Beautiful Prey 2: The Storm Series (BWWM Romance)

by Phoenix Daniels

  She gasped, “Oh God.”

  Jack asked from behind, “Victoria, what’s going on?”

  “Natasha’s missing. So are Steve and Deon,” Victoria responded, taking a deep breath, trying to stay calm.

  Frankie explained the situation to Jack, and Jack did what Jack does. He immediately came up with a solution.

  “Don’t worry, if her phone is on, we can track her.”

  “Okay good. Can you do that? ‘Cuz the department ain’t gonna do shit,” Frankie declared.

  “I’m on it,” Jack told him, before disappearing into his office.

  “I gotta go. We’re combing the streets. Hit me if Jack finds something,” Frankie said, running down the steps.

  “Okay, I will. You hit me if you find something,” Victoria shouted after him.

  She closed the door and tried not to freak out. She’d be no good to anyone if she were hysterical.

  GIANNI

  Gianni jumped from the sofa, where he’d fallen asleep. The constant ringing of Natasha’s phone, wouldn’t allow him any rest. With the intention of turning it off, he walked over to the counter where she’d left it. And as soon as he picked it up, it rang again. It was an unknown number. Gianni wanted to know why it was so important for, whomever the caller was, to get in touch with Natasha so late at night. He pushed the talk button and answered.

  He barked into the phone, “Yes?”

  “Hello? I’m looking for Natalia.” The woman said.

  “Natalia? Do you mean Natasha?”

  “Yeah, Natasha. Can I talk to her?”

  “She’s working.”

  The woman shouted into the phone, “Fuck!”

  Gianni was alarmed by urgency in her voice.

  Gianni asked, “This is her husband. Who is this?”

  “My name is Tammy. I think Natasha is in trouble.”

  Gianni’s heart slammed against his chest as he began to panic. “What?! What kind of trouble? Who is this?”

  “I’m someone that she knows from work. I’ve been trying to call her to tell her that she was walking into a trap.”

  The woman’s words were like a punch in Gianni’s gut. He almost lost his footing, as he struggled to breathe. Fear of losing Natasha crippled him. But he knew that he needed to pull himself together because loosing Natasha was not an option.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He searched the drawers for a pen and paper. When he found what he needed, he asked Tammy, “Where are you?”

  Gianni scribbled on the paper as Tammy rattled off an address.

  “Don’t move! I’m on my way!”

  “Okay.”

  Gianni hung up, but seconds later, the phone rang again. Victoria’s name appeared. Gianni quickly answered. “Vic! Have you heard from Natasha?”

  “Oh my God,” she sighed with reluctance. “I was trying to call her.”

  “She left her phone at home!” Gianni shouted into the phone. “What the fuck is going on?!”

  “Gianni, I don’t know. Frankie came over and said that she was doing an undercover mission, and now she’s missing. And so are Deon and Steve.”

  Gianni could hear the fear in Victoria’s voice. He slipped into his shoes, grabbed his keys, and stuffed his phone in his pocket.

  “Some woman named Tammy just called her phone. She said that Natasha was walking into a trap. I’m on my way to her house now.”

  “Gianni, that could be dangerous. She could be setting you up,” Victoria warned.

  But Gianni was already out the door.

  “Victoria, do you and Natasha know anyone named Tammy?”

  “No, I don’t. And I’ve never heard Natasha mention anyone named Tammy.”

  “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  Gianni was about to disconnect the call, when Victoria shouted into the phone. “Gianni!”

  “Yes?”

  “Gimme the address. We’ll meet you there.”

  JACK

  Jack stared out of the window of Tammy’s small apartment. He watched as Frankie ran up the walkway. He had just listened to Tammy tell Gianni and Victoria that she’d been sleeping with Deon for months. She said that they met during an undercover mission, and he called her after she made bond. Deon made her promise not to tell anyone, claiming that he would lose his job. And she’d kept that promise until she overheard him on the phone talking about setting Natasha up.

  The doorbell chimed.

