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  He clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. The wheels of his Yukon spun through the damp dirt track as it narrowed. Tree branches scraped the side of his vehicle and made a horrible sound as they traveled further in.

  “Stop, stop!” Yuri yelled.

  Vlad hit the brakes. The wheels locked up and they twisted sideways. Behind them he heard Giovanni’s truck doing the same. When they all came to a halt, doors were shoved open and men spilled out of the vehicle. Vlad jumped to the ground and pulled his sidearm from underneath his jacket.

  Then he realized there was absolutely nothing here. Vlad turned to Yuri and pointed. “What the hell?” he asked in Russian. “Where are they?”

  “It’s here,” Yuri argued back, also in Russian. “I told you it was going to be sketchy since we lost the signal, but they’re close.”

  Giovanni strode up, his face a thundercloud. “English, please. I want to know we’re not walking into some bullshit Sokolov trap.”

  “If that’s how you feel, we’re going to fuck around and both the boys and Mary are going to be killed.”

  “Who is this Mary?” Giovanni wanted to know.

  “She’s Ioann’s teacher.”

  Giovanni scratched his chin, looking suspicious. “Why would he take her?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Is this that woman you’ve been sleeping with?” Giovanni’s tone was flippant.

  Vlad should have expected that the Orsinis knew everything, but it was still a jolt. “Yes, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “If you believe that, you’re a fool.” Giovanni motioned to his men. “What are we looking for here? A shack in the woods?”

  Yuri was still peering at his stupid iPad, though Vlad couldn’t imagine why. Then he pointed north. “This way. Maybe two or three hundred yards.”

  Giovanni grunted. “We’re at a major disadvantage here, Sokolov.”

  “I know.” Vlad had already realized this. “He’ll see us coming long before we see him.”

  “So what do we do?” Giovanni wanted to know.

  Vlad motioned to Aloysha. The broad shouldered man reached into the Yukon and extracted a high powered rifle with a high tech scope. “We shoot him before he has a chance to kill them.”

  Giovanni held up a hand and gave a guttural command in Italian. His guys scrambled to spread out as they started through the woods. Vlad set off in the direction Yuri had pointed. The going was rough at best, but he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Mary and Ioann’s safety.

  His brain played back Giovanni’s dark comment about the purpose of Mary’s abduction. If he had to make a choice, what would it be? His heart clenched tight at the thought. Was this where he had to admit to himself that he had fallen for the fiery schoolteacher? If so, fate was a mean spirited bitch.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mary sawed away at the zip ties binding her hands using the old iron bedstead in the corner of the dim room. Her hands grew sticky with blood, but she didn’t care. She could worry about tetanus later. For now the only thing that mattered was getting loose.

  “Miss Reilly?” Ioann whispered. “What are you doing?”

  “When I tell you, I want you and Jonathan to both start screaming. Okay?” Mary felt the plastic give, finally snapping in two. “I’m going to hit that bastard over the head and we’re all going to run.”

  “Our hands are tied,” Jonathan pointed out.

  Mary snorted. “Does that mean you can’t use your feet?”

  “Well no,” Jonathan admitted.

  “Then do what I say.” Mary searched about, feeling her way around the room and looking for something she could use as a weapon.

  “She’s using her serious voice,” Ioann advised. “Better do what she says.”

  Mary almost laughed in spite of the tense situation. Her fingers brushed a big hunk of wood, probably a piece of an old chair or something. She hefted it in her hand. If she were careful, she could probably knock someone out with it, even if that someone was much larger than she was.

  “Okay, boys.” She took a deep breath. “Get ready to scream. Then I want you ready to run. All right? As soon as that guy is down I want the two of you heading for the front door. You get out and run. Understand? No waiting for me, no matter what happens.”

  “Okay.” There was a decided quaver in Ioann’s voice.

  “One. Two. Three!”

