by Angel Payne
Rayna gave her a polite smile. “Yes, Miss Lanza, we are. Thank you so much for the invitation. Your home is beautiful.”
After flashing a “grateful” smile that looked as natural as the lacquer on her nails, Bella swept her gaze back to him. “Do you like it too, my golden arrow?”
“Golden arrow?” Rayna smirked in curiosity before Ethan could hit her with his don’t-go-there glare.
“He’s the Archer, right?” Bella shifted so she could run a hand across his chest. “Which means he has to have an arrow.” She skated her caresses lower. “A long, hot, solid gold one.” Her fingers closed over his crotch.
Rayna wisely stowed her snicker behind a hand. Not that she had the ammunition for long. Ethan snared Bella’s wrist and surged to his feet, meaning she had no choice but to follow. “It’s time to take this outside, Miss Lanza.”
“Mmm hmm,” she singsonged. “Whatever you say, Sergeant.”
Once he’d hauled her to the terrace, he plunked her onto a padded deck lounger. The sky and the ocean had gone dark now, making electric sconces turn on. Their golden light made Bella’s skin look luminous, even in her well-juiced state. Why wasn’t he surprised?
He paced to the edge of the terrace and back before looking at her again. “You want me to get you some water? Maybe a pot of coffee?”
“Negatory, sergeant gorgeous.” She swung her legs open, one on each side of the chaise, and patted the cushion between them. “I want you to come here and sit with me.”
“Not a great idea.”
She pouted, again a look rehearsed to perfection. “You used to fink—think—it was a good idea.” She slid down until she was prone, hands roaming over her toned, poster-ready body. “You used to like fucking me outside.”
“Once,” he clarified. “It was once, during Spring Break, on a beach in Cabo, at two in the morning.”
“And it was wonderful.”
“It was long ago. We’re different people now.”
“Uh-huh.” She licked her lips. Rubbed her inner thighs. “We certainly are.” Her gaze climbed up his form. “You are.” She stopped at the front closure of his swim suit. “Sweet madonna, Ethan. Have you gotten bigger…everywhere?”
It might be a good thing that she went for the celestial plea. He considered seeking out the saints to boost his own fortitude now. The woman had persistence for a middle name, especially when she’d been drinking. He might need a miracle to get out of this one without pissing her off. A hung over Bella was already going to worsen Ava’s day tomorrow; she didn’t need a diva who screamed at her every two minutes, as well.
Seemed Bella decided not to wait on the screaming. A shriek erupted from her, shattering the festive mood in the villa—and damn near the windows.
Ethan huffed, wondering what toe she stubbed or nail she splintered. When he saw she’d sat up, scooted back and curled into a trembling ball, instinct drove him to drop next to her. “Bella, what the hell is—”
Her second wail was more ear-piercing than the first.
He was about to run a mental list of what drugs, when combined with vodka, did this to a five-foot-three, ninety pound woman. But then he heard the boot steps. A lot of them.
What the fuck?
He twisted to glare at least ten men who seemed formed from the dark sea itself. They were dressed completely in black, including hoods only exposing eyes. They held their rifles in well-trained grips and advanced on the villa with coordinated precision.
Acting on raw instinct, he jammed Bella behind him. It was the only move he could make before three of the ninjas converged on the chaise. The largest of them stepped forward, wielding a pistol instead of a rifle. He was likely the leader, needing mobility for other purposes. As if that mattered. At the moment, the SIG in the guy’s hand was just as dangerous to Ethan.
The bastard verified that himself a second later. “Not another move, my friend, or I’ll blow your balls off.”
Chapter Eight
Let the fun begin.
It was Tait Bommer’s go-to phrase at the start of any crazy mission or insane infil, but right now, he let the words bounce around in his head only. Because right now, he didn’t know what the fuck was happening.