  “That’s Frankie,” Jack yelled.

  Tammy hopped up and buzzed the door. Jack turned from the window and walked into the dining room, eager to hear if Frankie had any updates. Victoria was beside herself with worry, and Jack was hoping that Frankie had some good news. Everyone in the room looked at him expectantly. But when Frankie shook his head, all expectations were crushed. Gianni whipped out his phone and started speaking in rapid Italian, and Jack knew that he was talking to Luca. His heart went out to his cousin. He knew exactly how terrified Gianni had to be, after all; Jack had been in the same situation, not too long ago. But he’d always thought that Deon was a decent man. What could’ve happened to make him go dark? And where was Steve? There were so many unanswered questions.

  Jack looked at his wife. She was devastated. Deon was her friend, and she loved him. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew better than to coddle her when she was in police mode. She was on her phone with her assistant, instructing her to get Aaron on the phone.

  “Airport!” Victoria’s shouting, causing everyone to quiet. “Frankie... It’s a human trafficking ring running out of Poland? Right?!”

  “Yeah. The Ukrainian Mafia,” he confirmed.

  “Hey!” Tammy shouted, leaping from her seat. “I heard that some Russian heavy hitters were in town. Supposedly, doing some kind of model search. They’re staying at the Four Seasons downtown. My guy is a valet there. I’ll call and see if they’re still at the hotel.”

  Tammy grabbed her phone and dialed her friend. She talked for a few minutes while they anxiously waited. She hung up, shaking her head.

  “They checked out today,” she said, defeated.

  “Thanks anyway, Tammy,” Victoria said as she paced back and forth. Clearly frustrated, she roughly ran her fingers through her hair.

  “They have a plane. They can’t transport slaves on a commercial flight. But...” She paused to think. “They won’t be flying out of a major airport. They won’t risk going through Midway or O’Hare,” she muttered, more to herself.

  Victoria was deep in thought. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. A few seconds later, her eyes popped open.

  “Mia,” she gasped. “Jack can you get Amy on the phone? Her friend Mia works for the FAA. See if she can get her to find any private aircrafts flying out of Chicago tonight.”

  Jack pulled out his phone and dialed Amy’s number.

  CHAPTER 37

  GIANNI

  “I’m gonna go home and grab my gear. I’ll meet you guys at the airport,” Victoria told Frankie and Miguel.

  Jack looked at Victoria like she had lost her mind. “What?!”

  “What do mean what? What did I say that you didn’t understand?” Victoria asked, sarcastically. “Surely you know that I’m going with them.”

  “The hell you are,” Jack calmly replied.

  Gianni didn’t have time to listen to a lover’s quarrel. Amy had made some calls and found out that a flight landed in Rockford, Illinois from Krakow, Poland a week ago, and it was scheduled to take off twenty minutes ago. Gianni’s plane was also ready to take off, because they were never going to make it to Rockford in time. Since Luca had already been sitting on a tarmac in Paris for a while, waiting for Gianni to call him with a location, he was already in the air. So were the men that Luca had coming from Sicily.

  Since the Ukrainians had a head start, Amy would use her contacts to delay their landing. Their only chance of saving Natasha was to intercept t
hem at the airport in Krakow. Because once they got her to Poland, she would be lost to them, not that Gianni would ever stop searching for her.

  “Victoria, Jack’s right. You need to stay here. We got it covered,” Gianni assured.

  Victoria tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Gianni. “Gianni, I know that Jack is your cousin, and you look out for each other. But, not only is Natasha my friend, she also saved my life. Now her life is at risk, and there is no way in the hell I’m gonna abandon her when she needs me.”

  Victoria’s hands landed on her hips, and Gianni knew that there was no arguing with her. He’d let Jack handle her. Right now he needed to get his wife back. He turned to Tammy and said, “Thank you for everything. I’ll let you know when we find her.”

  “Don’t thank me. She looked out for me first. When you get her back, please call me,” she requested.

