“No.” She yanked out of his grasp. “I can’t leave Max. I won’t leave Max again.”
“What if Alexi hurts you because you witnessed the murder?”
“Even if Alexi’s thug tells him about it, Alexi won’t harm me. He’ll just use it against me. He has Max. He knows I’ll do anything to see him. But my guess is Alexi’s guy isn’t going to be too anxious to tell his boss that he killed someone while his ex-wife watched.”
Rio took her face in his hands. He brushed the pad of his thumb across her mouth, and then replaced it with his lips. Tori sagged against his body, getting lost in the desire that washed across her skin.
He whispered against her hair. “I want you out of here, Tori.”
Tracing her fingertip along the hard ridge of his jaw, she kissed the muscle ticking there. “Then disrupt Alexi’s deal with Grant.”
THE FOLLOWING DAY TORI folded her arms across her stomach as she joined the clutch of staff members peering over the drop-off. Had someone found Hugo’s body already?
“What are you looking at?” She sidled up next to Alexi’s personal chef.
He pointed to a rainbow-hued parachute. “Someone’s parasailing.”
Relaxing her shoulders, Tori blew out a breath. Someone parasailing beat out a dead body any day. As she turned to leave, one of the security guards caught her arm.
“Prince Alexi would like to see you in his library.”
The tension she’d just released gripped her shoulders again, but she pasted on a smile. “Lucky me.”
What did Alexi want with her? He must know something. Had the killer from last night really admitted to Alexi that Tori had been present when Hugo went over the side? Did they realize yet that they killed the wrong guy, that Hugo had represented no threat to them?
Tori wiped her palms against her cotton skirt before tapping on the library door. Alexi called out, “Enter.”
She pushed at the heavy door and paused on the thresh old. Alexi glanced up impatiently from his papers and snapped his fingers. “Come in and shut the door behind you.”
“What do you want, Alexi? I’m not one of your gofers you can summon at will by snapping your fingers.” She slammed the door behind her. Tough talk always gave her strength.
And a poker face would keep her alive.
He looked up, a slow smile spreading across his face. Yeah, she knew why she’d fallen for him—dark, dangerous and silky smooth. She’d always gone for the dark and dangerous type, but while sharp sophistication marked Alexi, rough masculinity defined Rio. She’d put her money on rough and masculine any day.
“That’s what attracted me to you, Victoria. You always had fire, especially in bed.”
She widened her eyes. “You mean even when I was drugged?”
He laughed. “Lust was our drug.”
“Crack must be your drug now if you believe that.” She wedged a shoulder on the doorjamb. “Besides, I thought you were attracted to me because of that green-eyed, red-haired lucky charm thing I had going.”
His nostrils flared as he dropped a sheaf of papers on his desk, a dull red staining his cheeks. His superstitious nature embarrassed him, but not enough to abandon it. “That, too.”
“Did you call me in here to discuss my…fire?”
“Did you enjoy yourself last night, Victoria?” Alexi rested his elbows on the table, his dark eyes now flat and un readable.
“Sure. Good food, good drink and vacuous company. What’s not to like?”
“You used to enjoy vacuous people. You felt right at home with them.”
Tori winced and then ground her teeth. He had her there. She’d been as shallow as the rest of them, trying hard to distance herself from her staid, religious family and then later to bury the guilt over her parents’ deaths beneath a round of parties.
“Then I had a son.” She shrugged off the doorjamb and straightened her spine.
“Ah, yes, Maksim.”
“Get to the point, Alexi.”
He shoved up from his chair, his tall, lean form hunching over the desk as he flattened his hands on the surface. “I’m taking Maksim home next week.”
His words punched her in the gut and she swayed on her feet. “But you said…”
Alexi sliced his hand through the air. “I said you could visit with him here for as long as we stayed. We’re leaving.”
Tori’s thoughts ricocheted through her brain at warp speed. If the CIA moved in on Alexi tonight, could they bring him in immediately? If she notified Rio that Alexi planned to leave next week, could he speed up the process? “You can’t leave.”
