Eagle Elite Volume II, page 55
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to tell me the rest.”
I relaxed, as if my body made a giant sigh against hers. “Maya?”
“Yeah.”
“When you were under… I asked you about the addresses, do you remember?”
It was her turn to tense, and then turn around in my arms a frown marred her pretty face. “It was on the Pier, and I recognized Everett, but I don’t remember the address, just thinking about it makes my head hurt.”
“Sorry.” I kissed her forehead.
“Why is it important?”
Burdens, so many burdens I was sharing, I hated myself for it, but maybe it was time to extend the weight and trust the other person wouldn’t let it slip through their fingers. “You’ll never be safe, as long as those houses exist. I want to destroy them… if they’re gone, then I’m hoping you won’t be as big of a threat to your father as he thinks… right now, if he saw you on the street, he’d recognize the fear, even if you tried to hide it. You’d flinch, you’d back away into another person walking in the other direction, you’d gasp, your eyes would widen, there are any number of physical responses you would have. And he would know, and he would either kill you, or capture you, then do it right in front of me to make an example. The only way to be free is to eliminate the threat, and right now, those two houses existing, making him a shit load of money…” I looked away.
Maya tilted her head thoughtfully. “You said the Italians owed you.”
“I owe them.”
“That’s not what they said.”
“I don’t really think they see it that way, Maya. They’re being kind.”
“The Italians? The ones with the scary guns and weird even more terrifying tattoos and sneers, those people? You have seen that big guy, right? The one with the permanent frown on his face?”
“Nixon?”
“No not the lip ring guy.” She waved me off. “The other one.”
“Tex?”
“No, the other one.” She snapped her fingers. “With the…” She gulped. “Darkness, I know this sounds crazy but he has this… weird aura about him.”
I nodded my head and whispered. “You’re talking about Phoenix.”
“Scary.” She shuddered.
And in that moment, it was like all the possibilities of how they really could help me were brought to light.
“His father and yours used to work together.” I didn’t want to give too much away, better she never find out about that. “He may be able to help more, but his wife’s six months pregnant.” I sighed. “I’ll call him. I think that may be the only choice we have.”
“Other than running away together,” Maya whispered, brushing a kiss across my mouth. “That sounds good too.”
“Someone like me… can’t disappear without making CNN.”
She sighed, pulling her mouth away. “I know.”
“But…” I tilted her chin toward me. “We can stay here… for at least a few more moments, let the world go to hell… while I give you a glimpse of heaven.”
“Arrogant bastard.”
“I’ve never pretended to be otherwise.” I full on grinned.
Her breath caught. “You’re sexy when you smile.”
“It’s why I don’t do it often, too hard to be taken seriously.” I toyed with a piece of her hair.
“Wow look at you. Such a good mood, I wonder why.”
“Sex,” I said truthfully. “But first… love.”
“First comes love?”
“Yes, Maya.” I closed my eyes, breathing her in. “With you? First, always comes love.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Another body has been discovered in Pikes Market, Jane Doe had no identification, and no missing reports have been filed. She was believed to be a prostitute and homeless. –The Seattle Tribune
Maya
We talked about everything that had to do with nothing important. And then, when we ran out of words to say and silence filled the air, we kissed, communicating with our mouths, hands, bodies, what we were feeling.
Sunlight crept through the window early that morning. I forced my eyes shut, not wanting to leave the bed or deal with the heavy stuff, the questions still rolling around in my brain, the memories, the flashbacks. Over the course of a few hours I felt like I’d regained my entire childhood only to wish it would have been kept under lock and key for eternity.
I shivered.
It wasn’t pretty.
My memories had always been about the later years, when I pushed myself in school and sports.
The early years? Were filled with getting pushed out of the house at age five because my father’s associates were coming to visit. Why did it matter? I’d ask my mom, what if I play quietly.
At such a young age I didn’t understand, that those men, the ones that were in our house once a week, dealt child pornography to the masses, making millions off of a sick addiction that should equal the death penalty in my mind.
I stumbled past one of the men as my mom ushered me out the back door, he grabbed her arm, then looked down at me with a frown.
“Leave it,” she snapped.
My mom was rarely rude, especially to my father’s associates.
The man bent down to my eye level, his breath smelled sour and his face was white as a ghost. “So, you’re the bastard.”
Those were his words. I didn’t know what the name meant, but the way he said it had made me think it was a bad name to be called. He also leered, made me feel like I should hide behind my mama’s skirts or maybe just disappear altogether.
When I brought it up to Nikolai, he simply kissed me and told me he was sorry he couldn’t keep the bad away—sorry that he had failed.
If anyone failed in this scenario it was my father… he was a complete lunatic. My only saving grace was that I wasn’t actually related to him, only to my mother. Thank God.
My gut clenched. Was my mother even safe?
“You look very deep in thought.” Nikolai said without opening his eyes.
“You can’t even see me.”
“I can feel you,” he murmured, “and you feel stressed.”
