by Beck, J. L.
Is she going to stay here with me?
“Believe it or not, it was a very similar situation to the way you met him. I was being held captive by his father. He was a bad man, and he was about to hurt me… Xander and his men raided the compound I was being held at. He saved me and took me home.”
Now his comment about me reminding him of someone makes sense. He must have meant his wife since we were in a similar situation.
“Wow… and you just stayed here with him? Did he not give you the chance to leave?”
“I didn’t want to leave.” Ella smiles. “But, don’t worry, he won’t keep you here forever.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“He has no reason to.” Ella shrugs. “He’s just keeping you right now until he finds the best way to…” She trails off, unable to find the right word.
“The best way to use me?” I finish for her. “I mean, you don’t have to sugarcoat it. He is using me as a bargaining chip to get what he wants, isn’t he?”
Ella lowers her head in shame. “I’m sorry, but yes. Yes, he is.”
“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault. I just wish I could talk to Zane.”
“Who is Zane?” Ella asks curiously.
“He is my… well, I don’t really know what he is.” My everything.
I spend the next ten minutes telling Ella my story. I tell her how Zane and I met in foster care and that I thought he died. We talk about him kidnapping me, and then me getting kidnapped again by Christian.
“So, what else do you do? Besides getting kidnapped on a regular basis?” Ella chuckles, and I can’t help but giggle with her. For the first time in many days, I laugh, actually laugh.
We talk for a while, Ella tells me about her sister being married to Ivan and how they were pregnant at the same time. Momentarily, I forget where I am and why I’m here. Right now, it feels like it’s just an old friend and me catching up.
Reality comes crashing back down on me when I hear an angry voice yelling at the guard in front of my door. A few seconds later, the door swings open, and Xander waltzes inside, wearing a mask of fury on his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He scowls at Ella, who seems completely unaffected by his stare. A stare that has a shiver running down my spine.
“Don’t overreact. I’m fine. We were just talking.” She gets up and goes to stand by his side, touching his arm tenderly. I can see the rage seeping away from his body, from across the room. His shoulders relax, and the white-knuckled fists by his sides, turn back to lax hands.
“Go back home, mouse,” he tells her. She pushes up onto her tiptoes and gives him a chased kiss on the lips before heading out of the room, but not before giving me a tiny wave goodbye. As soon as she’s gone, I miss her presence. It’s like she’s taken the warmth in the room with her.
“Put your shoes on, it’s time to go,” Xander orders, crossing his arms in front of him.
The news leaves me shocked. “What do you mean? Where am I going?”
“Zane and Matteo arranged a meeting with me. They want to trade you for some territory.”
I should probably be offended that I’m being bargained with for a plot of land, but right this second, all I can process is that I’m finally going to get to see Zane again. I jump up from the bed and put my shoes on in a hurry.
“Why is Matteo willing to give up land for you?”
“Who?” I ask as I straighten up. “Who is Matteo?”
“One of my rivals as well as Christian’s. Zane must have some valuable information he is trading… or something else? What if he has information that can hurt me in the long run?”
For a moment, I think he is going to change his mind. I can see him thinking about it, weighing his options.
“Look, Xander, you treated me well, and like you said, you did save me from Christian. I owe you, if you bring me to Zane and I find something out that could harm you or your family, I will tell you. I swear.”
Xander examines me for a long minute. Just when I think he is going to lock me back in here, he disappears into the hallway but leaves the door open for me. Relief washes over me. He is still letting me go.
Hesitantly, I step outside. There are still two guards outside the door, and all three men resemble that of bouncers at a club, tall and muscular, making me feel even smaller than I am.
Looking up at the men, neither of them make eye contact with me. Without a word, Xander starts walking, the two men flanking him. I fall into step and follow them down the hall. When we get to the entrance, I find more men waiting at the door, and even more outside. All dressed in black, weapons attached to their hips, looking like an army about to take down a city.
