.
Rafail tackles me against the cement wall. Concrete scrapes my cheek. I register cold against my front and his warmth at my back. I’m too stunned to protest when he yanks my arms behind my back and binds them with something hard plastic. Zip ties.
Finally, I remember to struggle. A ferocious scream tears out of my throat, bouncing off the concrete, a shriek of furious anger and terror. A hand clamps over my mouth with a damp cloth that smells sickly sweet.
Some family reunion this is.
3
RAFAIL
That could have gone better.
I glance back at my passenger. Hailey’s limp body lies crossways along the back seat. I strapped the belt around her waist to keep her from rolling off as my driver rounds corners too hard. Her head lolls, spreading her beautiful thick curls over the gleaming black leather.
I scrub my face with one hand.
Myprintsesais going to hate me. Now, she knows what I truly am.
“What should we do about her car?” my driver asks me in Russian.
“Get rid of it.” I don’t need to spell it out. He understands what I mean. By this time tomorrow, that heap of junk will be nothing but scrap. Lila Davis, as she has been calling herself these past five years, will go missing as quickly and quietly as she appeared. There is only one loose end left to tie up—the matter of our wedding.
Considering Hailey’s reaction to our…reunion, shall we call it, I might have some difficulty convincing her to go through with it. I need her agreement, in person, for this to be legal. Ibreak far too many laws to risk her safety by skirting this one. A mistress wouldn’t have full protection. Nor would our children. I fully intend to make her the mother of my heirs.
I want her to be mine.
I always have.
She was just a child when we met. Beautiful. A rose about to bloom but not yet ready to be picked. I let her go. Told myself to stay away.
I couldn’t.
Hailey Bennett disappeared. I found her again by accident, when her mother made a mistake and sent Dmitri divorce papers. He signed them. Let go of the woman he loved for her own good. She died of a broken heart. My father became a shell of a man. He loved her that much. Adored his stepdaughter, too.
Lost his edge.
Got caught.
Went to prison.
He’ll die behind bars. I am the one had to pick up the pieces of the empire my father had built. Five bloody years spent asserting myself as leader of this branch of the bratva brotherhood. Now that I have established my leadership, I can finally claim my bride.
My mouthy littleprintsesamight have an opinion about this when she wakes up. A smile tugs at my lips. Only she does this to me. She’s…entertaining.
Being alone with Hailey is dangerous for both of us. I can’t allow her to make me soft, the way her mother did to my father.
“What will you do with the girl?” my driver asks. This isn’t his first kidnapping. He knows to keep his mouth shut. But I can tell he is curious. I’ve never displayed much interest in women. A night here or there with a beautiful stranger. No commitments. Never anything long-term.
“Put her in the apartment,” I tell him. This one is rented, paid in advance. I’ll be gone in a week, the name it was rented under wiped from the face of the earth. I just need long enough to satisfy the forty-eight-hour required waiting period before I put Hailey in a wedding dress and drag her before a priest. Hailey needs a little time to adjust to the fact that she is mine, forever. She has a little less than two days to come around. I will make her see reason.
The driver opens the door and moves as if to touch my bride. I push him out of the way and gather Hailey’s limp body into my arms. No one lays a finger on her except me. Knocking her out was a last resort, but necessary. We needed to get her out of that garage quickly.
Her head rolls onto my shoulder. She smells like the bar she was working at. She’ll be tired when she wakes up. Inside the immaculate apartment, I consider my options.
The bed?
