“Cara!” Noah leans forward and catches my hands to try and stop my struggles, but his touch only angers me further. I pull away from him as hard as I can, twisting right, then left, until my struggles slide my ass from the seat of the chair, and I find myself fighting awkwardly to keep myself upright. Noah drops his hands to my waist and picks me up enough to slide me back into the seat and I snarl at him.
“You’re supposed to beprotectingme,” I snap, and the anger brings a sting of hot tears behind my eyes. “You’re supposed to help me, keep me safe!”
My struggles have exhausted me, and I slump slightly in the chair as the throbbing in my skull pounds as hard as my heart in my chest. I’m panting and sweating as beads of perspiration pop up along my forehead. This is… this isfuckedup. I had fought against Killian every time he mentioned stationing his own guards with me, and I insisted on using my own men, as if they were more trustworthy. Now I’m at the mercy of them. I’ll never live this down.
Noah is speaking to me, the buzz of his voice drifting in between the throbs of pain in my head, but I don’t hear him. My thoughts lock onto Killian, and I wonder if he is dead. He hadn’t left that long before the attack; had he been taken by surprise? Was he one of the dead bodies in the hallway? Such a thought brings a spike of something else lancing through me, and it steals all the air from my lungs.Killian… dead?No, such a thing couldn’t be possible, could it? He was stronger than that, surely. If he had been there, none of this would have happened.
If he hadn’t left me, this wouldn’t have happened!
If I hadn’t pushed him away, counters another thought. Noah’s thumb and finger grip my chin, pulling my head up to look me in the eyes. He’s finally realized I’m not listening to him.
“Cara,” he repeats, “I’m sorry it had to happen like this, but… desperate times. You’ll be okay. Just do what they say and keep quiet, and it’ll be okay. They don’t want to kill you. You’re too valuable right now.”
“Oh great,” I spit angrily, “I’m so happy I still have somebargainingworth.”
With Killian on my mind, the fear is starting to return. Thoughts of him shouldn’t calm the anger in me right now, but my body still carries the distant ache of his fingers inside me before he left. Now that every part of me seems to be awake and aware of my situation, it’s one I can’t ignore. So fear starts to seep back in, and I fight to cling to the anger like armor. It gives me strength.
“It’s not like that,” Noah says, and I jerk my chin away. He looks ready to say more, but the door behind him opens, and a large brick of a man walks in. It’s difficult not to be intimidated by the size of this man as he stalks in.
“Ahhh,” the man grins, and his accent is thickly Russian. His eyes are small and beady, set beside a large hooked nose that dwarfs the rest of his face. It looks like it’s been broken too many times. “We’ve been vaiting for you to vake. Such a sweet ven you sleep.”
My skin crawls at the thought of him watching me sleep. “Creepy bastard,” I spit, but he merely laughs and shoves one large hand into his jacket pocket, pulling out a phone.
“You know who I am?” he asks as he fiddles with the device in his hand. Noah has taken several steps behind me, and I shoot him a cold glare as he moves.Coward.
“No,” I state, and I hate the way my voice wavers. My heart is beating so hard in my chest that the shock waves seem to be affecting my speech. “But all you Russian bastards look the same.”
“My name is Grigoriy Lenkov,” he states, and he steps toward me. His free hand winds into my hair, gripping my locks and jerking my head backward. The movement sends pain lancing through my skull and skittering down my neck so suddenly that I can’t fight the gasp that escapes my lips. “I tell you zis,” he mutters as his large face dips close to mine. I can smell alcohol on his breath, and nausea flips hot through my stomach. “Because ven I have viped out your family, and ze rest of ze Italians, you vill ask for me bynameto save you from ze Pakhan.”
His grip on my hair stops me from moving further away from him, and my heart leaps into my chest when his beady little eyes rake down my form. I want to yell and snap at him that I will never say his name, that if the Irish and the Italians fall, I will take death over anything he could offer me, but the words don’t form. I can barely think with him so close, and fear locks around my throat like a vice. I want to lash out, but even if I wasn’t bound, I know it would do no good. This man could snap me like a toothpick, and it terrifies me. I didn’t realize I had stopped breathing until he finally releases me, and I suck in a desperate gasp of air. Noah is still in the corner, and that helps me grasp back onto the anger that was smothered by the fear.
