by CR Robertson
Instead of analysing my feelings of why Sofia was here, I was going to do what I did best and beat the crap out of someone until I knew what the fuck was going on. It was either that or go home and become public enemy number one to Lucas Black because I defiled his precious daughter.
***
Chapter Six
Nicklas
The silly little shit had obviously watched me walk out of the bar and into my car and thought that was the end of our conversation. Either the Council had gotten sloppy over the years, or the man was an arrogant prick. Number two was definitely my choice, considering that psychopath Jordan was currently seated in the top security job of the Council.
My men were discretely watching from a hillside that overlooked an old estate which had been abandoned for years. He was clever to keep the presence of people here hidden among the overgrown countryside. It wasn’t the property we knew he was renting.
“Details?” I demanded.
Alejandro studied the device in his hand. “Heat signatures for at least ten. There are a few flares out the back, but I’m not sure if it’s wildlife.”
“Should we take them out or watch them?” Sam asked.
The desire to go down there and blow them all into the afterlife throbbed deep in my chest. Anything to do with the precious Council that Silas hid behind made me want to commit violence. On the other hand, Colin had presented us with an opportunity.
Internet access was limited in Cuba. There was only one service provider, and it was sketchy in rural locations. My tech wizard Kris had boosted our signal where we lived, but I doubted they had achieved that this far away from a city.
“I want them dark out here. Set up a signal jammer and make sure all their access routes have an unfortunate natural disaster.” Trees fell all the time, and depending on the time of year, there were landslides. The roads this far out were narrow and easily disrupted, with no alternative routes available. With no one knowing they were out here; they could easily be trapped for days.
The other reason I wanted them trapped, that I was reluctant to admit even to myself, was that if the Council discovered Sofia was here, they could send any of these goons after her. Someone had already fucking touched her, and that filled me with incandescent rage.
“Sam, get me all the information we can find about what’s been happening at this place. We haven’t had eyes on it, but someone knew they were out here. Find them immediately because I want to talk to them. Whoever leaves this estate first, bring them in for questioning.”
“How the fuck did they get past us?” Sam demanded. He was a nut when it came to security and headed our own defences. The fact that he was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face didn’t bode well for whoever he got his hands on first. There were certified psychopaths in every group, and Sam claimed that title along with Kris.
Lucas Black picked up waifs and strays and trained them. Sam and I met in his ranks and formed our own group that was still loyal to Lucas. We were a brotherhood forged not through blood, but mutual experiences. Blood may be thick, but pain cemented our bond, and it was stronger.
“No idea, Sam. Looks like we’re going to have to check our extended alliances out there.”
I knew Lucas wanted this situation dealt with quick and hard. However, that voice that guided me was screaming in my head that we needed to be cautious and find out what was happening.
“No one in or out,” I shouted over my shoulder as I made my way back to my car. “The first one is brought in for questioning; anyone after that can sleep in a shallow grave.”
My mood descended into the depths of hell with every mile closer to home I drove. No one cared about erratic driving on this island, so my foot hit the accelerator hard, leaving my personal demons behind me.
Lucas’ letter had said that he created three envelopes, one for each of his daughters. He didn’t know which was being sent to me, but if she made it safely to me, no one was to know she was here—not even him.
I just inherited a foster child that I had less than pure thoughts about. The paperwork in her bag had a university card in a different surname, and a passport in a completely different name again. Lucas had been covering her tracks for years. The only way anyone found Sofia was through an internal leak that needed plugged. If I was the man who put his hands on Sofia, I would be hiding under a rock right now. Vengeance from Lucas Black was slow and painful, designed to send a message to anyone else stupid enough to think they could defy him.
Our doctor sat on a chair outside the medical unit, sipping a mojito. He raised his glass to me in a silent salute.
“How is she?”
He set his glass down. “Her temperature has come down with the fluids. I’m worried about her stomach and the damage. She might need a scan.”
That meant a trip to the hospital.
Sighing, I sat beside him and pinched the bridge of my nose. “She’s on the run. I can’t risk taking her to a hospital unless you’re sure.”
“We’re all running from something,” he replied before he returned to sipping his drink.
Sofia still laid on the hospital bed with a drip attached to her arm. She looked too young to be involved in all of this, but considering I was in my teens when I ended up in the middle of this war, what was too young?
Her nose wrinkled, and she squeezed her eyes together as if hiding from whatever she saw in her head.
“Hey, Princess.” I stood beside the bed, staring down at her.
She smacked her lips together a few times before opening her eyes. I lifted a glass of water and helped her to sit up before pressing it to her lips. She eyed me suspiciously, trying to take the glass from me.
I deliberately sat on the side of her bed to watch her reaction. Sofia pursed her lips together, her cheeks flushing.
“Wanna tell me what happened?” The sooner I knew who touched her, the sooner they’d have their fingers cut off.
