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“Alessandro, what are you saying?”
“Run. Run, Grace.”
She paused for a moment to whisper, “I love you,” before gripping the handle of our suitcase and sprinting toward the hotel. I moved immediately, turning around and sprinting after the man following us. My muscles burned from soreness, and I was so tired I felt like passing out. But I kept my eyes locked on my target and moved fast.
Got you, motherfucker.
Chapter Eight
Nix
I shouldn’t have come.
It was hard enough escaping the guards that kept watch over me. This morning, when I saw footage of Alessandro and Grace going through customs, my heart bottomed out. They were being reckless. Alessandro didn’t know how to disappear quite like I did. I watched them when I could, then became anxious when I realized they were shopping just around the corner of where I was being held. It was risky, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the Ringleaders found out that I’d escaped—or found Alessandro and Grace. But I had to warn them.
So I crushed pills in my guard’s drink and slipped out the window when he passed out. I’d been saving this method for a special occasion. I’d never attempted to escape before, so the guards weren’t expecting it. I had to see if Alessandro and Grace were okay. I needed to see that they really were alive, as well as make sure none of the Ringleaders were following them. I should have known Alessandro would catch me stalking after them. The moment Grace sprinted off toward the hotel they were staying in, I spun around and ran the opposite direction. My feet pounded against the pavement. Confused pedestrians filtered out of the way as I dodged and ducked to get away. No, no, no. He couldn’t find me, because thentheywould find him. I was so fucking stupid.
My breathing became labored as I sprinted across a bridge and through a strip of restaurants with outdoor seating. I knocked over a chair and sent glasses flying when my body collided with a vacant table. People were shouting, and I took a split second to look over my shoulder. Alessandro was gaining on me. And when our eyes met, he stumbled in shock. Fuck.
I pushed harder and turned left down an unpopulated street. At the end was the ocean, and if I weren’t fucking terrified of sharks, jellyfish, and the like, I’d jump in. There was nowhere for me to run to.
I spun around. “Stop!” I screamed while holding my hands up. “Just let me go.”
Alessandro ignored me, running harder than ever before. I watched in awe as his long legs closed the distance between us. My chest heaved as he sprinted closer, closer, closer. That wild brown hair of his whipped about. He breathed chaos and desperation. When he stopped in front of me, a battle of wills erupted. I helplessly looked him in the eye.
“It’s you,” he whispered in awe before reaching out to touch my cheek. I closed my eyes at the contact. When was the last time someone touched me so tenderly? He smelled like sweat and airport, but I didn’t fucking care. “It’s really you.”
Alessandro stepped closer. Our bodies molded together. It was a familiar stance. I relaxed, the muscle memory of being in his embrace welcomed me home with a vengeance. He pressed his forehead to mine. He breathed me in. He cupped both of my cheeks.
He needed to leave.
“You shouldn’t be here. You both need to go right now. I can’t be seen with you. They’ll—”
Alessandro cut me off with a searing kiss. His mouth was lined with gritty stubble. His soft lips danced with mine. It was a reunion of passion. Of longing. Of need and desire and hot, carnal lust. He grabbed my hoodie and clutched it in his fists, yanking me closer. I threaded my hands through his hair and pulled. He nipped at my bottom lip while groaning in pleasure. My cock throbbed and jerked against his muscular frame. I wrapped my arm around his back and dug into the flexed muscles there.
Our teeth crashed together, and his sweet tongue lapped me up. He moved to my jaw and licked a long line up the defined muscle before sucking on my neck. I moved my hands to the waistband of his pants and tugged on his belt buckle. He moaned and poked at me with his cock—a cock I wanted to wrap my lips around. “Fuck,” he groaned. The sunshine beat on our heads. The ocean waves crashed around us, but we were gone to the world. I was kissing Alessandro once again. I was feeling once again. He sunk his hands up under my sweatshirt and danced his rough fingers along the grooves of my abs. I cupped his bulge and squeezed slightly, making him melt against me.
“Yesss,” I hissed. Our frantic bodies moved with a sense of familiarity. Alessandro grabbed my ass, my neck, my cock. We openly groped one another without a care in the world. On and on it went. He bruised my top lip with his punishing kisses. A tingle traveled up my spine, and I could have come on the spot if an intrusive thought didn’t invade my mind. I pulled away.
“Wait, wait. Where is Grace?” I asked. Alessandro’s face soured, and I knew I’d ruined the moment. The moment was always ruined between us.
“Fuck,” he cursed before stepping backward. He eyed my lips like he wanted to devour them again. I probably would have let him if this wasn’t so fucking dangerous. He ran his hands through his hair and started pacing. “Come with me.”
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Alessandro stomped up to me and gripped my collar. No longer was his expression filled with awe and lust. He looked like he wanted to kick my fucking ass. “You’re coming with me. You’re going to see Grace, because she’s been miserable without you. You’re going to stop being a pussy and tell us about what we’re up against. You’re going to do it if I have to drag you back myself.”
I rolled my eyes. He had no fucking clue what I was up against. If he even knew the half of it, he would be running the other way. But again, loneliness made me weak. I wanted to go with him. I wanted to keep feeling. I wanted to see Grace. “You don’t get it. If I don’t get back to my apartment soon, an entire army will be on our asses. You’ll be dead in an instant. I know too much, Alessandro. This is bigger than anything you’ve ever dealt with. They are probably already plotting how to get rid of me for this little field trip.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “That sounds like a bullshit excuse.”
I balled my hands into a fist and snarled. “You think I wanted to stay away for five years? You think I just went into hiding and worked for sick fuckers for kicks? They threatened anyone I ever cared about. They locked me up. The only reason I got out now was because I drugged my guard. They’re going to find me and punish me. They’re going to assign me some hacking job where I have to make trains collide, or they’re going to make me hack into a health database and find out what rich fuckers have sick children and offer a cure in exchange for ransom. ’Cause, oh yeah, these people have the cure to every disease imaginable and like to hoard it to themselves. I stumbled upon a lab they owned where they create new diseases.”
Alessandro’s brows raised in shock. “You know what else?” I continued, all the sins spilling from my mouth like vomit. “Maybe they’ll make me order a hit. Maybe they’ll make me steal a young college student’s entire savings. Or order a house to be burned down with the owners inside. I am a fucking puppet, and they are the Ringleaders. I do what they say or else.” Alessandro ran his hand through his hair. “Icouldkill myself. You know that’s something I’ve considered? But they’d just find someone else with only half a conscience and still punish the people I love. I fight where I can. I protect who I must. You have no fucking clue what you’re up against. This is an elite group that runs theworld. Not even Gavriel Moretti could stop them. They’ll burn down entire countries for sport.”
I spat at the ground and threw my hands up. I knew I’d said too much, but there was no stopping the truth now. I was losing my fucking mind. Losing control. Losing myself to the whims of this evil organization I couldn’t escape. I paced. The anger buried in my chest came alive with Alessandro’s kiss. I wanted more from my life. I wanted freedom from these evil people. “Nix,” Alessandro growled. “Nix, listen to me.”
I didn’t stop my pacing for even a minute. I couldn’t. I had all this fury and nowhere to put it.
