AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s probably just people out for a joyride. They’ll veer away.”
We stood there watching and waiting, but they kept a straight path directly for the yacht. After a few more minutes, it seemed like they were on a collision course for us. Aleksei swore and took my arm, his face no longer relaxed and full of happiness.
“Go below and hide,” he said. “And do a much better job than you did before. If anyone boards, you’re not to come up until I find you.”
“Aleksei, no.”
He gripped my shoulders and pushed me toward the door to the stairs. “Lock yourself in, do you understand me?”
I nodded, terrified by the look in his eyes, and tried to get him to come with me. At the door to the deck below, he gave me a hard kiss, then shoved me toward the stairs. A glance over my shoulder showed how much closer the other boats were now, and each one teemed with armed men. Aleksei gave me a long look and slammed the door.
The crew members that I was now certain were really Aleksei’s guards swarmed out of their discreet hiding places, heading toward the upper deck. One of them guided me toward the bedroom, looking wildly around until he pointed to an almost invisible seam in the wood paneling. He popped open a hatch to reveal a storage area and quickly pulled out the life vests and extra blankets that were in it.
“Get inside,” he ordered. “Don’t come out until Aleksei gives the all clear.” He took pity on my rising panic to add, “It’s probably nothing.”
But his hand rose to rest on his gun, and his eyes were deadly serious. I wedged myself in the hiding place and held my breath as he shut the panel, leaving me in darkness. After a few minutes of trying not to panic, I slid it open a crack to get a little light. It was perfectly quiet, though the yacht rocked more urgently from the wake of the other boats. Perhaps the drivers of the speed boats had been drinking and hadn’t realized how close they were. They were probably well past us by now. I crawled out and opened the double paned windows, realizing they must be soundproofed for the room to be so utterly silent. Immediately I heard the roar of the engines.
Let them pass,I prayed, wishing the windows were on the other side so I might be able to see what was going on.
I was knocked forwards by a grinding crash, hitting my head against the sturdy glass. Dazed, I crawled back toward my hiding place. Had they actually rammed us? I was past hoping they were just drunk, irresponsible college kids. Shouts rang out, along with pounding footsteps. Finally, the distinct sound of gunshots rattled down from above. Oh, hell no. I couldn’t hide when Aleksei was in such obvious danger. I pressed my ear against the door and finally opened it when it seemed like all the action was only taking place upstairs. A terrified crew member, clearly not one of Aleksei’s men, pushed past me and slammed the door again.
“Don’t go out there,” he hissed. “A bunch of insane Russians just boarded us.”
Okay, so everything wasn’t settled with the Pavlovs, then.
Common sense and the fear of Aleksei’s wrath for disobeying him told me to stay put, get back in my hiding place. But something stronger made me ignore both those things and creep out into the hall. I had to get eyes on Aleksei, make sure he was all right. Sneaking up the stairs, I stifled a gasp at the dead man draped across the doorway at the top. I stepped over him, careful not to disturb the puddle of blood that had pooled from the gunshot to his head. He was dressed all in black, not one of ours, so I spared no sympathy for him. The next body I passed was one of Aleksei’s guards, the man who’d been refilling our drinks all afternoon. He’d taken a massive hit to the chest, his blood coating the sleek wooden deck. I dropped to a crouch and looked around for any weapon he might have dropped, but there was nothing. His eyes stared blankly at the sky, and I silently thanked him for trying to protect us. Further along, I saw several more men dressed all in black, dead where they’d been dropped by well-aimed bullets. The walls of the once pristine yacht’s wheelhouse were painted with red splashes.
Tiptoeing to the wheelhouse door, I peered through the glass to see the captain cowering behind a bench, and the radio, which I’d been hoping to use to call for help, had been obliterated by a spray of bullets. The captain saw me and motioned frantically for me to get inside and hide with him, but I kept going. Kept passing more dead men in black along with more of Aleksei’s guards, all lying in rivers of their own blood. I was too focused on finding Aleksei to stop and check if anyone was still alive. I wished I’d counted how many men had been in the speedboats, but it all happened so fast. Time seemed to be working strangely, too. Just rushing down the stairs and hiding had seemed like ages ago. It might have been shock, but I ignored everything except finding Aleksei. When I found him, everything would go back to normal again.