“Everyone knows their orders, so let’s go,” Xander calls out, his voice void of emotion. There are four blacked-out SUVs parked in front of the building, and at Xander’s word, the men start piling into them. I stare, trying to figure out where I fit in in all of this. Do I just go to one of the SUV’s and get in? As if Xander can sense my confusion, his dark gaze turns to me.
“You’re coming with me,” he says.
Before I can take a step, Xander’s hand circles my upper arm, and he starts pulling me toward one of the cars. Excitement and anxiety over the unknown swirls deep in my gut. What’s going to happen next? Am I really going to be reunited with Zane, or is this a joke?
Xander opens the back door to one of the SUV’s and shoves me inside. I’m surprised to find someone already sitting in the back seat. The moment his eyes meet mine, I have this odd sense of deja vu. This man looks at me the same way Xander looked at me the first time we met. On top of that, he resembles Xander, almost to a tee. Like they could totally be—
“This is Damon, my brother,” Xander says before I can finish my thought.
Forced into the middle seat, I place my hands in my lap. Xander slides in next to me, sandwiching me between him and his brother.
The car starts, and before I know it, we are driving away from the building and off the compound. An eerie silence settles over us, and I don’t know where to look. The two men sitting in the front? The two men sitting on either side of me? Or just straight ahead on the road before us? Yes, I’ll go with the road. It’s the safer bet.
With my hands in my lap, I squeeze my shoulders together, trying to make myself as small as possible. When my eyes wander, and I look out to the side window, I catch Damon’s eyes on me. Even when he sees me looking, he keeps staring at me, and I don’t know how to feel about that. It’s like he doesn’t care that I caught him watching me, which intensifies the anxiousness that I’m already feeling.
“Xander tells me you’re twenty-one?” Damon finally breaks the silence. His voice is just as dark and ominous as his brother’s.
“Yes.” I nod my head, not understanding why my age is being brought up, yet again.
“We’re almost there,” Xander announces. “Lean forward.”
“Huh?” I twist around to look at him, but he is already pushing on my shoulders, forcing me to lean forward.
“Put your hands behind your back,” he orders while digging for something in his pocket. My eyes catch on a pair of cable ties, only then, do I realize what he is up to.
“I won’t run…”
“That’s not the point. Just do it,” he growls, and I slowly bring my hands to the small of my back. Every inch of my body is shaking. I’m not sure if I’m scared of him, or of what’s going to happen next. Xander grips my arms and fastens the cable ties around my wrists to the point of pain. The plastic cuts into my skin, but I don’t complain.
With my hands tied behind my back, I awkwardly and uncomfortably lean back against the seat. Neither of the Rossi brothers says anything to me, and once again, the car is blanketed in silence. We drive a few more minutes before pulling up to a large parking lot behind an abandoned warehouse. Oh no… I’ve seen movies.
I know the kind of shady shit that happens at abandoned warehouses, and it’s nothing good
. We circle the building like sharks, and I catch sight of another fleet of vehicles.
That must be Zane.
My heart starts beating faster and my throat swells. Am I really going to see him? What am I going to say? What is he going to say? Will he be mad at me? I never thought this would actually happen, so I never prepared myself for the scenario.
All my internal questions are cut off when I feel a hand on top of my head. Before I can turn to see who is touching me, the hand ruffles through my hair. Like a ten-year-old boy would do to a girl to make her mad.
“Hey! What the hell?” I whine, trying to move away from the hand.
“Can’t have you looking all put together and shit. You were my prisoner after all,” Xander explains. When he is done making a knotty mess of my hair, he takes the fabric of my shirt and rips it around my shoulder and down my arm. “There you go. That’s better.”
I look over at him, dumbfoundedly. “So, if they ask about where you kept me, should I lie? Maybe make up some dungeon?”
Xander smirks. “Smart girl, you are, though there isn’t any need to make it up. There is a dungeon at my place, and as far as everybody knows, that’s where you were kept.”
