* * * *
Paulo looked at Hadeon and Andriy. “I feel like I can hear the ticking sound of a clock in my head. With each passing moment, she suffers,” Andriy stated.
“I hear it, too, brother. I failed her when she needed me most,” Paulo said.
“You did not fail her. They shot you, Paulo. We’ve lived our lives more recently with the idea that we were protected by a name and a position in Dmitri’s family. That does not apply to those who have no respect for the rules, nor those too stupid to know they were being used,” Andriy said to him.
“Jonah and Bader suffered for their participation in this. The others who stood in our way did, too. We’re beyond exhausted, I know that, but we must push on and not rest until Fina is safe in our arms,” Hadeon stated.
“I pray she is still alive. Either way, her captors will die,” Paulo said, and Andriy and Hadeon nodded.
* * * *
Hadeon stared through the binoculars. It was the prefect set up. A small building that looked like a run-down, abandoned garage. There were smaller homes around it and a large gated-in fence. Security stood on rooftop and by the gates. Not many, which could be a decoy to make anyone wanting to invade the place underestimate the firing power.
Hadeon, Andriy, and Paulo came with seventeen other men. Groups of five, all coming from different positions and infiltrating the facility at once. The prison was underground. It was a secret facility and they didn’t know what to expect or, specifically, where Fina was being held. It would mean moving through quickly, eliminating anyone in their paths, and finding her.
Hadeon swallowed hard. He thought of his own time in prison with his brothers in Russia. Would the conditions be comparable? He hoped not. He felt sick just thinking they possibly could have been. Nearly a month. A whole fucking month of searching, demanding, hunting, and finally they were here. Was what they learned from the informants correct, or was this some kind of set up? He didn’t know as he eased the binoculars down, rubbed his eyes, the sweat dripping from his skin, and waited. He glanced at Paulo, Andriy, Turbo, and Royce who were part of their team.
“A little while longer, and then he’ll arrive.” Royce whispered.”
They waited.
* * * *
It seemed like their information was bogus as Andriy looked at his watch again.
“Twenty minutes late. What the fuck?” he whispered. They were all on edge, feeling snappy, ready for action, and to do this thing.
“Hear that?” Turbo asked. Andriy nodded. A vehicle was approaching. Hadeon lifted the binoculars to his eyes.
“The guards are moving. They’re getting ready to stop the vehicle.” Andriy watched and listened to Hadeon describe what he saw.
“It’s him. Cortez and another guy,” he told them.
They heard the radio response in their ear pieces.
“As soon as they enter the door and go in, we attack the security stations. Everyone is in position. Hadeon, you and your team lead the way inside. The others follow, and Team four remains on standby outside,” Luca Mulicheck stated. Andriy was glad to have him there to assist. Him and his brothers lived for this stuff and would do anything for Hadeon, Andriy, and Paulo.
The moment Miami and the man with him, along with another security guy, closed the door and entered the building, the words “move in” were stated through the mic, and security guards started going down one by one as the swoosh sound of silencers went off in the distance.
They hurried down the through the woods and over the rocks, then across the dirt roadway, straight to the door. Andriy took lead and the further they walked in, the colder it got. They kept the silencers on their guns, weapons drawn, lights on to see a distance away. They heard talking, then the place branched off in three separate corridors. They stopped and waited for the others. They came right up.
“You five take that way. We take the middle, you that way,” Mulicheck said to them. Andriy nodded and they headed straight down the stairs, passing by numerous cells with metal doors. The stench of death, blood, and dirt surrounded them, and everything reminded Andriy of prison. Bile filled his throat and he was practically shaking with anger and hatred for the men that took his woman. He heard the voices and they moved closer until they could feel how cold it was. Like an ice box. He scanned the cells. Blood, clothing, and garments belonging to women were scattered here and there. Chains, shackles…he felt sick and glanced at his brothers and at Luca Mulicheck.
“Fucking monsters,” he said and they continued walking until the hall branched out again and into a larger room. To the right, it was pitch black. To the left is where the voices were.
Luca raised his hand for them to stop.
“I have your money. Where is my woman?” Miami asked.
“She is secured. A beauty when she first came in. Not so much anymore.”
“What do you mean? I paid you to take care of her, just beat her down enough that she wouldn’t resist me.”
“You took too long. I don’t give things for free, like food and care.”
“She better not fucking die on me. If she does, I want that fucking money back,” Miami said and Hadeon mumbled in Russian. The men began to come toward them when suddenly the sound of gunfire and men yelling erupted around them.
“You fucking idiot. You were followed here. Fuck!” the guy yelled and started to head toward the darkness. Miami ran with him but Hadeon and Andriy jumped out to stop them.
“You lose, asshole,” Andriy stated. Miami drew his gun but Andriy was faster and shot him several times, killing him. The other guy fired his weapon but Hadeon shot back, killing him next. Gunfire whizzed past their heads but they couldn’t see in the darkness.
“Just shoot that way,” Luca said and they did. They heard the grunts and then the counter fire ceased.
