Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Natasha L. Black

  Although I did call up one of the security guards Adrian had given me a number for, just in case. As much as I hated not being able to be by myself, at least for now, it was better to be on the safe side.

  The bald guy came over, picked me up, and by the time we got to Adrian's, I felt perfectly safe.

  The guard stationed himself by the door, and I collapsed in bed.

  I woke up to a crash. Scrambling out of bed and to the crack in the door, I could see the guard, on the ground, unconscious.

  Oh shit. This was really, really bad.

  I tried to lock my bedroom door before remembering it didn’t have a lock. Luckily, the bathroom was the next room, so I raced there as the dark shapes crept closer.

  I had just locked the door when rapping started on the other side.

  "Sasha!" Aleksi's voice boomed, victoriously. "My little mysh’. I know you're in there!"

  I raced to the window. Outside was a thirty-foot drop to the ground. No ledges. There was no escape.

  Nothing I could do except call for help.

  As the phone rang, the door began to buckle and cave under the force of Aleksi’s kicks.

  "Sasha," Aleksi said in a reasonable tone. "Don't make me kick this perfectly fine door down."

  "Hello?" Pierce said.

  "Aleksi is here, at Adrian's. They've come," I told him as calmly as possible, through my massive underlying fear.

  The sound of the door splintering off the hinges blocked his reply.

  49

  Pierce

  Go.

  That was my only thought as my car ripped through traffic. Cars were just obstacles, traffic lights just a signal, to slow down and check.

  I couldn’t get into an accident. I had to get there on time.

  Inside Adrian’s condo, the building manager was unconscious, which made things both easier and more ominous.

  As soon as I got to Adrian's apartment, I knew I was too late.

  The guard laid on the floor, blood seeping from his ear and a large knot on his head. The door was open, and no noises were coming from inside.

  I raced to Sasha’s bedroom looking for signs of where they’d taken her, what they’d done to her, frantically dialing her number but getting no response.

  In the bathroom, the smashed remains of her phone were on the floor.

  I steadied myself on the wall. "No."

  Then I stormed out.

  I knew what I had to do.

  50

  Sasha

  "Aleksi, please," I said, my voice cracking. "I haven't talked to anyone. I won't. I’ve just been trying to start over."

  He said nothing at first; then, a cold chuckle escaped from him.

  We were in a car, and one of his men was driving us God knew where.

  "I know you haven't talked to anyone," he said. "You betrayed me in an even worse way, Sasha."

  God, he couldn't know, could he?

  "What?" I asked tentatively.

  His hand clenched down on my wrist bone. "Don't play dumb with me. I know about your husband."

  "It's fake," I said quickly. "All fake. Just to get in the US and stay here. He doesn't mean anything to me,” I lied, trying to calm Aleksi down.

  His hand squeezed harder, and it felt like my bones were breaking. "Just how dumb do you think I am? But don't worry, I'm going to get this taken care of."

  "No!" I said. My heart felt like it was in my head, hammering away. "Please, just think this through. If you commit murder here, they're going to come looking for you. You just take me and leave; they’ll probably just let you go. I’m still a Russian citizen. They have no reason to come after me; no jurisdiction."

  "She's right," another, low rumbling voice spoke up from the front seat. "The NYC cops are no pushovers. And we don't have more than two men on the inside. It's risky."

  "What is riskier," Aleksi said in a voice laced with bite. "Is letting ourselves be disrespected and for this to go unpunished. People have to see what happens when you try to escape your destiny."

  "Aleksi," I pleaded. "Don't do this. You don't have to do this. We can just go back to Moscow, and have things be the way they were before."

  Even as my whole body cringed at the thought, I knew it was the only way to protect Pierce.

  "But how can I trust you," he asked slowly. "After what you did?"

  "I’m sorry," I said hollowly, trying another tactic. "I never meant to hurt you. Aleksi, you’re so powerful now, you could have any woman you want. Why would you want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you? You deserve better than me." How I said those last words without choking on them, I’d never know.

  I could see Aleksi consider this, scratching at his neck.

  But then another voice spoke up. "She knows too much. You know she does, Aleksi."

  "I have too much at stake too," I argued. "You think I don't know what you’d do to my family and me if I ever talked? Aleksi, trust me."

  He laughed sardonically. "Trust you. I trusted you not to run away and betray me."

  "I didn't betray you," I said. "I just wanted a new life. You aren't even in love with me anymore. You know you’re not."

  Aleksi made a sound. "Love? What is love anyway? It takes work. Work you’ve been unwilling to put in, Sasha."

  "I don't love you anymore," I said. "But if you want to take me back to Moscow, then take me back. But please, leave everyone else out of this."

  Aleksi stroked a finger down my forearm, a shiver following in its wake. "And how can I do that, my little mysh’, when you've involved them so intrinsically?"

  His hand clasped mine, like a vice. "Now tell me where your dear husband is, and this will be easier for everyone."

  "Why would I tell you that?" I asked in a shaking voice.

  "Because the longer I look for him, the angrier I will become," Aleksi said. "And the angrier I become, there's no telling what I’ll do."