  Gianni nodded his agreement and followed Frankie and Miguel out the door.

  “We’ll take the squad car. We need the lights and sirens,” Miguel suggested when they got outside.

  Gianni agreed and hopped into the back of a police SUV. As they were pulling off, he saw Jack and Victoria emerge from the apartment building. She was definitely strong–willed, but if Gianni knew his cousin, Victoria wasn’t going to be on that airplane.

  VICTORIA

  “Victoria, nothing that you’re saying is going to change my mind about you going to Poland to invade the Russian Mafia,” Jack said calmly, as he turned into their driveway.

  Victoria fumed, “And what makes you think that you have a say?”

  The fact that Jack thought that she needed his permission fueled her anger and the calmness in his tone only made it worse. Jack didn’t even bother to respond. He rounded the fountain and pulled in front of their house. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. Jack was so calm that Victoria wouldn’t have known the extent of his anger until he slammed the car door so hard that the window cracked. Victoria jumped, startled by his display of emotions. Then it dawned on her; Jack had never been really angry at her. She had seen him frustrated, maybe even irritated, but never mad. She got out of the car and prepared for a fight because she wasn’t giving in. She walked on the porch, just as Jack was punching the code to unlock the door.

  “Jack, I have to go,” Victoria whispered as they walked through the front door.

  “You’re not going,” he responded, keeping his voice down, not wanting to wake

  Emma or the baby.

  “I’m tired of you treating me like a child,” Victoria huffed. “Who do you think you are?! Better yet, who do you think I am?!”

  She was taken by surprise when Jack grabbed her shoulders and pinned her against the door.

  “Who do I think I am?!” He shouted, no longer trying to be quiet. “Who do I think you are?! You’re my fucking wife! My wife! My daughter’s mother! Or did you fucking forget about her?!”

  Victoria closed her eyes and took a deep breath before saying, through gritted teeth, “Get your hands off of me.”

  She didn’t like to be manhandled, and Jack knew that. He looked as if he was ready to shake the shit out of her, but his phone chimed, indicating that he had a text message. Jack held his hands up and stepped back.

  “Victoria, I love you, but this isn’t a fight that you’re going to win. I know that Natasha is your friend, and you feel like you owe her for saving you, but you’re not a cop anymore. You have a baby that needs you and a husband who can’t live without you. Please just take a second to think about what you’re trying to

  do.”

  Victoria’s head fell back against the wall. Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned to walk away. After looking at his phone, Jack froze, startling Victoria.

  She asked, fearing the worst, “What? Is it about Natasha?”

  Jack tossed his phone on the table beside the door and took off running through the house.

  Victoria shouted to his back, hurrying over to the table. “What is it?!”

  She grabbed his phone and looked at the message.

  “IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR BUNDLE OF JOY AGAIN, YOU’LL DO AS YOU’RE TOLD. CALL THE POLICE AND I’LL MAIL HER LITTLE CORPSE TO YOU. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.”

  Victoria’s heart seized. With the wind knocked out of her, she fell to her knees, gasping for air.

  CHAPTER 38

  NATASHA

  Natasha’s body went limp, and as she fought to stay conscious, the voices of the men that were taunting her became muffled. But, one voice became clear. He shouted a word Natasha didn’t understand, but whatever he said caused the men to back away from Natasha. His voice peeled Natasha out of the blackness. She blinked until her vision was clear and looked up. A man that she hadn’t seen before her beating appeared before her eyes. He was a giant of a man; tall, intimidating, and muscular, with long blonde hair and icy cold blue eyes.

  “Hello, Officer Walker,” he said smugly. “Welcome aboard.”

  He tossed a blanket over her naked body and picked her up off of the floor.

  Natasha winced from pain as he carried her down the aisle and placed her into a seat. He sat next to her, and the plane took off.

  “Don’t worry. The men will not harm you again,” he said, fastening her seatbelt. “I picked you specifically for myself, and I have special plans for you.”

  Natasha peered at him reluctantly. “You know I’m a cop?”