One second, Kell and Zeke had joined him in the dancing shrimp tails act and they were taunting Franzen with an obscene rendition of All That Jazz. The next, they were backed into the kitchen at the wrong end of mismatched rifles and a couple of assholes taking the basic black Bob Fosse theme to whole new levels. Two more gunmen cornered Rhett, Rebel, and Garrett against the double-wide fridge. Bella Lanza’s scream had ripped across the terrace. Her stylist, the woman with whom they’d found Archer in hardcore lip-lock training this morning, was nowhere to be seen.
The other two women in the room, Rayna and Sage, were silent as they got forced into a corner of the living room. The two of them, having spent a year on the run from slavers in Africa and Asia, knew the value of staying calm in a situation like this.
Tait clenched his jaw. He really didn’t feel like staying calm.
“What the hell is this?” Franzen bellowed. Guess he agreed with the fuck calm approach, too.
“Shut up.” Fosse ninja number one aimed his weapon at the center of Franz’s sizable chest. He didn’t shift his focus, even as the trio of attackers from the terrace came in with Ethan and Bella under guard, though he jerked his head at the stockiest of them. “Guess I was right to insist on a full team, after all.”
The guy puffed his barrel chest. “I have no fucking idea what happened. I triple checked this. They had a short day on the set. They needed the lot for some special event the suits are throwing. Lanza was going for a wax. She has a standing appointment every two weeks.”
Though Bella had traded sloshed-up for terrified, she tossed up a glower. “That’s not knowledge for public consumption, you ape.”
“Says the one who skipped her wax appointment.” He snickered.
“Skipped? Really? I’m Italian, moron. I fit it in on my lunch.”
“Enough.” Another ninja pushed forward. Though he didn’t wield a rifle, the heat in his hand was sweet. A SIG, clearly custom, likely untraceable. Damn, it was beautiful.
Cut the gun boner and open your observation deck, Bommer. What kind of details will you be able to relate about this asshole—if you get out of this alive?
As the guy moved into the living room, he hooked a hand around Bella’s elbow and dragged her with him. He moved with confident purpose, which meant two things. One, he knew the villa’s layout. Two, he’d done shit like this before. A lot. There was a seasoned serration to his voice that Franzen had too, an edge that came with experience. But for some of his men, the assurance was a thin front. They’d been expecting to find Bella alone here. Her impromptu party had turned into their not-so-little mission hitch, whatever the hell their mission was. Unless Bella was hiding half the Louvre somewhere in this place, the force was excessive for a home invasion robbery.
Again sharing his mental page, Franzen mumbled, “What the fuck is going on?”
“What part of ‘shut up’ did you not understand?” barked their guard.
“Yo, Hulk?” SIG man called it from the living room without diverting his attention from Bella, whom he dumped on an ottoman without ceremony. “I believe the gentleman has a good grasp of the situation, as well as our control of it.”
Ninja minion huffed. “Damn it, Mag. We have orders to restrain any trouble—”
“That’s not trouble, buddy. That’s just a question.” The guy flicked an almost respectful glance at Franz. “A question to which he won’t get the answer, but just a question all the same.”
“Magneto, I don’t apprec—”
“Shut. Your. Hole. And kindly bring your friends over here.” He nodded at minion number two. “Rorschach, grab his six.”
Tait barely held back his eye roll. The asswipes might be packing pro-level firearms and using all the right terminology, but superhero mission names
? Mixed between the DC and Marvel universes? Arrogant idiots.
They were all guided into the living room and directed to park their asses on the room’s two long couches, upholstered in a trendy shade of light blue that was likely named after a mythical bird or tropical resort. Sage and Rayna were brought over, as well. Knowing Garrett and Zeke would have their attention dented by the women’s presence, Tait focused harder on picking out the weakest links in this weird gumball gang. His vantage point gave him the chance to scope out the remaining pair who kept watch on Runway, while his teammate returned the favor on the two guys assigned to him. He ran a visual on the remaining soldiers, too. Their tail man had stayed on the terrace, sticking to a shadow behind some palms to watch over the beach access to the villa. But that couldn’t be all of them. He suspected Magneto had already waved in two or three more men to search the other areas of Bella’s home.
Magneto. Seriously? And I’m Professor X, asshole.