  "Promise me you won't kill him or hurt him," I said, trying to see something other than a soulless monster in his eyes. "Promise me."

  Aleksi let out another one of his mirthless laughs. "Do you want me to lie too? Fine, I can. Tell me where your husband is, I just want a word with him. Man-to-man, you know."

  I said nothing.

  Aleksi leaned in close, and I could feel his hot breath on my neck. "No? It’s only going to be worse for him the angrier I get."

  I choked back the sob in my throat. I wouldn't give Aleksi the satisfaction of seeing how much it was tearing me apart on the inside.

  51

  Pierce

  "No," Adrian said when I told him the news.

  He pounded his fist on his hospital bed, sending the machines attached to him into a flurry of beeps and shrills. "No!"

  His head rolled around uselessly. "I told her, I told her to be careful, to go nowhere without protection."

  "She had a security guard in your apartment with her," I said. "There must've been too many of them, Adrian."

  "No!" Adrian roared again, leaping out of the bed, cords, and tubes dangling.

  I eyed him uneasily. "Are you sure you should be out of bed?"

  "My little sister is in danger!" Adrian yelled in my face. He shoved me back with both hands. "Let's go!"

  After disconnecting himself from his IV and monitors, Adrian dressed and we hurried out of there. Some nurses tried approaching and stopping us, but there was no talking to Adrian.

  "I have a cop buddy I can call," I told him once we were in the car.

  Luckily, Ryan was at home, and we picked him up within minutes.

  "Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay, are the biggest areas for Russian settlement, am I right?" Adrian asked Ryan from the back.

  Ryan tore his eyes off his phone where he was furiously searching for information and nodded.

  "Good," I said, my foot jamming on the gas. "We will go there first."

  It was early morning, but people were still out and about on the streets and sidewalk. Although none of
Ryan's contacts knew anything, some had seen Aleksi and the boys a few days back at some pool hall, but that was it.

  Once we got out of the car, Adrian roamed around like a madman, attracting plenty of stares from passersby.

  "New York City is the biggest city in the world," he said miserably, his head in his hands. "She could be anywhere, anywhere!"

  I put a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to find her. And we are going to make them pay."

  Of that, I was certain.

  By eight PM, after we had scoured every neighborhood and area we could think of, and Ryan had to go home. Adrian still wanted to keep on looking, but we had no leads, had scoured the most likely places, and, he looked like he was about to pass out.

  Finally, I bullied him into going into the Russian Tea Room. The maître d's gave us some odd looks, as Adrian’s face was alarming to look at. I told the staff that he’d been in a car accident and they seemed to relax a bit.

  As Adrian downed tea and little cakes while I went outside to get some air.

  Not that it had much fresh air out there. Smoke-filled, tinged with the slightest smell of hot dogs. I could almost taste them. Someone on another street was yelling, raving. Probably a crazy person.

  I looked up at the sky and wondered where on earth Sasha could be? Was she already on a plane back to Moscow?

  Adrian, swearing up and down that there would be hell to pay, was so sure that the mob didn't let people who mess with their plans go easily, which means that they were hanging around, determined to get revenge on us. But I wasn't so sure.

  The only thing I was sure of, was that I had to find her. There was no other option — no plan B.

  Once I got back into the Russian Tea Room, we sat there for a few minutes more, until Adrian got a call.

  When he picked it up, his face went beet red. "Yes," he said between gritted teeth. "Yes. We’ll be there."

  He looked at me. "They want to meet us at Brighton Bay, the West Pier. They want to make a trade. But I don't know if we should."

  "We'll do it," I said. "I don’t even care what they want. It's the only option."

  52

  Sasha

  "Just a few minutes before your sweetheart is here," Aleksi said with a smile.

  I stared back at him dully.

  "What?" he said with more mock humor. "You wanted a happier reunion? Your noble man is offering himself up as a trade. Actually, I should give credit where credit is due. It takes some big balls to offer yourself up. He must think you’re worth it. Too bad I’ll have to tell him otherwise."

  I closed my eyes, letting out a breath and trying not to let him get to me. I knew he was just trying to rattle my cage, but if I were going to survive my ordeal, I would have to keep my wits about me.

  Behind me, my hands were tied, but the rope was loose. Maybe, if I keep working it….

  "You don’t need to do this Aleksi. I was the one who wronged you, not him. Can’t you just leave him out of this?" I asked.

  Aleksi pretended to consider this, tipping his head halfway left, then right. He rounded on me with a smile. "Nope."

  He walked off a bit, then paused. "You're just lucky I'm not going to kill your brother too, for this crackpot fake marriage idea of his."

  I stared into the metal grate of the structure I was on. A few minutes later, Aleksi clapped his hands and grinned like the deranged psychopath he’d clearly become.

  “It’s showtime.”

  53

  Pierce

  "What is this place?" I asked Adrian as we neared.

  "Used to be some pleasure boat pier," Adrian said. "It was abandoned for a while, but then got burned down. It looks like it could fall apart at any moment."

  Adrian put his hand on my shoulder. "Pierce, are you sure about this?"

  I shrugged. "I'm sure. I have to do this. You know I do."

