by Sienna Snow
It was quiet.
I stepped into the hallway, worked my way up a set of stairs.
What time was it? There was barely anyone about.
Pushing that thought back, I made my way to the main salon of the ship.
The sound of conversation carried toward me with the breeze of the ocean.
It was Sebastian.
I pulled the blade from my pants.
Even if I died, I was going to maim the motherfucker.
I approached a corner and pressed myself against a wall in the shadows when a guard passed.
“She should be awake soon,” Sebastian said. “Damn woman nearly dislocated my knee.”
“Well, you’re the one who came at her with a syringe. What the hell did you expect?” said Jacob Castro.
What the hell was he doing here?
Jacob was the head of Solon operations in Southern Europe. I’d dealt with him on and off for years. He’d retired from active assignments and only came into the field for extractions.
“Her reaction was mild compared to what I’d do to you, Weber,” Briana Amici said with a hint of amusement in her words. “I’d have stabbed that needle in your dick.”
Was this all a setup?
Hope began to bloom deep in my chest.
“That is not the visual I need at the moment, Amici.”
“What? I’m just telling you the truth. You should be used to me by now. Isn’t this the sixth joint project we’ve worked on?”
“Seventh.” Sebastian groaned again. “I’m going to have to ice my leg for the next few weeks to get back to normal.”
“Stop bitching. We had to get an honest reaction or there was no way lover boy here was going to get out. The timing for the copters could have been better, but it worked. They got Trevolo.”
What the hell? Adrian. He was alive.
The pain in my chest eased for the first time since I saw him go down.
I moved closer.
“Well, it’s done. Now it’s time to clean up the mess that is Catarina Island,” Jacob said. “Amici will take charge of the women and children and we’ll let you CIA boys handle the garbage tucked away in Trevolo’s dungeon. Weber will handle Elenora.”
“You guys go right ahead and take over. I’m fucking tired. Did you have to shoot me three times? Damn vest only protects you so much. I’m going to have bruises for a month.”
I dropped the blade, letting it bang on the floor.
Everyone in the room froze as they saw me.
“Ana.” Adrian stared at me with surprise.
My hands shook.
Then, all of a sudden, my relief was replaced by anger.
I walked up to him, ignoring everyone else I planned to deal with in a few moments.
Wariness shadowed his gaze, and just as Adrian reached out to touch me and opened his mouth to say something, I punched him as hard as I could in the gut.
Chapter Eighteen
Adrian
* * *
“How could you?” she screamed at me.
I tried to answer but all I could do was attempt to breathe through the pain.
“Fucking hell, woman, you and your sneaky moves,” Sebastian said and stayed in his spot near the window.
He should have been the first person to sense Ana or anyone approach. He was definitely getting rusty.
I straightened, taking a step toward her, but that was when Jacob made the mistake of grabbing Ana’s arms to keep her from punching me again.
She twisted so fast that he ended up on the ground.
“Goddammit. You’re not supposed to use the very moves I taught you on me.”
She ignored Jacob and trained her pissed-off-to-holy-hell eyes on me.
God, she was magnificent. And my cock thought so too as it jumped.
“Ana. Baby.”
She stalked to me and jabbed a finger in my bruised chest.
“How could you?” Tears clouded her amber depths. “I thought you were dead. I thought…I thought… Damn you. Why couldn’t you have told me?”
“Bella, you know how this works. You’ve been in the game long enough,” Briana said with a smirk as she buffed her manicured nails against her too-fucking-expensive-for-fieldwork shirt.
“I will get to you later,” Ana bit out as she held my gaze. “Am I such an amateur that you couldn’t have filled me in?”
I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her to me, ignoring the pain from the bullet impacts. The fact she wrapped her arms around me was one positive in this whole fucked-up situation that I could live with.
She inhaled, taking in my scent, and then her body shook.
“We had to. Too many eyes were on us and we had to make it look as real as possible.”
She lifted a hand to her face. “Bullshit. I knew how to act. I’ve done it for the last week and a half.”
I cupped the back of her head and couldn’t help but grin down at her. “Maybe with most people around you but not with me. And not with Trevolo. He knew how you felt about me. You’re in love with me.”
She shoved me but I held her tight.
“Bella, admit it,” Briana said in her thick Italian accent. “We all know the truth. He’s the reason you ran away to join the Solon circus.”
Ana glared at her. “And you joined because you ran away from an arranged marriage to a man you always wanted to marry anyway.”
“Yes, but your man isn’t a mobster.”
“Neither is yours.”
“It’s all a matter of perspective. Financing them is just as bad.” Briana folded her arms across her chest and met Ana’s annoyed glare with her own.
I knew it was time for us to be alone or this whole thing was about to get derailed.
“Gentlemen and lady. Would you mind leaving us?”
“Oh, come on. I was beginning to enjoy this.” Sebastian laughed as he stood.
For a man who spent most of his day scowling, he was a downright comedian when the world wasn’t watching.
The end of this assignment meant the end of our association. The end of our ten-year friendship. It was inevitable. He could never leave the world, and Ana was my escape.
