AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hannah stared through the darkened window of the black SUV as it snaked through the hills and valleys of the Michigan landscape. There was nothing for miles and miles except farmland, grassy hills, and the occasional cow. How could anyone live in this environment? Where were the workers, the city buses, the cabs, and please God, where were the police? Would the police even be able to help her? She’d spent her whole life coddled in the nursery of concrete buildings and bodegas. Buildings so close together, a person could almost lean out of one window and hold hands with someone the next. Even if you couldn’t touch, you could definitely see. Maybe it was weird to live so close together. But there was safety and security in closeness
Here. There was nothing to offer safety. No shelter. There had to be a way to getaway. She looked at the man riding beside her. How has he ever thought he was handsome? Brooding. What was wrong with her? Was she as bad as her mother? Her father and uncles had taught her to avoid bad boys, but had she been looking for one all along? Her legs clenched at the pinched look in his eyes. The grim set of his lips. The firm square box of his jaw. Did he ever relax, put his guard down? Could she be the woman to help him relax? Oh God, was he the fixer-upper man she couldn’t resist? She raised her hand and grabbed the shield pendant on her necklace. The uncles were with her; they had to be. She wasn’t alone. She squeezed the charm even harder.
The SUV stopped at the guard tower. Oh, God. He had a guard tower. In the middle of this forested island. Electrified barbed wire fences guarded his land. What did he have to protect? There was no one around for miles. Was he securing himself from the forest denizens? Was he in danger of being attacked by a wandering cow? The gates slid open. With quiet efficiency, no creaking, no struggling. As if even the metal and steel bowed to the will of his demands. The asphalt driveway. No, it wasn’t a driveway. This was a road. How far to reach the house? There it was. God, what else? It was huge. Maybe she could lose him in it. Her lips quirked up. His eyes snared hers as if he felt the laughter she hadn’t let slip.
He arched his brow. “You like?”
“It’s very isolated.” The words darted out, as if they, too, were desperate to escape.
His lips gave a slight movement, drawing back into a micro smile. It barely cracked his face, but her heart sped up. This was madness. There was no saving him. To kill without mercy, he was a man broken beyond repair. She was merely amusing him. A jester in his court of horrors. “I think it’s peaceful. I enjoy the solitude.”
Hannah counted; two men at the guard tower, two men hovered near the door. Guns in holsters, but obviously security. The driver and another man rushed forward to open their doors. What was that, six? Was this solitude? “I find it odd that a killer seeks peace.” Why was she antagonizing him?
His brows lowered, along with his voice. “Maybe killers need peace more than others. I know there will be no gardens of paradise for me after I die. Ardestan is a hilly, barren place. There are parts of Ardestan that bloom with life in the spring and summer. But in the winter, there are parts where even weeds can not survive. In our religious traditions, when a man dies, he goes to a place where there are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath. Eternally surrounded by blooming things. Those gardens are promised to good men. I’m forever locked out of that place.” His eyes swept the landscape. Giving her the chance to admire the back pelt of hair at the back of his head that barely crushed his collar. And the wide shoulders with rippling muscles under his shirt, before he sighed. “Since God will deny me in the next life. I took it from Him in this. Created my own heaven. Where no one will deny me.”
He extended his hand. “Come, let me show you.”
“But I… My things. I have to put them away. I… I don’t.” She took a shaky step away from his huge hands. God, his hands were huge. Uncle Mike taught her, “you can tell a lot, from a man’s hands.” His looked tough and raw. Marked with callouses and scars. Tattoos covered the tops of his hands with words engraved on each finger. The same finger that had pulled the trigger just days earlier. Jessa shook her head again. Nope. She didn’t want what that hand was offering. Even if her racing heart denied that lie. “I’m sorry, I need to go to my room.”
“Are you scared, little dove?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a trick question? Seriously, what kind of mind game are you playing? You know, I’m terrified. You knew that when you married. That’s how you got me to marry you. By scaring me into it.”
