'TIL DEATH DO US PART (Silent Demons Book 2)

by C. Luca

  He turns to glare at me. “I knew I’d make you pay for that eventually by drawing out your death myself,” he says with a wealth of promise in his tone.

  I gaze steadily back at him, refusing to allow him to see my fear. I didn’t show it to Nikolai in that basement, and I certainly won’t let this asshole see it now.

  Peter turns back to the camera. “But then something interesting happened,” he continues, his voice becoming almost lighthearted, as if he’s having a conversation with a friend. “You forced Blakely to stay on your estate to recuperate, because I know I didn’t imagine her cussing you out that day.” He sounds amused now. “You wouldn’t do something like that unless you more than cared for her. So at that point, I decided to just watch, and much to my amazement, you appeared to be falling in love and would do anything to protect her. Once I realized this, my plans began to change,” he says in a voice as smooth as silk.

  The sick bastard is enjoying this.

  Peter’s head turns slightly as his eyes slide to me. “You see Nikolai, I wanted you to pay for my father’s death and still walk away with my life. But Blakely here was just too good to pass up,” he explains, his attention focused on me while speaking to the camcorder. “I want you to hurt like I hurt, so I’m going to make you watch Blakely’s death so that you can never escape the memory. I’m going to take what’s yours and brutally rape her so you can listen to her screams. After I’ve used her up in all the ways that will haunt you for the rest of your life, I’m going to butcher her piece by piece,” he says pleasantly.

  I can feel the blood draining from my face as icy panic creeps up my spine. I’d known Peter had horrible plans in mind for me, but I’m not so sure I can continue putting on a brave face. My lungs are rapidly drawing in oxygen as my breathing turns into short pants and I tremble.

  How do I stop this?

  How can I escape what’s about to happen?

  Panic pierces my soul as I realize that Nikolai just may not be able to save me after all. My heart thunders loudly in my ears, and I can just barely hear Peter continue with his speech.

  “The plan is to send you the tape after I’m safely over seas,” Peter says to the camcorder. “But if I should get caught before I can get away, so be it. I’m willing to die for my revenge, and even after you kill me, she’ll still be dead,” he sneers victoriously.

  Peter’s expression shifts from victorious to darkly sinister. “You may have forgotten my father’s name, but I know you’ll damn well never forget it after watching this video.”

  Oh God. Peter’s rant has come to its end, and I don’t know how to stop the inevitable. “Wait! Can I have my say?” I ask wildly as I desperately yank on the handcuffs restraining my wrists.

  “No,” Peter clips out as he rises to his feet and strips off his shirt.

  I’m horrified that this is how my life is going to end. As he walks towards me, I have so many racing thoughts, but the one that stands out the most is that I’ll never see Nikolai again. I wasted so much time with him because of my stubbornness. This wasn’t—

  Gunfire suddenly explodes throughout the room, and my eyes widen when I see blood bursting from Peter’s bare chest. Instead of falling to the ground, he grabs his gun from his waistband and swings it in my direction, eyes determined as it discharges.

  Something grazes my temple, and bits of cement explode near my face as I scream and try to curl myself into a smaller target. Gunfire is all around me, and it’s deafening in the vacant room as I pray none of the flying bullets hit me.

  Then…there’s a thunderous silence.

  My ears feel like they’re stuffed with cotton, and yet there’s an inner ringing that’s echoing throughout my eardrums.

  I think…I’m still alive.

  Gradually, I blink away bits of debris from the cement wall. Cautiously, I lift my head from beneath my arm so I can look around.

  Peter is on the ground a few feet from me—completely motionless. He’s facedown and covered in blood. There’s no mistaking the small holes scattered across his back.

  No one could possibly survive that kind of damage.

  Beyond his body, I see Nikolai, Jonah, and Reed surging into the room. My heart lodges in my throat as I stare at Nikolai with relief. He’s a welcoming sight in an all-black, long-sleeved shirt with a bulletproof vest secured over it, black fatigues, and multiple weapons attached to various holsters.

