by CR Robertson
***
Chapter Sixteen
Sofia
I sat on the edge of the bed, chewing the side of my mouth and staring at my hands. There had been no mistaking the tension in Nicklas’ body when he saw those men. Fear raced up and down my spine, and terror pooled deep in my stomach at the thought of anyone hurting him.
A brief knock sounded at my door. I carefully opened it, keeping the chain on.
One of Nicklas’ guys stood outside holding my bags. He was the one who always wore his baseball cap backward and sat apart from the others. “You need to stay inside and keep this door locked no matter what you hear. Nic asked me to bring you your bags. He’s busy dealing with the situation.”
I wanted to ask what was happening, but too many years of men arriving to speak to Papa and us being told to stay in our rooms had prepared me for these types of situations.
“Thank you.” I took the chain off so he could bring the bags in.
“He had me disable the Wi-Fi on your laptop and devices so you can use them. It’s for your own safety.” He set my laptop and other items down on the dresser. “Please don’t use your phone. All calls going in and out of this compound are monitored, so Nic will know. He doesn’t take betrayal well.”
I nodded. “I’m sure my family knows where I am by now, anyway.”
He moved to the door and stopped. “You might think we’re being overprotective, but lock the door, all the locks, not just one.”
“Okay.”
He disappeared out the door and shut it behind him, rapping it once when he didn’t hear the locks sliding into place.
Papa had a safe room built into our bedrooms back in Tuscany. They were in different places in each bedroom. Catarina’s was in the walk-in wardrobe, Lucrezia’s was behind a panel at the side of her bed, and mine was behind a full-length mirror in the bathroom. If an alarm sounded in our rooms, we were to lock ourselves in the room and wait for instructions through the communication device in it.
The cogs in my head were running so fast that I expected to smell burning. To try to calm myself, I put the clothes into the wardrobe, hanging my dresses up, and putting my panties in a drawer.
I froze when the gunshot sounded. My knees gave way, and I crouched on the floor, wrapping my arms around my middle.
“Please,” I petitioned whoever was out there watching over me. I gave up praying the night Mama died. Too many times I had sat at her bedside praying she got better, I even tried to make a deal with God, but she died anyway. Right now, I needed Nicklas to survive.
Eventually, I crawled over to the window and watched inconspicuously from the shadows. All the men who’d arrived earlier emerged a few minutes later and got into their cars and left. Their faces were stern, and they were angry at whatever happened. I sat with my arms around my legs and tugged them against my chest, keeping vigil at the window.
Bile burned a trail up my throat when a body was carried out, followed immediately by relief that flooded me, leaving me practically limp when I realised it wasn’t Nicklas. I should be ashamed of myself since a man was dead, but all I could focus on right now was the fact that he was still alive.
About an hour later, the estate returned to normal with tapers being lit in the courtyard and men smoking cigars in the distance. Maria fired up the huge open barbeque and began bringing out steaks to roast on it.
How could anyone eat after what had happened? And where did they keep taking all these bodies?
Even the smell of cooking didn’t tempt me from my hiding place. I sat beside the window with the curtain half hiding me. A key sounded in the lock, followed by a rap.
“Sofia.” It was Nicklas. The sound of his voice was engrained in my soul.
I stared at the door for several moments, contemplating what I should do, but my heart had different ideas than my head. She overrode all my fears and forced me to walk across the room and open the door.
Nicklas looked exhausted. He’d recently showered, and his hair was still wet, but his eyes looked haunted. All my reservations melted away, and I hauled him into my room, burying myself in his arms. They came around me automatically.
“I heard a gunshot,” I hiccupped, starting to cry. “I thought you were dead.”
“Fuck, Princess, you can’t be worrying about me.” His hands framed my face to tilt my head back. “This needs to stop.”
“What?” I peered up at him, tears still escaping without my consent.
“You and me. Everything is stacked against us and I don’t need to add your father to my enemy list.”
My heart stumbled over its beat and I felt darkness filling my soul.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he muttered. “You deserve someone better than me. I’m fuelled by rage and motivated by vengeance. You need a businessman who wears a suit all day and comes home to you every night in the beautiful mansion he bought you. He’ll probably not be able to find your g-spot with a map, but at least you’ll be safe.”
I dragged a staggered breath in between my clenched teeth. “What if I don’t want to be safe? Don’t I get to decide if I want a man who’ll fuck me politely or if I want a man who’ll burn me from the inside until all that is left is his imprint on my soul?”
“Sofia,” Nicklas growled in warning.
“Fine!” I pushed his hands away. “Maybe I should just choose one of your men downstairs since you don’t want me.”
His hands grasped my arms and he pinned me to the wall. “I don’t play games, Princess. If I claim a woman, she’s mine, body and soul.”
“But you don’t want to claim me, Nicklas.”
His eyes bored into mine with raw emotions burning in their depths. His jaw tightened along with his hand gripping my arms.
My fingers touched his waist. “You either take me or discard me, Nicklas. You can’t keep blowing hot and cold.”
“Do you have any idea what my enemies would do to you?” His head leaned forward until our breathes mingled.