She chewed the inside of her mouth, her eyes locked with mine. Fear lurked in their depths. “I think Mario is dead,” she said in a low tone. “We swapped apartments when we moved in. His door was open, and everything was smashed up with blood smears all over the wall. That was supposed to be my apartment.”
“Was there a body?”
She shook her head, eyes wide.
They wouldn’t have had time to get rid of a body if they were waiting for her. The likelihood of Mario still being alive was good. It also raised the possibility that he was in on her attempted abduction.
“Where did you keep your escape bag?” I nodded to the bag on the floor.
She stared at it for several seconds. “It was supposed to be in the safe Mario put into the wall in my apartment, but I left it in a locker at university just in case.” She leaned back onto the pillow and I lifted the glass from her hand. “Mario and Papa would be so annoyed with me for disobeying them.”
She might not realise it, but she saved her life by following her intuition. It also meant if Mario was involved, he thought she was still in Scotland.
“Did you go into your apartment?”
“No. When I saw Mario’s apartment, I left immediately. They caught up with me outside.”
There was no doubt in my head there had been an ambush waiting for her inside that apartment. “Is that when you were attacked?”
Her head dipped, and she pushed her hair behind her ear. My fingers itched because I wanted to do the same with her wayward hair. She must have realised her action revealed the bruising on her cheek, so she tugged it to fall around her face again.
I sat forward and tucked it behind her ear again. “Who did this?” Maybe she would answer that question since she didn’t seem to want to talk about what happened to her.
Sofia shrugged. “They called him Ben. I just know he was tall and strong.”
Hitting a woman didn’t make you strong. It made you an asshole.
“He was furious when I kneed him in the balls and broke his nose.
”
My lips twitched at the image of this tiny woman injuring that dickhead. “I’m guessing your father taught you to defend yourself.”
“Private school is brutal.”
“Hmmm.” I took a deep breath and let it go slowly. “The letter says I am not to contact Lucas to let him know you’re here. He doesn’t know which daughter got which safe house, but I’m guessing you paid for your trip here with a credit card?”
She nodded. Lucas would know she was here already, that card would have activated a silent alert as soon as it was used. I’d wait until he contacted me.
“Doc wants to take you for a scan because of the injuries to your stomach. How are you feeling?”
Sofia finally seemed to realise she was no longer in the clothes she arrived in. I would have loved to have seen her undressed at any other time than when she was unconscious and covered in bruises. Her cheeks flared red, and she tugged the blanket over her breasts. Considering she’d given me a free strip show in Tuscany, that gesture was pointless.
“It’s sore, but I think it’s just bruised from where he kicked me.”
I wanted to beat the shit out of him and slit his throat for harming her. My reaction confused me since I tended not to care about anyone outside my crew. Women never got under my skin—they stayed in my life until I was bored with them. I never felt protective over them or wanted to kill someone for laying a finger on them.
“It’s best if my men don’t know who you are right now, so we’ll stick to your alias you arrived here under.”
“How do I know if I can trust you?” She sounded unsure of herself.
“You didn’t know that before you got on that plane and flew halfway across the globe. Your dad saved me when I had no one. He’s one of the few men who has my complete allegiance. He wouldn’t have sent you to me if he didn’t trust me.”
She nodded, her attention moving to the door. Alvaro stood there watching us.
“Looks like the doc has arrived to check you over,” I said. “Be a good girl and take your medicine for him.”
Sofia bit into her bottom lip before moving her attention to me. “Is Papa and my sister’s okay?”
“I have no idea. Right now, we need to pretend everything is the same as it was forty-eight hours ago. Give me some time and I’ll find out.”
I left her in Alvaro’s capable hands and headed to our gym. Sam found me several hours later, still punching the bag hanging from the ceiling.
“One of the rodents emerged from that estate. He ran for a while before we caught him.”
That didn’t take long. They must get bored easily.
“Where is he?” I asked, wiping the sweat off my face with a towel.
“In our guest quarters.”
No one would ever willingly stay in our guest quarters. It was an outbuilding with thick walls that the sound of screams didn’t permeate through.
“Give me half an hour to grab a shower and change.” I’d lost track of time getting rid of my frustrations. My T-shirt was soaking, and my hair stuck to my head.
“No worries, he’s just hanging around.” Sam chuckled at his own joke. In other words, he was hanging from manacles on the wall.
I needed a distraction right now, so our ‘guest’ would get my full attention. There would be a hole waiting for him to sleep in when I was finished.
***
Chapter Seven
Sofia
Him.
Of all Papa’s associates that I could have ended up with, how in the name of God did I end up with him? That man’s face was the image I pictured when I touched myself late at night under the covers of my duvet—his deep blue eyes haunting me ever since he literally swept me off my feet.
The doctor made me eat some food and declared me dehydrated but did not think I needed to go to the hospital. He then consented for me to be taken to a room in the house instead of staying in his little hospital, muttering that he never knew when he’d need it for an emergency.
So far, no one seemed to have realised I understood Spanish. They talked in the background outside as I struggled to get into my leggings and T-shirt. I packed it because it doubled as an outfit or pyjamas.