As sad as losing Sebastian as a partner and friend was, it also meant I had Ana.
“Get out,” I ordered.
“Make it fast or I may have to get nosy,” Briana cooed, walking out, but she stopped midway and added, “Remember, debriefing waits for no one. Especially when it is the final one.”
What the fuck did that mean? That woman was something else. Always talking in crazy riddles. Then it hit me. They knew Ana was leaving Solon.
How the hell did they know? She’d only decided on the island.
Jacob followed, pointing to his watch.
“If you assholes would get out of here, I could talk to my woman.”
“He’s only reminding you that groveling is time sensitive.” Sebastian walked up to Ana, touching her cheek. “If you ever decide to get adventurous again, count me in as the third.”
I growled. “Keep dreaming, asshole. It was a onetime thing.”
“Worth a try.” Sebastian walked out of the lounge whistling to himself.
Ana pulled away from me and moved to a bench seat near the window. I knew keeping her out of the loop was going to have repercussions. I just couldn’t risk anything going wrong, especially with Sebastian putting a monkey wrench in the original plan with his bid to buy Ana out from under me.
“Can you forgive me, baby?”
Her gorgeous golden amber eyes burned into mine. “Yes. Don’t scare me like that again.”
“What happens now?” I asked.
“You tell me.”
Trust her to throw it back at me.
“Marriage, babies, a normal life.” Until I said the words aloud, I hadn’t realized how much I wanted those things with Ana.
She visibly swallowed and her lip trembled, but she kept quiet.
We stared at each other, then when I couldn’t stand
it anymore, she said, “Okay.”
“No more Solon.”
“No more CIA.”
“No more mob prince.”
“No more fashion assistant, mob princess, or Selene the Lycan slayer.” Her face softened into a brilliant smile, and my heart clenched. She took a step toward me. “Deal.”
“I love you, Ana.” I moved in her direction.
“I…” Ana trailed off as the sounds of helicopters echoed all around us. “Dammit. I thought I had more time.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
Ana lifted her hands to stay me. “Ian, no matter what, don’t fight them.”
Next thing, a group of people dressed in black from head to toe filed in, one grabbing Ana and the others moving in my direction.
She struggled. “Let go. Could you have given me a few more minutes?”
I rushed toward her but was knocked down by a woman at least five inches shorter than Ana who was midway between me and where Ana was being held. “Calm down. We aren’t going to hurt her.”
Another man pointed a gun in my face. “Stand down. If we hurt you, she’ll kick our ass. But I’ll do it, if you don’t listen.”
“As if.” I grabbed the barrel to knock it out of the fucker’s hands, but another two men pinned my shoulders.
“You know procedure, Anthony. Protocol requires immediate evac. No stalling. No wasting time. Tell him to calm the fuck down,” the pint-sized woman said again, coming over to me and glaring down at me with what looked almost like amusement.
I had the distinct feeling I knew her.
“Ian. I’m sorry. I have to go.” I watched in disbelief as the group all but dragged Ana toward the door. “I promise, I’m okay. It’s the way they say goodbye. I love you.”
She disappeared from view.
I struggled against the linebackers holding me down. “Where the fuck are you taking her?”
“Hold still, asshole. You should know how this works. Get a grip.”
Debriefings at the CIA never involved an extraction scenario. Fucking Solon. They never did anything like normal people. Always so damn dramatic.
“Fuck you,” I yelled at the shithead pressing his foot to my windpipe.
“You CIA snobs believe you have all the control. It’s only because we let you have it. You’re lucky we like your pal Weber, otherwise we wouldn’t give a shit if your operation was compromised. She’s ours too. Let us say goodbye.”
Like hell she was theirs.
“Put him in the chair.”
Immediately, I was hauled up and thrown in a chair, guns trained at my head.
The pint-sized lady stalked toward me, pulling off the ski mask that covered her face.
Holy fuck. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Adrian Kipos. It’s good to finally meet the man who helped recruit one of the best agents I’ve ever worked with by breaking her heart.” I just stared at the hand she offered. “I believe you know me as the first lady.”
Chapter Nineteen
Anaya
* * *
I inhaled the warm, dry air of the desert as I watched the lights on the Las Vegas Strip from the open-air deck of my penthouse apartment at the top of the Ida Resort and Casinos.
It had been two months since I left Adrian on the yacht and three weeks since I returned to Vegas. My family had given me space, surprisingly accepting that I’d quit my job because I was on the verge of burnout.
For years they’d tried to get me to come home and take over Henna’s business empire, without any headway. The fact I’d just up and made the decision had to have nagged at them. It surprised me they hadn’t ambushed me by now, demanding answers.
I knew I had to do a better job of behaving like I was happy with my decision. I hadn’t expected how hard it was going to be to live as a normal person and not a spy. Even going back to my natural hair color and clothing style hadn’t made it easier. I felt like an imposter in my real-life persona.
Was I going to be able to do this?
You don’t have a choice, Anaya. You can’t go back. This is a done deal.