“Okay, l-look.” Though Bella’s words wobbled, she crossed her legs and folded her hands to look like she was simply being grilled by a nosy talk show host. His impression got intensified by the woman’s charm-drenched smile. “You boys seem nice so I’ll be straight-up. I don’t keep a lot of valuables at the house, but there’s a safe in the library and another in the bedroom. They’re both controlled by double passwords, but I can go with you and—”
“Dear fuck,” growled Hulk. “Can I work on shutting her up now, too?”
Bella glared like he’d farted. “I beg your pardon?”
“My pardon isn’t what you need, diamond diva. It’s my mercy.”
“Spare me, pompinara. At least I earned every one of my diamonds, instead of sneaking into someone’s house like a rat cocksucker and stealing them!”
Hulk snorted. “Honestly? You sticking with that, babe?”
Bella tossed her head, dramatically swinging her thick black hair. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You’re fiddle fucking around, Miss La-La Lanza. That’s my problem.” He advanced on Bella by a step. “Stop pretending you’re mortified that we’re here and tell us where he stashed the codes.”
That seemed to seriously stun her. “He who? What codes?”
“Enough.” The roar came from leader man. Hell. At least the guy had the Magneto boom down pretty well. “H, you’re trying my patience.”
The guard huffed. “And she isn’t?”
“I said enough.”
Tait swapped a knowing glance with Ethan. In it, they acknowledged a couple of things. Number one: big bad call sign or not, Magneto had trouble controlling his team. Even without Hulk giving him this grief, the guys who’d gone out to recon the house hadn’t radioed in or returned yet. Two, was anyone in this band of bastards in agreement on what the hell they were doing here? He didn’t care about the answer to that. Runway’s piercing blue gaze, double blinking in return to the identical move from Tait, said he didn’t either. They were both ready to surge when Hulk decided to get pissy again. The wait likely wouldn’t be long.
Unnervingly, their bulky guard fell into a brooding silence. He decided to actually watch them for once, too. Tait fought his impatience by gritting his teeth and watching Magneto kneel next to Bella. As the man lowered his body, he did the same with his gun. With the hand that had been fitted to the SIG’s grip, he now held the star’s hand with the gentleness of a lover. Tait knew better, and tensed because of it. Fuck. No way to flip the bitch of fate on these guys as long as Mag Man had his paws directly on Bella.
“Miss Lanza.” The man’s tone was a respectful request—on the surface. The underline of force was undeniable, even to Bella. Tension shoved its way along her shoulders. He continued, “I apologize for my associate. He can be uncouth. But he’s also right. We’re not here to take your jewelry or your art.” He lifted his hold from her hand to her chin. “You know what we’re here for, don’t you?”
She tried to tug away. The man held her firm. Even from where he sat, Tait watched her pupils dilate in deeper fear. “No,” she finally rasped. “P-please. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Magneto sighed. Lowered his hand. And picked up his pistol again. He stroked the barrel along the outside of her thigh. “Let’s approach this a different way.”
Bella whimpered. “What the hell do you want from me? I really don’t know what—”
“Ssshhh. I just want to talk. To ask you a few questions. Answer me honestly and I won’t have to use this on your kneecap, all right?”
Bella managed a jerky nod . A couple of years ago, Tait would’ve added a chuckle right along to it. The guy he’d been back then was even more a skeptic than he was now, hardly believing in the validity of shit like intuition, let alone someone’s ability to discern a true lie. After all, he’d lied to his own father since the age of five and gotten away with it. But twenty-one years after that first fib, he’d met Ethan Archer and the man’s mental polygraph machine. For all he knew, Mag Man was one of those hyper-intuitive freaks, too.
“Wh-what do you want to know?” Bella stammered into the man’s long silence.
Magneto leaned back a little, again conveying the appearance that he was just here for a friendly chat. “You did some entertaining here last night as well, didn’t you?”
Tait traded another glimpse with Ethan. This time, puzzlement consumed the guy’s face. He saw the same thinking in Franz and the rest of the guys. Hadn’t Bella proclaimed to them all this morning that she didn’t invite people over to the villa enough?