I walked behind a woman in her mid-fifties who was showing me to my room when Nic came prowling from a basement area. He wore only a pair of black shorts and trainers, his shirt clutched in his hand. In my head he had muscles and a six-pack. The reality was so much better. He possessed chiselled muscles that men only ever had in advertisements or on book covers. The V on his hips made butterflies invade my stomach and my mouth go dry.
Shit, now I had a visual to work off, I was never getting to sleep tonight.
“Are you supposed to be out of the med unit?”
Too late.
I realised I was staring.
“Yeah, Doc said I could go to sleep in a real bed.” Some girls in my university class were super confident around guys and knew what to say in every situation. Anyone who dared to show an interest in me got the death glare from Mario and they scarpered off. In the end, I let my friends believe we were dating. It was easier to explain than me being a virgin who wasn’t allowed to date.
“Maria, make sure our guest has everything she needs,” Nic said before nodding and stomping off to wherever he was heading.
I only knew his name because I heard some of the men mention him outside. He seemed to be in charge of this place. My gaze darted about as I followed Maria to the room I’d been allocated. It was light and spacious with little furniture in it.
“You need anything, press the bell on the wall.” She pointed to a button on the intercom beside the door. “The doctor said you need to rest. I’ll bring your medication later with something to eat.”
She left me standing with a thousand questions in my head when she abruptly left me. All I had were the few possessions in my bag. I desperately wanted to get in touch with Catarina or Lucrezia. Nic had said I wasn’t to contact Papa, but not my sisters. Setting my bag on the bed, I searched for my phone, tablet, and laptop. All of them were missing. My paperwork with my identifications and cash were still there, but all my electronic devices were gone.
Defeated, I flopped back on the bed. There was no doubt in my mind that Nic had taken them to stop me from phoning someone. In fairness, that was exactly what I was about to do. I phoned my sisters every day just to hear their voices. Papa contacted me at the same time every day, no matter where he was in the world. If I didn’t answer, I got an angry Mario in my face.
With nothing else to do, I decided to investigate my room.
The walls were a basic white rough plaster that made it more appealing that the stark white regimented walls back home in Tuscany. Small paintings hung in pale wooden frames, depicting different birds from the island. The huge bed was the focal point of the room, the white sheets smelt of lavender and were an excellent thread count, the type that was in the best hotels Papa stayed in. A deep crimson crocheted cover added a splash of colour to the room.
The three-bulb light fitting incorporated a fan that slowly revolved to cool the room. The furniture was in a pale wood, everything possessing an old, used feeling that made me feel at home. The room felt lived in and real, and it soothed me.
The window overlooked lots of fields growing large, leafy crops. My guess was that it was tobacco. Small figures moved about in the fields. There was an ensuite with a luxuriously large bath and a range of toiletries on the shelf.
My hair was still stuck to my head, and I hadn’t had a shower in a few days since I’d been camped out in the airport before I flew to Cuba. My body needed sleep, but my soul craved a scented bath. The aroma of lavender soothed my senses as the water poured into the bathtub. Stripping my clothes off, I gingerly lowered myself into the bubbles, submerging myself to rinse my hair before lathering it in an expensive-looking shampoo. Several rinses later and after one bath refill, I wound my hair in a towel and relaxed, pressing my back against the porcelain to let the water soa
k my aching bones.
My apartment in Aberdeen only had a shower, so a bathtub reminded me of home. I let all my troubles melt away into the scented water, imagining myself back in Tuscany in the protection of Papa’s estate.
I must have dozed off because when I awoke, the water was cold and the hairs on my neck were prickled in awareness. My eyes snapped open to find Nic standing in the doorway, staring at me with an expression I’d never seen in his blue eyes before.
I sat up, realising too late that I was naked, and the bubbles had disappeared long ago. His gaze flicked down to my wet breasts. I tried to cover my exposed flesh but ended up slipping down into the water instead.
I thrashed around, trying to grab a hold on the side, and found myself lifted out of the cold water and wrapped in a huge fluffy towel.
Nic glared down at me, his hands bands of steel on my upper arms. “I knocked on the door and thought you’d fainted again,” he accused in a low husky tone.
There was something about the way he loomed over me that made a shiver ripple down my spine. My teeth sank into my bottom lip and his dark gaze moved from my eyes to my mouth. I swallowed to try to dislodge the lump that had formed in my throat.
He slowly removed the damp towel from my hair and dropped it to the floor. His fingers combed through the wet strands until his hands came to rest on the sides of my face, tipping my head back.
“You really shouldn’t be wandering around naked,” he muttered.
“I was in the bath.”
His lips twitched into a bare semblance of a smile. “Still naked.”
My breath caught in my chest when his lips descended to mine without warning. They were soft but firm and incredibly demanding. I had no clue what to do. His tongue moved along the seam of my lips as if he was unzipping them to gain entry. I gasped, and he took the opportunity to delve his tongue into my mouth.