“I’m not stressed,” I grumbled, frowning harder.
His eyes blinked open. “God, you’re beautiful.”
“I better be, I put on lip gloss and brushed my hair at least a hundred times throughout the night in fear you’d wake up and scream.”
“Very funny.”
“Don’t believe me?”
He ran his left hand through my hair, and of course his fingers got caught in the tangles, I tried to pull away but he continued combing it with his fingers. “I think I like you messy… less polished. It fits you.”
“Are you calling me a mess?”
“A hot mess. The adjective changes everything don’t you think?” The corners of his mouth lifted into a heart stopping smile.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
An enemy will agree, but a friend will argue. —Russian Proverb
Nikolai
I hated that I called him in, almost as much as I hated the fact that I needed to ask for help.
Help had always been a weakness, as if I was down, bleeding out, and needed someone to put pressure on the wound in order to stay alive.
My blood heated at the thought, the mere, idea that I would need to call an Italian to aid me.
I glanced back at Maya as she slept in the bed.
I would do anything, anything for her. Legal. Illegal. There wasn’t a line I would not cross, a job I would not do. A life I would not take.
The phone rang once.
“Yes?” The voice clipped on one end.
“I need you.” Damn the words were out before I could stop them, my hand clenching the phone as if it was the only object in my existence and the pressure aided by my fingertips only helped persuade the voice on the other end in saying yes, in making sure I kept the woman I loved safe.
“Okay.”
A click. And the conversation ended. No persuading. No banter, nothing that would help me understand the situation further, just a simple okay.
I would have been a hell of a lot more at ease had he been argumentative.
I let out a sigh of frustration. I hadn’t intended on relying on anyone else. I didn’t trust people, but I did trust the Italians. And maybe that made me the worst betrayer of them all… the fact that I so easily trusted outside of the Russians, the Family my father bet his very life on.
With a sigh I turned away from Maya as she slept and dialed Jac’s number.
“Hello?” She picked up right away.
“Jac,” I said relieved. “How are you?”
She was silent and then. “I haven’t heard from you all day; will you be in tonight?”
I glanced nervously at Maya. “Of course, why not?”
“Well, a lot of things have been changing lately.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jac, I will always do my research. You know this.”
“Do I?”
A challenge. “Yes. You do.”
“Fine.” She sighed heavily. “I’ll see you tonight at the regular time.”
“Yes,” I hissed. “And maybe, during that time, you can help me locate the missing girl?”
“Missing girl?”
“The one you led into the clinic the other night? The one who we can’t find? That girl.”
“What’s one girl, Nik?”
“What is one girl, Jac?”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m not saying anything, merely asking… You led her in, did you see where she ran off to?”
The phone went deathly still as if Jac was holding her breath. “I don’t like being attacked by my own family, my own grandson.”
“Is that what this feels like? I’m asking a question. That’s all.”
Jac cursed. “You’re accusing me. There’s a difference, think I can’t tell the tone you’re using? The girl ran off, just like I told you. If you paid more attention to your own damn records, you’d know that. Now. Can I please get back to work? The real work we’re supposed to be doing? As a family?” I didn’t miss how she said that last part with venom, how she spat the word, disgusted with having to even discuss it with me in the first place.
“Yes.” I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “Yes, get back to work.”
The phone line went dead.
Maya made a small noise in her sleep. I’d exhausted her, so relieved that I could be with her that I hadn’t given her a break at all, just taken my pleasure, offered her hers, and gone on with life.
The clock chimed three in the afternoon.
Our time would be up soon.
Our number called.
And as if her father could read my mind, a text sounded on my phone.
Petrov
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk good doctor. Have your hand in the cookie jar, do you? Meet me tonight at Pier 49, 10:00. Being late, means her life… I’ll find her, I always find them. I always succeed.
With a curse I tossed my phone onto the bed and ran my hands through my hair.
Maya awoke and squinted up at me. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” I lied smoothly. “Just… anxious to lie next to you, to hold you in my arms. Can I do that?”
“Yes…” She yawned, stretched, then opened her arms. “Are you sure it’s okay to take today off?”
“Yes,” I snapped unintentionally. “Bosses orders, he’s an ass after all.”
She reached around and pinched my ass. “Yes, yes he is… better pull the wool over his eyes while we can.”
I kissed her hot mouth. “Yes.” I growled. “While we can.”
I wished moments like that could last forever.
But my wish was in vain.
I couldn’t be reborn, and ask to be part of a different family, ask to be something other than what I was.
I cringed, just thinking about what Jac was doing.
About what she’d been doing.
Maya moaned. “Make love to me again.”
“Okay,” I whispered against her lips. “Okay.” I prayed she’d never find out the other half, why I agreed to Petrov in the first place, why I still allowed myself to be controlled.
It isn’t money that makes the world go round.
It’s knowledge.
And when it came to me?
He had all he needed to know.
Not just half of it.
