Saviours

by Beth Abbott

  Joseph and the Commodore stood up to leave.

  “I’ll come over this evening, if you don’t mind, to follow proceedings.” Joseph leaned in to kiss Hannah’s cheek. “Jenny and Sally are going over to Luke and Ellen’s place to watch the kids, so they can come over to your place.”

  “I think Joey and Andrew are going to Luke’s as well, so Alice can come with me.” JT smiled.

  “It looks like it’s going to be a full house tonight.” Joseph acknowledged.

  “All the more to celebrate a successful mission, I’m sure.” Ron smiled.

  Hannah watched JT lead the men out of her office and slumped back into her chair.

  It must be nice to be able to be so confident in the success of a mission, she thought.

  Not so easy when your family was on the front line!

  Chapter 50 – Micky

  Micky found it difficult to concentrate on Sergei’s accounts as she worked diligently to make him more money. Her eyes were sore from working in poor lighting, and her head had been throbbing like a bitch for the last hour.

  It was hardly surprising though, since in between bouts of diligence, she was flipping from his accounts to a spreadsheet she had created, trying to record as many of his banking details as she could, without him noticing that she was taking longer than usual to do her job.

  “Haven’t you finished with that one yet?” Sergei was never a patient man.

  “Almost.” She shrugged. “I could finish quicker, but that would mean you lost money instead of gaining it. Which would you prefer? Speed or profit?”

  “I’d prefer to hear less of your sarcasm.” Sergei growled. “I could always remove your tongue. I wouldn’t have to listen to you at all then, would I?”

  Micky added the latest account to her list before switching back to the banking screen. She knew that even with everything else that was going on, there was no chance Sergei wouldn’t go straight back in and change the passwords, as he hadn’t failed once in the past three years.

  But if she could just give Kellen’s friend some of the account numbers, it would probably give the woman a head start.

  “Next?” She smiled sweetly up at Sergei, earning herself a scowl for her efforts.

  Sergei gave her the account details, and Micky started going through the process of opening up the foreign trading accounts where she held some of his assets and investments, determining which could be traded or liquidated. A few of them had made even more than she expected, so she set to work transferring the money over, knowing it would increase her standing with Sergei when he realised how well she was doing for him.

  Of course, it also increased the amount that Hannah would get her hands on once she cleared out his accounts, and that was Micky’s main driver this morning.

  Micky wished that she could clear out his assets and investment accounts as well, but she knew he received email alerts every time she made a deposit or withdrawal.

  Maybe tonight, once they were off the ship? She’d have to pack her laptop carefully and take it with her.

  As she heard the beep of his phone, Micky glanced up to see the smile across his face.

  “Oh, yeah!” She chuckled. “You like me now, don’t you?”

  Sergei glanced at her, still grinning.

  “You’re marginally more bearable than you were a minute ago.” He conceded.

  Micky ignored him and carried on with her work, only asking him a question when she’d finished with one account and needed to move on to the next.

  While she waited for the investment pages to refresh, her thoughts drifted back to the night before, and specifically, to Kellen.

  She’d never really known what it was like to spend a whole night in a man’s arms, and if last night was typical, Micky decided she liked it a lot.

  True to his word, Kellen had done nothing to make her feel uncomfortable, and apart from a few kisses, at least half of which she’d initiated, he hadn’t attempted to touch her sexually at all.

  While a part of her gloried in the fact that she’d finally met a man she could trust to keep his word, other parts of her ached where she would have liked him to touch her.

  Contrary to her loss of control the other night, she really wasn’t promiscuous, but with Kellen, she saw a man she liked, a man she respected, and most definitely a man she wanted to get to know better.

  Micky almost rolled her eyes.

  They had maybe another twelve hours to get to know each other better, and after that… Well, it was anyone’s guess what would happen after that.

  He’d probably head one way, back to the UK, or even to his home in America, and she would head in the opposite direction back to her responsibilities in Moscow, and they’d never see each other again.

  “Why are you scowling?” Sergei demanded. “Have you lost me money?”

  Micky quickly focused on the screen where she could see a nice little profit building up.

  “You know, not everything is about you and your money.” She barely afforded him a glance. “Sometimes other things are going on in the world, and they have absolutely nothing to do with Sergei Lebedev. Strange, but true.”

  Sergei glared at her.

  “What could possibly be more important to you than making money for me?” He growled.

  “I didn’t say anything about importance.” Micky shrugged. “Just that sometimes, I manage to think about something that doesn’t revolve around you. Sometimes that thing makes me smile, sometimes it makes me scowl. But just the idea that I might have a thought that has nothing to do with you displeases you. Why is that, do you think?”

  Sergei looked like he wanted to explode, but there was just a slight hesitation as he tried to work out whether she was insulting him or not.

  “All I know is that you’re paid to make me money.” He finally blustered. “Your mind should be on that, one hundred percent.”

  Micky kept her head down, so he wouldn’t see her rolling her eyes.

  She transferred the last of the money to his account and powered down her laptop.

  “What are you doing?” Lebedev demanded, stalking up to her. “You haven’t finished yet.”