  He came for me.

  Nikolai drops down beside me, his expression alarmed as he presses his palm to my temple. The anxiety on his face warns me that I may have missed something important.

  It’s then that I realize the side of my face is wet. I gaze up at him with confusion. “Was I hit? Is it bad?” I ask, but my ears still feel plugged, and the ringing hasn’t completely faded. My voice sounds strangely far away.

  Reed quickly drops down beside Nikolai, and he pushes his hand away from the side of my head so he can inspect the wound. “Just a graze,” he announces.

  Thankfully, I was able to hear his pronouncement, and some of the panic that was building begins to fade.

  Relief is instantaneous on Nikolai’s face, and then Jonah is hovering over his shoulder, holding out a key. “I think this is for the handcuffs.”

  Nikolai takes the key and then leans over me to release the cuffs. As soon as they fall away from my wrists, I wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Being wrapped in his arms has never felt so good, and I bury my nose in his neck, inhaling his masculine scent.

  He brings me into a sitting position, and gently urges me to look up at him so he can kiss my forehead tenderly. Various textures and hard metal dig into my nearly naked body as we continue our tight embrace. I recognize Velcro and the cold muzzle of a gun. But being prodded by these things are worth being in his arms. I never want to leave.

  “I knew you’d come for me,” I say thickly, my hearing beginning to somewhat return to normal.

  His intense gray eyes refuse to leave mine. “A-a-always,” he says with a firmness in his tone.

  Over his shoulder, I see Reed and Jonah look at Nikolai sharply, and it dawns on me that they have likely never heard him speak.

  I pull back slightly—just a few inches—so I can peer up at him better. My eyes search his. “Did you hear everything?”

  He nods grimly. “H-h-he…underestimated m-m-me and left the d-d-doors…u-u-unlocked.”

  My eyebrows pull together in question. “How did you find me?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know. How did you even know this place was here or that it was Peter that had her?” Jonah asks Nikolai.

  Nikolai ignores him, his gaze fixated on me. “D-d-doesn’t matter,” he says dismissively. “She needs m-m-medical…attention and w-w-warmth.”

  “I can take her back until you’re finished here,” Reed suggests.

  Nikolai finally looks away from me to glance at Jonah. “You g-g-got this?” he asks, taking full control of the situation.

  “Yes, I’ll take care of it.”

  Now that everything’s been sorted, Nikolai lifts me up into his arms and carries me out of the room, Reed right on his heels. Outside, I see the familiar dark SUV parked beside the car Peter had driven.

  It’s freezing outside, and since I’m not wearing much, I burrow as closely as I can to Nikolai’s body.

  Reed opens the side door, and Nikolai carefully climbs in with me and settles me on his lap. His body heat feels good, and I nestle myself against his chest.

  Reed slides into the driver’s seat and turns on the heat full blast before leaning over to open the passenger glove compartment. He pulls out a handful of tissue and hands them back to Nikolai, who promptly but gently, presses them against my injured temple.

  I wince as the pain begins to set in, but I try to ignore it as I tilt my head and focus on Nikolai. “How did you find me, Nik?” I ask, unable to contain my curiosity.

  As Reed pulls away from the building, Nikolai gazes down at me in the dim int
erior of the vehicle. “My m-m-men,” he pauses briefly before pushing out the next word, “unknowingly…have t-t-tracker chips.”

  My mouth falls open. I was expecting plenty of explanations, but certainly not that one. “Like a GPS locater?”

  He nods. “S-s-something like t-t-that.”

  I stare at him doubtfully. “And they don’t know?”

  “I’m very skilled,” Reed says from up front, interrupting our conversation.

  My head lifts from Nikolai’s shoulder as my eyes slide to the driver’s seat briefly before returning to Nikolai as they narrow. “Do I?”

  Amusement flickers across his features. “If y-y-you had I w-w-would have…f-f-found you s-s-sooner.”

