That steel band of an arm Sevastyan had wrapped around her tightened as if agreeing, and she could tell he feared letting her go, but he did.
“Not helping!” She pushed a clump of plaster from her hair and contemplated throwing the debris at the big lug.
She flicked Sevastyan’s question away.
Off came his tuxedo jacket.
“I’m not a china doll to be placed in a glass case like those women. I can wield a gun just as good as any of you.” She eyed Lucian. “Well, except for him. I’m pretty sure he could drop anyone blindfolded and his best hand tied behind his back. But that’s not the point here. You don’t trust me.”
“Umm, thanks, sweetheart,” Lucian kissed her on the temple, earning him a death glare from Sevastyan.
“Trust has nothing to do with this. You die, we die. Simple as that.”
Off came the bowtie.
“No time to argue”
Matteo joined the party. “The longer we stand here the more the risk those women are at. And I won’t lose Dimitris to let him slink back into the crack of hell he came from, cariña.”
She couldn’t argue that. But she didn’t have to follow orders either.
Rage drove his words. Muscles rippled. Wearing the glow from the fires eating up the wooden support beams now Sevastyan looked every bit the mafia king he was.
“Don’t disobey me on this.” And with that Sevastyan stared into her eyes. Fear trickled into her bloodstream because the darkness she feared he held inside him stared back at her intent on killing.
“I have to do this,” she stated firmly. “I hope you can see that.”
He pushed her into Roman and Lucian. She got the message loud and clear: leave while she could.
With a huffed growl, Sevastyan was gone with Matteo right behind him. Rhia stared at Sevastyan’s retreating form only long enough to make sure he wasn’t coming back to personally see to it she obeyed his orders.
She bent and retrieved a gun from Dimitris’ fallen soldier.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lucian tried for the gun, but she dodged him, slipped the Glock into her palm with a motion that had become a little too comfortable over the last few days, and dared him to try taking it again with a pointed glare.
His eyes were wide, and she could tell he intended to do exactly what Sevastyan had commanded. She almost pitied the man.
“Don’t fuck around with our orders, Rhia. That’s what gets people killed. I will pull a Superman on you and toss you over my shoulder. Don’t test me. I don’t want to go there, but I will.”
Maddox joined them and he grunted with a mumbled, “Good luck with that.”
“You do that and you’ll get a bullet in the ass for your attempt at chivalry, Lucian. Blood oath or not.”
She held the gun close to her chest and fell between Lucian and Roman as they advanced in the opposite direction Sevastyan took off in.
He mumbled something and hissed over his shoulder. His nose flared with frustration. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
“You can follow and make sure I don’t die or stay behind and tell Sevastyan you tried like a good boy. Either way, I’m going to find those girls and right my father’s wrong.”