by Sarah Marsh
Sofia watched the woman’s eyes widen as she took in their clasped hands, and then a soft smile replaced the shock as she stepped aside and motioned them to enter the house.
“I’m so glad to meet you, Sofia,” Maddy said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She closed the door behind them. “We have so much to talk about.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sofia instantly liked Maddy’s strong personality. The other woman was clearly a survivor and the passion she had for her charges was inspiring. Almost as soon as the door had closed behind Eitan she could hear the patter of feet on the staircase.
“Girls,” Maddy yelled up to them from the kitchen, “come and meet Eitan’s girlfriend, Sofia!”
The awed whispers and giggles as the five girls entered the room had Sofia blushing again. They looked to be in an age range from fourteen to twenty, and they were all staring at her like she was the Lois Lane to Eitan’s Superman…which when she thought about it, she supposed she was. Eitan had given her a brief rundown on their way over in the car. All of these girls had been found and rescued while he was on jobs. He didn’t go into details about what he had rescued them from, but she could only imagine how awful it had been as she could see the rage in his eyes as he spoke about it. The ones who had no family to take care of them or nowhere to go stayed on with Maddy until they were old enough and ready to make their own way. It was no wonder they had a bit of hero worship going on when it came to him.
“Hi guys,” Sofia said softly.
“Come on, ladies,” Maddy sighed. “Sofia can help us make some cookies.”
That certainly got them moving. Before she knew it, Sofia was up to her eyeballs in chocolate chip cookie dough, helping the youngest girl, Clara, drop the dough onto the cookie sheets.
“So how long does it take you guys to eat all these cookies?” Sofia asked as they worked.
“They aren’t for us,” Clara said quietly as she blushed a little. “We make them for Eitan, they’re his favorite.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Sofia said with a smile to the timid girl.
“We can never repay him for what he’s done for us all,” the oldest, Eva answered. “He won’t take anything else from us…except food.”
“Our Eitan is always hungry.” Maddy laughed making all the other girls giggle along with her.
If Sofia had to guess at the exact moment she tipped over the line from lust and infatuation into love for this man she’d only known for a couple of days, that would have been it. The moment when she realised how good of a man Eitan really was. He’d almost sold his soul doing things he could barely talk about, all so he could save innocent lives.
When the cookies were all in the oven and the dishes were washed, Maddy sent the girls off to do their chores while she and Sofia sat down for coffee in the kitchen.
“It’s wonderful what you do here for them,” Sofia finally said, looking toward the other woman.
“It’s the least I can do.” Maddy shrugged. “I had nowhere to go when Eitan found me. He bought this house and made sure I always had what I needed. When he arrived one night with the first girl, how could I not do everything in my power to help her? These girls are my family now, just as much as Eitan is.”
Maddy’s declaration was a warning, Sofia could tell, but she didn’t know why Maddy thought that he’d need protection from her.
“I owe Eitan just as much as you do, Maddy,” Sofia said quietly. “He saved me too.”
“He’s never crossed the line before with any other women he’s rescued,” Maddy answered. “I just want to make certain this isn’t just gratitude for you. Eitan doesn’t usually let people get close. I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“Neither do I, Maddy.” Sofia looked her straight in the eye. “I won’t let anyone hurt him if it’s in my power to stop them.”
***
Eitan was almost to the safe-house where Hays had been holding and interrogating Donovan before he called his employer to let him know he would be arriving to have a chat shortly.
“Hays,” Eitan said when the other man finally answered his call. “I’m ten minutes out. We need to talk.”
“Kent,” from the tone of his former boss’s voice Eitan knew something was up. “I’m in the middle of a shit-storm right now, but I’m glad you called. I just got back on shift to find one of my agents dead and the other MIA who were watching the prisoner last night. Donovan is gone. Dammit, he must have made Miles an offer he couldn’t refuse. The bastard was one of the agents that picked up the drive from you, so your location has most likely been compromised.”
“Fuck, Hays.” Eitan was furious he hadn’t been notified right away. “When did he get out? Did he get the zip drive back?”
“No, thank Christ, I had that on me.” Hays hesitated. “But he knows, Eitan. Donovan knows it was you and Sofia that found the drive. He had some heavy-hitter all lined up to buy that information, and from what I could gather, the fact he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain meant his head’s on a pike. So it’s possible he may come gunning for you in retribution. You know how Donovan is about his reputation.”