“In your dreams,” I spit, my voice shaking.
My cheeks flush hot with anger as I pant to try and regulate my breathing. Grigoriy laughs. He steps back and lifts the phone, snapping a few pictures. I glare at the camera, but he gets what he needs and turns away, no longer caring to taunt me. His head lifts to Noah, and they exchange a look, one that keeps Noah in the corner until Grigoriy leaves. As the door swings open, I catch the sound of a woman laughing and a man moaning obscenely. What the hell is this place?
With Grigoriy gone, the air in the room seems breathable again, and I suck in a deeper breath, shaking my head faintly to try and ease the throbbing from his grip. What did he meanthe rest of the Italians? Was he referring to those already killed in the numerous bombings, those killed at Columbia, or was he referring to something else? Killian maybe. The thought twists through me, uncertain if a man like Grigoriy is even smart enough to make veiled threats, but the idea of Killian being dead scaresme. I tell myself I despise him, but he’s nestled into a part of me, carved his way under my ribs like he belongs there, and I can’t get him out.
I’m not even sure Iwantto. The room around me sways, and I swallow thickly, my head pounding and my throat so dry it scrapes with each breath. Tears burn hot behind my eyes again, and I slump, exhausted by the hopelessness of this place. So much has happened this past week, and I just want to curl up somewhere and rest. The dizziness amplifies the nausea, and a moment later, I’m hunching over to the left, spewing up a mouthful of bile onto the stone floor. It burns up my throat, and I cough, gagging slightly before sucking in a wet breath as Noah appears next to me looking faintly disgusted amidst his concern.
“What?” I mumbled, “you think you can smack someone over the head, tie them up and leave them to a man like Grigoriy without consequences?” I gather what little saliva is left in my mouth and spit it out to the side with a groan. “Have fun cleaning that up.”
It’s not embarrassing if I turn it into a small act of defiance, right?
3
KILLIAN
I can’t work out if the trembling in my hands is from anger, or a desire to drink. My mouth is like cotton, and my mind bounces between Cara and alcohol like a pendulum I have no control over. The drive to the hospital takes longer than I would like, even with Tony throwing caution to the wind and ignoring all the rules of safe road navigation. Cara is gone.Stolenfrom me by men that she should have been able to trust. Men from her own family. Irish men. So Callahan is my target. I don’t care that he’s still in hospital after the bombing that threatened his life, he’s my only clue for answers right now, and I’ll beat them out of him if I have to. I can’t help buthopethose two missing guards are still alive so I can put a bullet in them myself. Crossing me is the last mistake they’ll ever make in this life.
By the time we reach the hospital, my anger has risen to impossible heights. We passed four liquor stores on our way here, and every time we passed one, I had to wrestle down the urge to tell Tony to stop so I could run in and grab something. I don’t even care what at this point, justsomethingto ease the constant ache that now persists at the back of my skull.
We take the elevator up to Callahan’s floor, and I stride down the corridor, counting the rooms until we locate his room. As we get closer, I can see a guard stationed outside who tenses up the moment we lock eyes. He has to know why I’m here. The news of Cara’s kidnapping had to have reached Irish ears by now. The guard positions himself in front of the door and squares his shoulders, jaw set as if that’s any threat to me. Tony brings up my rear as I come to a stop in front of him.
“Get out of my way,” I growl, my own chest heaving as I fight to contain the fury locked inside. My hands curl into fists so tight I can feel the ache all the way up my forearms as the guard stares me down.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he says, “Captain Ryan isn’t accepting visitors right now.”
My hand darts out fast like a snake striking its prey, wrapping my fist around his narrow throat. I use the momentum to slam him up against the door, squeezing tight as his eyes bulge and his hands flail. One hand scrabbles up to grab at my wrist and fist, trying to ease the restricting pressure as I squeeze his throat while his other hand goes for his gun. I’m one step ahead, already grabbing the weapon from its holster beneath his jacket and pressing the barrel into his abdomen.