Chapter 15
Naomi
I dragged the brush through my hair before gathering it into a high ponytail and pulling out a few tendrils to frame my face. I had no idea what one wore to a fake kidnapping, but I figured it really didn’t matter in the end.
I just wanted to stay alive.
The door opened behind me and I smiled as I saw Gavril enter, dressed in one of his sinfully dark suits, the white shirt standing out in sharp contrast to his olive skin. In his arms he carried a bag, which he set down on the bed a moment later.
“What’s that?” I asked, moving around on my vanity stool so that I could face him.
“Your protection,” he answered, reaching in the bag to pull out a Kevlar vest. “I want you to wear this.”
“I’ve never understood why the police put that on but keep their foreheads unprotected,” I said casually as I rose from the stool. “I mean, it’s easier to shoot someone in the head than it is to shoot them in the chest, right?”
Gavril motioned for me to hold up my arms as he slid the vest over my head, the material surprisingly lightweight despite the fact that it was supposed to keep me alive.
“Believe it or not, it’s actually really difficult to shoot someone in the head unless you are at close range.”
“Really?” I asked, watching as he adjusted the Velcro straps around my midsection until the vest was sitting snugly against the black T-shirt I had put on.
He nodded, standing back to look at me with a critical eye. “It’s not like what you see in the movies, Naomi. You aim for the biggest target, which is center mass. Head’s just too small to be reliably hit. Most of the time, bullets are flying with no intended target.”
“Then it is like the movies,” I countered, thinking of all the action movies I had seen in my lifetime.
A smirk crossed Gavril’s handsome face. “I guess so.”
Smoothing my hands down the front of the vest, I tried not to show my nervousness. The more I thought about my plan, the worse I felt about it. It was the only option we had, of course, but the closer it got, the more I wished I hadn’t offered myself up so quickly.
Gavril reached into the bag again and extracted a handful of weapons, tucking them into the vest. “You really don’t expect me to need those, do you?” I asked lightly, my adrenaline ratcheting up by a thousand.
“I do not,” he answered as he tucked a knife into a hidden pocket on the vest to where the silver handle was all that could be seen. “But it never hurts for you to be prepared.” He stepped back again, lowering his hands. “There. I think you are ready.”
“So, I take it that your men agreed with the plan?”
“They did,” Gavril said, watching me tug on the vest. “We are preparing for a full assault.”
I swallowed. I wasn’t sure what exactly a full assault meant, but it didn’t sound good at all.
What had I gotten myself into?
My worries must have shown on my face, for Gavril closed the distance between us and placed his hands on my shoulders, drawing me to him. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said against my temple. “I hope you know that, Naomi.”
I breathed in his scent, hoping that it would somewhat calm the frazzled nerves inside. I did believe that, but what if it was out of his control?
What if he couldn’t get to me fast enough?
“You need to stick to the plan,” he continued, his hand sliding down my back. “And not do anything heroic. I need to concentrate on killing these fuckers, but I can’t if I’m having to worry about you.”
Right. The plan. We did have a plan. I was going to lure them in with a phone call, and he and his men were going to take them out.
Easy as that.
I just hoped that it could be that easy. “I won’t,” I promised him. After all, I had more than one person to think about in this plan. This innocent child inside me wasn’t asking for any of this. I couldn’t put it in harm’s way, even if that meant not stopping a bullet and saving Gavril.
I couldn’t be selfish in my thinking.
“We are going to move the fight away from the mansion,” Gavril said a moment later. “I don’t want them at my front door. I want to put it on a neutral field.”