“Got it.” I nod, just as the car is put into park.
The front doors open first, the guards climb out and open the back doors. Damon is the first out. When I scoot toward his door to slip out, Xander grabs me by the arm, tugging me toward his door instead.
Sliding across the seat, he pulls me out of the car. My feet land against the concrete, and I suck in a precious breath of oxygen, almost as if I hadn’t been breathing the entire drive here.
Xander doesn’t give me a chance to prepare myself and starts walking toward the caravan of vehicles. Good thing he has an iron grip on my arm because the first step I take, I trip and almost faceplant. Xander pulls me up, and I fall in step beside him.
As soon as I lift up my head, I spot Zane and another man, off in the distance. My entire body locks up and my heart tightens in my chest.
He’s really alive.
Our eyes connect, and even from a distance, I can see the turmoil of emotions in their depths, relief, need, and overwhelming possessiveness. Zane is mine, and I am his. I realize that now. My feet move of their own accord. My body drawn to him like a magnet. I try to run toward him, wanting to tell him that I’m okay. That everything is going to be okay. But Xander jerks me back by the arm, keeping me close to his side before I can take off.
Zane’s eyes lower to where Xander’s hand is. His lip curls almost as if he is snarling like an animal. The glare in his eyes is deadly, and I’m positive that it’s taking every ounce of self-restraint he has, not to charge at Xander right now. The mere thought of a fight breaking out between the two of them is terrifying.
I can feel Zane’s rage rolling off of him in waves. I don’t know how this meeting is going to end. I just hope that after everything we’ve been through, that Zane and I can walk away in one piece.
7
I’m a bullet waiting to leave the chamber. My body vibrates with unchecked rage. Every fiber and cell in my body is telling me to move. Telling me to go to her, and rip Xander Rossi’s hand off of her body and beat him with it for touching her. For touching what is mine and always will be mine.
Like a ticking time bomb, I force myself to stand still, to hold back. I know it’s the most strategic thing to do, but that doesn’t make it any easier. If he does something stupid, or if I see Dove flinch even once, I’ll explode. I didn’t come all this way not to leave with her, but I won’t let him or anyone else hurt her.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Zane.” Xander’s lips tip up at the sides in a smile when we’re just a few feet away. “Matteo, it’s been a while. I would say it’s good to see you, but we both know that’s a lie. If it wasn’t for this agreement, I’d have my men pumping you full of lead by now.”
“Same.” Matteo nods, and all I can think is how fucked up these two fuckers are. I need to get Dove and get us out of here before these two end up firing their guns in some sick fight to see whose cock is bigger.
Damon, Xander’s brother, is watching me. I can feel his beady eyes on my skin, burning through my flesh. “The agreement has been signed by both parties and is final. You can have the girl back. We had our fun with her. I’m pretty sure she enjoyed her stay as well.”
Xander fully grins, and I clench my fist, envisioning my hand wrapping around his throat and squeezing. If he touched her, I will kill him. I’ll rip him to pieces, no matter what war I’ll start in doing soon. I’d kill anyone, bloody my hands in any way to protect her.
“Let her go,” I say through clenched teeth, surprised that the words don’t come out as an animalistic growl.
“Hand over the papers first,” Xander orders like I’m one of his men. Matteo nods to Karl, one of his guys, and he starts walking toward the space between our two groups. Damon takes a few steps forward, meeting Karl and snatches the papers from him.
He looks over them quickly before motioning to Xander that it’s all good. Instead of letting Dove go right away, which would be the smart thing to do, Xander pulls her closer to him, leans down, and whispers something into the shell of her ear.
That’s it. He’s going to die…
Taking a step forward, I’m fully prepared to wrap my hands around the fucker’s neck when Matteo and one of his goons, grab me by the arms, holding me back. I shrug them off, giving both of them a look that says don’t fucking touch me.
