AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter twenty
Declan
Thenextevening,Nataliaand I lie on the couch. I have to leave her soon per the plan we have in place, but this is probably the hardest goodbye I’ve had to date. I’ve been putting it off for the last two hours as I try to ignore the extreme feeling of dread that has taken up residence in the pit of my stomach. The unease that something will happen to her while I’m gone must be taking over my mind the closer I get to leaving.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” I ask, fiddling with our entwined fingers, trying to play off how nervous I am about her going to my father's warehouse alone. I wasn’t a fan of the idea at first. Dmitri wasn’t either, but we knew that it was our only option. We couldn’t risk Rian finding out about him yet. We can’t risk everything blowing up in our faces before we’ve even had a chance to get revenge. There’s no fucking way. If we didn’t do this, it would compromise everything.
She shrugs a shoulder and leans her head back against my chest, thumb wrestling my fingers with hers. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she mumbles. “It has to be done, unfortunately. I don’t want you to get hurt, I don’t want to get hurt, and I surely don’t want Dmitri to get hurt. At least if it were me, I don’t have anyone to go home to, any little people to be a role model for. Dmitri and you are both strong, I know. You both have connections, I know, but what about me? What happens if shit hits the fan? That’s the part that I’m not ready for.”
“Baby, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can get someone else to do it. Finn volunteered,” I rush, my words come much quicker than they should have, and I worry she will think that I am coddling her. I guess it wouldn’t be a wrong assumption, because I absolutely agree with her. There is no chance in hell I’d risk her getting hurt. Unfortunately, she doesn’t agree with me. “I don’t want you to be in the cross fires, Nat. I understand that this is your revenge, but there is always another way for this to happen. Finn is more than ready to take the necessary shots. All you have to do is say the words. He was just complaining that he didn’t get to have any fun! You’d practically be giving him an early Christmas present.”
After a moment of silence, she sits up and turns to face me. Her eyes are steel blue as she focuses on the tattoo covering my chest, indicating that she’s not giving this one up. “No. It has to be me.” She squares her shoulders as her eyes find mine, daring me to tell her otherwise.
“Baby,” I try once more, sitting further up on the couch. I try to change her mind, but she shakes her head adamantly, her eyes pinching in frustration.
“This bastard has taken too much from me already, Dec. I can’t have him take anything else from me without a fight. The problem is, he thought he was dealing with a meek little girl. He thought he could run over me with his gassed-up boots and big ego. That’s where I’m going to prove him fucking wrong. I may have needed to lie low for a while and regroup, but I’m ready to take back what's mine. I’m ready to take back everything I worked so hard over the last five years. Watching my men from the shadows be pawns in Rian’s big scheme… I can’t do it anymore. I want to watch the life drain from his eyes, the exact same way I watched my own brother’s five years ago. He should have killed me back then, because he has no fucking clue what he is getting into. He is going to turn around, and I’ll be there with my gun pointed directly between his eyes, ready to let his life drain from him like blood from the wound.” Her rant is full of passion and anger. The look on her face is fierce and the way her jaw is set, I know she means business. I know that she’s not going to take no for an answer.
The woman in front of me is not the same one who stood before me four days ago. Just a few days ago, I came to this house and found a woman that needed reassurance. She wasn’t fragile, but she definitely needed a shoulder to cry on. She refused any help from me, no matter how much she wanted it. Now, though, she is the fierce woman that the wolf on my chest represents. Sitting in front of me is a renewed Natalia, one that didn’t take no for an answer and kicked the bully's ass. I may not be ecstatic about her going straight toward the bullet, but I know that she wouldn’t want it any other way. Looking at her as a grin spreads across my face, I pull her to me and crash my lips to hers in a fervent kiss. At first, she was shocked at the sudden embrace, but it didn’t take long for her to melt against me. Tangling her hands into the hair on the nape of my neck, she returns the kiss with full force. She grinds her hips against mine, but we don’t move any further than kissing. We are both reassuring one another through our connection that everything will be okay.
One way or another, we will find each other again.
“What was that for?” She asks when I finally break the kiss, her eyes swimming with happiness.
“It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve seen the she-wolf back in your eyes. It’s been far too long since we have seen her. I’ll admit that I’ve missed her,” I answer honestly. I’ve missed the fire burning in Natalia’s eyes. The spark of pure joy that heats my chest gives me hope for the future.
Natalia smiles softly and pecks my lips again. She leans her forehead against mine, simply soaking up one another. Her phone alarm goes off, startling us both, and she frowns. “I don’t want you to go,” she whines.
“I don’t want to leave either baby,” I murmur, pulling her into my arms for a tight hug. “It will all be over soon,” I assure her, hope lacing my words. I don’t know who I’m trying to convince more, me or her.
She nods and goes to stand, pulling me up with her. “Oh, before you go. I left my charger in your car when you took me to Dmitri yesterday. Can you run it back down here?” She asks, curling her arms around my waist in another hug.
“Of course I can,” I retort obviously. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead and head outside. Stepping out onto the stone path, I pull my phone out as I walk. I dial Finn's number to let him know I would be home soon so we can talk over the plan a bit more. When it goes to voicemail, I raise an eyebrow and shrug. He must be on a job, nothing out of the ordinary in this line of work. Putting my phone back in my pocket, I jog the remainder of the way to my car and grab her charger. When I return to the safe house, I go to open the door but drop her charger instead.Good job, genius.
Bending down, I pick it up quickly, shaking my head at myself. Just as I stand to turn the knob, something hard crashes against the back of my head and everything goes black.
Chapter twenty-one
Finn
Myphonerings,butI silence it without even looking at it. My patience is already running thin. Glancing over the paperwork, I can’t help but feel frustration flow through me. The shipments are still going missing, just as Rian told Declan earlier. Everything I’m looking at doesn’t match, the paperwork is all sorts of fucked up. Declan should have fired the fucking shipment master when this first started happening. Dropping the pen from my hands, I grip the roots of my hair and rest my head against them.
Again, my phone rings for what feels like the hundredth time today. Without looking at the caller ID I pick it up.
“What?” I grind out, turning to look at the worksheet displayed on my screen.
“Don’t‘what’me like that, Finley McHale,” Skylar’s voice comes from the other end, and I wince. My eyes pop open wide, pulling the phone away from my ear.Ah, Shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“I’m so sorry baby, I didn’t even look to see who it was,” I rush out, praying that she isn’t going to wring my ass. The hand still gripped in my hair loosens slightly. Even though I may end up in the dog house, she’s the only one that helps me alleviate this crazy stress.
“It’s okay, I was only kidding,” she laughs, my seizing lungs are set free as I exhale with relief. “I was just calling to see if you knew when you’d be home? Ava, baby and I were wanting to maybe have a movie night with our daddy,” she mutters quietly, a bit of seduction hinting in her voice. I lean my head back and shut my eyes as flashbacks from the other night play. I groan as my cock twitches at the thought of her on her hands and knees calling me daddy, the way I can shove her shoulders into the mattress as I impale her from behind…
“Baby?” she questions teasingly, knowing exactly what she does to me when she calls me that.
“I’ll be leaving in just a few minutes, so within the next half hour?” I reply, readjusting my hardened dick from pressing harshly into my zipper. I put the phone between my shoulder and ear as I lock the filing cabinet and slip the key back into my pocket.
“Okay, we will have the movie ready and popcorn popping. Ava has been super excited to see her daddy today. I can definitely agree that I’m ready to see daddy too.” I can just hear the smile that’s on her face. I release a grunt, shaking my head with my own smile.
“Don’t worry, daddy's girls will be treated tonight. I love you girls.” I grab my keys and walk out of my office.