Alexi straightened to his full height and slammed his fist against the desktop. “I can do whatever I wish. I’m Prince Alexi of Glazkova.”
“I’ll get an attorney. Hell, I’ll call in a whole battery of attorneys. I’ll tie you up in so many legal knots you won’t be able to make a move without consulting the courts.”
Cold steel shot through his voice. “Don’t threaten me, Victoria. I can whisk Maksim out of this country at a moment’s notice.”
She squeezed her eyes shut against the hot tears burning behind her lids. She wouldn’t allow herself to break down in front of this man.
“We don’t need to battle.” He stepped from behind the desk and leaned his hip on the corner. “I have a proposition for you that will allow you to spend Christmas with Maksim. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she raised her chin. “What kind of proposition?”
“Come home with us.”
Tori staggered back, bashing her thigh against a bookshelf. “T-to Glazkova?”
“I can make all the unpleasantness of your charges go away.” He spread his hands, which looked soft and effeminate compared to Rio’s. “Come back with me as my wife, as Maksim’s mother, the rightful Princess of Glazkova.”
“I can’t do that. You’re a criminal. You exploit people’s weaknesses and make money off of them.”
He shrugged. “What do you care of that? My mother never meddled in my father’s business. Turn a blind eye. Enjoy all that Glazkova has to offer the royal family, enjoy your son.”
“And if I displease you in some way? You’ll take Max away or trump up some phony charges against me.”
“Don’t displease me.”
A shiver ran through her body. Hugging herself, Tori turned away from Alexi’s piercing gaze. What if she pretended to accept his offer? Right here. Right now. Her chances of escaping with Max might be better.
She had to play this right. She couldn’t acquiesce too easily. Time to take advantage of those acting classes she’d dabbled in when she’d lived in L.A.
Biting her lip, she glanced over her shoulder. “I’d be with Max? You wouldn’t interfere with our relationship?”
“Maksim needs a mother. I see that now.”
“And you’d conduct your business outside of the palace? I don’t want Max’s life endangered by the shady characters that comprise your business associates. I don’t want to see evidence of it in our home.”
“I’ve already done that.” He brushed his hands together. “I have a secure center of operations now. Nothing is conducted out of the palace anymore.”
She clasped her hands in front of her, turning slowly. “And you promise I’ll get to be with Max as much as I like?”
“He’s your son.” He extended his hand. “Come. Let’s seal this deal with a kiss.”
Her flesh crawled with disgust. If she gave in too easily, he might suspect her. If she didn’t give in at all, he might withdraw the offer. She took a shaky step forward. “Th-this might be too soon, Alexi. I’m just getting used to this idea. I haven’t committed myself to it yet.”
He raised one dark brow. “I realize there’s a lot of animosity between us. You betrayed me, and I took Maksim away from you. But I’m offering you a chance to be with him again. Let’s take this first step.”
She shifted her gaze from his face to his proff
ered hand and back again. Licking her lips, she edged closer. His familiar cologne almost made her gag.
Just as she scooped in a deep breath, his arm shot out and wrapped around her waist. He dragged her into his sphere and pressed his heated lips against hers.
Instinctively, she jerked back, but his fingers weaved through her hair and he pulled her closer, parting her lips with his tongue.
The library door swung open and they jumped apart.
Alexi’s right-hand man and accountant, Melvin, colored to the roots of his hair. “I’m so sorry, Prince Alexi. I knocked and thought I heard a response.”
Alexi rounded on him and snapped, “What is it?”
The man cleared his throat as two uniformed officers stepped into the room behind him. “There are two police men here, Prince Alexi. They have questions about one of the catering staff from last night.”
“Questions? What kind of questions?”
One of the officers stepped around Melvin and flipped open a notebook. “The body of one of the waiters from your party last night washed up on a beach a few miles north of here.”
Alexi shrugged, his face a mask. “That’s unfortunate, but what does that have to do with me? There were no accidents here last night.”
