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“Victor,” she whispered, her deep cerulean eyes widening as panic flared inside her breast like cold fingers coiling around her heart. “What are we going to do?”
Luke didn't answer. One of the goons, a large man dressed in a navy blazer and matching chinos with a squashed face, stepped forward.
“All right, people!” he yelled, his deep voice sounding more like a growl than speech. “We’re looking for two people. A man and a woman. We know who they are and that they’re here, so stay out of our way. Don’t try to play the hero and you won’t get hurt.”
“They are looking for us!” Sophie whispered, grabbing his hand and clinging to his arm with a death grip. “Luke, what are we going to do?”
Time and again, they'd discussed what she should do if they were discovered, but now the moment was here, she was lost.
Watching for a moment as both goons began to push through the dancers, Luke waited, a calculating look playing across his handsome features as his eyes poured over the scene. There were too many innocents for him to shoot a way out, but if they did not move, then it would just be a matter of time until they were caught. They had only one choice and subtly looking from side to side. A small smile graced his thin lips when he spotted a back door.
“Over there,” he whispered, nodding to the door. “Move slowly and don't look back. Go now and I'll meet you outside.”
Sophie didn't hesitate. Keeping her head down, she walked through and around the throng, taking care not to draw anyone’s attention. Blessedly, her movement attracted little notice and she couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief as she felt the cold steel of the backway’s handle beneath her fingertips. Pressing her palm gently against the leaver so it wouldn't make a sound, she pushed it open a crack and slipped silently through into the cold night air before pulling it closed.
The door opened out into an alcove for a flight of concrete steps up to the alley behind the club. Taking the flight at a run, a quick glance confirmed it to be empty. However, she didn't have time to get her bearings. No sooner had she emerged out next to the fire escape ladder than the door beside it suddenly burst open.
Spinning around, she had a moment’s dread that Victor must have seen her and doubled round to cut off her escape, but instead, Luke emerged out with his Beretta M9 in hand. Pivoting, he shoulder-slammed the door shut and gave the escape lever a twist that ripped it off its hinges, jamming the mechanism.
“Quick, someone will have heard that. Up the stairs.”
Sophie wanted to protest. The stairway was very similar to the ones in old action movies. It was so dilapidated and rusted, it looked like it hadn’t been maintained since Hitchcock used it in North by Northwest.
One look from Luke, though, silenced her. They didn’t have a choice. The main road would be out of the question, as Victor would have placed a guard or two at the building’s entrance, just in case they tried to run. The alleyway was a lost cause as it ended with a wall which looked too high for either of them to climb. They'd have to chance it and find a place to hide upstairs, while the goon squad followed his distraction out here and searched the surrounding area. They could make their getaway later when the heat had died down.
They made it up to the first level without any interruptions, their every step making the old steel structure sway and tremble. Before Sophie could make a move towards the door, Luke shook his head and directed her to the second flight, making her curse under her breath. Yet when she felt Luke's arm on her shoulder, she forgot her inhibitions and let him shepherd her up the creaky stairwell. Still, they needed to get off these bloody stairs before they collapsed from underneath them. Luke seemed not to share her distress, however, and instead, he pressed her on like she was little more than a stubborn child.
Somehow, the structure held out and as they stepped onto the brickwork of a balcony; the pair breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it.
“Well, well, well... look at what I have found,” chortled an all too familiar voice. Sophie pivoted around to find Victor standing on the railing, his own M9 trained on Luke’s heart. “Now, be a good boy Luke, drop it.”
Lips pursed so tight they formed a white line, Luke dropped the Beretta, so it landed on the grating with a cling, then nudged it over the side with his boot.
“That’s a good little dog, and you princess,” he turned the gun on Sophie. “Your escapades are getting more creative. What did you promise him?”
Tears burned the corner of Sophie’s eyes. “Victor, please…”
“Was it your heart?” he grinned, his face contorting into a twisted look of sadistic glee, like a child pulling the wings off a fly. “Well, we all make mistakes. Your father has already forgiven you. In fact, he has a gift for you. He’ll give you his hear-ahh!” Luke didn’t blink, he just acted, lunging forward. He caught the older man’s arm, raised it high, so the M9 pointed skyward. Then he hit him. It came in hard and fast, with all his power behind it. A storm of force that drove into Victor’s belly with a meaty slap and sent him tumbling back and over the edge.
Not staying to hear the sickening splat, he quickly opened the fire door and ushered Sophie into the deserted corridor lined by rows of doors. Stepping in after her, he walked partway down the corridor and then tried a door.
The door slid open with no resistance and he held it open for Sophie before pulling it gently closed behind them. Unwilling to relax just yet, though, he pressed his ear against the door and listened for any sound of movement on the other side. Victor’s death would undoubtedly attract the attention of his goons, but he doubted they would come up here. After all, what self-respecting couple on the run would hide inside the building they knew was being searched? Especially after killing the right hand of God.
Luke kept his ear pressed against the timber until he was sure that the coast was clear, but turning around, his breath caught in his throat.
They were in what must have been the club's penthouse suite. It was easily larger than any of the apartments and hotel rooms they had stayed in over the last few months and, without a doubt, far more luxurious. Pine furniture of various degrees decorated the spacious chamber and an immense, king-sized, four-poster bed took up almost the entire span of one wall.
Sophie stood in the centre of the room, the low light seeming to give her an eerie glow as she fixed him with a look that made his mouth run dry. There was a passion in her eyes, the likes of which he had never seen there before, and when she came to him, it was with all the grace and speed of a stalking tigress. Crossing the breadth between them in an instant, she jumped into his arms and crushed her lips to his in a searing embrace.
Momentarily forgetting about the soon to be vengeful goons, their lips parted, and tongues met, causing Sophie to moan as she felt the hungry passion explode within her breast. With a frenzied desire, her hands ran over every piece of Luke's back while his own sought her hips, crushing her to him as his rough palms groped the firm flesh of her buttocks through the fabric of her tiny maxi dress.
Locked together until the need for air grew undeniable, Sophie pulled back, playfully biting her lover's lower lip as she did. She wanted to go further, but Luke’s confused look made her pause.
“Sophie?”
“You did it. We’re free,” she whispered, her mischievous hands slowly creeping down his body as she spoke before cupping his cock through his jeans. “Oh, I want you Luke. Mmm…watching you got me so hot!”
Tempted as he was, Luke couldn't draw his mind away from the goons hunting them, but then his lover's fingers began to work at the fastening, pushing the garment down his legs to pool around his ankles.