  Micky closed the laptop and stood up and stretched.

  “It’s Sunday, Sergei.” She reminded him. “Most of the traders’ sites don’t operate on a Sunday, and those that do, I’ve dealt with.”

  “I told you I wanted every penny transferred this weekend.” He growled at her, causing her hair to blow back.

  “And I told you that’s what I’ve done.” She yelled back at him, sick of being shouted at every time he was in a black mood. “I cleared out everything I could on Friday and Saturday, and I’ve done what I can with the accounts I can access on a Sunday. I can’t make the rest magically open, not even for the mighty Sergei fucking Lebedev!”

  For a moment she heard her mother’s voice in her head saying, “That temper of yours is going to get you in trouble one day, my little Mikhaila!” to her six-year-old spoiled self.

  The next second, her head was flying backwards, the flash of pain in her jaw and cheekbone alerting her to the fact that Sergei had just punched her in the face.

  As she crashed into the chairs behind her, Micky just managed to save her laptop from hitting the ground, and she would have laughed at herself that even her own list of priorities would have placed her personal safety and wellbeing far below an electrical device.

  She would have laughed, but Sergei had jumped on top of her and was still punching her face.

  Micky found herself stuck between two chairs, the arm that was wrapped around her laptop completely pinned down. She managed to get her other hand up to try and defend herself, but it was little good against a grown man in a furious rage, hell bent on using both fists.

  She wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but she’d never been happier to hear Stan’s voice yelling at his boss from across the room.

  Seconds later the punching stopped, as multiple hands grappled with Sergei to p
ull him off her.

  “Come on, boss.” Stan was risking his own life by challenging Sergei, but Micky was in too much pain to warn him.

  Sergei wrenched himself away from Stan and another of his men, and pulled himself up straight, as though realising he was making a spectacle of himself.

  She could just about see when he turned around to make sure none of his guests were watching.

  Micky could feel her eye swelling, and when she touched her hand to her face, it came away covered in blood.

  “Get her back to her cabin.” Sergei growled. “If anyone asks, she fell down the stairs.”

  As he slammed through the door, she felt the chairs being pushed away from her, and Stan was on his knees by her side.

  “What the fuck, Micky?” He growled, turning to one of his sidekicks and demanding he go and fetch some cloths and bottled water from the kitchen.

  Micky started to sit up, but the pain in her head was excruciating.

  “Hold up.” Stan kept a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from getting up. “As soon as you move, that blood is going to go everywhere. Let’s get a cloth on it first.”

  When the man returned with the cloths, Stan tipped some of the water onto the fabric before pressing it firmly to Micky’s face.

  She winced as it immediately touched an extremely tender spot.

  “Now go and get a bucket of ice.” He instructed the other guy. “Bring it to Micky’s cabin.”

  Stan bent down and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up from the floor.

  Micky continued to grip onto her laptop, as he walked from the room to the stairs.

  “Is what’s on that laptop so important that you were willing to take a beating for it?” Stan growled. “If you’d let go of it you might have been able to defend yourself better.”

  “If I’d let go of it and it’d gotten damaged, no doubt Sergei would have done much worse than just given me a little beating.” She murmured.

  “A little beating?” Stan smirked. “You obviously haven’t seen your face yet.”

  They continued to climb the stairs, and with her free hand Micky reached into her pocket to retrieve her key card.

  They’d just managed to open the door when she heard another door open, and Abram stepped out.

  “What the hell?” Abram took one look and rushed forward.

  Stan pushed the cabin door open and carried her in, but Abram was only two steps behind.

  “Abs? What’s going on?” Kellen must have followed behind his friend, as before the door could swing shut, he’d stepped inside.

  “What the fuck happened to her?” Abram glared at Stan looking like he was about to do him some serious damage.

  Micky glanced at Kellen, who looked like he was in shock.

  “It’s nothing to do with you guys.” Stan stood up straighter. “You should go back to your cabin.”

  “I asked what happened to her.” Abram repeated. “If I don’t hear an answer in the next five seconds, I’m going to assume that you did this, and give you a lesson on what should happen to men who beat on women.”

  “It wasn’t Stan.” Micky mumbled, as there was a knock on the door, making everyone jump.

  Kellen turned to open the door to the guy who was bringing the bucket of ice.

  As if on autopilot, he took the ice and shut the door in the man’s face.

  “Stan, I know Abram has some medical training, because he helped me put Kellen back together the other night.” Micky lied. “Why don’t you go back downstairs and make sure Sergei has cooled down already? Keep him downstairs if you can, while Abram helps fix me up.”

  Stan looked like he was going to argue.

  “Please, Stan.” Micky repeated. “The last thing I need is him coming back up here for another round.”

  Stan finally nodded his head, and slipped back out through the door, pulling it shut behind him.

  Micky’s shoulders sagged as the relief swept over her that she was at least now surrounded by friends.

  Kellen stepped forward and dropped to his knees in front of her.

  “Sergei did this to you?” He murmured, and Micky could see his eyes had turned a hard, icy grey.

  “I pushed him too far.” She half-smiled and then winced with the pain. “Me and my big mouth.”

