Beautiful Prey 2: The Storm Series (BWWM Romance)

by Phoenix Daniels

  CHAPTER 35

  GIANNI

  Gianni sat on the sofa, watching Natasha scramble around, trying to get ready for work. It had been two weeks since they returned from Paris and Natasha hadn’t once mentioned going back. He knew that he needed to get the conversation of her moving to Paris out of the way. He heard Natasha coming down the hall, so he hopped off of the sofa and ran over to block her path. She looked past him and at the clock on the wall.

  “Baby, I got go,” she spat, after quickly pecking his lips.

  “I know, but I need to talk to you about something.”

  She looked at the clock and then back to Gianni.

  “Okay. I have a few minutes. Seeing as how I won’t see you again until Sunday,” she said, slipping her arms around his neck. “I miss you when you’re in Paris.”

  “I miss you too,” Gianni admitted, amazed that his cock got instantly hard as soon as she touched him. But instead of campaigning for a quickie, he decided to breach the subject that he had been dreading.

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the sofa. “Sit. We need to talk.”

  A look of concerned came over Natasha. She sat quickly, asking, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong baby,” he responded quickly, not wanting to worry her. “The thing is... My home and most of my businesses are in France. I wanted to talk to you about maybe moving to Paris.” Gianni rushed the words from his mouth, figuring the best thing to do is to just spit it out. As he waited for her response, he thought of ways to try and convince her.

  “Okay,” she said with a nod.

  “What?! Okay?”

  “Yep. Why not? Shit, I married you damn near the day after we met. Why play it safe now?” Natasha chuckled.

  Gianni was shocked by her compliance, accompanied by her bright smile. Natasha threw herself into his arms and Gianni felt a happiness that he’d never felt before. If he were alone, he might have shed a tear.

  “Ah, Bella, you make me a happy man,” he said, falling back on the sofa, pulling Natasha on top of him.

  “You make me a happy woman,” she replied, giving him a loving kiss. “But, right now, I gotta go to work.”

  She climbed off of Gianni, and something inside told him not to let her go. But, she had agreed to move to Paris, so he would sacrifice one weekend for the rest of his life with her. He knew that, to most people, falling in love so fast was not normal. But Gianni could give less than a damn. He loved Natasha, wanted her from the moment that he laid eyes on her. He wasn’t ashamed of his feelings, and fuck anyone who didn’t understand.

  Suddenly, he made a decision. Gianni pulled out his cellular and texted Luca, telling him that he wasn’t coming home for the weekend. He watched Natasha get ready for work. And when she kissed him goodbye, he relaxed on the sofa, thinking about how lucky a man he was.

  NATASHA

  Natasha walked into the Organize Crime Division building on cloud nine. She was totally shocked when Gianni asked her to move to Paris, but she was even more shock by how quickly she agreed. Honestly, it wasn’t something that she needed to think on. Her answer was spontaneous and she was happy with her decision. She was in love and happy. Gianni had opened up a world of possibilities. And, admittedly, Natasha didn’t love her job anymore and she didn’t need the money.

  She got on the elevator and selected her floor. As soon as the doors began to close, Natasha heard Deon calling out for her to hold the elevator. Natasha stuck her hand between the doors, just before they closed.

  They popped open and Deon hurried on the elevator. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  “So, are you ready for tonight?”

  No, she thought. But what came out was, “Yeah, I guess.”

  “How’s married life?”

  “Fine.”

  Still feeling uncomfortable from their last conversation about Gianni, Natasha had no desire to discuss her personal life with Deon. When the elevator stopped on their floor, Natasha stepped off first. She could feel Deon’s eyes on her and she grew even more uncomfortable. They walked into the Vice section and into the roll call room.

  Natasha took the seat next to Steve. “Hey, big guy.”

  “Well, hello, Mrs. Storm,” he replied, smirking.

  “You heard, huh?”

  “Yeah. Vic told Tracy.”