“Do you plan on letting them close enough to harm me?”
His teeth grazed my ear, and he sucked my lobe. “I would fucking destroy anyone who even thought about touching you.”
“Would you be okay seeing me on the arm of some prick in a suit, Nicklas?”
He growled against my throat, his hand releasing me to thread his fingers through mine and press my arms to the wall. “You need to stop talking.”
I slid my leg around his to draw him closer to me. “Would it bother you to know he shared my bed every night?”
His teeth sank into my shoulder.
“That I gave him everything that I wanted to share with you, but you rejected me?”
Nicklas’ hard frame pushed me into the wall. “You need to let me protect you, Sofia. The best way to do that is for you to hide in this room until your father collects you.”
“I’ve hidden my entire life, Nicklas. I want to live for a change.”
“You are going to be the death of me.” He glared furiously into my eyes as if he could change my mind by his will alone.
“Maybe I’ll be your salvation.”
His lips crashed into mine and I kissed him with every emotion I had churning around inside me. If this was my one opportunity to convince him to take a chance on us, then I was going to grab it.
I moaned into his mouth and tightened my leg around his to draw him ever closer. There was no longer right and wrong in my world, only sensations and feelings. I didn’t care that a man had been carried out dead. All that mattered was that it wasn’t Nicklas.
“Sofia, please,” Nicklas moaned, trying to draw back.
He loosened his grip on me enough that I was able to wiggle my arms free to wrap around his neck. His hands landed under my ass and lifted me higher against him.
“Nic?” I heard a male voice call out from somewhere in the distance.
Nicklas groaned and dropped me on the bed. “For fuck’s sake. I’m gonna have to speak to my men with a fucking hard-on.” He trailed his finge
rs through his hair and stared at the ceiling for several seconds.
I sat up and traced my finger over the outline of his arousal. “Or you could stay here with me.”
His hand grasped my wrist. “I can’t keep doing this, Sofia. You need to stay in this room. Maria will bring your meals to you.”
He spun on his heel and marched out of the room, cursing under his breath.
I threw myself on the bed, my heart rate uneven and breathing shaky. Nicklas wanted me, he was just determined to deny himself. Mama always told me that Papa said she was too good for him, but she knew from the moment she met him that he was the only man that she would ever want.
Stuck in a foreign country with no allies, I needed to figure out a way for Nicklas to get over the wall he was building between us. If I wanted him, I was just going to tear that wall down brick by brick until he had nothing left to hide behind.
***
Chapter Seventeen
Sofia
For three days, Nicklas avoided me. He ate his meals in his office and had an excuse every time he wandered into the kitchen and found me there. By day four, I was seriously pissed off and had enough.
Maria was sending her daughter Benita into town to get some groceries. I was too warm sitting here and beyond bored since I finished as much as I could on my dissertation without access to online libraries.
“Can I go with Benita?” I asked, watching her from where I was slouched over the table with my head resting on my arms.
Maria frowned. “You are not supposed to go out alone.”
I gave her my best smile that I used on Papa when I wanted something. “That’s just in case I get lost. Benita will be with me. She can show me some of the shops she’s been telling me about.”
“Oh, Mama, can we?” Benita emerged from behind one of the cupboard doors, where she was making a shopping list. “I was telling Sarah about the waterfall visible from where we used to live.”
It killed me that everyone knew me as Sarah, since that was what was on my fake passport. It felt like I was constantly lying to them.
“I suppose that should be okay. Nicklas is out at the moment or I would ask him…” Maria looked conflicted. “Maybe you should take one of the men.”
“Nicklas said I wasn’t allowed to spend time with any of his men.” I widened my eyes the way I did when coaxing our housekeeper back home.
“That’s true, Chiquita.” Maria nodded to herself. “You are only going to the market and back, so I don’t see why not.” I wanted to jump up and down and scream for joy. The door of this cage was opening, and I could see daylight.
Benita and I were like schoolgirls on a day out, with music accompanying us on our adventure. We pulled over when we got out of the estate, and I took over driving. I had my licence since I was seventeen, yet Papa never let me drive. Mario had taken care of driving me everywhere.
I’d been in Cuba for just over a week, and in that time, Benita and I had become friends. We gossiped and laughed about different things. It made me realise that people had held me at arm’s length before, and my friendships had been nothing more than acquaintances. At school, my sisters and I had endured the bitches who liked to taunt us about Papa’s business. At university, Mario kept me away from everyone and locked down by ten every evening.
We sang our hearts out to Abba as we drove to the market. The vendors knew Benita, coming out to greet her with hugs. She introduced me as her friend, which ended up with us being fed lots of samples. We emerged from the dimly lit market with armfuls of bags.
A man lounged against our car. Apprehension prickled up and down my spine.
“Not again!” Benita whispered from beside me. “They’re always watching out for the brotherhood’s cars.”
I tried to push my fears down and straightened my back. Papa didn’t raise someone who ran away from confrontation.
“Hey, Benita.” The man pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head. His smile reminded me of the demented shark from a cartoon I watched years ago. “No guard today?”
