by CR Robertson
“Fuck!” he snarled, crawling on his hands and knees before standing to stare down at me. Hatred burned in his eyes, and he kicked my stomach several times until I tasted blood. He hauled me up by the hair to face him.
“Don’t try anything like that again. We were told to bring you in, no one said what condition you had to be in when you got there.”
I spat in his face, and when he reared back in anger, the heel of my fist flashed up to break his nose before I ran like the devil himself was chasing me. Instinct guided me and I was grateful for my dark clothing. This was why I ran every day, even though I hated it as a form of exercise. Footsteps sounded behind me and I dived into one of the hiding holes Mario had identified.
My heart sounded in my ears and my face stung where he had struck me. I let my forehead drop against the cool wall and held my breath.
Mario.
He’d been a presence in my life for years—a member of my family. Where the hell was he? Cautiously, I slid my phone from my back pocket and turned it off and removed the battery. My laptop was in my backpack with my other personal documents. Minutes passed and my body grew cold, my fingers numb. Still, I waited as the protocol dictated.
When I couldn’t bear the cold anymore, I tucked my hair under my black beanie hat that had been in my pocket and tugged it down until it was just above my eyes. I tried to make myself as small and insignificant as possible, blending in with some other students.
For over an hour, I altered my route until I was sure no one was following me. Then I made my way to the locker that contained the folder that would enable my escape. Only when I was sitting in the toilet did I allow myself the luxury of tears. Fear cramped my stomach and mingled with the ache created from his kicks, but I couldn’t phone Papa. He knew the name on the passport and had left me a card with money on it and some cash to pay for the flight to the destination and address hidden inside the purse. I’d also put some clothes in the bag when I left it in the locker all those years ago.
This was the day that was never supposed to happen.
I waited another hour before I crept from the toilets and made my way to the train station. On the train, I spent most of my time pretending to sleep with my earbuds in and no music playing. My stomach ached, my cheek throbbed, and my heart fractured for a friend who was probably dead. He did everything in his power to keep me safe, and his move to switch apartments was the act that saved me but doomed him.
In the airport, I moved all my stuff into one bag and bought a ticket to the destination Papa had selected. All I could hope was that the person he was sending me to in Cuba could contact him and get me home. Those walls around his estate suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
I had to wait almost a day before the next flight, so I changed my appearance as much as possible in the airport. Normally my hair was down, so I scrunched it up in a messy bun, and donned my heavy, black-framed fake glasses Mario had bought me two years ago to add to my escape bag. With no make-up on, I looked pale and unrecognisable even to myself.
I clutched my stomach where the bruises had begun to develop and grimaced when I caught a glimpse of my swollen face in the airport mirror. I gently patted my hair, trying to soften the fierce burning sensation that radiated from the parts of my scalp where the man had dragged me around by my hair. Nothing could soothe the fear now plaguing my body. Gone was the confident daughter of Lucas Black. In her place was a frightened girl, running from the men who wanted to kill her.
I charged the burner phone but didn’t dare to turn it on until I was out of the country. Not even Mario knew my alias, but he did supply the phone. All I wanted to do was go home and let Papa tell me everything would be okay. Going home was not an option anymore.
When the plane finally flew through the clouds, I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. Whoever lived at the address on that piece of paper had to know who I was and could help me. Almost ten hours and no sleep later, land appeared through the window.
Mama’s native language had been Italian and Papa’s English. However, Papa insisted that we learn Spanish to ensure we could blend into most locations around the globe. I was a little rusty, but the girl behind the desk in the airport smiled and nodded as she arranged a taxi for me.
I hadn’t slept in days, my clothes were stuck to me with sweat, and I was beginning to regret not eating on the plane. Sipping a bottle of water, I sat outside the airport on the ground with my backpack between my legs. My jeans and boots were too much for the climate, but my options were limited right at the moment.
Normally, I loved visiting a new country where I could avidly study the architecture and people, but all I could think about now were my sisters and Papa, wondering if they were okay or if men had come after them, too.
The taxi driver threw me a confused look when we finally turned into the driveway of the estate. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, even as scary looking men approached the vehicle. He practically threw me out of the taxi, grabbing the American dollars I was holding, before speeding off.
I watched the retreating car and suddenly felt lost and alone.
“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?” A man demanded, his brown eyes hard and cold.
“Um.” I struggled to get my purse out of my bag and found a gun pointed in my face. “I’m trying to get a letter out.”
His eyebrows raised as he motioned to me with his gun. I slowly brought out the sealed envelope with a name on it. It had been in the folder with instructions to give it to the person who lived at this address. He snatched it from me and nodded to another man with a gun before he strode inside.
My legs felt ready to collapse and my hoodie was stuck to my back.
It felt like I’d been left to bake in the sun for hours before the man reappeared. “You better come inside.”
My feet were filled with lead, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I barely had the strength to carry the backpack with all my possessions. The coolness inside felt like a blast from a refrigerator, revitalising me a little.
We finally reached a room, where a man with dark hair sat reading the letter with his back to me. He waved his hand in dismissal, making my tour guide disappear.