Bella squirmed, now that her exaggeration had been caught. “I wouldn’t call it entertaining,” she justified. “I…had a friend over. For a fast drink.”
“Which turned into a little slumber party.”
The woman flashed apprehensive eyes at Runway. Part of her invitation to all of them tonight had been rooted in her desire to rekindle old flames with him. There was no secret about that, though the same didn’t seem to apply toward her drinking buddy from last night. With an awkward smile, she explained, “Well, we had more than one drink. And we got to talking late. And I do have three extra bedrooms here.”
“But Mr. Lemare didn’t stay in any of those rooms, did he?”
Her anxiety hitched into blatant alarm. She compensated for it by going for a haughty sniff. “Mr. Lemare and I are required to be close. It’s essential that we’re on the same page, creatively and strategically, for Dress Blues to work as well as it does. Besides that, we share the same heritage. He is my friend as well as my producer.”
“And your lover.”
“That’s none of your damn business.”
The guy shrugged. “Not usually. And quite frankly, sweetheart, I don’t care if he fucked you sideways doggie style while swinging from the chandelier. I just need to know about what the guy gave you for safekeeping between tossing out the condom and sharing your morning shower.”
Buh-bye, terrified starlet. Hello, enraged diva. It would’ve surprised no one if Bella grew full claws before spitting, “You’re repugnant. I refuse to dignify a word of that with—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He jerked his head at Hulk and one of the guards who covered Sage and Rayna, the one Tait had pegged as a skittish colt. Didn’t seem so skittish now. He surged forward to help Hulk in pinning Bella’s wrists back. “What you find repugnant is of no damn interest to me,” he went on, breezy as if discussing whether LA would ever get its own football team again. “I just want to know what Enzo Lemare gave you, after he slept with you. And of course, where you’re hiding it for him.”
A gasp from the atrium was loud enough to silence him. Since the atrium was directly behind their couch, Tait couldn’t see the source of the sound, though the pitch of pure shock made him guess that the recon team had just found Ava Chestain.
Sure enough, the woman was dragged toward Magneto by a couple of his ninjas. She fought their clutches with rebellious little yanks, making them both grunt—and screwing a grimace onto Runway’
s face that Tait had never seen before. Shit. The guy’s lips curled so tight over his locked teeth, Tait wondered if Ethan would chomp right into the jugular of these guys if either of them gave Ava so much as a broken nail.
He didn’t have to wait long for that answer.
As the goons pulled at her, Ava fought them again. Her mass of dark hair fell back, making her whole face visible, including the shiner that bloomed beneath her left eye.
Ethan shot up like fifty rounds went off in his ass. Forget that. All fifty blazed in his eyes, wild and incensed, even after one of the ninjas slammed him back.
“What the fuck did you do to her?”
One of Ava’s guards jerked his head over. “Crazy bitch did it to herself. Did a pinball bounce on the wall and bathroom floor after I found her hiding in the master shower.”
Ava’s face sparked with victory. “After I took you down with me, asshole.”
The guard growled as he searched for a good response for saving face.
He got cut off by the wails of angry sirens. And right after that, the approaching thunder of a helicopter over the ocean.
Bella took her own turn to gasp. Sage and Rayna locked hands. Tait looked at Ethan, who still stared at Ava like her whole nose had been sliced off. But Ava kept her gaze glued on her main guard. With a smirk growing across her lips.
“Did I forget to tell you I did that after I called the cops?”
“Damn it.” He grunted it in unison with his partner.
Magneto slowly rose to his feet. Tait appraised the movement in curiosity. The guy looked like he was the damn water heater inspector, and Bella simply the pilot light that gave him grief. “Well, this puts a dent in things,” he muttered.
Bewilderment made camp in Tait’s psyche. Looked like the other guys on the team commiserated. Fifteen minutes ago, these wannabe superheroes had materialized out of the night and infiltrated the villa with, he reluctantly admitted, damn fine precision. But now their leader was twirling a hand in the air, finishing it by jabbing a finger back toward the beach, like they were all supposed to just cut and run?