  “Those Storm dudes are some brave men,” he said, shaking his head. “Jack married a hot–headed expert in hand to hand combat, and then Gianni went and married a sharp shooter with anger issued.” He chuckled.

  Laughing along with him, Natasha muttered, “I know right? They’re screwed.”

  Sergeant Banner stumbled into the roll call room, interrupting their banter. Natasha couldn’t believe that his ass was drunk already. The man desperately needed a twelve step program.

  “Listen up,” he slurred. “We’re hitting the pussy auction tonight.”

  Natasha rolled her eyes at his ignorant insensitive comment.

  “And we’re gonna be sending in our own pussy,” he said with a stupid grin on his face, as if he’d said something clever.

  Natasha was highly offended by Sergeant Banner’s stupid ass comment. But before she could say a word, Steve jumped to his feet.

  He snapped, “Just get on with the fucking roll call!”

  The sergeant opened his mouth as if he wanted to lash back, but he took one look at the big angry marine and thought better of it. When it was clear that Banner was backing down, Steve took his seat. The rest of the team began to snicker, and the sergeant’s embarrassment was obvious. He cleared his throat and continued.

  “Natasha and Aurek will be the decoys, Steve is the eyeball, and Miguel, Frankie, Deon, and myself will work enforcement. A 13th District Tact team will be providing a little extra back–up.”

  He looked around to make sure that every understood. When he was satisfied that they did, he continued.

  “Here’s the deal... Aurek is going to get Natasha into the auction. He’ll let us know if there’s a bid. When Natasha exits with the buyer, Steve is going to call it. Enforcement will hit the buyer and pull Natasha out, and then the Tact team will hit the auction.”

  Sergeant Banner tossed a set of keys at Aurek. “Take the Mercedes. Gotta look the part. Walker, when you’re done changing, meet Aurek in the lot. Miguel, you take the wagon,” he said, tossing a set to Miguel.

  “Okay everybody, remember the most important thing about your mission today is going home at the end of the night. Be safe.”

  Natasha and the rest of the team stood and filed out of the roll call room. Since she had never worked with Aurek, nor had she ever stood in a human auction before, Natasha began to get more and more anxious. Since she’d already planned on quitting the department, she was seriously thinking about walking out of the building, and never looking back. But, the thought of all of those women being forced into sexual slavery, guided her to the locker room.

  Natasha got dressed and inspected herself in the mirror. She dressed in a short black dress and black stilettos. In order to enhance her youthfulness, she slicked her hair back and wore a minimal amount of makeup. Once she was satisfied with her look, she sat on the bench and searched her bag for her cellular. When she couldn’t find it after pulling everything out, she figured that she’d left it at home. She was disappointed because she wanted to talk to Gianni before he left for Paris. Natasha tossed her stuff back into the bag and headed out of the locker room.

  Natasha walked out of the building. Aurek pulled up in front of the door, and Natasha hopped into the front seat.

  He asked, “You ok?”

  Natasha could tell that he was as nervous as she was.

  “Yeah, I’m just new to this human trafficking stuff.”

  “Well, at least you have undercover experience.” He pointed out, in a heavy Polish accent.

  “Yeah. It’ll be fine. We’ll just get in and out,” Natasha reassured.

  “Okay. So there’s some things t
hat you need to know. First, keep your head down, never look anyone in the eye. Secondly, don’t smile. Third, and most importantly, do not ever speak,” he said with emphasis.

  Natasha nodded.

  “Got it.”

  They took off and Natasha sat back and rested her head against the headrest, pissed at herself for leaving her phone at home. She wanted so badly to hear Gianni’s voice. For the entire twenty minute drive, she thought of nothing but moving to Paris and starting a new life with Gianni. When Aurek parked, Natasha did her best to clear her mind and get her head in the game. They got out of the car and Aurek walked Natasha around to the rear of a warehouse. He knocked on the door and when it opened, a large man with a spiky blonde mohawk appeared.

  Aurek placed his hand on the back of Natasha’s neck and squeezed, hard. Natasha immediately lowered her eyes. The large man stepped to the side, allowing them entry. Aurek shoved Natasha inside and walked away. She was officially on her own.