“It would appear that I have been assigned as your guardian,” his deep voice said, sounding vaguely familiar. “The tables have turned on Lucas Black.”
He finally turned to face me, and my mystery guardian was revealed as the man who’d carried me to my room all those weeks ago. A flush arose on my cheeks because he had a starring role in all my fantasies since then.
His eyes narrowed, and he was across the room in an instant. I flinched back when he touched my cheek. “What the fuck happened?”
The past few days became too much, and the world slipped in and out of focus until I felt his arms steady me. The need to run coursed through me again, but there was nowhere else to go. I was on the opposite side of the world with no friends to comfort me, and all those men outside had guns. They could kill me anytime they felt like it.
I’d lived my entire life in a castle that was fortified against the outside world. Suddenly, I felt the vulnerability of being far from home with no allies. I was at the mercy of this man I barely knew—a man who held my life in the palms of his strong hands. That terrified and excited me at the same time.
The dizzy feeling got worse until the world blackened around me.
***
Chapter Five
Nicklas
“Fuck!”
She collapsed in my arms, her eyes rolling back in her head. Sofia Black looked like she’d survived hell just to get here.
I gently lifted her to the sofa and retrieved her father’s letter. Of all the places to send his innocent little lamb, he sent her to a wolf who’d like nothing more than to claim her soft, curvy body and fuck her senseless. Those breasts had tormented me since I’d caught sight of them at Lucas’ estate a few weeks ago.
I crouched down to study the injury to the side of her f
ace. Her huge glasses obscured who she was, and the jeans and hoodie disguised her figure. Touching her forehead revealed she was burning up.
“Sam!” My second in command appeared a few seconds later. “Get our doctor to check her out.”
He studied her for a few seconds. “Who is she?”
“A gift from a friend. He needs me to protect her for a while.”
Sam grinned. “Who would be stupid enough to send a girl for you to protect? You used to be the biggest man whore I knew.”
Used to be. Since I set eyes on Sofia Black, my appetite for other women had vanished. Then suddenly she’s delivered to my doorstep. Either fate was smiling on me, or she was a fucking psychopath who was laughing at me right now.
Our estate was self-sufficient with a doctor on staff. We had more than our fair share of men who needed to be patched up, and hospitals tended to ask too many questions.
“You needed me?” Alvaro, my doctor, stood in the doorway.
“Yeah, she’s just arrived and collapsed. Looks like she’s been in a fight.” Murderous rage pulsed through me. I wanted to find her bodyguard and beat the crap out of him for not protecting her, then I needed to find whoever the fuck hit her. My eyes narrowed at her cheek as I contemplated if her bodyguard had tried to force himself on her.
The doctor felt her head and took her pulse. “She’s too warm. Help me get this top off.”
Part of me wanted to refuse because the only place I wanted to undress her was in my room. This was our doctor, for fuck’s sake. Sofia moaned when I lifted her forward and he tugged her top up. Huge bruises covered her right side and stomach. The doctor met my eyes in revulsion.
I blanked my expression since I was struggling not to punch the wall or shoot someone.
“She might have abdominal damage and is dehydrated. Who is she?”
After reading that letter, it was best that no one knew she was here. “The daughter of a close friend. Right now, she needs somewhere to stay.”
“Help me carry her to the unit.”
We didn’t have a hospital, but what we had came damn close. There was no way anyone else was touching her. I carried Sofia to the unit and placed her on one of the beds. We stripped her clothes off, leaving her only in her bra and panties before we dressed her in a shapeless gown. An IV drip was attached to her arm and leads hooked her up to our monitors.
I stared out the window in disgust. Lucas Black had always been the most honourable man I knew. His daughter didn’t deserve this. “Was she raped?” I finally asked when Alvaro finished his examination.
“Her bruising is around the stomach and side, there is none on her legs or pelvis to indicate she was raped. She fought hard to escape, the cuts on her fingers and broken nails are a testament to that.”
The need to kill someone coursed through me again.
“I gave her pain relief medication to keep her sedated, so she’ll be out for a few hours.”
I nodded, chewing the inside of my mouth. There was nothing I could do here, but my men had eyes on Lucas’ problem he wanted dealt with. Maybe it was time I paid him a visit and got rid of some of my frustration.
“No one in here unless I say so,” I ordered, storming out of the room.
My temper soared with every step forward. I snapped my fingers and my men fell into step behind me. Sam sat on the patio, puffing on a cigar. He glanced up at me.
“It’s time to catch that rat.”
Sam gave me a grin that made my skin crawl. He pushed himself to his feet, holding his cigar between his teeth. My second in command loved a good fight against the world. We met in Lucas’ ranks years ago and formed our own brotherhood. Everyone knew us as the Vendetta crew because we all had someone with a mark on them that belonged only to us.
Silas was my vendetta.
Cuba had a lot of attractions, one of my favourites being the cars. We had a fleet of old American cars in every colour. Paulo maintained them, giving us a list of parts that he needed every time one of us left the country on business.
My red Chevrolet Bel Air Cabriolet was my baby and the pride of my garage. No one touched her but me. She drove like a dream and was the type of car I wanted to drive when I was growing up.
