by Brook Wilder
I did look up then, my heart breaking as I saw the hurt in his eyes. I had put that hurt there, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“For another day, then you can collect your money and leave.”
His nostrils flared.
“No different than what you are doing with this marriage.”
Ouch, he had me there.
“I’m not leaving. I am just going to collect myself, alright? I need a moment away.”
“Come, Nataliya,” my father said, walking into my line of vision, his hand out. “I’ll take you.”
Fox said nothing, but the clench of his jaw told me all I needed to know. He was still pissed at me and rightfully so. I had pretty much told him his manhood wasn’t good enough.
“Thank you, Papa,” I said quietly, as my father led me down the corridor toward the main house, the sounds of the rehearsal dinner fading from my ears.
He patted my hand, a smile on his face.
“Of course. You look troubled tonight.”
“I am fine, Papa,” I answered, not wanting him to worry about me. We walked into the kitchen, and I sat on one of the barstools, arranging my dress to keep from showing anything more than I wanted to. “I’m just tired.”
“And excited, I’d wager,” he added with a smile. “My little girl, getting married. My heart is full.”
I gave him a wan smile.
“Of course, Papa.”
He sat next to me, groaning as he situated himself on the stool.
“Do you know your grandmother did not like your mother?”
I smirked. That was not a surprise.
“Grandmother didn’t like a lot of people.”
He chuckled.
“But she really did not like your mother. She thought I was lowering my standards by marrying a ballerina instead of some Russian royalty and refused to bless my marriage.”
“But you married her anyway.”
He nodded.
“I did, and I do not regret my decision. Your mother and I, we have had our differences, but there is a mutual affection there, Nataliya.” He then looked over at me, his expression sad. “I do not see the same when I look at you and Bryan.”
My eyes crowded with tears, but I blinked them back, refusing to cry in front of my father.
“He is a suitable match, Papa. I will learn to love him.”
“Learn?” he questioned. “My dear, you do not learn to love anyone. Either you do or you don’t, and I fear you are going to find nothing but disappointment in this marriage.”
I could not believe what I was hearing from my father, the man who had never chosen to give his advice so freely to me before. It was as if he cared, and the feeling was strange indeed.
“You gave your blessing.”
“I did,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t mean it is the right decision. We all make mistakes, and I have always been a man who is willing to admit my wrongdoings. It’s what your grandma beat into me when I was younger.”
“Papa,” I breathed, not believing what I was hearing. “Are you sure?”
I had been willing to be Bryan’s wife because I thought that was what he had wanted of me. I knew my mother wanted it, desperately, but knowing that he didn’t… Well, that could change a few things.
I watched as he stood gingerly, leaning over to pat my hand.
“I love you, Nataliya, and trust you will make the right decision for you, my daughter, not for anyone else. Remember, it is your life you will live.” He then gave me a wry smile. “I will give you five minutes before I send him to find you.”
I knew whom he was talking about, wondering if we were so transparent that everyone knew Fox and I were sleeping together. My heart was thumping against my chest, my palms suddenly sweaty. He was giving me a choice.
“Thank you, Papa.”
He smiled and walked away, whistling a familiar tune from my childhood as he headed back toward the party.
I watched him go, not believing this discussion we had just had. My father was giving me a choice. It was hard to believe.
I sighed, stopping myself from rubbing my face, less I smeared my makeup. I was going to have to go back to that dinner, smile and laugh as if everything was perfectly fine, like I hadn’t just been given the key to my own destiny.
Or I could run away and text Fox my location so that he could join me.
Grinning, I glanced at the kitchen clock on the stove, seeing that only a minute had elapsed. Fox would be here soon, and I would have to make a decision regarding my future. I had to decide what I was going to do. I could walk down that aisle and marry Bryan, like the plan that was already set in motion to happen. Or I could throw caution to the wind and go after Fox, the man I truly loved.
A giggle escaped me, and I smothered it with my hand, surprised at how I was thinking. I was actually thinking about leaving all that money on the table and walking away, into the unknown, to let love drive my future.
Oh my god! I had gone crazy.
Pushing off the stool, I started back to the guest-house without waiting. I was in charge of my own destiny.
The problem was that I didn’t know what destiny I wanted. But I sure as hell was gonna find out what my options were, starting with Fox.
Chapter 14
Fox
I glanced at my watch, looking as the second hand ticked closer to another complete minute. She had one more minute, and then I was coming for her. I had been surprised myself when Zebrovskiy himself had stopped me in the hall, telling me where his daughter was and that I was to give her four minutes before I went to get her.