  “It shouldn’t matter how big a mouth you’ve got… a man should never lay hands on a woman. Not ever.” Abram growled, as he walked into her bathroom.

  Micky could see the anger building in Kellen and grabbed his hand.

  “You can’t do anything in retaliation, Kellen.” She shook his hand to get his focus back on her, and not her injuries. “Nothing, do you hear me? The mission is all that’s important here, and nothing can jeopardize it.”

  “I’m going to fucking kill him.” Kellen stared at her.

  “NO! You’re not.” She leaned closer to him. “Because if you do, you’ll ruin everything.”

  “I’ve filled the sink with warm water.” Abram announced. “Go and wash the blood off so we can see what we’re dealing with.”

  “I didn’t actually mean it when I suggested you could do first aid.” Micky tried to smile.

  “Maybe not.” Abram nodded. “But you’re going to need some stitches, and I doubt you’ll be able to manage that by yourself.”

  Realising he was probably right, Micky stood up slowly.

  “Sit on him.” She instructed Abram, pointing at Kellen. “Don’t let him out of here until I get back. He can’t go after Sergei and ruin everything.”

  “I won’t do anything stupid.” Kellen said quietly. “As much as it pains me to leave the man breathing.”

  “He’s worth more to us alive than dead, unfortunately.” Micky sighed. “No matter how much we’d both like to kill him.”

  She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

  Micky pulled her t-shirt up and over her head very carefully, leaving her in just her bra and a thin vest. She finally stepped up to the sink and looked at her reflection.

  Holy shit!

  The left side of her face was swollen and red, and she could see the bruises already darkening her skin. There was a deep cut that followed the line of her eyebrow, and another smaller one above her cheekbone. She turned to check out the right side, but thankfully, there were just a few red blotches that would probably turn to bruises later.

  She opened her mouth slowly, as wide as it would go, manipulating her jaw as she did so to check for damage.

  There didn’t seem to be anything cracked or broken, but it would take a while for the pain and bruising to subside.

  Micky pulled her long hair back and lowered her face into the water until it was fully submerged.

  The pain in the cuts was immediate, but she didn’t pull back. Better to get all the blood off in one go, and then concentrate on the cuts when everything was clean.

  Micky reached blindly until her hand grabbed her discarded t-shirt, and she used it to absorb the moisture as she lifted her head up.

  When her face was all but dry, she opened the door and stepped back into the bedroom, opening the wardrobe quickly to grab another top to cover herself, this one with a zipper front that she could put on without pulling it over her head.

  “Here. Let me help.” Kellen took the top from her hand and slipped it up the one arm while she still held the blood-soaked t-shirt to her face. She swapped hands, so she could get the other sleeve on, and Kellen quickly zipped it up for her.

  “Thanks.” She smiled up at him, but his wince told her she probably shouldn’t have bothered.

  “I just messaged Drago, and Zach’s going to come and sew you up.” Abram said quietly. “He’s got some experience from when he was in the US Rangers. More than the rest of us, anyway.”

  “Ok.” Micky sat back down on the bed, her legs suddenly shaking like a new-born foal.

  “What exactly happened?” Kellen asked. “Between you and Sergei, I mean.”

  Micky shrugged.

 
; “Sergei was in a foul mood.” She explained. “I had a filthy headache, so we weren’t exactly good company for each other. Anyway, I did what I could with his investments and logged out. I guess he thought I was finishing ahead of time and could have moved more money into his accounts. He shouted at me, I shouted back, and he flipped. The result… well, the result is clear to see.”

  “Has he ever done anything like this before?” Abram asked.

  “No, never.” Micky shook her head and then winced, as the pain intensified. “He likes to threaten me, but he’s never gone this far.”

  “What do you think pushed him over the edge?” Kellen asked. “Were you particularly rude to him?”

  “I don’t usually yell at him.” Micky admitted. “But it’s as if he’s more stressed than usual. He’s never been quite so obsessed with me bringing in more money before. It’s almost like he’s desperate. He’s been having visits from some rather nasty looking individuals over the last few weeks. Meetings that I wasn’t privy to. I think it’s all connected to the money he’s due to repay this week.”

  “Hannah described his financial set-up as being like a mini Ponzi scheme.” Kellen suggested. “He’s been robbing Peter to pay Paul for so long he’s probably run out of ways to clear his debts.”

  “The men he owes money to don’t mess around.” Micky frowned. “Once they’re sure he’s not going to pay them back, they’ll simply eliminate him and take control of his businesses.”

  “Then we have to make sure there’s no business for them to take control of.” Abram insisted. “The most they’ll be able to do is take his casino. There won’t be any arms, drugs or money left for them to take.”

  “He doesn’t own the casino.” Micky murmured. “He leases the premises. He doesn’t own any property as he likes to keep his assets liquid. His words, not mine.”

  “Then if Hannah can wipe out his bank accounts, he’ll have nothing.” Abram smiled.

  “Not exactly.” Micky shook her head. “He has investment accounts with companies all over the world, which is how I make his money for him. You’ll have to clear those out as well.”