AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sky nodded, thinking that Vlad had two very highly intelligent, sharply observant parents. Vlad certainly was the same way, and he’d just as relentlessly pursued her as Yerik had Darya. He never stopped hunting her, wanting her. “I’m sorry she died so young,” Sky said, meaning it.
“Ah, I approve of your humanity, Sky. It becomes you.” Yerik’s smile faded. “You see, every feeling you have is written across that very beautiful, fragile face of yours. I know you are disgusted by me. I know you hate me. And you fear me. I see the rage in your eyes as well.” He sat up, elbows on his thighs, studying her with a kind look on his face. “But I hope, as I show you my family, acquaint you with my dead son’s correspondence, and how he truly loved you, that you will begin to mellow a little toward me.”
Sky felt her heart thud with more terror. She sank inwardly because she had always known she couldn’t hide how she felt. That put her at a disadvantage here. “I don’t know that it could ever happen,” she rasped, holding his expectant stare. Why did Yerik have to be so likable? There was no hint of threat, violence, or danger around him as there had been around Vlad. Was his father really what she saw? Or was this nothing more than a deep mind game, a manipulation far more dangerous to her than any other she’d ever encountered?
“You don’t trust me,” Yerik said, his voice pained. “I cannot fault you on that. After all, I sent my best Russian soldiers to drug and kidnap you. For that traumatic event, I truly apologize.” He opened his hands. “In my eyes, you were Vlad’s princess, someday, to become queen of all that you see here, Sky. My son had even gone so far as to come for a visit the last month before your high school graduation and begged me to help him find a suitable set of wedding rings for you.”
Sky’s mouth dropped opened. “Oh, no…”
Nodding, Yerik whispered, “He truly loved you, Sky. He had my genes. Once he met the woman he loved, he would never give her up. He would somehow convince her to love him, marry him.” He rose. “You look very stressed, and it is not my intent to make you feel badly. I want you to know you have complete freedom around La Paloma, my villa in the clouds of the Monte Verde.” He gestured around. “There will always be a guard with you, should you go outside. But I do invite you to go outdoors. The air here is delicious. The beauty of the Costa Rican jungle is like none other in the world.” He shrugged. “Who knows? Perhaps you will deign to ask me to walk with you sometime in the future? To discuss life? I do want to hear what makes you laugh. What makes you cry. My son wanted to hear those thoughts from you, but he’s no longer with us. But I am.” Yerik touched his heart with his hand. “You would give his father great solace if you could one day find in your heart to take such walks with me.”
Her stomach rolled. Sky felt like vomiting. It had come out of nowhere. Standing, she clasped her belly. “Please, I need a bathroom. NOW!”
CHAPTER 12
June 24
Lauren wiped herwatering eyes, the text blurring on her laptop. She sat in the briefing room that had been converted into a war room to locate Sky. The clock on the wall read 0200, two a.m. A week had passed, and they’d found no clue to Sky’s whereabouts. Lauren felt horrible, her mind imagining snatches of what she must be going through.
“Knock, knock?”
Lauren lifted her head, looking toward the opened door. She saw Alex hesitantly come in, two cups of coffee in his hands. She was too tired to raise her defenses. “What are you still doing here? I thought you’d left already.”
Alex shrugged and pushed the door shut with the heel of his combat boot. “I just got done looking at a thousand photos over in another department with Master Chief Butch.” He smiled tiredly and held up the cups. “Would you like some?”
Rubbing her face, she muttered, “Yeah. Thanks…”
Alex leaned across the table and placed it near her laptop. “Do you mind if I remain for a minute? Or would you like to be left alone?” He was fairly sure Lauren would send him away. For a week, they had rarely seen one another. Everyone was focused on their individual tasks. He saw Lauren lift her head, her beautiful emerald eyes red rimmed. She was exhausted. Everyone was putting in twenty-hour days. They were sleeping in chairs, head resting on their arms across a table was the norm, only going to the condo to shower and grab clean clothes.
“Have a seat. Thanks for the coffee,” Lauren murmured, picking up the cup and carefully sipping from it.
Heartened, Alex sat down, placing his large hands around the cup. “I… uh… I am worried about Cal. You know I moved in with him at the condo a few days ago? That Joe told him to let me stay with him?”
“Yes.” Lauren rubbed her smarting eyes. “I’m worried about him, too.” Joe and Abby had flown home yesterday. They couldn’t leave their children with Abby’s mom any longer and had to resume their parental duties in West Virginia. Lauren now shared their condo with Jack Driscoll, next door to where Cal and Alex stayed. Ben and Leah Gordon had reluctantly left as well, their one-year-old child needed them home in Kentucky.
Giving her a furtive look, Alex said, “I do not know that I could hold up like Cal is holding up. If my woman… I mean… If I had one…, was kidnapped and I knew she was in harm’s way, I would go berserk.”
“Your Ukrainian blood,” Lauren suggested wryly, giving him a blunt look. She saw Alex flush. The man, despite being so tall and massive, had a teenage boy’s reactions sometimes. Maybe that was upbringing. Lauren wasn’t sure. She saw his strong, full mouth pucker into a boyish pout.
“Could be,” he agreed.
“What are you worried about regarding Cal?”
Sitting back in the chair, Alex felt grateful just to be talking calmly with Lauren. She wasn’t being defensive with him. Perhaps it was because of the sleep deprivation, it sure as hell tore the veneer off people in a hurry, and what you saw in that state was the real person. The shadows beneath her glorious eyes told him she was catching only two or three hours of sleep a night. Lauren was tired, no question, her eyes clouded, stress lines around her luscious mouth, a perpetual V between her slender eyebrows as she poured through thousands of photos trying to identify possible sites for Alexandrov’s hidden villa in the clouds.
“Cal does not sleep. Oh, he goes into his bedroom, but I am a light sleeper. I hear him get up, walk the hall, pacing. Always pacing.” Alex scowled and sipped some of the coffee. “Do you know how to help him?” and he gave her a searching look.
Shrugging, Lauren said, “Are you asking from a woman’s perspective or are you asking what men do when they’re caught in a vise?”
“I know,” Alex admitted quietly, “we are very bad at talking, are we not?”
“Worse about admitting your feelings. And yes, men in general are terrible communicators. Add to the fact we’re black ops, and being closed mouth is just part and parcel how a man or woman operates in that environment. Worse than a clam.”
“Yes.” Alex gave a huge sigh, feeling defeated and helpless. “What would you do if you were in my footsteps?”
“In your shoes,” Lauren corrected, a self-deprecating grin tugged at one corner of her mouth. Alex was having a terrible time with American slang. He slaughtered it, and sometimes, it was funny as hell, but Lauren tried not to embarrass the man. He had worked just as hard, just as many hours as any of them to find Sky. And if it hadn’t been for his memory and knowledge of Alexandrov, they wouldn’t even be this far along in their search.
“Oh… okay,” and Alex gave Lauren gave an apologetic look. “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
