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At the entrance to the park, Hans sat on a stone slab eating a hot dog. He grinned when he saw her. “Diana. You have given Jakob and I quite the fright. We are thrilled to see you again.”
Diana struggled in Jakob’s grip. She wanted to at least give the appearance of fighting them. If she made it too easy, they would know they were walking into a trap. “Whatever you two have planned, it’s not going to work.”
Hans leaned forward, and she smelled the sauerkraut and onions on his breath. “Oh we’re going to get into that apartment. Because you’re going to walk us right in.”
Jakob shoved her forward, and she almost fell into Hans. With each of them flanking her, she walked along the path that would lead them to the main street, thinking of ways to delay the inevitable. Make it look good, Diana, make it seem real. Once along the path, she tried to run in the opposite direction. She hoped that didn’t trigger Dylan to spring into action. But nothing happened.
She made it about half a block before Jakob grabbed her around the waist. She kicked a little bit, but the idea was to eventually be caught.
When Jakob brought her back to Hans, her oldest brother tsked. “It is so disap
pointing that you tried to run, Larissa. If you act like that, I’m going to think you don’t want to spend time with us.”
“Wherever would you get that idea?” she muttered under her breath.
Hans chuckled. “Jakob, I think she’s cross with us. You’re the one who decided to become father’s killer’s whore.” He patted her down and relieved her of her weapons, tsking softly.
Fuck, she was going to need those. “I am not a whore,” she spat.
Hans shrugged. “You’re sleeping with him. You’re a whore. It’s a shame you won’t live through the night. We could easily bring you in on the family business. On the working side, of course.”
Diana purposely struggled against his hold. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did they hate her so much? “Why are you so horrible? What have I ever done to you?”
Jakob scoffed. “For starters, Father was going to honor the deal with Boris. He planned to hand you over with the diamond when you were twenty-five.”
Hans rolled his eyes. “The original plan was for us to kill Boris and keep the diamond. Whatever happened to you after was of no consequence to us. But then we found out that you and the diamond were payment. That Boris had bought into the family business. After that revelation, we came up with the plan to kill him. He had squandered our future.”
Diana froze with a gasp in her throat. “You had Papa killed?”
Hans chuckled. “Considering you’re our sister, you are pretty stupid. Yes. We ordered the hit. We called a member of a black-ops team. He presented father as a threat to be taken out to his superiors. Given father’s business practices, the US government sanctioned a hit on him. Best hit we ever called.”
Diana couldn’t believe it was her own brothers who wanted him out of the way so they could take over. To rob her of her birthright. Three more blocks to the penthouse. “You killed him?”
Hans laughed. “Plausible deniability, of course. But yes. Except Orion backstabbed us and stole the diamond for himself the night before the murder.”
So Orion had absolutely taken it. And that had all been her brothers’ doing. “I hate you.”
Hans laughed, a belly laugh that made his whole body shake. “The feeling is mutual, little sister. I promise.”
When they arrived at the penthouse, Diana struggled against Jakob’s hold as he forced her hand on the pad for the handprint scan. And then they forced her face up to the retinal scan. Once they were inside the building, they shoved Diana toward the service elevator that led to the penthouse. She stumbled deliberately, praying that everyone was out of danger. Praying that they were all paying attention to where she was.
When the doors to the elevator opened, Diana took a deep breath and did exactly as she’d been instructed. She ducked while simultaneously delivering two groin strikes to her brothers.
Just as she scrambled out of the elevator, the lights went out. It was time to get to work.
Diana’s heartbeat was too loud in her head.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
She knew the plan. Crawl through the foyer. Make it into the kitchen. One of the guys would be in there, lying in wait. There was also someone in the living room and stationed in the hallway. There was also supposed to be someone posted in front of the panic room as a last line of defense. But there was a problem with that plan.
Her brothers were faster than she thought. Even though it was dark in the penthouse thanks to the blackout shutters, one of them had the wherewithal to reach out and snap a hand around her ankle. Diana screamed and thrashed and kicked. “Fuck you,” she panted, the cries ripping out of her throat. Focus. Calm down, you know how to get out of this. Think about your training.
She forced her body over so that she lay on her back, then kicked her leg up and hooked it over the one her brother held. With the quick, sharp movement, he had to let go.
But then she heard gunshots whizzing over her head. All she could do was keep her head down. She knew Rafe and company had night vision. She knew JJ and Lucia were supposed to be safe in the panic room. She knew all those things, but it didn’t help to quell her panic.
Crawl forward. One hand in front of the other. It didn’t matter if her brother was trying to drag her back into the elevator to hold her hostage. She was going to make sure her new family was safe.
