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“Shhh, it’s just me, sugar,” the man’s voice lilted in my ear and my body stiffened as I attempted to place it. His grip on me eased as I halted bucking against him, allowing me to turn my head back to see him. My eyes lit on his gaze glowing like a halo under the bright lights, my breath caught in my throat at the sight of the man I barely knew yet already felt such a kindred connection with; the man who showed me the adrenaline spike that came with exacting pain, violence, and punishment with my own hands. His violet eyes sparkled with delight as my own lit with recognition.
Spade.
“Buckle up, babe. You’re in for quite the show.” He smirked, tilting his chin back toward the ballroom.
The words barely left his lips when an explosion jolted us back, his grip on my stomach the only thing keeping me upright as the floor shook under us. Smoke billowed up at the end of the hallway, and the power flickered from the blast, the crashing and shattering of a chandelier echoing through the screams of the guests just outside.
Spade chuckled at the chaos erupting around us, but my gaze was riveted on the ballroom as two figures emerged from the smoke. Their forms still shrouded in darkness were the only thing I could make out past the thick dust clouds as another explosion rocked through the building.
Chapter sixteen
Giana
Now
Spade’sarmsbandedtighteraround me as the force of the explosions rocked into us. His tall form cocooned over me, his thick corded muscles shielding me from most of the shock. The few remaining lights blinked out and screams echoed throughout the ballroom. A creaking sounded over us, and Spade scooped me up in his arms, dashing out of the way just as the chandelier above us began to groan at the shockwaves it’d been hit with, ominously rocking back and forth in the dim glow of the emergency lights. I frantically clutched my arms around his neck as the thick chain snapped, sending the chandelier hurtling toward the ground. Spade dropped to the floor midstride, his body folding around mine to shield me as crystal smashed against the hardwood floor, sending shards of glass shattering around us.
His warm breath skated across my neck, and despite my rapid heartbeat hammering against my chest, warm tendrils of lust coiled up my spine and I arched into his touch. Fuck, this wasn’t the time to get turned on, but I couldn’t help it with the pressure of his hard chest against my back, protecting me, shielding me from danger. My adrenaline was already pumping from the peril surrounding us, and that on its own was enough to send waves of lust straight to my core, even without his selfless act. I fought back the urge to turn my head to the side, knowing his lips would be right there, reminding myself this wasn’t really the time nor the place for that.
“Careful, sugar, if you keep rubbing against me like that, I’ll throw caution to the wind and pin you down on this floor right now,” he groaned in my ear, his promise making my breath catch. His lips brushed the shell of my ear, sending waves of heat through me and my back arched again, searching for some friction. Only then did I realize I was indeed grinding against him as I felt his hard length against my backside. I sucked in a sharp breath—fighting against the little voice inside that wanted to push him, to see if he really would lose control—and reluctantly lowered to the ground, turning in his grip to face him. I might’ve also forgotten about the shards of glass littering the floor because his hand clasped my wrist a second before it landed on a stray piece. He used that hold to pull us both up, glass cracking under his thick black loafers. I stepped gingerly on the glass, careful to miss any larger pieces that might scrape the exposed skin from my open heels.
He didn’t let go of my wrist, instead, he clutched it to his chest just above his heart, his eyes glittering with mischief as he looked down at me. A grin curled on my lips as I met that look and I could almost see all the trouble the two of us would get into in that moment, two kindred spirits, craving the dark, relishing in the danger, and taking every moment of pleasure in between. I drew closer to him, completely forgetting where we were, his violet eyes trapping me like a moth to a flame until I noticed the rips on his white buttoned shirt and the spots of blood seeping through the fabric.
“You’re hurt,” I accused, scolding him as I gripped his arm and turned him around to inspect his back. He’d taken the brunt of the impact from the falling glass and some of the sharp pieces had managed to slice open the shirt of his waiter uniform and through to his skin. They all looked superficial though, most of them already clotted now.
“It’s not my fault.” He chuckled, raising his hands up in a pleading gesture. “I can take a little pain, especially when I have a gorgeous woman pinned beneath me.” He winked, pulling me against his side. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and we stared out toward the chaos in the ballroom.
I had completely forgotten about the two figures that stood at the end of the hall. Even now I could barely make out their forms in the shadows. Their faces were covered in black masks, the emergency lights gleaming off the hard plastic surface. The face coverings gave them both a menacing look, but I guess that was the point—you didn’t blow up a building just for funsies. I glanced up at Spade and he waggled his eyebrows at me—well maybe some of us would.