  The boys let loose with howls loud enough to wake the dead. Mary wanted to cover her ears, but she would have had to let go of her weapon. Outside the room, she heard a crash and then the door swung wide open.

  “What the hell?” The Man in Black snarled.

  Mary swung her makeshift club as hard as she could at his head. The bright light spilling in from the hallway momentarily dazzled her vision, but she felt her weapon connect with something hard that gave way with a crunch.

  “Run!” Mary shouted to the boys. “Move your butts and don’t stop!”

  There was a scramble of little feet and then the Man in Black was trying to turn around. Mary swung her club again. Bone crunched as she managed to get his shoulder. He grunted in pain and went down on one knee. Mary bashed him again, managing to dodge his hands as he reached for her. Her last shot went wild and she lost her grip on her weapon as it glanced off the back of his head before clattering to the rotten floor.

  “You bitch!” he yelled, managing to grab one of her ankles when she tried to bolt.

  Mary twisted her leg, fighting against his hold as she struggled toward the exit. She heard the boys slam the front door behind them and felt a shot of relief. Then the Man in Black yanked her legs out from underneath her body.

  She went down like a stone. Hitting the ground, she felt her knee actually go into the pulpy wood of the floor. She was stuck. Frantically trying to get free, her skin began to crawl when she heard her captor’s cruel laugh.

  “Thought you were going to spoil my game, did you?” he asked.

  Mary wondered what he was playing at. “What game? Why are you doing this?”

  “These mafia bastards need to pay. Do you know what they do? Do you?” There was an almost psychotic note in his voice now.

  “Okay, obviously you’ve been wronged,” Mary said in her most reasonable tone. “But that doesn’t make it right for you to abduct children. It isn’t their fault.”

  “It is!” he shouted. “They’re the next generation. I want this to end now and this is the way to do it.”

  Mary thought about Sokolov’s treatment of his sons and of the way these boys were forced to grow up long before they were ready. It wasn’t fair to anyone, but the boys shouldn’t suffer for something their fathers had done.

  “Look, I get it,” Mary told him. “But this isn’t the way to fix things.”

  “Stupid mafia whore,” he muttered.

  Mary yelped in pain as he grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her out of the house. She struggled, but he was far too big for her to overpower. He pulled her out of the room, down the hall, and out the front door of the ramshackle cottage.

  “Hey!” he shouted into the empty forest. “You stupid twits. I have your teacher. If you don’t show yourselves she’s going to die right here.”

  Mary sucked in a deep breath. She couldn’t let the boys come back for her. Not after everything she’d done to get them loose. “No!” she screamed. “Don’t do it, Ioann.”

  “Shut up!” The Man in Black smacked her hard across the face.

  Stars burst behind Mary’s eyelids and she felt herself fading from consciousness. She fought to stay awake. This was not the time to crumble. Not when she was so close to saving the boys. She struggled against his hold until her scalp felt as though her hair was coming out at the roots. The pain helped to center her in the moment.

  “Let me go!” She shoved at his solid midsection.

  He laughed at her efforts, pulling a gun from his waistband and pressing the muzzle to the center of her forehead. Ma
ry froze. This was not looking good at all.

  VLAD’S heart nearly stopped when he saw that bastard put a gun to Mary’s head. Behind him Giovanni had scooped Jonathan into his arms. Vlad had Ioann anchored to his side. Vlad was still uncertain how the boys had come to be running out of the house.

  No sooner than Vlad, Giovanni, and their men arrived at the house, they had seen two little boys sprinting for the trees as though their asses were on fire. It had been a fairly simple task to pick them up. For a moment he had almost thought the Man in Black was a myth.

  “What are you waiting for?” Giovanni asked, already motioning his men to leave. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving Mary,” Vlad announced.

  His men stared at him as though he’d grown a second head. Yuri pointed to the house. “We don’t know how many men he has with him. We could be walking into a trap.”

  A hundred yards away, the Man in Black was getting impatient. “Boys! I’m not kidding. The lady’s going to die and it’s going to be all your fault.”