If I found him alive.
My breathing grew more ragged when I heard an angry raised voice, speaking fast in a language I didn’t understand. I presumed it was Russian. I stopped, hidden by the corner of the stairs leading up to the highest sundeck, unable to find the final burst of courage needed to see who he was shouting at.
Aleksei had to be alive. He had to be. Everything was going perfectly for once. But this wasn’t fantasy land. He had pissed off a powerful, vindictive man. All for me. If he was dead, I would be to blame.
“You don’t want to do this, Roman.”
I shuddered with relief at hearing Aleksei’s voice and peeked around the stairs. Pavlov faced away from me, and had Aleksei backed against the rail, a gun trained on his forehead. They were barely six feet apart, there was no way a shot from Pavlov’s gun would go wild. That meant there couldn’t be a shot. Or I had to make it go wild. I crept further out from my post behind the stairwell. Aleksei saw me over Pavlov’s shoulder and, for a fraction of a second his eyes flashed terror, then fury. With a tiny shake of his head that only I noticed, he turned his focus back on the man with the gun aimed at him. He wanted me to turn around and hide again, but how could I?
“You have two choices, Aleksei,” Pavlov taunted. “Honor the contract your father made with me and marry my daughter, or get shot and eaten by fishes.”
I tore my gaze away from Aleksei and honed in on Pavlov’s hand. His finger was still on the safe side of the trigger guard.
“I am honoring the contract,” Aleksei said, much calmer than he should have been. “You and Sofia are getting exactly what was offered. To be aligned with my family. You’re the one choosing to back out.”
Pavlov roared. “You’ve made your choice then, you lying dog.”
His finger twitched, curling inward. I saw red, leaning down and barreling toward the dumpy old man who was threatening the father of my child. I slammed into his center of gravity with my shoulder, tackling him like a football player, desperate to bring him down with all the force of my rage. I wanted to feel his body smash against the deck, hopefully breaking as many of his ribs as possible, even his spine if I was lucky. Instead, he flew forward, knocking into Aleksei. I grappled at his gun arm as we bounced into the rail and his weapon clattered away. Aleksei wrapped his arms around Pavlov at the same time he pushed me backwards. I hit the deck hard enough to rattle my teeth, and in a blink, both men tumbled backwards over the railing.
“No!” I screamed and scrambled to my feet, grabbing the rail and leaning over. I searched the water, sobbing, but there was no sign of them. “No, no. Aleksei!”
He didn’t answer my shout. There was nothing but dark, roiling water below.
Chapter 21 - Aleksei
As I went over the side, anger flashed at my woman for coming out of her hiding spot and risking her safety, almost instantly overwhelmed by pride at how courageous she was. I hit the water hard, and all thoughts turned to survival, crushed in a bear hug as Roman tried to drag me further down. Both of us kicking up bubbles that blinded me, I hauled back my fist and struck him in the face three times in quick succession. He garbled something as blood floated from his nose, his eyes bulging with rage. He had next to no care for his own life as long as he took me down with him. He headbutted me, causing me to shout in pain. Water filled my lungs and I futilely spit it out, clawing to break free from his death grip to get to the surface. The floating blood that mingled with the bubbles was almost pretty, the increasing lack of oxygen and the headbutt to my nose making me loopy. Older and out of shape, Roman finally loosened his grasp, making one last ditch effort to kick me downward as he paddled frantically for the surface. Lungs burning, face aching, I forced my way up.
As soon as I broke the surface, I heard Theresa shouting my name. It was sweeter than the huge gulp of air I sucked in before getting my bearings. Roman was bobbing about ten feet away from me, fighting the waves to get back to the boat. I waved for Theresa, still desperately crying and searching for me, and a moment later a red and white life ring bounced off my head and floated away.