Tori folded her hands in front of her, trying not to wipe Alexi’s disgusting kiss from her mouth.
The officer scribbled something in his notebook. “Your party is the last place he was seen alive. Did any of your guests report anything unusual last night? Anyone staggering along the cliff edge? The young man had a large quantity of alcohol in his system.”
“I’m sorry, officer. My guests enjoyed the party and then left. The caterer did not report anyone missing.”
After a few more questions, which Alexi stonewalled, the officer snapped his notebook shut and pocketed it. “I suggest you find another caterer to use, Mr. Zherkov, one that more carefully screens its employees. The victim, Hugo Holloway, was a small-time drug dealer and big-time user.”
Tori bit the inside of her cheek. Could Hugo’s murder have been unrelated to Rio’s infiltration of the catering staff? Tori checked her watch. Six more hours to go be fore the nine o’clock meeting. With Alexi packing up Max to send him home next week, Rio had to pull this off tonight.
As the officers left the library, Tori followed in their wake.
Alexi laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not done here, Victoria. In fact, I have a second proposition for you.”
Slipping from his hold, she aimed a shaky smile over her shoulder. “It’s time for Max to wake up from his nap. I’ll come back later.”
Alexi’s lips tightened, but he nodded and stepped back, gesturing to Melvin to follow him back to his desk.
Tori sighed as she snapped the library door shut. She took the stairs two at a time, putting as much distance between herself and Alexi as quickly as possible. Another kiss from her ex-husband and she’d hurl her delicious lunch.
Only one man could claim her kisses.
AT 8:23 THAT EVENING, Rio narrowed his eyes as he slumped in the seat of the rental car and pulled the cap low over his forehead. Two men exited the Escalade and slipped through the gate to Grant’s house. Game time.
Rio clicked open his car door and hunched forward. Grasping the tracking device in his hand, he hurried across the street to the rear of the car. He ducked beneath the chassis and smacked the device against the inside of the tire well. He crawled on his belly back to his own car and slid inside.
Grant Swain. He hadn’t been too hard to track—ambitious drug dealer on the move to the big leagues. The CIA already had him on its radar, and Rio’s information had just turned him into a big blip on that radar. Tori’s in formation.
Rio had faced one of the hardest decisions of his life last night, leaving Tori in that nest of vipers. But it wasn’t his decision to make. Now that she had Max back in her arms, she’d never leave her son. Rio had seen it in her eyes, a fierce light of protective motherhood.
Something he’d never seen in his own mother’s eyes.
And what if Alexi escaped with Max? Would Tori follow him back to Glazkova? Risk her own life to be with her son? Rio clenched his teeth as hard as he clenched the steering wheel of the car. He knew the answer to that. But he’d never allow it.
He rubbed his jaw and took a sip of lukewarm Kona coffee. He’d been following Swain all day, and the man obviously anticipated a big score. He’d been on a shopping spree with not one, but two of the lovely ladies from the hot tub last night.
Even if the CIA didn’t plan to put a crimp in Swain’s career trajectory tonight, the guy wouldn’t have lasted long in this business. A successful drug dealer, one in it for the long haul, had to have cold, calculated viciousness on his side. Kind of like Mad Prince Alexi.
Minutes later, the two men, with Swain in the lead, strode from the house and jumped into the Escalade. Rio released a long breath. He had figured Swain wouldn’t take his own car. He tilted the collar of his shirt toward his chin. “Target tagged and on the move, heading north.”
“Roger that,” Jake Burns, the CIA’s leader on this task force, responded.
Rio waited until the Escalade turned the corner before starting his engine and pulling forward. Two agents up ahead would pick up Swain’s trail, and if they happened to lose him or if they couldn’t follow him to a deserted location for fear of being spotted, they’d catch up with him later. Rio patted the GPS device on the passenger seat, now following the Escalade’s every twist and turn.
After twenty minutes on Maui’s main highway, Swain pulled off on the road toward Hana. They couldn’t chance following him past the last town on the rough, inhospitable road.
