Assassin's Mark

by Ella Sheridan

  “I don’t trust promises from men like you,” she said. “But I guess I don’t really have a choice.”

  Remi’s amber eyes flashed with something I didn’t quite understand, then went cold. Just like his brother’s. “Not if you want to be with your daughter tonight,” he told her.

  She gave him a short, sharp nod, then walked the last few steps to Eli. I watched her take a deep breath before the black bag settled over her face. Eli grasped her hand and led her to the door, where Levi took over. Before he walked her out, he glanced at Remi. Something passed between them, something deep. Something serious. And then Levi and Leah were gone and the door closed.

  I couldn’t help wondering when my turn would come. If it would come. Or, as Leah had said, if I even wanted it to.

  I shoved the question away as Eli passed me. Not only had I not noticed the black bag in his hand, but apparently while I’d been with Leah, he’d been packing. A small stack of boxes and cases sat nearby. Eli strode past them to the computer desk, where another box awaited him. He shut down the system, then started disassembling it.

  “Anything I can do to help?” I asked. If I wanted to stay somewhere near sane, some of the questions rattling around in my brain had to go, so here was the first one: did helping your kidnappers mean you were crazy?

  I would be if I kept worrying about it.

  Eli shook his head, completely unaware of the weird psychoanalysis going on in my brain. “You better pack your stuff.”

  Because you’re taking me with you, or because you plan to dump the evidence after you get rid of me? I didn’t ask, though. I went to the bedroom. The faint scent of sex rose from the bed, but I ignored it too. Maybe this should become my new modus operandi.

  The black duffel Levi had packed my things in still sat next to the dresser, a few sets of clean clothes inside. Stripping off a pillowcase, I proceeded to stuff my dirty laundry into it, then retrieved my toiletries from the bathroom, neatly wrapped in a dry towel. Fifteen minutes, tops. That was all it took to visibly erase my existence from my prison.

  Eli was even faster. By the time I reappeared, he had all but the heaviest equipment stowed away. “Let me get these in the van,” he was telling Remi. “Then I’ll get you settled.”

  I set my bag next to his stack. “What about me?”

  Eli shook his head as he bent to retrieve two boxes from the pile. “You aren’t going with us.”

  “I’m not?” A kick in my gut—fear, shock, maybe anger?—made my breath hitch. “Then —”

  “Levi will be back in an hour. You’ll go with him.”

  Right. Of course. To a drop-off point, like he was doing with Leah? Or another location, another prison? Or…

  “Abby,” Eli said. I glanced up, realizing I was still standing with the strap of my bag in my hand, frozen, every ounce of uncertainty on full display.

  I cleared my throat. “Yeah?”

  “He’s not going to hurt you. I promise.”

  “There’s a lot of promising going on today,” I said.

  “We mean it.”

  Since when had the pissy one decided I needed comforting? Maybe around the time that pity had appeared in his eyes. I glanced at Remi. Yeah, it was there too.

  “Right. Okay.” I gestured towards the pile. “Can I help?”

  “Just stay here. Keep Remi company.” And he was out the door. The click of the lock had a ring of finality about it, and I couldn’t help wondering if it was a sign of things to come.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I prowled the warehouse, forward and back, forward and back, trying to work off the nervous energy that buzzed under my skin. Why did I have to stay here? Leah got to leave. Remi and Eli got to leave. They’d promised me Levi would return, but until then I was stuck waiting. Someone else was in control of my life. Again.

  That had gotten old several days ago. Now it flat-out pissed me off. If I hadn’t been ready to pound something, I might’ve laughed. I had been raised to glittering prophood—never worry my pretty little head, always look and feel and act perfect without making an actual decision about my life. Enough. When I finally made it out of this mess—and I’d suddenly decided I sure as hell was, because I wouldn’t let anyone win but me—the prince charming and his king that I’d been raised to let run my life could go take a flying leap. I never, ever wanted to hand control of me over to anyone else. Never.

  And that included Levi.