  Adrian's brows lowered, and he slumped back on the boat we'd rented.

  It was funny, the last hour of getting there was a blur I could barely remember.

  "Almost there," Adrian said in a miserable voice.

  Not that I needed him to tell me. I could see the massive black metal structure hulking before us. Everything seemed broken or in the process of breaking. And then, near the front of it, with guns trained on me, were several built men wearing suits and scowls.

  Adrian let out a ragged breath. I held mine inside. I wouldn’t let them see my fear. I had to do whatever it took to save Sasha.

  When we reached the edge of the metal structure, they helped us out of the boat and shoved us to the ground.

  "Well, well, well," a heavily-accented voice said a second before a figure came into view.

  A tall man with light brown hair and a face that would've been handsome if not for the cruelty that glittered all over it.

  "Sasha's brother and her loving husband." He bowed his head Adrian’s way, then mine. "Come here to rescue her, how noble."

  Sasha’s voice burst out from close by. "Pierce, Adrian – run! It's a trap; they're not going to hand me over, Aleksi is going to-"

  “Shut up,” the man who had to be Aleksi snapped.

  "They knew what they were getting themselves into," he said striding back our way. He stopped in front of me, peering into my eyes imperiously. "Didn't you?"

  I spat at his feet. "You're scum. I swear if you’ve touched a hair on her head, I’ll fucking kill you myself."

  Aleksi lashed out a kick into my chest. As I buckled over, he said, “I don't believe we've met. I'm Aleksi. You took something that is mine."

  Pain arced through my chest but I didn't care. Hunched over, I growled, "Not anymore. She left you. Like she should have done years ago."

  His hand gripped me by the throat, and I gurgled. "What was that?" he sneered. "Couldn't hear you."

  As I struggled for air and Sasha wailed, Adrian was trying to reason with the other ones, saying, "You know, Pierce has quite a lucrative business. If you let him go, he could give you quite the payout over the years."

  Suddenly, Aleksi let me drop. I lifted up my hand to throw a punch, but one of the other guys cocked his gun at Adrian.

  I lowered my fist, and Aleksi patted my head. "That's more like it. Now, the only question is whether I should make you suffer or kill you nice and quick."

  "Aleksi please," I could hear Sasha sobbing.

  And then I saw her, wriggling herself along the metal grate. Hands tied behind her back, and legs tied, eyes streaming.

  "It's going to be all right," I told her. "I promise everything is going to be okay."

  I heard the cock of the gun Aleksi was pointing straight at my head. "Don't lie to her. She's going to watch you die, and then she's going to come home to Moscow with me and regret the day she ever tried to leave."

  He swung the gun to face Sasha. "Aren't you, my little mysh’?"

  "I'll never be with you," Sasha cried. "I'll die first."

  "No," Aleksi said in a voice devoid of emotion, swinging the gun around pointed it at my forehead. "He will."

  A shot rang out, and everything went silent.

  54

  Sasha

  He fell to the ground and tears streamed from my eyes. Thank God.

  Aleksi's face was twisted with hatred even in death.

  All around us, the sound of shots and running rang out as I ducked to the ground.

  Pierce lunged over and covered me with his body. All the while, he kept saying, "It's going to be all right. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. It's going to be all right."

  Only when the gunfire had subsided, and we heard the sound of a boat motor, did Pierce get off me.

  I looked around. A few more of Aleksi's boys were lying dead on the pier, while there seemed to be two boats in the distance, one chasing the other.

  "What happened?" I asked.

  "We got the police involved," Pierce said. "It was the only way to get you back. They laid low until Adrian gave the signal. And then they struck. Not a second too
soon either," he added, rubbing his forehead.

  "You," I said, excepting his offered arm and tottering to my feet. I couldn't tell whether I wanted to hit him or kiss him or hug him. Probably everything at once. "You shouldn't have risked it."

  Pierce tapped my nose. “I didn’t have any other choice. I couldn't live without you. That's what this has taught me. All the craziness of the past few weeks has taught me one thing. Living without you isn’t living at all.”

  I was speechless. I could just stare at him as tears streamed down my face. Pierce wiped one off with a stroke of his thumb. "I know we’re married and all, but would you like to go out on a date with me sometime?"

  A half-giggle, half-sob bubbled out of my lips. "Of course."

  As I let him draw me into his arms, he added, "You don't even need to think about it."

  "It doesn't matter," I said, sinking my head into the rocky sturdiness of his chest.

  “You’re right, it doesn’t, does it? As long as we’re together, it can’t be wrong.”

  Pierce tipped my chin up and put his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sank into the kiss. The noise and commotion of the crime scene around us slipped away and all there was, was Pierce and me.

  “Ahem.” The sound of someone clearing their throat noisily close by interrupted our kiss.

  I looked over to see my brother staring at us with an expression of mock disgust.

  "Is no one going to mention what a great job I did alerting the police?"

  I raced over to throw my arms around him into a hug. "Thank you so much. For everything."

  "Oh, you mean, getting you and all of us in a situation where all of our lives were at risk?" His eyebrows wiggled. "Don't mention it."