When I turn my attention back to Xander and Dove, he lets her go.
As soon as he releases her, she runs toward me, almost losing her balance with her hands tied behind her back. A moment later, her slim body slams into mine. She buries her face in my chest, and I wrap my arms around her protectively. Before I do anything, I bury my face into the crook of her neck and inhale deeply. This moment is like seeing the sun after a long cold winter. Like tasting water after a drought. It’s indescribable but all the words at once.
“I missed you so much,” she mumbles into my chest. “I thought you were dead.”
“I missed you too,” I reply, stroking a hand down her back. I want to strip her bare, look her over, and worship every inch of her body. I want to ask her what happened, if she’s okay, if she is hungry, tired, or hurt, but I also just want to stand here like this, doing nothing more than holding her.
“Let’s go,” Matteo says, nudging me in the side. I’m tempted to tell him to fuck off, but I bite my tongue. Getting Dove away from these guys is what I need to do. Now that I have her back in my arms, protecting her and ensuring her safety is my number one priority. Nothing in this world will ever separate us again.
Matteo offers me his knife, and I take it, cutting the plastic zip ties binding her wrists. As soon as her hands are free, she wraps her arms around me. There is nothing like feeling her tiny arms wrapped around me. It’s so strange that once upon a time, she tried to escape me, but now she holds me close as if I’m her savior.
I lean down and whisper into her ear. “I want nothing more than to hold you in my arms, but we really need to go.”
Nodding, she pulls away, her beautiful blue eyes are filled with tears, making them seem lighter. “I’m sorry, Zane. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. That I made you take me to the hospital. It’s all my fault.” Big fat tears fall from her eyes, and my heart cracks a little in my chest.
“It’s okay, baby, and it’s not your fault. We’ll talk when we get back to Matteo’s place,” I tell her.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I turn and guide us back to the SUV. Matteo’s men swarm us like we’re the president of the United States, which for once, I’m actually grateful for. When we reach the car, I open the door and lift her inside before climbing in myself. Pulling her tight to my side, I press my lips to her forehead.
This feels like a dream. And I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like at any second, I’m going to wake up and realiz
e that none of it was real. That I imagined the whole thing, and that Dove isn’t really here with me.
Matteo climbs into the front seat, and one of his men takes the driver’s seat. Even as the car starts to move, it still doesn’t feel real.
“Where are we going?” Dove whispers, peering up at me through her wet lashes.
“Matteo’s place. I have so much to tell you… but first, I need to make sure you’re okay. Did they hurt you? Touch you in any way?” Bile rises in my throat as I speak. God, I don’t know if I can handle this. If either of them fuckers touched her...I’ll lose it. Fury overtakes every emotion I’m feeling at the moment.
“Neither of them hurt me, and I wasn’t with Christian long before Xander’s men found me.”
Thank fuck… I was getting ready to paint the entire world red.
Sighing, I hold onto her a little tighter. “All I could think about the entire time they had you was if you were okay. If they were hurting you? If you were eating, or if you were cold? All I could think about was saving you and how I had let you down.”
“No,” Dove whimpers and grips onto my shirt as if I’ll disappear at any second. I’m certain she is close to shattering, and things are only going to get worse from here. “It’s not your fault, none of this is your fault, Zane. You tried to protect me. You warned me, and I wouldn’t listen. I thought you were crazy, but if I had believed you—”
“Don’t worry about that right now…”
“Hate to break up your reunion, but I believe you owe me a thank you,” Matteo announces from the front seat.
Rolling my eyes, I grit my teeth as I speak my next set of words. “Thank you, Matteo.” Playing nice with this guy is trying on my patience, and I’m not sure how much longer I can go before I snap and do something drastic.
“That doesn’t sound like you’re really grateful, but I’ll let it slide since you’ve finally delivered on bringing my daughter back to me.”
Fucking Christ. Why did he have to go and say that? I was hoping to spill the beans to Dove once we were back at the house.