The years on the job had left a toll on me, both mentally and physically. No matter the cost, I knew I’d made a difference. Especially with this last assignment. I’d played a pawn to get the job done and, in the end, Ele and so many others were safe.
I sighed, thinking of Ele. I wanted so badly to know where she was and how she was doing but I knew there was no possibility of contact for either of us. Leaving Solon meant stepping away from everything.
Well, with the exception of Briana. She was kind of a permanent fixture in my real life. But she knew the job better than I did and would never break protocol.
Picking up a glass of sparkling water from a nearby table, I took a sip and watched a helicopter land on a neighboring building.
I really had a kickass view from up here. The penthouse used to belong to my brother Hagen, but he’d moved to a house in the burbs with my cousin Penny and their two kids. Hagen had offered it to me as an “I’m glad you quit your time-sucking job and came home” present. And I wasn’t stupid enough not to accept this over-the-top place.
According to my brothers, I technically owned a quarter of their properties. The fact I had nothing to do with building the empire they’d created didn’t seem to faze them. I was their baby sister whether I carried the Lykaios name or not.
I wondered what the crew was going to say when they learned I wasn’t planning on living in the penthouse long term. I had my eye on a place close to Henna and Zack’s house in the desert. There I saw building a home. But then again, nothing would feel like home until Adrian…
I turned to see my very pregnant sister Henna Lykaios make her way toward me without missing a step in four-inch heels. She had a scowl on her beautiful face that said I was in deep shit.
“I knew you were going to be a no-show for dinner.”
Oh shit, I forgot again. Henna had threatened to drag me out of the apartment if I didn’t meet her and the girls, meaning Penny and my brother Pierce’s wife, Amelia, for dinner. They wanted a girls’ night out and I’d bailed on them for the last three times.
“Want to tell me what’s going on or do I need to call in backup? I kept Penny and Amelia from storming in here with me. So, I suggest you start talking.”
This was Henna’s version of a warning that my sisters-in-law were on their way up to make me talk. I was totally about to get ganged up on.
Henna moved to a nearby patio chair and plopped down, kicking off her shoes and setting her feet on an ottoman.
“If Zack saw you wearing those, he would completely lose his shit. Aren’t you like fifty months pregnant?”
“Eight. And Zack isn’t going to see me, since he’s at home with four kids under five and no help since our nanny is sick.” There was an almost devilish glint in her eyes. “Well, I guess he does have help. Collin is over for dinner. But those two spend so much time arguing about the right way to cut carrots so the baby doesn’t choke that they don’t realize the other three are running around naked in the front yard.”
Even though Collin was my brothers’ biological father, he was my father too, albeit more of a surrogate one. He’d made huge mistakes with his boys, but he’d given Henna and me the type of fatherly love a girl could only dream of. And now he was being the grandfather every kid deserved to have. Although, my family liked to complain he spoiled all the boys with whatever they wanted.
“I never thought my all-business sister and brother-in-law were going to singlehandedly try to populate the earth with the next generation.” I shook my head. “I think you’ve spent the entirety of your marriage pregnant.”
“The others were planned. This one—” she pointed to her belly, “—is what happens when one forgets to get her birth control shot in a timely manner and then goes on vacation without kids for the first time in years.”
I bit my lip and shifted my attention back to the night.
&nbs
p; “Ana. Tell me what’s going on?” Henna’s voice was filled with worry. “I swear I won’t say anything to the guys.”
By “guys” she meant my brothers Hagen, Pierce, and Zack.
“There’s nothing to tell. I’m ready to be home. At least for the foreseeable future. Plus, I have this kickass job where I get to pretend to be you all day and make people cry.”
The minute I’d come home I’d taken over Lykaios International, the casino conglomerate Henna inherited from Collin Lykaios. Henna was ready to pass the torch to me, and I was ready to put the past behind me.
Thankfully I rocked at my job and just negotiated a land deal where we’d build a new casino that would completely put my brothers’ casino resorts to shame.
“Tell us what’s going on, Anaya,” I heard Penny say as she walked onto the deck with Amelia close behind her. “This blowing-us-off shit is getting old.”
They both slid into chairs next to Henna and folded their arms as if waiting on a petulant child to talk.
Were these women ever going to see me as more than a kid sister? I knew they loved me, but I wasn’t a child anymore. Hell, I’d done things that would make their heads spin.
“Does the concept of calling before using a private code to access a private penthouse elude you?”
Penny shrugged her shoulders. “You should have changed the code if you didn’t want anyone to use it. Now sit your ass down and start talking.”
“Like that would have stopped you. Your husband owns the damn building.” I huffed and took a seat in the giant round papasan chair in front of the sister squad. “Get it off your chests.”
These women had no clue what the issue was but were going to give me a lecture as if they knew all my secrets.
I picked up my water and took a sip.
Henna leaned forward, setting a hand on her belly. “How long have you worked for Solon?”
My eyes widened and I all but choked on the water. “Say that again.”
“You heard her.” Penny set a hand on her hip. “With Briana as your boss, did you really think I didn’t know who you worked for? The crazy woman has been moonlighting as my security for over ten years.”