The woods were overgrown, and the recent storm had laid plenty of obstacles in the way of seeing who the fuck was shooting. I forced myself to turn from the sight of Sofia running from me. The hunter in me that had only ever hungered after one prey longed to chase her. It counted the steps she took, carrying her further and further from me. She’s getting away, the monster inside snarled, but I couldn’t afford to listen right now.
Someone was trying to put a bullet in my back. I waited. Only the sound of Sofia’s retreating footfalls and my muted breathing broke the silence.
I was patient, as all proficient hunters were. I could wait endless amounts of time to track down and capture my prey. I had learned to wait, dedicated to revenge since that day in the bathroom with my mother.
A crack sounded, a careless foot on a dry twig, and I was up, my gun already firing before I could properly make out my target.
The sound of the shots echoed through the woods. A cry of pain reverberated, and I advanced, keeping low in case it was a trick. When I drew level with the shooter, a man in a black suit lay there. Another faceless security lackey who had failed at his job.
I ended him remorselessly, without Sofia there to plead silently with her huge, dark eyes.
I took off again in the direction I’d seen her fleeing. She couldn’t have gone that far, trussed up as she was.
My wrists stung where I’d cut the zip ties free, and my shoulder ached from popping it in and out of the socket. Worse, the beating I’d taken putting Viktor into his long-awaited hole last night was wearing on me. Regardless, the thought of Sofia, my little lastochka, hiding in the woods lit my blood on fire. I charged after her, tucking the gun into my waistband.
I’d never felt more alive.
I slowed my run when I came to the end of the trail. Coming to a stop, I calmed my ragged breath and listened. I traced the route, looking for signs of her. As a kid, I’d been good at tracking wildlife around my woodland home. The skills came in useful now as I spied the signs of someone veering off the trail. Bent stalks, and the odd imprint in the mud hidden beneath the low bushes, revealed Sofia’s route. I followed, my ears pricked for the slightest sound of her.
After a few minutes, I caught it.
The sound of water rushing.
A river.
I emerged from the undergrowth just as she reached the middle of the water. It wasn’t a wide river, and it didn’t seem too deep, only coming up to Sofia’s chest in the middle. She twisted around when my feet splashed in the edge.
“Come back here before you slip and drown,” I called to her.
Her eyes were wide. She was terrified, and I was the reason. That made sense. She was smart, and my reputation more than spoke for itself.
“Maybe I’d rather drown than whatever you have in mind for me,” she responded.
I waded farther into the water.
“That hurts my feelings, prom queen. I was so looking forward to spending some quality time together.” Grim amusement filled my voice as I gritted my teeth against the shock of freezing water.
“You don’t have feelings, Nikolai,” Sofia accused, watching me warily. “Why are you still chasing me? You’re free, aren’t you? You should get out of here before my father’s men hunt you down.”
“You’re my insurance, remember? I don’t plan on leaving New York, and I’ll need something to make sure your father doesn’t lose his head. Kirill, too, for that matter.”
I needed to get away from De Sanctis and back to the city. Kirill thought he had me in check, but with Sofia as collateral, his cunning deal with the Italians was shot. If he wanted to play dirty, I was more than happy to oblige.
“I’m not your insurance. I’m the anchor that’ll drag you down. Follow the river, and you’ll come to a road. Get away now, before more men come.”
I blew out a harsh sigh. “Lastochka, this isn’t how our story ends,” I drawled, taking another step forward. Fuck, it was cold. “It ends when I decide it ends.” I splashed through the water, uncaring of how it soaked through my boots and up my jeans.
“Let me go, goddamn it!” Something in Sofia seemed to snap. She was red-cheeked, and her eyes blazed murder. It was an enthralling sight. “I’m so sick of men telling me where to go and what to do and taking away my choices.” Her harsh words were at odds with the glitter of tears in her dark eyes.
My little prom queen was having a moment. I enjoyed the sight of her filled with churning emotion. It was far better than the cool, aloof mask she’d worn the last few times I’d seen her.
“That sounds like a problem. And the answer is no. If you’re appealing to my better nature, don’t waste your time. I don’t have one.”
She gave a small scream of frustration and then changed tack. “If you keep me with you, you’ll get caught. You think my father hasn’t planned for this very situation?”
Her meaning dawned on me. “It didn’t even occur to me he’d have chipped you. Thanks for the heads-up. I’m doubting you want to be rescued at all.”
Fuck, I was tired and off my game.
My place in the world had slipped overnight, my future had become murky, and I was making mistakes. It was common practice in the bratva to insert a tiny microchip under the skin, so if an important person was taken and held, they could be found. My brother had used it on his now-wife long before she’d had any idea such a thing was possible. But Sofia wasn’t ignorant of the ways of the dark criminal underworld she lived in. She’d have known she was being chipped and agreed to it, or at least not cut it out herself. I had to get rid of it.