“Spade,” one of the men growled, drawing our attention back to them. There must have been a voice distorter hidden in the mask because it was deep and robotic. My gaze flicked between the two men and a million questions popped into my mind. Spade had been at Merrick’s bar the night I went, and his black leather jacket didn’t have the Demon Rider’s crest embroidered onto the back. Was he with them? Was I about to escape into a fate possibly worse than my life here or maybe … maybe he had nothing to do with them, or maybe he’d been there for the man that was sending glasses hurtling across the bar at the same moment we met.
I cupped a hand over my mouth to keep the sob in, pushing down the urge to run to them to pull off their masks and see if it was really Kellan’s and Merrick’s familiar faces beneath them. But I couldn’t do that, not yet. If it was them, they were here for me, and that sent both a shiver of fear and a buzz of excitement through me.
“She’s fine, now get on with it. We don’t have all day,” Spade shot back at the two hulking figures, his grin spreading from ear to ear as he clutched me closer. I couldn’t help but lean against his side, carefully winding my arm around a section of his back that wasn’t cut.
They both gave him one more hard look, unreadable because of the masks, and stepped out from the shadows and into the ballroom. I scanned their forms beneath the grey hoodies and jeans they wore, analyzing their build and the way they walked, looking for any sign of my guys. One of the men was taller than the other, his shoulders wider, and biceps bulging against the tight fabric. The other’s thick corded muscles were almost as large, but he held himself with a lethal calm, each step measured and sure.
I stepped forward, the need to follow them to make sure they were safe building within me, but Spade’s hand kept me back. “You’re a troublemaker aren’t you, sugar?” He chuckled. “I’m already going to be in a shitload of trouble for not getting you out right away but this is something you need to see.”
My brows knitted together, and I glanced up at him, reluctantly taking my eyes off the two forms striding into the lion’s den, thick smoke now curling around them and masking them from my sight.
“Just watch,” he whispered, his violet eyes brimming with glee helping to take some of the edge off. If they were in danger, Spade wouldn’t be this excited … right? I tried to convince myself and looked back into the ballroom. Countless laser beams shone through the thick smoke, and my breath caught in my throat, about to rush forward, to knock them out of the way, until I noticed they were pointing everywhere … except at the two of them.
“Put the guns down,” one of the robotic masculine voices boomed, his voice echoing out through the ballroom and sending chills up my spine—not of fear but of yearning. The pure venom and malice that radiated off him made me forget where we were for a moment. “The guards outside won’t be coming to save you either.”
At that, the clatter of metal thumped against the ground in a sea of sound, but the lasers remained, trained on shadowed figures in the distance. They were completely surrounded. These men had brought enough back up to make even the vicious crime family back down.
“I want you to remember this moment, Angelo. We could kill you all right here and now,” the other man said, his electronic voice booming. Spade vibrated with excitement beside me at that thought, and I couldn’t deny the grin that tugged at my own lips. “But we’ll spare you tonight, under two conditions.”
They must know how the operation worked because I’d more than guarantee that Angelo was wearing a bulletproof vest, as I’d felt the bulky form beneath Tommaso’s suit. Even so, there were still a few members of their family, including his brother, Lorenzo, who were missing tonight. We might be able to get away tonight, but only if not a drop of blood was spilled. Otherwise, even if they were able to get a headshot on both Angelo and Tommaso, the rest of his family wouldn’t stop until they stomped out every last one of us.
“As of this moment, your engagement to Giana Bardot is officially over,” the first man, whom I could only assume was Merrick, growled, his hands clenching at his sides as though he wished he could strangle the last breath from the man he directed that statement toward. His declaration held no room for argument, but Tommaso’s roar of outrage still boomed throughout the hall.
“Your options are you die right now or you shut your mouth and accept that,” the other man—Kellan—said, his tone calm yet deadly, as though he was only barely holding himself back from putting a bullet between Tommaso’s eyes. “I should kill you right now for what you’ve done to her but I won’t.”
I wished I could wrap my arms around him right now, for putting that blood lust aside for now so we could get out. Because they’d all die, one way or another I’d make them pay, but we’d need a plan to cut off every single one of their heads so that they wouldn’t spawn back to life. The Barones would die, even if it killed me in the process, but I’d make sure to take every single one of them with me deep down to the fiery depths of hell.
“The second condition,” Kellan continued, regaining a slice of his composure. “Is for you all to empty wallets. Cash and jewelry all go in the bags, and if anyone tries anything we’ll put a bullet through your head.”