“Lights on. Look in every fucking cell, every nook and cranny, and quickly. We don’t know how much time we have,” Luca said. They moved together in three groups, the floor getting more uneven and the darkness so bad that they needed the light to see. Every room was empty, there was blood splattered everywhere, and rats running around. Andriy cringed.
“One more,” Luca said and saw it was locked. He shot at the lock and then slammed the barrel of his rifle against the lock tearing it off. The door creaked, the metal and wood heavy, and the smell of death enough to gag them. Their lights illuminated the room and there she was, curled up in the corner, frail, battered, and thin.
“Fina.” Andriy, Hadeon, and Paulo ran to her.
“The locks on her arms and ankles,” Luca said, and pulled out some sort of tool and slowly undid them. Andriy stroked her cheek. “Fina,” he said as Hadeon checked for a pulse.
“It’s weak.”
“She’s skin and bones. Fuck, listen to her breathing,” Paulo stated.
“We’ll get her help as quickly as we can. Lift her gently. Put this on her,” Luca passed over a thin sheet. They undid it and began to wrap her.
“No more. Please,” she said and coughed. It sounded terrible.
“Fuck, she’s so sick,” Hadeon said, and then Andriy lifted her up in his arms.
“No. I won’t go. I won’t be sold,” she moaned but couldn’t even lift her arms.
“It’s Hadeon, lyubimaya, and Andriy and Paulo, too,” he said and pressed his cheek to hers.
“Hadeon,” she said, her voice hoarse as it cracked, and she sobbed, sounding horrible, as if she were dying.
“Let’s move. Quickly,” Luca said and they hurried out of there. All of them were angry, disgusted with the images of Fina’s Hell embedded in their heads forever.
Chapter 11
Victor made her stay under his care for two weeks. It had been touch and go once they got out of Cuba and she took a turn for the worse, but Victor met them in Florida, got her stable, and then they flew her to New York. Luca and Collin’s abilities and medical expertise had an IV going with fluids, and doses of antibiotics for what they were certain was some k
ind of pneumonia combined with a bacterial infection when they were still in Cuba, and it helped. She was gaining weight slowly, but too weak to walk around.
That was okay, though. They took turns carrying her, holding her close, bathing her, and keeping her warm. No matter what they did she shivered and shook most of the time and had nightmares every night.
Andriy watched her now, remaining close as she slept. She was cuddled under the blankets and pressed up against his chest. He stroked her hair. His heart was heavy still, despite having found her and rescued her from that horrible place. During the weeks she was gone, missing, he and his brothers hardly slept. Exhaustion did them in several times, and a sadness, an emptiness so deep in his heart had him feeling things he thought he was dead to. This gorgeous, sweet, feminine little thing broke through that wall over his heart and made him fall in love.
He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. He survived Hell. He did things he wasn’t proud of, but had to in order to get the results expected. He was a monster, and so were Hadeon and Paulo. He saw darkness, and evil that fed him and led him to destroy anyone and everyone who had a hand in taking their woman away from them. They shot his brother. Paulo could have died. Fina could have been gone forever and forced into a man’s bed who sought revenge against them and so many others. It made him feel sick, but as Fina whispered to him yesterday morning when she saw him struggling to speak, she reminded him that Miami was dead.
He inhaled her scent. That glorious smell of Fina that eased his anger, calmed his antsy-ness and anxiety, and ultimately completed him. Right here, just like this with her in his arms pressed up against his chest, that hole in his heart was no more.
She started to shift, and when her lips touched his skin on his chest he didn’t tighten anymore. Even though she sought out that scar, the reminder of his time in prison where he nearly died, he understood the connection. They all did. They had all been prisoners at one time. Had survived the unthinkable. But he and his brothers had one another to get through it. Sweet, gentle Fina had no one. Her fears of darkness may last forever as the haunting sounds of night in her prison were embedded in her head, but they would be here for her. They would hold her, make love to her, and protect her with everything they had.
“I love you, Andriy,” she whispered in that hoarse voice that would take a long time to heal.
He stroked her jaw. “Ya tozhe tyebya lyublyu,” he whispered, meaning I love you, too in Russian, and gently kissed her lips.
He felt her hands slowly sliding up his chest as he moved between her legs under the covers to seek out her body once again. They made love slowly for the first time since her abduction just yesterday. One at a time they took her, her fears still raw, and her emotions, too. They understood her fears and the anxiety she had.
His cock, thick, hard and ready to claim his woman again, eased toward her pussy. She widened her thighs, cupped his cheeks, and looked up at him.
“I need you.”
“I need you, too, lyubimaya.” Slowly he pressed into her very wet cunt, knowing instantly she was sincere in her words and he stroked all the way in. Her full, pink lips parted, her eyes widened as she gripped his biceps and he was gentle in his first few strokes.
“More, Andriy. Take me harder, deeper. I need it. I need you to take the dreams away. To replace the shaking with pleasure. Please,” she begged. That voice of hers sounded so weak, frail, yet her body and her grip on his arms were tight and her eyes determined.
“You are safe here with us and in our arms.”