  “If you ever chip me like a damned dog, I’ll kill you,” I threaten.

  Nikolai just grins.

  “That’s not a challenge, Nik!”

  He says nothing, still looking bemused.

  “I’ll leave your ass,” I warn.

  Now, he turns very serious. “I’d r-r-rather you s-s-stick around…p-p-permanently.”

  “Then don’t chip me, and I’ll stay as long as you want me,” I say softly.

  “F-f-forever,” he says quietly, his eyes intent on mine.

  My eyes search his. “Forever sounds like love,” I dare to say. After nearly losing my life for the second time in a matter of weeks, I’m not planning on wasting any more time with Nikolai.

  His eyes hold mine steadily. “I l-l-love you, B-B-Blakely Reeves.”

  My heart blooms inside my chest, and I’m overwhelmed and excited at the same time. “I love you too, Nik,” I manage to say back.

  Emotion flickers in his gaze. “I’m s-s-selling my p-p-place.”

  “Good, but I still want my home,” I say determinedly. It took nearly dying this evening for me to let go of a lot of my demands, but that one I can’t compromise on.

  Nikolai immediately frowns, and I can see the coming argument in his eyes.

  “But you can stay with me if you want,” I quickly add.

  “D-d-done,” he says.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Blakely

  As I begin to stir, my bare leg brushes against Nikolai’s, and my eyes open as I smile. I very much enjoy waking to him being in my bed. Well, my sleeping bag, that is.

  He’s lying on his side, head propped on his hand as he gazes down at me. His dark hair is rumpled, and I reach up and run my fingers through the soft strands, mussing it further.

  He quirks a dark brow at me.

  I just smile contentedly and move closer to his side, pressing a kiss to his neck. It’s been two weeks since I’d been kidnapped and nearly killed. Life has had to move on, but I find myself struggling here and there. I still hadn’t overcome the attack at the apartment, so being kidnapped by Peter hadn’t helped.

  Thankfully, the nightmares aren’t nightly, but I still can’t handle sleeping in the dark—even if Nikolai is beside me. I’d broken down and explained my issues with darkness, assuring him that a lot of it stems from my childhood. Though being confined to a cage in a basement hadn’t helped.

  Then, there’s the knowledge that Ava would still be alive if I hadn’t allowed her to come with me to Chicago. There are many regrets, but Nikolai is helping me with the guilt that I feel. He keeps reminding me that I couldn’t have possibly predicted what would happen. He hadn’t even known that one of his own men had turned on him.

  The only good thing that came from the kidnapping is Nikolai and I have admitted our feelings for one another, and we’re working on building something permanent.

  It’s a bit of a struggle, though.

  We both have our own ideal lifestyles, so we’re definitely butting heads trying to sort out how to move on from here.

  So far, Nikolai has put his estate up for sale, and once he has a buyer, he’ll be moving in with me. Except I’m still in the rundown apartment that I’d rented. I’m not leaving it until I’m happy with wherever we decide to move.

  Yes, we’re going to live together.

  Maybe it’s too soon, maybe it’s not. I’d planned on being on my own for a while, but I’m realizing that there’s no point in putting off the inevitable. Both of us want to be with each other as much as possible, and even if I did live on my own, Nikolai would likely be spending every night with me anyway.

  Nikolai sighs, bringing my attention back to him. He gives me a look that I know all too well. “S-s-sleeping on the f-f-floor has t-t-to come t-t-to an end.”

  Oh great. Here we go again.

  I sit up and brush my hair out of my face, ignoring the fact that I’m naked from the waist up. “Nik, I am not staying in a penthouse.”

  He sits up as well, resting a hand on my thigh that’s covered by the sleeping bag. “This isn’t c-c-comfortable,” he says, making a face.

  “I know it’s not ideal, but if we’re going to move in together, we both need to be happy with where we’ll be living,” I remind.