Sofia’s beautiful face contorted. If looks could kill, I’d be long gone, but then her eyes widened before she could unleash her wrath on me. She swayed, and I realized her feet were struggling for purchase on the rocks. Her face turned from anger to fear, and she went under.
I dove below the water, lunging across the distance between us and reaching for her kicking legs. I grabbed her foot as she kicked wildly, just beyond my reach. One of her heels connected with my face, hitting me hard in the chin but giving me the chance to grasp her more firmly. I pulled her toward me by her leg and headed for the surface.
She struggled against me the entire way, like the live wire she was. Breaking the surface, I yanked her face up. She coughed and struggled, hacking up a lungful of water. I got my feet under me and dragged her toward the river’s edge.
“That was dumb,” I muttered angrily as I lifted her into my arms, the water tugging at both of us. “Don’t you care at all what happens to you?”
I looked down at her face, so close I could see the droplets caught in her dark eyelashes. She blinked at me, arching her back to take the pressure off her wrists behind her.
“That’s why I had to try to get away,” she whispered.
I lowered her to the ground by the river’s edge. “Well, it’s a shame you’re so bad at it. You’re proving to be the most annoying fucking insurance. I should’ve brought good ol’ Gino. Where’s the tracker?”
I pulled my stolen blade from my boot, and her gaze fixed on it.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her expression was mulish, her attention on the knife.
I twirled it between my fingers. A little circus trick, and she looked away.
“So, you want me to search for it, then?” I asked. “I’ll tell you the truth. I’ve been looking for an excuse to touch you. Thank you for giving me one.” I carefully placed the knife between my teeth and closed the distance between us.
“You’re a pig,” she muttered, turning her face away from me.
Her dismissal pricked at me, pissing me off. When I touched her leg, she tried to move away. I shifted my knee across her thighs, pushing her to her front. She went still. I couldn’t resist sliding my hand up the back of her thighs. She froze, and her fingers curled into the muddy ground.
My hand headed under her black wrap skirt, clasping my knife tightly. The sound of the blade pulling at the material of her pantyhose was as loud as a siren. “We need to get something straight, prom queen.”
For the first time since I’d touched her in the garage, I felt her listen. I let the blade trace a line against her panties, pricking the fabric. Then I replaced it with my palm, settling it threateningly on the mound of her cheek. Fuck, I wanted to cut her pantyhose off and feel the skin of her ass against my palm. I bet it was smooth as cream, and would turn rose pink if I smacked it.
Sofia was completely still. The smells of the river rose around us. There was a tense note in the air. A feeling rising between us I didn’t know how to describe.
I squeezed her ass cheek in my palm. “I know you’re strong. I know you’re loyal to your family. I know you’re a good, good girl. But being difficult right now is dangerous, and I know you’re smarter than that.”
She jerked as my hand left her ass and worked down her thigh. The way she was lying under me right now put her in the perfect position to rip her pantyhose and sink inside her. I could be nine inches deep before she could even scream. I could press her face into the ground, gag her again, and fill her up with all the cum her little pussy could take before sending her back to her father, naked and dripping. A fitting punishment for Antonio De Sanctis’ audacity in taking me.
Instead, I began my search. I checked her hands first, sliding my fingers along the backs and then around her wrists. The skin was smooth and unblemished.
My brother had hidden his microchip in his obsession’s hand, right there on the back, and poor Mallory hadn’t noticed, but then, she wasn’t of our world. Sofia clearly knew about it, and she might have complained if it was somewhere so unsightly.
“You’re not making this easy for yourself, Sofia,” I muttered, dropping my hands down her legs and squeezing as I went. You couldn’t put a chip just anywhere; some places were better than others.
“You mean I’m not making this easy for you,” she pointed out. Her face turned against the ground, her dark eyes on me.
I smiled humorlessly. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m enjoying every second.”
“Fuck you.”
I returned a hand to her ass. It was a magnet drawing me to her. Fuck, she had a perfect body. Her round butt was wriggling in the air, and I couldn’t help but smack it.
“Language.” I tutted, just to piss her off and moved my hand to the other side.
Her black gaze watched me, promising murder. My hand came down hard on the other cheek, tinting her skin pink, visible even through her pantyhose.
“The tracker?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Wrong answer.” I punctuated my words with smacks. “Your skin looks pretty marked red with my handprint.”
“Burn in Hell.” She was panting like she’d been running, more than when she’d been fleeing from me. Interesting.
“Oh, I plan to, but not yet. Maybe I’ll take you with me.” I leaned forward to say the last in her ear. “Where’s the tracker? Don’t pretend you don’t know unless you like me touching your ass.”
