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Kaviathin raised his eyebrows. “Interesting.”
Something warm brushed against my leg and my eyes widened as a rat scurried from behind me. I jumped backward, hitting my head on the edge of the desk.
The men all grew quiet, and I held completely still as they looked up.
“Check that out,” Kaviathin barked, and heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.
I backed up slowly, the necklace falling from my hand and landing over one of the grate holes.Oh, no, please don’t fall.If it fell, it was going to land within feet of them, and then I’d be royally screwed. Just as I was about to grab it, strong hands wrapped around my waist, tugging me back, a hand coming over my mouth. They dragged me backwards into the corner behind a stack of boxes.
My heart slammed against my chest, and I clawed at the hand, trying to free myself.
“Quiet, Nova.”
Cian.
“Don’t say a word. Understand?” His breath was warm against my ear, and I nodded. He let me go, the footsteps almost to the top of the stairs.
He picked up a small pebble and tossed it to the other side of the room. The footsteps stopped suddenly, then came the sound of boxes crashing to the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut, my blood running cold, knowing that whoever was up here with us had a gun, and we didn’t stand a chance. Cian held his finger up to his lips and gave me a pointed look. I nodded, my stomach dropping to the floor when he pulled out a gun himself and pointed it in the direction of the man.
“Fucking hell,” a man’s voice grumbled from about twenty feet away. His footsteps banged down the stairs. “Was just a disgusting rat. Filthy shithole.”
I let out the breath I had been holding and stayed completely still.
“Let’s go.” Kaviathin’s voice boomed, and a moment later I heard the trucks start up and drive away. Riddick and Ryzen could be heard arguing, but the adrenaline was pumping through my whole body and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Cian disappeared around a stack of boxes, and I curled my shoulders forward, hugging my knees to my chest.
A moment later Cian came around the corner and kneeled in front of me. He lifted my head up, cupping my jaw. “Are you OK?” he whispered.
I nodded, my mouth suddenly dry. This might not have been the best idea I had come up with. I’d wanted to catch Ryzen doing something illegal, but I hadn’t been mentally prepared to actually be within feet of dangerous men holding guns again. Images of the masked men at my wedding grabbing me ran through my mind, and I shuddered.
Cian reached over and grabbed the necklace, stuffed it into the pocket of his pants. He grabbed my hand and tugged me up from the ground. “We need to wait a few minutes so they don’t see us leave.”
I nodded, his arms wrapping around me like a blanket. My whole body was shaking. Was it from fear, or just the adrenaline? Either way, it was almost unbearable. The only thing I could think of at that moment was that I had exactly what Delove and Dobbs needed—Ryzen on camera giving Kaviathin Voledetti a bag full of money. This had to be it. I was almost free from all of this.
After what seemed like an eternity, Cian walked us to the back door and left me standing there while he went outside and looked around. He grabbed my hand again and we ran down the back stairs in the opposite direction of where I had asked the cab driver to wait.
“Wait.” I tugged on Cian’s hand. “Someone is waiting for me over there.”
He shook his head and dragged me under his arm, making me run with him. “They left as soon as you went into the building.”
Well, shit, so much for trusting strange cab drivers to do the right thing. I guessed I couldn’t blame the guy. We ran down the gravel road, behind a bunch of parked cars until we got to a small sedan. Cian opened the back door and told me to get in and lie down in the back. He jumped in the driver’s seat and sped off, hopefully in the opposite direction Ryzen and Kaviathin had gone in.
“Cian, what…”
He held his hand up and I stopped talking. “I’m two seconds away from climbing back there and spanking your bare ass for being so stupid, Nova. Keep your head down until we get where we’re going.”
“But…”
“One more word out of your mouth,” he growled and I puckered up my lips.
I was tempted to give him a sassy comeback, but decided against it. Not because I didn’t want the spanking, because you know I did. But the tone in his voice told me he was not playing around, and I didn’t think I wanted to push that boundary. Not yet.
We drove for some time, and the tall Chicago buildings I saw from where I was lying in the back indicated that we were back downtown. He pulled into a parking garage, and I sat up when he opened the back door and held out his hand to me. We took the elevator up to the top floor, not saying a word the entire time. Heat was rolling off his body, and I knew that I was in for it—I was about to get yelled at. Or have mind-blowing sex.
I followed behind him as he walked over to a bar and poured a shot of alcohol before slamming it down. He poured another and handed it to me, and I did the same.
The apartment was beautiful, with dark-colored walls and large bright paintings covering the entire room. A large white sofa was in the center of the living room, and he walked over and sat down.