  The large man slammed the door.

  “This way,” he grunted.

  Natasha followed the man into a room that was filled with women dressed exactly like her. Once he closed the door, Natasha looked around. Most of the women were young and white. There was one woman that appeared to be Hispanic, but Natasha was the only black woman. Some were crying and muttering in languages that Natasha didn’t understand, but they all looked broken and afraid. The room had no windows, and it smelled like a sewer and unclean vagina. Natasha eventually migrated to a corner and watched as the women were selected one by one and dragged out of the room, waiting patiently for her turn.

  Almost an hour later, the spiky blonde walked into the room and looked around, as if he was searching for someone in particular. He looked from the Hispanic woman to Natasha. She quickly lowered her eyes. Natasha guessed that he was trying to decide between the “ethnic” women. He decided on Natasha. He yanked her from the corner, and dragged her down a dark hall, into another room. He placed her on a rotating platform.

  He ordered, “Strip!”

  Natasha was shaking as she pulled her dress past her shoulders, and down her body, leaving her with nothing more than her bra and underpants. The spiky blonde left her alone in an eerily silent room, surrounded by mirrored glass. She stared at her feet, fully exposed, thinking of the wonderful husband that she had to go home to and her new life in France.

  Natasha was done. This wasn’t the life for her. She could never resonate with prostitution. It just wasn’t her calling. But, she stood, naked, in front of evil men that were capable of subjecting women to sexual slavery. The experience only made her appreciate Gianni even more. He loved her, and everything that he’d done since he’d won her over was to show her how much she meant to him.

  Over an intercom, Natasha could here men speaking, but she didn’t understand a word they were saying. She stood quietly, with her head down as men assessed her. A few seconds later, all chatter seized, and Natasha was snatched off of the platform. Spiky blonde led her outside and tossed her into a limousine.

  Natasha rode quietly blindfolded in the back of a limo. She was confident that her team would be ambushing the vehicle soon. For the sake of her profession, she had allowed herself to be sold off in a human trafficking investigation that the police department was conducting. Since her friend, Victoria Storm, left the department, it was now her job to do the undercover prostitution operations. She was utilized solely based on her baby face and womanly curves.

  Since she wasn’t allowed to get dressed, Natasha was still wearing the lacy bra and Tanga panties that she wore during the auction. There were three men in the vehicle who weren’t speaking English. Before she was blindfolded, she noticed that they were all armed. Though Natasha assumed that she’d soon be rescued when the limo came to a halt, Natasha waited for the bum rush that never happened. Instead, she was dragged from the vehicle and led to a set of steps in which she fumbled her way up.

  Although Natasha had faith in her team, she was trembling with fear. She kept quiet because she didn’t want to agitate her foreigner captors. She was forced onto a cold leather seat, where she sat in her damn near naked glory, trying to remember the plan. She was supposed to stand in the auction. Once someone bid for her, the troops would run in and save her, according to the commander that stated that she was really needed for this operation. Well, someone did bid on her; one hundred thousand dollars in fact.

  Trembling in fear and cold, Natasha thought, so where are the troops?

  Her thoughts returned to the speech that her commander and his lieutenant gave her before she courageously accepted this treacherous mission.

  “Natasha, I know that you’ve never participated in a mission like this. Since we no longer have Victoria, you gotta step up to the plate. We’ve been trying to take down this human trafficking ring for years. With your youthful and innocent face, we can crack this case wide open! Think of the innocent young victims that are being bought and sold into sexual slavery. You have the entire department behind you. We’ll never let anything happen to you. As soon as the bid is made, we’ll get you out of there. You’ll be safe. That I promise.”

  Suddenly, her blindfold was ripped from her face. After adjusting her eyes, Natasha noticed that she was on a jet surrounded by four very intimidating men who were, apparently by their speech, not American. She couldn’t figure out what language they were speaking. Since she and her team were investigating a human trafficking ring controlled by the Ukrainian Mafia between the United States and Poland, Natasha assumed that the language that they were speaking was Russian.