  His chuckle was demonic. “Yes. And now you’re back where you belong... slavery.”

  Natasha was tempted to knock the shit out of him, but he was huge, and she was sure that she had a few broken ribs. So she pulled the blanket to her chin and looked straight ahead. She needed time to come up with a plan. If he knew that she was a cop that means that she’d been set up, and she couldn’t rely on the department to save her. She closed her eyes and imagined her life with Gianni in Paris... her motivation to survive.

  GIANNI

  When Gianni’s pilot announced that they were starting their descent into Krakow, Gianni and the other men jumped from their seats and began to suit up. Thanks to Amy, the aircraft holding Natasha was circling the airport, waiting for permission to land. They’d been in the air for almost eleven hours, but since the flight from Sicily is only a couple of hours, Luca and his crew were already set up on the ground.

  Miguel, Frankie, and Hank, a biker type with a long goatee were onboard. Frankie tossed a Kevlar vest at Gianni. Gianni caught it and tossed it back.

  “I’m good. Thanks,” Gianni said, removing his seat cushion.

  Frankie and Miguel leaned over and looked into a virtual treasure chest of weapons. Gianni reached into an overhead bin and pulled out his bullet proof vest. He threw it over his head and connected the Velcro. He slapped on a shoulder holster and reached into his bin, pulling out his .45. All three officers of the law stared at him in silence, until he pulled an AR 15 from the bin.

  Surprised at the level of weaponry, Frankie shouted, “Dude! What the fuck?!”

  “What? What if we had engine trouble? There’s no telling where we might land,”

  Gianni retorted.

  Frankie shook his head in disbelief.

  Twenty minutes later the plane was on the ground. They began to quickly disembark and ran towards a waiting van that was being driven by his cousin Frank. The pilot was instructed to conceal the plane, so he taxied into a close by hangar.

  Frank drove the van behind the hangar and parked, inconspicuously, next to other vehicles.

  Gianni asked, “Everyone in place?”

  “Yeah. Call your friend. Tell her to let them land,” Frank replied.

  After calling Mia, Gianni pulled out his .45 and racked the slide, chambering a bullet.

  NATASHA

  After what seemed like an eternity in the air, Natasha was shoved off the plane. She had concocted an escape plan. Once she was on the ground, she planned to run screaming until she had the attention of every living soul within
one hundred feet of the aircraft. She knew that it wasn’t the best plan, but it was all she had. Surely a naked, black woman, screaming at the top of her lungs, in whatever European country she was in, would cause attention.

  The sun was out, and Natasha had no idea where she was. She walked down the steps, behind the bearded man, preparing to make a scene. But when she looked around, there was no one in sight. Who would she scream to? By the time Natasha reached the bottom step, she was beginning to lose all hopes of breaking free.

  Suddenly, she heard the familiar sound of a gunshot, followed by a rapid succession of

  shots. She instinctively tried to duck behind the man with a beard, but he fell to the ground. Natasha looked down at the body of the man that beat her without remorse, not at all sympathetic that there was now a gaping hole in his head. As the men pulled out their weapons, she realized that they were under attack. Natasha scrambled to find shielding, but since her captors were dropping like flies, there was none. She was a sitting duck. She had no other choice but to take off running, but she was grabbed from behind. Natasha turned swiftly, and elbowed the man that intended to revert her back into historical slavery, right in the face. He stumbled backward and clutched his nose, seemingly surprised that Natasha had struck him. He looked down at the blood in his hand, then back to Natasha. His expression was murderous. When he pointed his gun directly at her head, Natasha closed her eyes and waited for the end.

  Thoughts of Gianni flooded her mind. Her short time with him. The future with him that she’d never have. And then, she heard it. One loud blast, followed by an excruciating pain. She clutched her head, terrified by the wetness that she felt. Natasha stared at the blood on her hand as the world faded away. She heard muffled voices and looked up, just long enough to imagine a GI Joe version of Gianni running toward her. But before Gianni could reach her, she hit the ground.