All of it.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
So near and yet so far. –Russian Proverb
Maya
I ached in all the right places. Did he have the same delicious afterglow I was experiencing? I reached across for his warm body, but my hands met the cool sheets. With a yawn I sat up, blinking against the light floating in from the hall.
He was gone.
I should have left with him, but I’d been so tired when he’d mentioned something about working at the clinic that he’d kissed me on the head and told me to go back to sleep, this time promising to allow me to do it the right way, the natural way, no finger snapping or trigger words. Was that hours ago? Minutes?
My feet touched the cold slate floor just as a throat cleared.
“I sure hope you have clothes on.”
With a scream I jerked back against the headboard, pulling the sheets up around my naked body.
One of the Italians, the scary one, the one with the bird name, peered at me over a ceramic mug, his face a mask of cool indifference.
My eyes darted to the door, already planning my escape, if I needed to escape that is.
He sighed. “If I was going to kill you, you’d already be dead.” He took a long sip out of his mug.
“How reassuring,” I grumbled.
“That’s me,” he said in a low voice. “Reassuring.”
My ass. “Why are you here? Standing in my room?”
“Guard duty.” He looked away. “Nikolai called me in hours ago. I hopped on a private jet, and here I am.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “To protect me while I sleep?”
His lips pressed together in what looked like a hint of a smile. “Sort of.” He ran a hand over his semi buzzed hair. “I’m Phoenix De Lange. You probably don’t remember much about meeting me since it was such a… traumatic”—he seemed to choke over the word—“week, but I’m the boss to the Nicolasi Family and…” His eyes shifted from me to the floor like he was uncomfortable. “You know what, why don’t you get dressed first, I’ll make you coffee, and we can chat…”
“Chat?” I repeated. “Why do we need to chat? Aren’t you just here to guard or whatever?”
He smirked. “Sure, I can do that, and while I’m at it, I’ll be sure to fill you in on who your father is, I mean, unless you don’t want to know?”
“What?” I clenched the sheet harder. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m good,” Phoenix whispered a veiled threat. “At killing. At making it look like an accident. I’m the best at hiding when I need to… but my specialty, at least the specialty that’s been passed on to me is that of secrets… it’s how I make deals, how I trade. It isn’t money that makes this world go around, Maya, it’s information. If you own someone’s past, you own their future.”
I swallowed the nausea building up in my chest. “Are you telling me you know more about my past?”
“I’m telling you, I know everything… and so does Nikolai. Look, my wife wouldn’t appreciate me talking to you while you have nothing but a damn sheet covering you, and I actually like staying alive. Wouldn’t put it past Nikolai to get crazy and shoot me or inject me with whatever the hell new medical invention he has and make me talk like a chicken for the rest of my life, either. Get dressed, then we talk, sis.”
“Sis?” I blurted out.
He nodded slowly. “Coffee’s getting cold.” And walked out.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Falling in love is like a mouse falling into a box, there is no way out. –Russian Proverb
Nikolai
Two black Escalades waited by the Pier, how irritatingly cliché. I kept the engine running and slowly stepped out of the car, my pace unhurried as I slammed the door behind me and leisurely made my way toward the two SUVs. Gravel crunched beneath my shoes with each step.
When I was around four feet away, the door opened, and Petrov stepped out. His stomach protruded beneath a long leather coat, the inside was lined with fur. Amazing that he still needed warmth, one would assume the fat choking his organs would be more than enough to do the trick.
His Sovietnik approached from the other SUV, along with a handful of his muscle or Byki.
I smiled and nodded my head toward the five men, each of them had their hands placed in front of their bodies as if to show me they had no weapons when we all knew they had enough ammo to take out the entire street. “Were they really necessary, Petrov?”
“You tell me.” His cold eyes never left mine.
I didn’t answer and refused to allow my brain to register that I was actually afraid, not for me, but for her, for what he would do to her if he knew the truth.
If I was dead I couldn’t save her.
Then again, if I was dead, Phoenix would know what to do. That had been part of the conversation we’d had right before his plane landed. I wouldn’t be able to welcome him to Seattle, but gave him strict instructions of who would pick him up from the airport and that he was supposed to guard Maya at all costs.
“How much does she know?” he asked in a calm voice that I knew took much control on his end.
“She knows about the girls, remembers me hurting her, but beyond that, I haven’t told her anything. I thought it best not to dump everything on her all at once.”
Phoenix sighed heavily on the other end. “So, she doesn’t know about… .me?”
I cursed. “Those are not my secrets to tell. They are yours and only yours.”
“Damn it.” The sound of something breaking cut into our conversation and then Phoenix began talking again. “I wanted this behind me, it is my past. Talking about it is nearly as bad as re-living it, you know this.”
Yes, I did. Merely talking about a traumatic event was like experiencing it all over again, the human mind was incapable of logically telling the individual that it was just a memory being pulled. “Phoenix, I know. I wouldn’t ask you to do this, if I wasn’t desperate.”