“There is much to discuss between the two of you,” he said softly, clapping me on the shoulder. “Do not give up on my daughter.”
“Yes sir,” I answered, not even wanting to know how he knew about us.
Was it that obvious, or had Nat said something to him?
But if he was sending me, then that meant he didn’t want his daughter to marry the asshole. That, and I was about ninety percent sure I didn’t have a target on my back from his own security team either. He saw something in me that he liked. Why, I wasn’t sure. But I couldn’t believe that he was picking me over the golden boy over there.
I still had a shot. I had a shot at stopping this wedding.
A weight was lifted off my shoulders at the thought. I could have Nat for myself. I wasn’t just looking for sex either. I was looking at marriage one day, at a family, kids, the whole nine yards. I wanted to grow old with her, to make her smile and laugh well into her nineties, when we would be too old to even move around.
And her father approved.
This was gonna work.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out, seeing Jack’s number on the screen. Likely making sure I was still sane. The night that Nat and I had fought, I had gone to the club and drunk my anger away, with Jack yammering my ear off the whole time. He had told me I had gotten too close, lost my heart to a woman I could never have. Actually, it was more like what the fuck was I thinking. But the pain had still been there. I had broken every rule in my own damn rule book, finding a woman who tore me apart with her words, yet I was still panting after her like a dog in heat.
Shit!
Holding the phone to my ear, I hoped that whatever he was going to say didn’t have to do with my current situation.
“What?”
“Shit, man, what are you getting into there?” Jack barked, something in his voice raising a concern.
Jack usually wasn’t worried about anything. Being the head of the Legion, he had to keep his cool and not let it show what bothered him.
“What’s happened?” I asked slowly, scared to ask.
My being here had taken me away from the club’s activities, and if something was going down, I wanted to be all up in it. Which meant I couldn’t be here, convincing Nat she deserved to be with me and not Bryan.
It was a hard choice, one in which I would have to find a common balance. I had a duty to the club,
and I knew Nat would understand that.
But I couldn’t leave before I knew that Nat was mine and mine only.
“It’s the Diablo man,” he said with a heavy sigh. “They heard you were part of Chavez’s beat-down the other night, and shit… They aren’t happy about it. They are coming for you, Fox.”
I rolled my shoulders, itching for a fight.
“Let them come. I’m ready.”
Chavez had deserved what he had gotten, and more. He was lucky that was all he had gotten from the Russians, and once I found him on the street, I was gonna make sure that he never bothered Nat again.
“It’s not only that,” Jack continued on like I hadn’t said a word. “I think you need to stick close to your girl, man. There’s rumblings that they will go after the Russian too. Word’s spreading like wildfire, and the guys are getting antsy that we are about to have a fight on our hands.”
“I’ve got it under control,” I growled, starting toward the main house.
Nat’s time was up, and now that this news was out, she was going to be pissed off at me for sticking to her side like glue. She wasn’t gonna be out of my sight, even if I had to lock us in a room together.
“Keep me updated on the Diablo. If we have to attack…”
“We aren’t yet,” Jack finished for me. “So don’t go doing anything to cause it. I’ve got the home front here, but I will be damn glad when you get your cash and come back to the club. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
“Got it,” I answered before clicking off.
If the Diablo were looking for a fight, I could give them a fight.
Still, my steps increased as I reached the kitchen, my heart flipping over in my chest, when I didn’t see Nat waiting for me where her father told me she would be.
Shit! If she had decided to leave without me, I was going to chain her to my body so that I wouldn’t lose her again. The woman was as stubborn as they came.
“Nat!”
No answer.
Forcing myself to remain calm, I walked toward the glass walkway that led to the theatre, wondering if she had found some solace there. Her father had stated that she would stay in the general vicinity of the kitchen, but knowing Nat, she wasn’t much for listening to anyone. Maybe she had decided to go pack her bags, coming with me when I showed up and we could get the hell out of there.
Yeah that was what she would be doing. There was no reason to panic, to think that something else was going on here.
My boots crunched on something about midway down, and my blood froze in my veins as I saw the busted glass, big enough for someone to walk through and gain entry to the house.
To a woman who was waiting for me to arrive.
My jaw clenched, and I felt sick to my stomach, now knowing why she wasn’t answering my calls.
Nat wasn’t in the theatre. Hell, she probably wasn’t even in the house.
Nat was gone.
**
“How the fuck did she escape your guard? I thought you were watching her like a hawk?”