  It’s still too early for me to be looking for my forever home, and because Nikolai and I are just starting out, we’d decided to find a place that we can both be happy with until we’re ready to move on to something permanent.

  Nikolai insists we lease a penthouse where there’s plenty of security, but I can’t imagine living up in a high-rise penthouse. It’s just too…wealthy for me. I want homey and simple. I want something that feels lived in, not something that’s for show, or where I’ll worry over staining or smudging surfaces.

  Besides, Nikolai’s wealth makes me uncomfortable.

  I don’t want to take money from him, and I’d firmly insisted that no matter where we live, I will be helping to pay rent. He didn’t like that one bit, but I’m not the type that wants to be taken care of. I need to be able to support myself and still have a sense of independence.

  Nikolai gazes at me with frustration. “S-s-security is important.”

  I move closer to him and rest my hand on his where it’s still resting on my thigh. After what happened with Peter, I’m fully aware that I won’t ever be completely safe unless Nikolai leaves his illegal business. However, he has to want to quit the business on his own, so I will keep my mouth shut and hope one day he gives it up.

  “It is,” I agree. “But we don’t need an entire staff. We don’t need a hundred floors between us and the ground. There are plenty of other places we can look at that still have good security but aren’t as…expensive.”

  Nikolai grimaces over my issue with his wealth. “I c-c-can a-a-afford it.”

  “You can. But it’s not what I want.”

  He waves a hand at the barren bedroom we’re in. “I d-d-don’t want this,” he says dryly.

  “I know. Me, neither. We just need to find something that’s a cross between an apartment and a penthouse. But nothing too extreme,” I quickly add.

  Nikolai runs his free hand over his jaw. “W-w-we need to hire s-s-someone to help us f-f-find what we n-n-need,” he says stiltedly, struggling slightly over the length of the sentence.

  “Nonsense. I made a list yesterday of some options,” I inform him.

  He instantly looks weary.

  I can’t help but laugh. “Relax, I think you’ll like our options.”

  He still looks doubtful.

  “Okay, fine. If you don’t like any on my list, we’ll hire someone to help us,” I agree. I suppose if we have someone else doing the looking, it might cut down on disagreements like this.

  He tugs me into his arms and lies back down, pulling me on top of him. “T-t-this is why I l-l-love y-y-you. You…eventually s-s-see it m-m-my way,” he teases.

  I lean down and kiss his lips softly before pulling back and peering down at him. “Not really. I’m just letting you think you’re getting your way when I’m going to throw a wrench in your plans so we end up doing it my way,” I say with a wink.

  Nikolai releases a low growl and grabs my hips, rolling me over onto my back as he hovers over me, his eyes growing darker. “Say it
a-a-again,” he threatens.

  I gaze up at him, giving him a sultry smile. “I’m going to get my way.”

  “N-n-not happening.”

  “You sure?” I ask, wrapping my legs around his hips, feeling his erection nudging my thigh.

  His lips clamp down on mine, and the argument is instantly forgotten.

  EPILOGUE

  Nikolai

  Seven years later

  As I enter the building, the bouncer recognizes me and ushers me past a group of women waiting to be let into the club.

  I look around as I step into the main room, and it’s packed. Bright flashing lights streak across gyrating bodies on the dance floor. Along the outskirts of the large room are three bars located in different sections. The entire place is filled to capacity.

  Six years ago, one of the bigger night clubs in the city went out of business, and Blakely was instantly interested in buying it. It was hard for her to ask me to invest in it, but we’d just married, and it’d made sense. She loves the club environment, and if she’s going to work in it, she might as well own it.

  Of course, she insisted she was eventually going to buy me out and pay back the money that was borrowed. I couldn’t talk her out of it, and thanks to her sharp business mind and knowing what sells, she became the sole owner of it two years ago.

  She’s chased her dreams and more than succeeded.

  I make my way to a door that the employees use to gain access to the back of the building and its supply rooms and offices. I slip inside, walking down the long hallway.