The heart of Havana had renovation underway in certain parts, but a lot of it still bore the scars of many years of neglect and lack of resources. There was something about the town that spoke to me at a soul level. These people didn’t have much, but their generosity and attitude compensated in abundance.
My men spread through the room casually while I went to the bar. The bartender Jose put a glass down and poured a shot of rum without even asking what I wanted. I downed it in one go and slammed the glass back onto the counter. Jose nodded to a booth at the back corner of the bar. He was an extension of my group and was paid well for the information he filtered back through my men.
Colin Davidson had been a security officer in the Council for years, yet when Jordan started looking into a security leak, he mysteriously disappeared.
“Buenos Dias,” I said, sliding into the booth beside him.
His bloodshot eyes watched me warily. The bottle of rum sat on the table not too far from his glass.
“Rumour has it that you double crossed the Council.”
His eyes widened and his throat bobbed in a swallow. His tongue shot out to moisten his lips. “Have the Council sent you?”
I couldn’t prevent the laugh that barked out. Not even close.
“Nah, you can stop worrying, man. A mutual friend sent me to make sure you’re doing okay.” I deliberately eyed the bottle. “I’m going to say the answer to that is no.”
He shrugged and poured himself another glass, holding the bottle up to me in invitation. I shook my head and studied him, debating if he was scared and desperate or just a decent actor. My sources had revealed that known associates of the Council had been seen at the villa he rented.
This game was an intricate mix of poker faces and accumulated information. I’d put ten dollars on the fact that he wasn’t hiding in Cuba but setting up a base of operations. Considering that this was my city, and he hadn’t approached me, showed he had no respect for me. That would soon change. He was Council through and through, running to hide their sordid secrets so that Lucas Black and his nephew couldn’t find them.
It was a pity that they didn’t realise I was alive today only because Lucas took me in and trained me as one of his own. I owed him my life.
He downed his glass of rum and sat back in his seat. “Who are you and why are you here?”
If he was a security officer, he was really dumb or didn’t do his homework. “I could ask the same question considering my team has been here for years, then you arrive and decide you’re the big fish in a small pond.” I flashed him my scariest grin. “You should know that this pond doesn’t need any more fish.”
“I’ve dealt with scarier men than you.”
“I doubt it, since you obviously don’t know who I am. You have twenty-four hours to deal with your mess and stop making ripples. Since you don’t need my help, then consider this a friendly warning to stop shitting all over my town.”
His eyes narrowed. “Fuck you!”
“No thanks, you’re not my type.”
He sat back, reaching for the weapon I’d already noticed shoved into his waistband. I grabbed his hand and tugged it under the table, twisting his little finger until I felt it pop. His other hand grasped the edge of the table.
“You disrespect me again, and the Council’s henchmen will look like fucking Care Bears. Understand?”
I didn’t wait for his reply as I slid off my chair and headed for the door. His reaction would tell me all the information I needed to know, and my men were all stationed, ready to follow him. If there was a nest of vipers like Lucas suggested, I wanted to know where they were and who was among them.
The sun beat down on me as I made my way back to my car. Instead of going home, I drove to Havana Bay to think. Christ of
Havana stood on the hilltop on the other side of the bay, surveying all the sinners he was waiting for to repent. I couldn’t ask for forgiveness while I plotted murder in my heart.
Tourists snapped pictures, and I blended in with my sunglasses and shorts. Rule number one of leading a criminal gang was to blend in. The bosses who strode around in suits and ties always intrigued me as they painted a huge target on their backs and then hoped their minions would save them. If no one knew who I was, then they had a hard job finding me. All my men dressed like tourists for that reason.
When we arrived a few years ago, we bought a rundown estate and created a home. We gave the locals work and blended into the countryside in plain sight. Our group worked for everything we earned and shared our success. It was the reason the police ignored us. Why would they want to arrest people who employed workers and bolstered the economy? Lucas taught me long ago that respect was a basic building block of a strong empire. Creating enemies only added more people to the list of those ready to dig a knife in your back.
Thinking about Lucas brought my current problem back to my mind. Why did he choose me as the person to protect his daughter? She was battered and broken, unable to even stand when she reached me. The fear in her eyes was real, but it was the relief that appeared when she saw it was me that sent unexpected shock waves through me. No one was ever relieved to see me; my presence generally generated the opposite emotion.
Those bruises were deep and painful on her abdomen. I personally wanted to track down who did that and peel their skin off slowly and carve my name into their bones. The fucking cowards picked on a defenceless woman to try to gain advantage in this war.
“Nic?” Sam stood watching me.
I raised one eyebrow in question.
“Our target is on the move. You must have spooked him.”
My lips tipped up in a feral grin. “Let’s see where he leads us.”
Right now, I needed something to distract me from the woman lying injured in my compound. There was an itch under my skin and the only way to scratch it was to go back and sit with her. She was pale and vulnerable, and for that brief second that her eyes met mine, she was relieved that it was me standing there. At that moment, some strange protective beast roared inside my chest.