“Be that as it may. We’re married now. So, you’ll have to get over any fears you have. You are my wife. It’s as simple as that.”
She shook her head. He couldn’t be serious. “That’s anything but simple.”
He shrugged. His shoulders rippling again. His hand repeated his demand. “I’ve told you more than once, I dislike repeating myself. I asked you to come, so you come. That is what is simple.” He arched his brow over his dark, mysterious eyes. “Or are you so eager for my bed?”
Damn him. She skirted his hand. It wouldn’t hurt to look around the place. Look for weakness in his fort. She huffed. “Fine.”
The sharp ding of his phone’s ringtone halted him. “Ah Dove, it seems we will explore another time. Rurik calls.”
“And when he calls, you jump like a trained dog?”
His nostrils flared. Really, what was the point in insulting a man who could take a life so easily? But fear was exhausting and sanity draining. He growled. “I jump for no man.” He arched his brow, “or woman.” His palm seared the small of her back as he led her back inside the house. “But my brother would not call if it weren’t important.”
The beautiful mansion had a wide hardwood floor entry varnished to a gloss so shiny it reflected the chandelier hanging above. An elegant oriental carpet runner protected the center of the floor. Jessa’s shoes sank into the plush carpet even through the thick padding of her cross-trainers. She ogled the round table centered under the exquisite crystal and silver chandelier. Fresh wildflowers filled an oversize vase and the floral scent filled the area. Delighting the senses without cloying. He steered her into his office. Was it an office or a library? She hadn’t spent a lot of time in billionaire mansions to know the names of each room. The two sides lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves proclaimed it a library. But the enormous desk in front of the window overlooking a garden said office. A statement reinforced when he sat down and gestured her to the seat facing him. The hot seat. Where he probably grilled minions before shooting them if they didn’t respond as he expected. Her eyes drifted to the carpet. The cream and burgundy arabesque pattern was the perfect camouflage for hiding blood splatter. She shivered and tuned into the call. What information could she learn? Uncle Mike would tell her to watch and mentally record every detail. While looking as if she was paying attention to nothing. Uncle Brendan would tell her to look for a letter opener she could squirrel away as a knife since they’d confiscated her lipstick dagger with her phone.
Jessa held her breath and could make out part of what his brother was saying. “How are things going with you and your crazy plan? Are you still bird training your wife?” What the hell did that mean? She schooled her face into a stoic, passive mask and played with her fingernails. Did he say bird?
Sanyet rolled his eyes. The familiar gesture was odd on his square, granite face. “It’s only been a day. How are things with you and yours? The one you nearly lost because you let her do whatever she wants? How did that work out for you?”
“She is fine.” Rurik growled. Oh, so that rankled. She filed that away. “Heard back from Venedikt. He has Yuri’s location. I texted it to you earlier. Now tell me when will I receive Yuri’s head?” He didn’t mean that literally, did he? Sanyet caught her gaze when she gasped. His eyes narrowed. Definitely, literal.
“I got the text when I landed. Yuri is hiding in a strip club we control in Vegas. Too stupid to even question who is providing the shelter he’s enjoying.”
“How much longer will he enjoy his shelter? He tried to have my wife sold into slavery. Given away to the highest bidder and used as a jarroh before being killed. Tell me, brother, why should he enjoy even one second more of his life?”
“First brother, I’m on my honeymoon.” He purred the word out with his stare. “When have I ever taken a vacation from serving this bratva?” She rolled her eyes and flicked her nails a little harder.
“Training her like one of your wretched birds is not the same as a honeymoon.” Jessa’s eyes raised at Rurik’s words when they boomed out of the phone. What was with the birds?
“Second, we are waiting for Baranov to make contact. I could flush your father-in-law out by taking down his men one by one. But this is better. I get my honeymoon and Baranov comes to us. As soon as he contacts Yuri, we will have both.”
“Killing two birds with the same stone, eh?”
“A detestable statement, but yes.” Sanyet rubbed the bridge of his nose. Waiting for his brother but watching her. His eyes missed no more than hers did.