Rio’s earpiece crackled and Burns’s voice sounded loud and clear. “We’re pulling off in Paia. Is that GPS working?”
Rio glanced at the screen. “Yep. The little red dot is moving through Paia as we speak. Is the helicopter ready?”
“Just as soon as you tell us when and where that fish lands.”
Rio pulled into town and swung off the main drag, parking in front of a T-shirt store. The dot representing the Escalade bleeped and blinked along a path heading away from the ocean. Then it stopped. Rio noted the location and coordinates and relayed them to the team of anxious CIA agents waiting in the wings. He knew his words had just sent them scrambling into action.
He grabbed the GPS and his gun, abandoning his little rental car. He zigzagged through some back streets until he spotted Burns’s Jeep and vaulted into the cramped back seat.
Burns gunned the engine. “Let’s do this.”
They were going in with eight agents in three cars, with Rio along for the ride and four more agents in the helicopter. Rio didn’t know how many men Alexi would send, but if Swain had just two others beside himself, they’d disrupt this little party easily enough.
They’d link Alexi’s men to him, and that should be good enough for an arrest. Maybe Tori would have enough time to take Max away. Rio would do his best to make it happen that way.
They pulled the Jeeps off the road and began the hike to the drop location on foot. They’d call in the chopper once they secured the location and disarmed the men.
The Escalade and one other car had pulled up to a small house. Rio rolled his shoulders. Alexi couldn’t have sent too many men in one car. This should go smoothly, thanks to Tori.
Rio crept up to the house, gun drawn. Blinds covered the windows, but a steady light glowed inside. Rio, Burns and another agent, Ted Phillips, took the front, while two agents had the backdoor and the other two took up positions on either side of the house to watch the windows. The remaining two agents waited by the road.
Burns contacted the chopper and then held his hand out toward Rio while he leaned in close to the door. A hum of voices carried through the front door. Rio’s muscles coiled, ready to spring on Burns’s command.
Suddenly, the voices inside rose to shouts. Burns and Rio exchanged a glance. The same thought must�
��ve crossed Burns’s mind as Rio’s—take advantage of the situation inside. Burns gave the order to move.
Rio and Burns kicked in the front door, while the two agents in the back crashed through the rear. Chaos erupted. A few of the men in the room scrambled for the windows, but an announcement from the chopper stopped them cold.
Burns shouted, “Place your weapons on the floor and put your hands against the walls. All of you.”
The agents streamed into the room, collecting weapons and handcuffing men before pushing them to the floor. Swain stood in the middle of the room, arms held high. “We didn’t do anything. We don’t have anything.”
“Shut up.” Burns grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him against the wall.
Rio grabbed the edge of a duffel bag on the floor and peeled it back. Rows of neatly stacked cash lined the bag. His gaze shifted to the bags in the other corner of the room. Alexi’s drugs—probably heroin culled from the poppy fields of Afghanistan where he still had connections.
One of the agents snorted. “Hey, Mad Prince Alexi has a chick working for him.”
Rio glanced in the direction of the agent’s voice. The agent had his hand between the suspect’s legs, and then he reached up and pulled off the black knit cap.
The room reeled beneath Rio’s feet as the suspect’s hair tumbled around her shoulders.
The agent growled, “On the floor, sister, with the rest of your comrades.”
The woman turned and her back slid down the wall until she landed in a puddle on the floor. She brushed her red hair out of her face and raised her green eyes to Rio’s. Choking, she reached out a hand to him.
“Hey, don’t try anything, sister.” The agent smacked the side of her head with the butt of his gun.
And Tori slumped into a heap.
Chapter Eleven
Rage burned through Rio’s veins, and he lurched toward the agent looming over Tori. He bunched his fists, ready to take the man’s head off, until Tori shot him a warning glance before squeezing her eyes closed in obvious pain.
He flexed his fingers and put a hand out toward the pumped up agent. “Hold on. I don’t know about you, but I’m old school and we don’t treat women harshly even if they are the scum of the earth.”
A Silverhill Christmas Page 11