“Do I need a guard?” Benita replied, smiling tightly.
“Your boss overstepped when he killed Maceo.”
Benita crossed herself. “He was a pig who raped innocent women.”
He stepped forward. “He took something from us, it is only fair that we take something from him. Nic has always ensured you and your sisters are protected.”
Benita stiffened beside me.
“Excuse us.” I pushed past him, putting my bags in the back of the car.
“Watch yourself, bitch,” he snarled, turning his attention to me.
It gave Benita the chance to put her bags in the car and get to the driver’s seat.
He grabbed my arm. “Who are you and where have you come from?”
“Get your hand off me,” I said, enunciating every word. The last time someone touched me like this, I had to run for my life. I was sick of running. He needed to keep his hands to himself.
“Feisty, aren’t you? I was told to bring one of Maria’s girls in, but you’ll do. I enjoy someone with fire in the bedroom.”
I slapped his face and his eyes widened as he rubbed his cheek. His hand flashed out and the power behind his slap threw me into the side of the car. The side of my head hit the metal and my neck jolted.
Slowly, I creaked my neck from side to side and turned to face my assailant. Benita sat behind the wheel, her eyes as wide as saucers. My sisters had never taken our training seriously, but Jordan had insisted on self-defence classes from a young age. My palm came up under his chin to knock his head back, and I kicked him right between the legs. When his legs gave out and he fell forward, I punched him as hard as I could, just the way Jordan had shown me. I jumped over his groaning form that was still holding his balls and into the car.
“Drive!” I screamed.
Benita shoved it into gear and hit the accelerator. It all seemed a bit dramatic with the screeching wheels, but the two of us were high on adrenaline.
Another guy ran out of the market, he eyed the man on the ground and screamed at us.
“He’s going to a car!” I shouted.
“Oh fuck!” Benita screamed. “I can’t drive fast.”
“Pull over. Now!” We did a quick change, and I hit the accelerator the way I did on Papa’s estate. Xavier had taught me to ride a motorbike years ago, much to the ire of Papa and the guards.
“Do you have a phone?” I shouted over the sound of the wind rushing past us in the open-top car.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Phone Nicklas or whoever you have on speed dial. Then start shouting directions, I’m not stopping for lights.”
A bright purple car appeared behind us with the two men in it. The guy I kicked in the balls looked ready to strangle me with his bare hands, standing up to scream at us.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have kicked him. He’s pissed.”
It was too late for that now. Jordan told me that outside the gym when confronted with an attacker, you aimed for what came in twos—the eyes and the balls. He made sure I could handle a gun as well, muttering that every woman should be able to defend herself.
“Right!”
I swerved and headed out on an open road. The car behind me accelerated, so I sped up, trying not to glance back. I focused all my attention on the road in front of us, manoeuvring a car I wasn’t familiar with. A bump from behind set my heart racing and Benita screamed.
An intersection was up ahead. “Which way?”
“Right!”
I heard her speaking in rapid Spanish beside me on the phone. Between her strong accent and the wind in my ears, I only picked up the odd words. My foot floored the accelerator, and I deliberately took the middle of the road when their car came out in an attempt to get alongside us.
They hit the back of our car again to knock us off the road, but my fingers gripped the wheel until they were nearly numb.
Benita screamed beside me, almost disappearing into the footw
ell when we screeched around a corner. I almost lost control, with the back end of the car veering to the left.
“Benita!”
She peeked up. “Straight ahead. Sam is on his way.” She began to recite a prayer I’d heard Mama say long ago.
God wasn’t coming to help us. Every time I tried to dial his extension; it was busy.
Xavier and Jordan had taken me to a racing track for my twentieth birthday. Jordan taught me to drive like a maniac since he was the head of security for Xavier’s organisation. My cousin and his friends had been the brothers I lacked in my life. All the instincts from those lessons were kicking in today.
A green car appeared behind the purple one, but I had no idea who was driving it, or if they were friend or foe.
I drove past a turn and Benita screamed. “You should have turned left!”
It was too late; I was past the junction. About a mile down the road, we came to a dead end, and were forced to stop. There was a cliff face on one side of us and a vertical drop a few feet to our right.
Benita crouched in the footwell, tears streaming down her face.
Taking a steadying breath, I slowly climbed out of the car. My head throbbed and my fingers ached from my grip on the steering wheel. The green car sat back from the purple one, two men getting out of it.
The man with the injured balls stormed toward me, waving a gun. “Get on your fucking knees, bitch.”
I refused to kneel for him or any man. “Fuck you!”
“Oh, I’m going to fuck you and when I’m finished with you, you’ll be begging for mercy and for me to put a bullet into your head. Looks like we get to take two bitches home for the party tonight.”
The other man dragged Benita screaming from the car.
The silhouette of the men from the green car came into focus and my heart stopped for several beats. Fury burned in his dark blue eyes and Nicklas prowled with the menace of an apex predator about to strike. His eyes ran over me, narrowing when he saw the wound on the side of my head. My fingers moved to it instinctively, coating in the sticky blood that was now there.