  The warehouse seemed eerie with everyone gone. I’d been here alone before, but there was something in the air—or maybe just the knowledge that we weren’t coming back here—that made the emptiness heavy, a weight pressing down on me that I couldn’t ignore. Pacing didn’t help. I switched to lying on the couch, but that only reminded me of Remi, wondering if he was still stable. If Leah had found help yet. If she was holding her daughter in her arms.

  Her daughter didn’t know how lucky she was.

  I was still running the hamster wheel in my head when I returned from the bathroom. At least the toilet paper hadn’t been packed. Or the food. I was making a sandwich, plastic knife in hand to spread mayo on a slice of bread, when the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight on end.

  What the hell?

  Setting the bread on my paper plate, I glanced around the room. There was nothing off that I could see, certainly nothing that had changed in the past couple of minutes. I didn’t hear any—

  Wait. I did hear something. I focused on the far wall of the warehouse as my mouth went dry. The sound wasn’t recognizable at first, just a barely perceptible rumble, more of a vibration that I finally interpreted to be one of those heavy-duty diesel pickup trucks, the kind that took up more than their share of space in a parking lot. All along I’d figured the walls were soundproof given the lack of outside noise that filtered in, but apparently they weren’t a hundred percent, because as I crept closer, the vibration grew stronger. And stronger. When I reached the corner closest to the bedroom and placed my hand flat on the wall, I could feel it. Right outside.

  Was it Levi?

  No, he wouldn’t use a vehicle that loud, draw that much attention. Despite the absence of clues, my instincts told me something was wrong, very wrong. The unpleasant tingling running up my spine agreed.

  Run. Now!

  So I did.

  I glanced around wildly, one question on my mind in that instant: Where can I hide? Where can I freaking hide? Everything was too open, the cabinets in the desk and kitchen too small. Still, I had to get away.

  I was rounding the kitchen table when the wall exploded behind me.

  One moment I was on my feet; the next, pain skidded through my palms and knees as I landed on the concrete floor. Barked words and the pounding of booted feet sent a chill up my spine. Stand up, get away, Abby! But no, standing would only reveal where I was. Dust and smoke moved through the cavernous space like fog. Taking advantage of the cover, I crawled toward the back wall of the warehouse and Remi’s sickroom. The door hadn’t been closed since he arrived, and I didn’t have the means to close it, but it was the farthest from whoever had just blasted their way in here. So that’s where I hid.

  On the opposite side of Remi’s hospital bed, crouched behind one of the tables Leah had insisted on, I pressed my spine into the wall and blinked hard against the sting of dust and smoke in my eyes. Tears squeezed out to trace down my cheeks, and the sting got worse. Only when I raised my hand to investigate did I realize I was still gripping the plastic knife, slick with mayonnaise, like a weapon I could use to protect myself. A bubble of laughter rose to my lips, but I clamped them tight. One sound and hysteria would take over, I knew it would. I threw the knife away, watching it skid into the gloom as my tension grew.

  “Find the girl!”

  Were they here for me? I opened my mouth to call out, but something in the words, the tone, held me back. Something not right. If they were rescuers thinking I was here with my kidnapper, why blow the wall and risk hurting me? Why wouldn’t thei
r focus be on finding and securing Levi first?

  Unless…

  Through the dust and smoke filling the living area, I saw white shots of light, alien probes piercing the darkness. Flashlights. But I couldn’t see who held them. All I could do was scramble to push my back as far into the wall as I possibly could, and not let the whimper of fear knotting my throat past my lips.

  The lights disappeared.

  Minutes passed in silence. Then it came, a soft scrape—boots on concrete. Whoever the man was, he stepped carefully, quietly, hiding his approach, but the dust was beginning to settle, a film on the floor that crunched beneath the rubber of his heels. I sucked in a breath, held it—and almost choked on the dirty air. Stinging tears trailed down my cheeks as I squeezed my eyelids shut. What should I do, surrender or stay hidden? But instinct pressed me closer and closer to the wall, harder and harder, as those booted feet came near.

  “There you are.”