  She shook uncontrollably as fear raced through her veins. Being on an aircraft was not something she and the department had discussed. Therefore, Natasha assumed that she was in the gravest of danger. She looked towards the pilot’s doors. Then she discreetly surveyed her captors as she contemplated an exit strategy.

  It’s now or never, Natasha thought as anxiety rushed violently threw her veins.

  Without warning, she jumped from her seat and headed for the door. It was securely fastened. Frantically, she headed for the pilot as her captors ran towards her. She turned and furiously beat on the door that secured the cockpit and pleaded for help, only to hear laughter on the other side.

  Natasha turned from the door, well aware that she was only wearing underwear, and yelled at one of the men to let her off the plane. Before her stood at least six feet and two inches of grey eyes filled with fury and eyebrows scrunched with rage. He laughed in her face as he ran towards her. Natasha made her way back to the door. As she pulled relentlessly at the handle, the aircraft began to taxi, causing Natasha to panic even more.

  “Let me off of this fucking plane!”

  This brought more laughter from the men as they now stood before her with pure evil and lust in their eyes.

  Natasha yanked the handle, attempting to open the door. The bearded man walked calmly to her. Natasha raised her chin to face the man head on. He smiled and punched Natasha in the face. She fell against the door and battled to stay on her feet.

  Natasha managed to stay conscious, so she quickly recovered and kneed the bearded man in the groin.

  When her attacker fell to his knees, Natasha kicked him in the face.

  “Fuck you,” she spat as her petite foot met his rough skin.

  He let out a series of curse words in his native tongue. “Чертовски сука! Я собираюсь убить тебя!”

  Natasha repeatedly slammed her foot into his face, continuing her assault on the bearded man, which prompted the other men to intervene.

  The two men that were unassumingly quiet began to beat Natasha. She was punched in the face, body, and even her legs. They kicked and stomped her into the floor of the aircraft. The pain was debilitating. She curled into a ball to protect herself from the fierce blows.

  Once the bearded man recovered, he joined in on the beating. Fighting back was no use. She was overpowered. He roughly ripped her bra and then her panti
es off. He positioned himself between Natasha’s thighs. She tried to fight through the others punching her body and pinning her down. Warm tears fell from her eyes as Natasha screamed for help. That was when one of the men punched her so hard that she started to see red spots before her beautiful eyes. Her vision blurred. The world was going black. Pure terror ran through her, realizing that she was about to be raped.

  In that moment, Natasha knew that everything her commander said was bullshit. The department had hung her out to dry.

  CHAPTER 36

  VICTORIA

  “Miss Emma, I’ll get the door. Please put the baby down.”

  Victoria dashed from the nursery and hurried to the intercom. Whoever it was that was practically lying on the buzzer was going to wake her fussy baby.

  She shouted into the speaker, “Yes?”

  “Vic, its Frankie! Open the gate!”

  The urgency in his voice would’ve been Victoria’s biggest fear if it weren't for the fact that Frankie had never come to her house before. Victoria quickly buzzed the gate, allowing him entry. She ran to the front door and waited for him to pull up. Headlights appeared, and a car rounded the fountain. Frankie jumped out of the passenger’s seat, yelling, “Have you heard from Tasha?!”

  The look in Frankie’s face told Victoria that something had to be wrong. “What? No. What’s going on?”

  “We did a decoy mission tonight; a human trafficking ring. The auction was over. Nobody gave the take down signal. We haven’t heard from Natasha, Deon, or Steve. Aurek came out, saying that the deal was made, but Steve never called it. And now, we can’t find any of them. I was just hoping that she reached out to you.”

  “No! She didn’t reach out to me. Come in,” Victoria said as she ran through her house and into the kitchen to get her phone out of her purse. On her way back, she searched for any missed calls. There were none. A feeling of dread came over Victoria. She dialed Natasha and Steve’s number, no answer. She dialed Deon, nothing.