I let my hand rest on the globe of her behind. Her cunt was so fucking close, just a few inches, and I could wiggle my fingers inside her. I moved my fingertips up and down the panty-covered cleft.
She jerked as if I’d pinched her. There was that nostril flare again, the dark loathing in her eyes, and that tiny, nearly invisible spark that had always been there when she looked at me. There was something in her eyes that hadn’t been there before I’d smacked her ass. Curiosity.
I felt myself growing hard, despite the wet denim pressing into my crotch. Now wasn’t the time for this.
“Dream on, Nikolai,” she said finally, irritation making her lovely jaw tight.
I finished feeling around her ankles, finding nothing. “I don’t dream. I plan.”
Forcing myself to ignore her intriguing reaction to being helpless and spanked, I moved across her, putting my knees on either side of her body. I pulled her wet hair to the side and felt around her shoulders and neck. She was stiff, and her shoulders clamped up to her hairline when I felt around the right side. Jackpot.
I leaned in and tutted in her ear. “You shouldn’t make things so fucking obvious. You’d make a terrible spy, or maybe you’re just desperate to stay with me,” I said, my satisfied tone curling around my words as I slid my finger over a tiny hard spot behind her right ear. “So, this is where the owner’s stamp goes. Good to know.”
“You’re still as delusional as you were when I met you,” she accused.
I laughed at that. “You’re only saying that because we’ve not spent much time together lately. I’m much, much worse,” I promised her. “Hold on. This is going to hurt.” I brought the knife to her skin. “One… two—” I made the shallow incision on two before she worked up more fear.
She swore viciously as I flicked out the tracker and smoothed the tiny flap of skin over it.
“You made that so much harder than it needed to be,” I pointed out, resting my hand on her ass. I couldn’t stop touching it. I wanted to devour this woman and always had, but time wasn’t on my side. We had to move.
“Fuck you,” she murmured like it was a mantra to ward off evil.
It had no juice against me, however.
“Maybe later, lastochka, if we have time. Don’t worry, though. I won’t tell Daddy dearest you like being tied up and spanked.”
“I hate you,” she sniped at me.
“Then it sucks to be you because you’re stuck with me. Get up. We’re leaving.”
I lost track of how far we traveled that day. The woods weren’t particularly dense outside Trenton. The De Sanctis compound lay in a dead area, with nothing more than small towns dotted around it. Trenton, to the west, was the biggest civilian area. Despite that, we stayed hidden inside its dense greenery and far from civilization. I’d always been more at home in the forest than in the city.
Night fell as I tugged Sofia through the woods after me. Her hands were tied in front of her now, and I’d placed another gag of soft cotton pulled from the bottom of my t-shirt to prevent her from screaming if she thought she heard other people walking in the woods.
For the last hour, she’d been quiet.
When it got too dark to move on, I led her down into a shadowed underpass. The road above was larger than anything else we’d come close to so far. Sofia perked up when she saw cars passing far above us. Then she caught my smirk and scowled.
“They say hope dies last,” I mocked, tugging her down the small hill into the dip. It stank like gutter water and piss. “Here, we’ll sleep here. I’m sure it’s not quite up to your standards, but it’ll do to get us out of the wind.”
I pulled at the sides of her gag. “Scream or complain, and it goes back on,” I told her sternly before tugging it down.
“You’re a fucking lunatic,” she spit at me, immediately ignoring my warning in her anger.
I tutted and brought my thumb to her mouth, sliding it over her puffy lips and bringing the blood back. “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.” I brought the gag back toward her.
“No, stop, don’t put it on. I won’t speak,” she pleaded. Maybe the thought of sitting all night with her mouth stuffed with dry cotton was too much to bear.
I raised my eyebrow at her. “Is that right? You’ll behave?”
She nodded.
I tugged on the length of rope leashing her to me. “Say it and make me believe it.”
“I’ll behave,” she said through bared teeth.
“You’ll be a good girl for me.” I waited expectantly.
“You’ll be a good girl for me,” she parroted, word for word.
I chuckled. “Try again, and make it good, because I’m not seeing a reason this shouldn’t go right back in your smart little mouth.”
“I’ll be a good girl for you,” she murmured.
“Say my name. Tell me you’ll be a good girl for me, and say my name. I like how it sounds in your mouth,” I prompted. Now I was just fucking with her and enjoying every minute.
Blowing out a breath, she met my eyes. “I’ll be a good girl for you, Nikolai. Please let me.”
Desire drop-kicked me in the cock.
“Very nice, lastochka. Beautiful.” I brought a hand to her hanging hair and tucked a lock behind her ear. The moonlight glinted off something glass in the distance, tucked between the trees, a good fifty meters from the road.