  I forced my eyes open. A man I’d never seen before stood staring down at me, tension in every muscle of his body. He reminded me of Levi that way. Dressed all in black, his head covered in a helmet, he cradled what looked like a machine gun in his arms, bigger than anything I’d ever seen before. That gun was enough to make me hyperventilate. The smile that curved his thin lips made me shudder.

  “Axe! Got her!”

  Axe? Axe, the guy who sent someone after Remi in the hospital, Axe? Axe, the assassin hired by my father after Levi quit? The shudder became a full-body tremble that rattled my teeth.

  “Bring her out.”

  Rough hands gripped my hair and jerked me out of my hiding place. I stumbled along next to him as he dragged me into the living area. Four men stood there, all big, all in black, all with those machine guns in hand.

  A fifth man stepped into the group. Same clothes, same build, but this one had no helmet. Shaggy black hair fell over his brow, and a thick scar bisected his cheek. Axe, I assumed. Now I understood the name. Axe’s gun hung from its long strap, resting against his side, a smaller handgun in his grip. He used it to gesture toward the floor. “Let’s do it here.”

  Do what?

  Using his grip on my hair, the man holding me forced me toward the group. Onto my knees. I stared up at them, watched as Axe took a step closer, then raised the handgun.

  Time slowed to a crawl.

  I’d never looked down the barrel of a gun before, and it occurred to me a bit hysterically that Levi hadn’t needed one to take me prisoner. All he’d needed was his face and a little acting. I’d been so naive then, but not now. Not anymore.

  “Who are you?” I asked, though I already knew. Anything to buy a few more breaths in my lungs. “What are you doing?”

  Axe smiled. His scar puckered his cheek, making the expression all the more terrifying. “Eliminating a threat.”

  A laugh escaped; I couldn’t help it. What kind of threat could I be, surrounded by mercenaries with guns as big as my head? I wasn’t even wearing shoes, for Christ’s sake.

  Axe’s eyes narrowed in displeasure. He adjusted his grip on the gun, his finger sliding onto the trigger. I watched the move in slow motion, every millimeter seeming to take an eternity as my death crawled closer and closer. The sudden need to pee hit me, and for one agonizing moment I thought I’d wet my pants before he fired the gun.

  His fingertip pressed into place—

  A shot split the air, loud and echoing and terrifying, and I startled, expecting pain, blood, something. None of it came. The gunshot was followed immediately by a splat—a solid object hitting a soft, wet target. Through the dust and darkness, I watched a garish splash of red sprout from Axe’s neck, the warm spray of droplets landing across my face, my chest. Axe’s startled eyes met mine.

  The hand holding me tightened, threatening to tear out my hair. “Axe?”

  A gurgle was their leader’s only response. Blood bubbled from the wound in his throat. I gagged as his mouth opened, releasing a wash of red before he crumpled to the floor.

  Curses bit through the air. Wild glances around the dim room. The man holding me shook himself free of my hair and reached for his weapon.

  Another gunshot. Another splat.

  The man dropped to his knees.

  I didn’t think, didn’t hesitate. Palms flat on the dirty concrete, I pushed myself backward, right under the kitchen table. Away from the shots. Away from the blood. I needed protection. I needed—

  More gunshots. Shouting. Booted feet running. The hard thud of falling bodies. I crouched under the table through it all, stunned, my eyes locked with the man who’d dragged me by my hair as he bled out in front of me. Only Levi shouting my name broke the gruesome connection.

  “Here!”

  It was more croak than anything, but he heard me. I knew because he came. His wide shoulders blocked out the sight of blood and death as he crouched beside the table. My eyes glanced over the handgun he gripped before meeting Levi’s steel gaze.

  He reached for my hand. “Let’s go, little bird. Come on.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Are you hurt?”

  I rubbed my hands up and down my goosebumped arms. “I don’t—no, I don’t think so.”

  We were driving. Night had fallen, blanketing us in a private cocoon, but I couldn’t get past the weirdness of the moment. Calmly talking after staring down the barrel of a gun. Riding in a car in the front seat next to Levi with no bag over my head, like we were a normal couple. Not feeling scared out of my mind being alone with him despite knowing he’d killed six men back there.