Dear God. Eitan was terrified to ask the question again, but if Donovan had gotten their location before they left the city to go to Maddy’s house, then it was possible he had followed them there.
“When did he get out, Hays?” Eitan growled.
“Time of death on my agent down was approximately two o’clock in the morning,” Hays finally answered.
“Fuck!” Eitan yelled as he slammed on the brakes and swung the car around to go back to Maddy’s as fast as he could. “Oh and Hays, I’m done. This was my last job. Don’t contact me again.”
Twenty minutes later Eitan finally arrived at the entrance to Maddy’s driveway, Eitan pulled off the road and got out, making his way through the thick brush surrounding the house. Donovan was a bastard and Eitan had no doubt he wanted payback, but all he could do was pray he’d made it here before him. His heart almost stopped when he came to the edge of the trees and saw the unfamiliar dark SUV parked in front of the house.
Chapter Twenty
“That must be Eitan.” Sofia smiled when she heard the loud knock at the door as she and Maddy were just finishing their second cup of coffee.
“Yes, that was quick,” Maddy said as she walked toward the door and Sofia heard it open.
Sofia heard the murmured conversation, and wondered what was up since Eitan didn’t walk in to see her, but when Maddy finally stepped aside to admit their guest, Sofia’s loud gasp rang through the entire house.
“Sorry I’m late for dinner, Sof, but you know what they say…better late than never.”
She just stood there in shock as Carl, or Ben Donovan, now that she knew his real name, drew a gun out from his jacket and grabbed a hold of Maddy’s arm as he pressed the weapon to her side.
“What do you want?” Sofia tried to keep the fear out of her voice.
Sofia heard the girls coming in from the kitchen door, and they noisily piled into the living room before they noticed the stranger standing there, but once they saw him, the entire group froze in place, staring at the gun Donovan had aimed at Maddy.
“Well, well, well…what do we have here?” Donovan crooned as he moved in closer, “Looks like Kent has been holding out on me. A ready-made harem, huh? I thought that sweet, little Sofia would buy me some time to appease my buyer since I can’t deliver the drive he wanted, but if I give him all seven of you that may just get him off my ass for good!”
“You leave them out of this!” Maddy began to struggle and Donovan lost the charming façade he’d been using.
“Bitch, you’d better behave,” he said through clenched teeth, pushing the barrel of the gun hard enough to make Maddy gasp in pain. “You’re almost past the age where I’d get any value for you at all, lady.”
“Maddy,” Sofia whispered. She shook her head at the other woman, praying she would stop fighting him.
Maddy d
idn’t know what Ben Donovan was capable of, but Sofia couldn’t stop picturing in her mind what Eitan had told her about the female agent Donovan had killed when he stole the drive in the first place and it terrified her.
“Listen to Sofia, Maddy,” Donovan said as he pushed forward and gestured to one of the girls. “Now we’re all going to go into the kitchen and one of you beauties is going to get some duct tape for me. Don’t even think of doing anything stupid, or I will put a bullet in her head, trust me. After I do that, I’d have to punish you, and I think from the way none of you will meet my eyes that you all know there are worse things that can happen to a woman than dying.”
Sofia placed herself between Donovan and the girls as they all slowly walked back into the kitchen. She desperately hoped that Eitan would walk through the door, but dreaded it at the same time. What if Donovan just up and shot Eitan? Sofia didn’t think her heart could survive that.
“You! Blonde girl,” Donovan yelled at Eva as her eyes went huge and even more terrified. “Get me the duct tape, now.”
She ran to the pantry and began to fumble through the junk basket, throwing things out to find the roll of silver tape. As Donovan’s attention was now across the room, Sofia glanced at Maddy and could see the other woman’s eyes darting toward the knife block beside Sofia, her eyebrows rising in implication. Oh God…could she do this? He had the gun right up against Maddy’s side. If Sofia came at him with the knife would he kill the other woman?
One more look at the bastard’s face as he licked his lips and ogled Eva’s ass was enough to boost Sofia’s resolve. No matter what happened to her and Maddy, there was no way she could let this sorry excuse for a man get his hands on these girls. They’d already been through more pain in one life than any child should.
With that thought, Sofia grabbed the largest knife and lunged toward Donovan just as she saw Maddy pull back on his arm holding the gun. His head swung back her way at the last minute and she was satisfied when a look of surprise crossed his features right before the gun went off. Sofia felt the horrifying slight resistance, and then even more sickening give as the knife she held plunged deep into his chest.