A small shack. I’d always had the luck of the devil.
“Come on, prom queen. Let’s see if we can find you somewhere a little more private to sleep.”
I rapped on the door, and we waited. Down on the road, a few cars passed, too far away to see me and my captive standing halfway up the rise to the right of the road. I took my knife in hand and jimmied the lock after another minute of silence.
Sofia was staring at the road below longingly. When the door opened, she frowned at me. “It was open?”
“Of course not.” I stepped into the cabin and searched for a light. “I have the magic touch. Don’t worry, I’ll show you later.”
Sofia let out an adorable huff that she probably thought I couldn’t hear. I tugged her into the room. It seemed like a ranger station or hunting cabin. It was filthy, neglected, and smelled like death. But it beat the underpass. It had a small camping stove, a one-person table, and a sagging single bed in the corner. There was a grate for a fire and a boarded-up window at the back.
I looked around, taking stock, and nodded. “It’ll do. Don’t tell me I never take you anywhere nice.”
The entire place was neglected, from the cobwebs in the corner to the thick layer of dust on the table. “Why don’t you dust this place off a little?”
“I’m not your maid,” Sofia snapped.
“Okay, Your Highness, why don’t you sit, then?” Not giving her a choice, I lowered her to the single chair at the table, tying the rope to the table leg.
“I’m not a dog either,” she muttered.
I went to the cupboards over the tiny makeshift kitchen and opened them, checking inside. “I’m aware, believe me. I’m well aware of what you are,” I announced, leaning a hip against the counter.
“Which is?”
“A pain in my ass. Is nature calling?”
She stared bloody murder at me.
Chuckling at her reaction, I made my way to the fire. The grate was clean, and there was a stack of dry firewood, old newspapers, and even a box of matches beside it. The thought of a blazing warm fire after the impromptu river swim earlier sounded too delicious to ignore. I got to work setting the fire. Sofia watched me from the table.
“Are you hungry?”
“Do you care?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
“I’m fine. There won’t be anything to eat here anyway.”
“Actually, there are unexpired tins of beans in the cupboard and some sardines.”
I thought my little captive would wrinkle her nose at the simple fare, but she merely shrugged.
“Fine.”
After getting the fire going, I took her closer, sitting her in the single comfortable chair in front of the blaze and tying her leash to the heavy wooden table beside it.
Then I headed to the kitchen. There was something comforting about the humble cabin, with the cheery fire burning and the plain meal I was preparing. I wasn’t a man used to luxury. I’d always been taught that it made you weak. But tonight, tired as fuck, with the woman I’d never been able to forget beside me, I felt content for the first time in a long time. It helped that I kept replaying the image of my father dying over and over in my head. I wished I’d filmed it somehow.
“Here,” I grunted, handing Sofia her plate.
Her hands were bound in her lap, and she had no trouble picking up the spoon and digging into the beans. They were cold and pretty unappetizing, but she ate without complaint.
I lowered myself to the floor next to the fire, angled so I could see her. I didn’t trust her with the spoon enough to turn my attention from her. Besides, I wanted to look at her. Painted in the light from the fire, she stole my breath away. There had never been a woman as beautiful as Sofia De Sanctis. She was the kind of woman men drew portraits of and went to war for.
“My nonna used to love sardines,” Sofia said suddenly, jolting me from my inspection.
“She did?”
Sofia nodded. “She grew up in a tiny town on the Amalfi coast. She was poor as dirt, but the community would share food, and the day the boats came in was often a feast. She was the happiest person I ever met.”
I couldn’t rip my eyes from the way Sofia ate the fish. She was delicate but hearty. I enjoyed the sight of it.
She looked at my plate, where there were only beans. “You don’t like them?”
“They’re popular fare in Russian prisons. Even the smell turns my stomach.”
She stilled. “You’ve been to prison?”
I nodded. “Like you’ve been to Macy’s, I’ll bet. Where did you think I was for the last five years? Or maybe you didn’t think of me at all.”
Confusion wrinkled her brow, and then it eased as understanding dawned. “I just thought you’d forgotten about me,” she said finally, ducking her face so I couldn’t see her expression.
“You’re not that lucky, prom queen. I’ll never forget you. You’ll always be the woman who gave me this.” I traced my finger down the thin scar that ran across my face, the one people shied away from looking directly at.
She swallowed as her gaze darted to my face and away. Had she relived that night as often as I had? By the blush on her cheeks, I suspected she had.
“Well, a girl can dream,” she muttered.
“Sure, she can. But that doesn’t change the facts.” I finished my plate of congealed beans and put it down, the warmth from the fire making me drowsy. I rested my head against the wall.
“Which are?” Sofia’s voice felt like it was coming from far away.
“You’re still my prize, and you always will be.”
