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“The Chicago Mafia are ruthless, Princess. We need to get you out of here,” Matt says, pulling me close and whispering in my ear so as not to be overheard by the rest of his team.
I shake my head because there are more people and factions than I can imagine who would come after me if they knew who I really was, but I don’t believe that’s who is trying to break into my penthouse tonight. The only people that know I’m home in my motherland, Russia, are the people that work for my grandfather. The thought that he may have discovered my work, and has seen me with Matt, both, send a chill down my spine, but I also know he would not hurt me. I don’t have time to dwell on this, because whoever is heading up those stairs will be here soon.
I don’t say a word, and Matt doesn’t need me to. “Your grandfather. Let’s get out of this mess, and then you can tell me what the hell all of this is about,” Matt says, and I don’t correct him as he pulls me closer and kisses the top of my head as his driver weaves through the city.
The only explanation that makes any sense is that the people I work for have put two and two together. As much as me being together with Matt would anger him, he would not send his soldiers in to harm me. Unless the Chicago Mafia has tracked me, but my grandfather’s men surely would know if a rival was in their country, right under their noses, intending to do his granddaughter harm. The thought rattles around a little bit, and I don’t see how that’s possible. I was so careful, but then again, Bernatelli’s crew was able to sniff me out, or maybe it was just that they saw me when they were hauling Matt downstairs and didn’t really know who I was. It’s not like they had the chance to torture it out of me. The driver navigates us out of the city and toward the airport, but it’s soon clear that’s not where he’s headed. “Where are we going?”
Matt pulls me close. “We’ll drive for a while. The Gulfstream is refueling and going through some maintenance checks. They’ll get clearance to land at an airport about an hour away. We’ve got folks working to get you a new passport. Otherwise, as soon as your name pops, the people after you will know. They could even have the flight grounded,” Matt says.
I nod, letting it sink in. He’s right, and if I were on my own I’d be fine, but I’m not and I need much more information than I have before I can put the entire picture together. “That won’t really be necessary,” I say, opening my purse, which is as big as it is for a reason, rummage around and pull out my passport and hand it to Matt.
If I thought it would shock him, it doesn’t. “What’s the plan for the hair?” Matt says, gesturing to the picture of the short, dark-haired lady on the passport staring back at us with my blue eyes. I reach into my bag and grab a pony, wrapping my hair into a bun, and then pull my short black spiky wig out and place it on my head, shifting it into place. “Anika Smirnov, nice to meet you,” I say.
“Well, Anika Smirnov, glad to meet you. Looks like you’ll be traveling to Italy with me and my crew,” Matt says, smiling.
I am about to try to explain some of this, but he shakes his head and places his index finger on my lips. “We have a lot to discuss, but not right now. I need to focus on getting us out of this country and into Italy.”
We pass through checkpoints and the passports are cleared without so much as a raised eyebrow.
We turn into a remote airstrip where a plane is waiting for us. “Make yourself comfortable, Marenah,” Matt says, gesturing to the main cabin. “I need to work with the crew. I’ll join you when I can,” he says, leaving me to settle into the space on my own.
I don’t blame him. He has no idea who I am really, and he has a job to do.
H
It’s been hours, and I wake slightly as Matt slides in next to me in the two-seater leather recliners, buckling up just before we touchdown on a private strip in Italy. “It’s a short drive from the private strip to the airport we’re headed to,” Matt says, taking my hand, guiding me to the awaiting car, but offering me no more information than that. He probably doesn’t know what to think after what’s happened today.
I don’t know what’s going on between Sasha and Jay, but she’s clearly pissed and doesn’t plan to stay with him and instead intends to head to a hotel from the airport. I mention this to Matt, and he gets on his phone almost immediately.
“Did you just text Jay what I told you in confidence?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him.
“First, you didn’t tell me it was in confidence. Second, her security is at risk if she’s on her own. He needs to know. He needs to keep her safe, Marenah,” Matt says, grasping my hand and pulling me closer.
I should be mad, but instead I feel a deep sense of relief that for once I don’t have to solve everyone’s problems and that he and Jay have it all under control.
It is with that thought that I nuzzle into the crook of his side, with his arm wrapped around me, keeping me pressed warmly against him until we arrive. My phone buzzes with a message. Sasha again, and now she wants me to pick up some bag she’s left in the women’s bathroom at the airport.
* * *
The driver pulls upat the front entrance of the airport and lets us out into the night. Matt walks around and opens my door, helping me out of the car and taking me by the hand as we head into the airport. The security team has us surrounded, some in front and some in back.
“Why don’t you see if you can find Jay? I need to run to the restroom,” I say. I find my way to the bathroom and open door after door. The fourth stall holds my sister’s weekend bag on the hook behind it.
I am rummaging through it and am just about to call her cell and let her know that I found it when a tall man in fitted jeans and a white t-shirt underneath his jacket pushes the door open.
My survival instincts kick in. “Excuse me! You wanna tell me why the fuck you’re in the women’s bathroom acting like a goddamn stalker?” I yell, hoping someone will hear me as my foot hits his junk, just as I’ve been trained to do.
I’ve connected with my target perfectly, and his eyes widen with pain as he strives to catch his breath, staggering back and hanging onto the sink behind him. I use that time to hightail it out of the bathroom, but a huge man who looks like a human super hero captures me in his arms and they tighten around me. I struggle to get loose, but he’s not letting me go and I know at any moment the man I’ve just lashed out at will catch his breath and want revenge. I try to calm my breathing, thinking of my training and how to get loose, but damn if this man’s hold doesn’t allow me to use any of those tricks on him.
I scream, yelling at the top of my lungs for help, and that’s when I see Matt racing toward me. I wrestle as much as I can to get out of this beast’s tight hold, screaming Matt’s name. It is a public place and someone has to be able to help me, but I don’t need a bunch of people, because Matt’s eyes go dark and in a few heated strides he’s delivering a punch to my attacker that sends the big guy reeling backward, making him let me loose while Matt pulls me into his arms, and kisses my forehead.
“I’m sorry, Princess. I don’t know what happened, but I’ll get it sorted,” Matt says, running his hand down my face as the guy from the bathroom stalks toward us.
He looks pissed, and I cringe but get prepared for an all and out fight. “You wanna explain what the fuck is going on here? Why do you have your goddamn hands all over Sasha and why the fuck did you just call her Princess?” the man glaring at us says, but Matt doesn’t back down and holds me even tighter.
“I have no fucking idea what is going on, but this is the woman I told you about, my Marenah. Why do you keep calling her Sasha? That’s her sister,” Matt says, and his eyes grow wide as he finishes that sentence and looks down at me.
As soon as he does, I realize what’s going on. I almost laugh, but the intense looking man from the bathroom becomes aggravated. “If you’re not Sasha, she’s been taken. She went into the bathroom and never came out. Dereck, get a crew to get the air shafts checked. Cole, have intel focus in the on-camera footage. I want to see anyone that came in and out of this room in the last three hours. Home in on the last half an hour first. Nick, I need you to get a track on her phone. Here’s her number, put her credit cards in the system, see if anything comes up.”