I stood in the corner of the room, my arms crossed over my chest as red-faced asshole ranted in front of me. I had raised the alarm instantly, causing utter chaos for a few minutes, while all security was dispatched to search the mansion, top to bottom. The guests were sent home after being thoroughly questioned and frisked, the party shut down, and now I was closeted with her parents and the asshole, who thought it would be productive to yell every two seconds and give his damn opinion to anyone that was listening.
“Bryan, calm down,” Nat’s mother said softly, her eyes suspiciously dry given her daughter was missing. Did the woman not give a shit? “We will find Nat, and the wedding will commence tomorrow like we have planned. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure she just went out for some air, to calm her nerves.”
“Is that all you are worried about?” I asked, arching a brow. Was she kidding? Her fucking daughter was missing and all she could think about was the damn wedding that no one wanted in the first place? “The fucking wedding?”
“How dare you talk to her like that,” Bryan seethed, stalking toward me, his fists balled at his sides. “It’s none of your business, you fucking asshole. It’s your fault that she’s been taken in the first place!”
I rolled my shoulders, begging him to throw the first punch. I had been wanting to hit him for some time and this would give me a reason to do so without being arrested on the spot.
“Come on, do it. I dare you.”
His gaze narrowed, and I gave him a grin just to piss him off. I needed a good fight after all the shit of the night, and who better to kick up one side and down the other than this asshole.
“Stop!”
We both looked at Nat’s father, the strain on his face showing that he actually cared about his missing daughter. “Enough Bryan, before I hit you myself. You aren’t helping, and if you continue to interrupt with your pettiness, then I will kick you out of this fucking house myself.”
Bryan stopped his assault, looking none too happy that he had just been dressed down by the older Russian. Nat’s father ignored him, looking toward me instead.
“Come Fox, watch this video. See if you can make out who this is.”
I had already told him about the threat I had received right before Nat had gone missing, and he had doubled his security in the span of an hour. It seemed money talked around here. Ignoring Bryan as well, I walked over to the video monitors as the man at the controls wound back the tape to the moment in question.
“There,” her father said, pointing to the screen. “See that?”
I watched as the three men scaled the outer wall and made their way to the house. The way they were moving, it looked like they had known the security patrol patterns so that they could avoid detection.
If that was the case, it could only mean one thing, and the thought turned my stomach. It was an inside job.
“They knew,” I said softly, the words heavy on my tongue.
“Yes,” her father sighed heavily, slumping his shoulders. “Someone on the inside knew about the security cameras and helped them in taking my daughter.”
“Who the hell is that?” Bryan asked as he peered at the screen, having come close enough to look at it. “Is that who took my Nat?”
I bristled at his use of words, knowing she was far from ‘his’.
She was mine.
Looking closer, I clenched my jaw as I realized who the men were, confirming my worst fear.
“Cazadores.”
“Cazadores,” her father confirmed in a near whisper, his face going pale. “Just like you said.”
Bryan grabbed my shoulder and whirled me around before I could react, his face mottled with anger.
“What the fuck do you mean? Did you have something to do with this, Lawrence? I knew you were bad to have around.”
“Don’t fucking touch me again,” I said in a deadly calm voice, itching to hit him. I was trying to be respectful of what was going on, wanting to find Nat and ensure her safety before I beat his ass, but he was making it difficult. “Unless you want to kiss your life goodbye.”
“I’m not scared of you,” he said, though his voice had lost some of its steam.
“Men, please,” Zebrovskiy said, raw emotion in his voice, pain laced with every word. “My daughter is missing. Can you handle that first?”
“Call the police, Kolya,” her mother replied, rising from the chair. “Let the professionals handle it.”
I snorted. That was the dumbest thing she had said in the last two seconds. “They won’t do shit for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” They would laugh in their faces, telling them that Nat had left, and the video didn’t prove shit, especially since we didn’t have the actual kidnapping on tape. “I’ll go.”
“I don’t trust you,” Bryan said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You could have been the one to take Nataliya. I have seen the way you look at her. You want her.”
I wasn’t goi
ng to respond to him right now, for the only answer I would have for him was my fist planted in his face.
“Lawrence will go,” Nat’s father decided, his jaw set.
“Kolya, please,” Nat’s mother started. “Bryan is her fiancé. He should be making the calls.”
Zebrovskiy slammed his fist on the table. “I am still in charge of this family! We hired him for a reason, and he knows these Cazadores. Lawrence will find our Nataliya and bring her home.”