“With you inside of me is when I feel safest, Andriy. Take me. Make love to me. Don’t hold back. I need,” she said with tears in her eyes, and it did him in. He lifted her thighs up against his hips and began to thrust into her. He cupped her breasts, slid his hands along her ribs that were still so pronounced because of the weight loss. He felt like he could crush her with too much pressure, but then she eased his hands to her breasts and thrust her hips.
“Harder, Andriy. You won’t break me. I want and need you. You’re so big, strong, and powerful, Andriy, and mine,” she said to him, and he had to give in. He couldn’t let her see how scared he still was and how desperate to get her back to a hundred percent healthy, and perfect, and smiling. They made love and with every stroke it healed the anxiety and worry he felt. She slid her palms up and down his chest and he hissed, her touch so very powerful it shocked his system every time. He nearly lost her forever. He never wanted to feel so empty.
“Yes, Andriy. More. Please, I can feel it. Please,” she begged and he gripped her hips and thrust so deeply, so fast, and so hard she cried out and came, and he followed then kissed her on the mouth, on her cheek and neck. She hugged him tight.
“I’ll crush you, lyubimaya.”
“I don’t care. I need to feel you flush against my skin. I need it. I feel safe.”
He kissed her everywhere he could and then held her close.
“We rest and then we shower. Maybe sit in the living room for a little while today?” he asked.
She snuggled close and held him tight. “Maybe, Andriy,” she said, still not wanting to venture out of this room, into the light of the day so bright and cheerful. She had been forced to remain in darkness for so long her eyes burned and ached still when the room was too bright. He caressed her hair and absorbed the feel of her lips against his skin. He was a changed man because of Fina. No one but his brothers would see him weak like this, but she would always know how much he loved her, and no other woman, or person would ever take her place.
* * * *
Paulo watched her resting. They started out in the living room cuddling on the couch, but it was too much for her. Too open, and it gave her anxiety and a fear like someone could attack from anywhere despite being in the penthouse. So he brought her back to the bedroom and held her in his arms. He stared at her, the beauty that she was, the woman to break down their defenses and make them actually feel. He and his brothers thought their hearts were unbreakable, inaccessible, but apparently not. This beauty right here was perfection. She suffered and experienced fear and pain like they did when they were in prison. It killed each of them inside and as much as they wanted her to share her experiences, they knew it would take time. They had to be strong, and now that she was in their arms and under their protection they could do that. Just take time to love her. Things were changing drastically. They were forming their own mini empire in New York City and with Dmitri and the other families’ blessings. They truly went ballistic when Fina was taken and they destroyed and took control of many small organizations and businesses. No one would ever think of trying to hurt Fina again.
She blinked her eyes open and looked right at Paulo. She sought him out so much. Told him how she prayed he was alive and that she would give her life to help him and his brothers live. She was an angel.
She smiled at him and he stroked the hair from her delicate cheeks and she turned to kiss his wrist. He gave a small smile.
“Your friends all called again today. Maybe you’ll feel up for another visit tomorrow? It’s been a week,” Paulo said as he stroked her hair from her cheek. She wore a soft, fuzzy hooded sweatshirt in baby blue that Hadeon found her. She lowered her eyes and played with the buttons on his shirt. She pressed closer to Paulo and kissed his skin, inhaled his scent, and remained there just inhaling, being close, snuggling. She said she found comfort, safety in their arms and loved having them skin to skin.
He pulled her closer as they lay on the bed.
He continued to caress her hair and she looked up and kissed his chin.
“Where are Andriy and Hadeon?” she asked. She had laryngitis, but Victor said it could last for some time as her voice box and lungs healed.
He reached for her chin and stroked her skin.
“They’ll be here soon.”
“I need you, Paulo,” she said, and his heart began to race. They needed her, too, and each time they made love since her abduction, they took her slowly, gently
, and one by one as not to hurt her.
She started to unbutton his shirt.
“Are you sure?” he asked. She nodded and gave him a smile. He reached for her sweatshirt and pulled it up over her head. She wore no bra, just a white loose tank, and he lifted that next. He eased her pants down her legs and ran his palms along her thighs. She was still so thin. He could see her hip bones and ribs fully. He lifted up, pulled off his clothes, and then moved in between her legs.
He kissed her inner thigh to the left, then on the right. He slid his hands up and down her thighs to her hips and then cupped her breasts. They were so relieved to learn that the men who held her captive hadn’t raped her. They tortured her in other ways she wouldn’t give details of, and he understood. He would never talk of the things that were done to him in prison and the pain of the beatings he sustained.
He lowered his mouth to her pussy and began to feast on her. She ran her fingers through his air and gripped his head.
“Yes, Paulo. Oh, I love the way your mouth feels.”
He pulled from her pussy. “Sladykaya,” he said and then kissed up along her belly to her lips as he slowly pushed his cock into her cunt. She gripped his shoulders and closed her eyes and exhaled.
“Yes, Paulo. Oh, how you heal me,” she said, and Paulo heard the footsteps and then his brothers’ voices.
“Glad we didn’t bring company home to visit,” Hadeon said, and then he and Andriy looked at Paulo making love to their woman, and they both smiled.
Made Men 7: Love on the Brain (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Page 16