  Definitely weird. Maybe I’d finally cracked up.

  Or maybe seeing Levi kill the man who’d been sent to execute me had cemented everything in my mind. Levi, good. Derrick, bad. Because I had no doubt my father was behind the attack.

  “Why did…” I shook my head. Why did I keep asking the same question over and over? The answer didn’t change, no matter how much I wanted it to.

  I might not have finished the sentence, but Levi knew me too well not to follow my train of thought, apparently. He shot me a glance as he slowed, preparing for a turn. I couldn’t read it in what little illumination the dash provided. “For the same reason as everything else, I imagine. Derrick only seems to have one motive: he’s cleaning up his mess.”

  “And I’m part of the mess.”

  “Not necessarily. I believe this might have been more about framing me for your murder.”

  “But”—I swallowed hard—“that means having his own daughter murdered.” Sure, he’d released those pictures of me, and he didn’t seem to be searching too hard for me despite knowing I’d been kidnapped, but ordering someone to murder me?

  Levi didn’t agree or disagree, and I let the subject drop. If we were right and Derrick’s plan had been to have me killed, there was really no understanding that, was there? A father murdering his daughter to protect himself? He’d never been a good dad, but this was beyond my comprehension.

  I pushed the thought away and turned in my seat until Levi took up my entire view—tall, tough, sexy even with the dirt on his skin and the grim set to his granite jaw and hooded eyes. His hands on the steering wheel were sure, confident. I focused on the safety those hands provided as we navigated a series of back alleys and cutoffs in a part of town I wasn’t familiar with. Heck, at this point we could be out of town altogether and I’m not sure I’d know it. Cabs and limos didn’t usually venture this far off the beaten path, and I’d never been allowed to drive. Just another way Derrick had controlled me.

  The silence underlying the droning hum of tires on pavement settled my stomach and my thoughts. A wave of fatigue had my eyelids drooping and my head lolling against the headrest by the time Levi pulled behind another nondescript dark building and parked. “Where are we?”

  “Someplace off the grid. Let’s go.”

  My brain translated “off the grid” to “minimalist.” A lame attempt at a grin tugged at my lips as I opened my door and stepped into the clutte
red alley. A couple of dumpsters, boxes, steel barrels looking like they’d spent a hundred years in the rain…the place wasn’t inviting, but that was most likely the point. Levi led me around a pile of garbage to a dark passageway. A few feet in, I heard him jostling his keys. How he could see to find the door, much less the keyhole, I had no idea, but after a moment’s pause, the sliding of metal on metal, and a faint crack, a break in the darkness signaled the opening of a door.

  The place was much smaller than the warehouse, and excruciatingly bare. This wasn’t minimalist; this was last resort. There was no living room, only a basic kitchen setup and a card table with a couple of folding chairs. I really hoped the hall I saw to one side led to a bathroom, because I was going to need it soon.

  Levi shut the outside door but didn’t move farther into the room. “There’s a bedroom in the back,” he said quietly. “A few T-shirts and sweats back there. Toiletries in the bathroom.” He eyed my clothes. “Why don’t you wash those out as best you can in the sink, change. Get comfortable. I’ll be back.”

  My heart gave a sick thump when he turned as if to leave. “Where are you going?”

  Levi stopped. Faced me. A hand came up to stroke my tearstained, scratched cheek. Tension drained out of me, leaving behind a sudden weariness that wobbled my knees. One touch—that’s all it took for my fear to settle. I tried to remind myself that relying on this man was dangerous, to my heart if not my body, but neither was listening. I was simply too tired.

  “I’m going to make sure Remi and Eli are secure. It won’t take long. I’ll get food on the way back.”

  He wasn’t abandoning me. And he was right; he had to check on his brothers, wherever they were. They might be fully capable, but he was the big brother, used to keeping everyone safe, used to protecting everyone around him. Even me. He’d protected me tonight in a way I could never have imagined, never have asked for, and still, he hadn’t hesitated.

  My heart turned over. I stepped closer. Levi’s gaze dropped to the key in his hand, the doorknob, anywhere but me.