  Beside Vlad, Ioann whimpered. “You can’t let her die. She helped us get away.”

  “I know.” Vlad snapped his fingers at Yuri. “Take Ioann back to the car. If I’m not back there in fifteen minutes, go without me.”

  “Boss?” Yuri looked flabbergasted.

  “Do it!”

  Vlad waited until the men had taken the boys and were slinking back through the forest the way they had come in. Then he turned and took a deep breath. Sure. He could have walked away. His brother was safe. So was the Orsini kid. But the woman who had made that happen was in danger and she was the one Vlad had discovered he was willing to die for.

  “Hey!” Vlad held his hands up to show he was unarmed, though his weapon was burning against the small of his back. “Let her go,” Vlad told the Man in Black. “She’s not the one you want.”

  “Ah. So the eldest son finally shows himself.”

  Recognition hit Vlad like a foot to the gut. “Michael Dorian. I thought you were dead.”

  “Yeah, I bet you did,” Dorian snarked. “You certainly left me for dead.”

  “You knew what you were getting into.” Vlad let himself drift closer without being too obvious. He needed a better shot. He couldn’t risk Dorian getting nervous and accidentally pulling the trigger.

  Mary was wide-eyed and still. Vlad needed her to stay that way. Anything she said or did could be the end of her. Dorian was beginning to look agitated. He pursed his lips and let the gun drop away from Mary’s head. Vlad started to breathe a sigh of relief until Dorian re leveled the weapon right at Vlad.

  “You know,” Dorian drawled. “I used to think you mafia guys were good. There were jobs. You paid well. All that shit. Then people started dying in your stupid wars.”

  “My wars?” Vlad replied.

  “You Sokolovs and the Orsinis,” Dorian snapped. “You’ve been picking each other off for years.”

  “So you decided to make us pay,” Vlad guessed. “Even though the night you got hit you were out there on your own.”

  “What?”

  “That wasn’t my order,” Vlad told him, knowing he was making a choice he could never take back. “You chose to go down to the docks and make that deal. I warned you against it. Don’t you remember?”

  Dorian grabbed his head, the gun swinging wildly as he tried to keep a grip on Mary and his weapon. “You ordered me down there!”

  “No. I didn’t.” Vlad crept even closer. “I knew the Orsinis were going to hit that warehouse.”

  “No.”

  “Yes,” Vlad argued. “You wanted your cut of the merchandise. Don’t you remember?”

  “No!” Dorian staggered.

  Before Vlad could do anything, Mary erupted as though she’d been zapped. She shoved Dorian with every ounce of her strength. The bigger man toppled sideways. Time slowed as Vlad saw Dorian squeeze the trigger of his weapon. Mary was already running toward Vlad for all that she was worth.

  The gun went off and Mary screamed in agonized pain. Vlad didn’t even stop to think. He pulled his weapon and fired three shots into Dorian’s body, two in the chest, one in the head. It was enough to stop him for good, but the damage was already done.

  “Mary.”

  Vlad sprinted forward, but he couldn’t catch her before she fell. Her feet had barely managed to clear the two steps from the porch to the ground. She landed in a crumpled heap only a few feet from Vlad.

  “Mary, please.” Vlad gently turned her onto her back, searching for the entry or exit point. There seemed to be blood everywhere. “Say something, sweetheart.”

  “Getting shot sucks.” The sound of her reedy voice nearly made him buckle with relief.

  “Where are you hit?” he demanded.

  “My shoulder, I think.”

  “Okay.” He took off his jacket and pressed it against her bloody shirt. “I’m going to carry you back to the car.”

  “Vlad?”

  “Yeah?” He hefted her tiny form into his arms and started back toward the Yukon at a run. He was hoping his fifteen minutes weren’t up. If Yuri had already left, Vlad was going to kill him.

  “Am I going to die?” she asked in a very businesslike manner.