***
Eitan was just creeping around the side of the house when he heard a gunshot, followed by women’s screams, which prompted him to forgo being careful and just run up to the front door and kick it open.
“Sofia!” he yelled as he ran toward the screams.
He took in the scene before him with a liberal amount of shock.
Donovan was lying there in the middle of the kitchen with a huge chef’s knife sticking straight out of his chest, his eyes blinking slowly as the pool of blood around him got larger. Sofia was sitting next to him, staring at the blood on her hands, most likely in shock as well. Maddy was hugging the girls as Eva pressed a bloody towel up against the woman’s side.
“Jesus, are you guys okay?” he asked as he first located Donavan’s gun and checked him for any other weapons. He could see from the placement of the knife that it was only a matter of time until the bastard bled out, but he couldn’t take the chance that he’d hurt the women anymore until then. “Sofia, are you hurt?”
There was so much blood, but he quickly checked her arms and hands over and it seemed to all belong to Donovan. Eitan’s touch finally brought her out of her haze.
“No, I’m okay,” she whispered and then her head darted toward Maddy and the girls. “But Maddy! Oh my God! Did he shoot Maddy?”
“I’m okay, Sofia,” Maddy groaned as she moved the towel to show them the gouge in her ribcage. “It’s just a graze. Thanks to you, Sofia, we’re all okay.”
“Eitan,” she whispered, looking back up at him with wide eyes. “I think I stabbed someone.”
Oh shit, Eitan knew by the confused but calm tone of her voice that she was definitely going into shock. Then she looked down at the blood on her hands and back up to him before her lip started quivering and he grabbed her and held on tight.
“Shhhh,” he whispered as he handed his phone to one of the girls. “Call 911, Eva. Sofia, shhh, it’s all right. You only did what you had to. Trust me, he more than had it coming.”
“I was so scared you would come to save us and he would shoot you too.” Sofia sniffled against his shirt and held on tighter.
“I know, baby, I know,” he rocked her a bit, “but you saved the girls, and you saved me too.”
That seemed to get her attention a bit as she pulled her head up to look at him, and a small smile crossed her lips.
“I did, didn’t I?” she asked quietly, looking at him and then toward the six women on the other side of the kitchen.
Epilogue
Sofia pulled the hot pasta out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove. She was running behind schedule again, staying too late out at Maddy’s to help with the yard work, but the cannelloni was his favorite and she’d wanted to make it for him. It was their third anniversary, after all.
She was just turning back to finish the salad when she felt hands on her hips from behind and she went completely still. She was pushed toward the kitchen island and she couldn’t help but smile when Eitan’s silk tie was placed over her eyes and she felt his hard cock through his pants as he rubbed against her ass.
Eitan had taken a different job with much less excitement and little need for loaded side arms. Sofia enjoyed her writing even more now that she based most of her heroes after her sexy husband, and he was always more than willing to try out new scenes with her. They’d explored all sorts of fun in the bedroom, but even after all this time, this was still their favorite game to play…especially when he surprised her with it. Her pulse began to race as her body warmed up in all the best places in anticipation.
“Tell me everything,” he whispered into her ear as he pulled back her hands and restrained them.
The End
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Acknowledgments
To my awesomesauce writing compadres Elena Kincaid and Maia Dylan, thanks for being just as crazy as I am. I can’t imagine going back to a world where I couldn’t get your opinion on what I’ve written or am writing every single day. Your friendship and support has been such a gift.
Also, to all the amazing team at Limitless Publishing, I couldn’t be happier to join your Limitless family, so thank you for the opportunity.
About the Author
Sarah Marsh was born in British Columbia where she still lives, she has only recently began her writing career finding it the perfect outlet for taking the edge off a nine to five office job. She’s been a science fiction and romance junkie for years and when her imagination started to take the characters she’d read about even further in their adventures she decided to try writing something of her own.
Sarah’s also a former pastry chef and spends a lot of time cooking and baking for friends and family as well as painting and knitting. Her biggest weaknesses are animals of any kind…she even loves the ones that wake you up at four in the morning because they can almost see the bottom of their food dish.
When it comes to life in general she’s a big believer that laughter is the best medicine and that there’s no such thing as too much love, which is why she’s such a sucker for a happy ending.
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