  “No.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Because I’m not going to allow it.”

  She touched his cheek, the feel of her soft skin almost undoing him. “You are very bossy.”

  “Damn right.”

  “What happened to the boys?” She acted as if she were about to leap out of his arms to go check on them.

  “They’re fine. I promise.”

  “That’s good then,” she whispered. “Nothing else matters.”

  “No, Mary,” Vlad told her softly. “You matter.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mary was very sick and tired of being injured. She had been off work for nearly a week now and the down time was driving her crazy. Now standing on tiptoe in her kitchen, she was trying like hell to reach a bowl on the third shelf without moving her injured shoulder too much.

  “Hey!” Vlad entered the kitchen from the back door. “You shouldn’t be doing that. Let me help.”

  “Ugh.” She scowled at him. “I’m tired of people helping. You and your men are driving me crazy. I can hardly go take a pee without someone thinking I need help.”

  “My guys had better not be offering to help you take a pee,” Vlad said sternly.

  “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “I am.”

  She sighed, feeling frustrated. “Well I’m still sick and tired of all the mollycoddling.”

  His quizzical expression actually made her laugh. “I need a translation.”

  “See this?” She waved her hand to indicate his presence in her house. “This thing that you’re doing is mollycoddling.”

  “What?” He lowered his head and nuzzled her neck. “Taking care of you?”

  “I don’t want to be taken care of. I want to be capable of caring for myself.” She pulled away. “I’m useless.”

  “You’re far from useless, my love. You’re injured. The two things are hardly the same.”

  She was about to argue with him and then she realized what he’d called her. “Why did you say that?”

  “Why did I say what?”

  “My love.” Her heart was pounding like a drum. “Why did you call me that?”

  “Because you are.”

  The simple statement made her almost breathless with shock. “You love me?”

  “How could I not?” He cupped her face, the tenderness of the touch completely at odds with a man who could so easily take another life. “You are everything I am not. You’re goodness and light in a world that has always been dark. I love you with every fiber of this heart.” He pressed her palm to his chest as if to underscore that incredible confession.

  “I never,” she began, but couldn’t finish. “I’ve never said
anything like that to anyone before. Not since I was a child anyway.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. It’s not a conditional state of being.” He smiled down at her.

  “No.” She pursed her lips, feeling as though this were the most important thing she’d ever done. “I want to tell you how I feel. I’ve been holding back because—well—because sometimes what I feel is so big. And after everything that happened I’m a little scared.”

  “I am too.” He plucked her off the floor and cradled her in his arms as though she weighed nothing. “I almost lost you.”

  “Then maybe we need to live every single day like this might be the last one we have,” she suggested.

  “If that’s the case, I want to live the rest of this one in bed.” His teasing tone belied the intensity in his gaze.

  Mary didn’t say anything else. She simply put her lips against his and let their kiss do the talking. The taste of him was exquisite. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and rubbed it against his until he was making guttural noises that were such a turn on she could already tell that her pussy was soaking wet.

  “Vlad?” She pulled away only long enough to tell him what she wanted. “Take me to bed. Please?”

  He didn’t require any more convincing. Vlad carried her back to her bedroom, nipping and sucking at her neck and her uninjured shoulder as he did. The tingling sensation of his lips and teeth made her whimper with need. His embrace felt so good. She’d never expected to be so comfortable with anyone like she was with him. It was as if this was the one person she belonged with. She was his and he was hers, and that was more than enough.

  Vlad laid her on the bed gently. Her shoulder gave just a little twinge of pain, but it was gone the instant he began stripping her out of her clothing. Her yoga pants and loose T-shirt were gone almost before she realized he had peeled them off. Then he took her calves in his hands and gently kneaded the tight muscles.

  She relaxed into his care, allowing him to touch her skin everywhere. The warm feel of his hands was intoxicating. And when he spread the full lips of her sex to very carefully brush one finger through her silky wetness, she was more than ready for him.