Page 129 of Romancing His Heart
Retaliation is swift and fierce. The butt of a gun lands on the back of my head, and I drop to my knees. With blurry vision, I see them drag Seth into the office as two more men enter my home with Luca.
“I’d rather die,” Luca chokes out as he slides past me on the floor.
I know what he’s saying. He would rather die than give them Nadja. It’s a pact we make when we sign up for jobs like this. We keep the innocents safe. I know the second they drag him by, they will torture us for information. Ashton will be first because he’s a civilian. They believe he will be the weak link, and I almost heave at the thought. Ashton has only ever brought good into this world, and he’s about to experience the devil himself because I brought it to his doorstep.
For the next five hours, they alternate between Ashton, Seth, and Luca. Leaving me unscathed is a tactic I know well. One of the first things SIA teaches you is to dissociate with your surroundings, so I do. Tied to the chair, I block out the brutalized screams of my friends.
The doorbell rings, and it breaks my trance-like state.
There’s a flurry of Russian exchanges when the doorbell rings again. The man guarding me is watching his boss, waiting for orders.
A voice follows the pounding on the door, Sloane’s voice, and she’s pissed off, but I’ve never been more scared in all my life.
“Bring her in. Perhaps she will encourage Mr. Kane to talk.”
My blood runs cold. Then I hear Ashton speak. His voice is low and almost inaudible. But he tries again. “She has a full security team with her. If you let her in this house, they will raid it within seconds. I gave them the orders. They are not to allow her in here at any time.”
I catch sight of Ash as they pull him from the room. He just saved Sloane’s life, I’m sure of it.
She bangs on the door again, and my guard cuts me free. Mikhailov yanks me to my feet. “Get rid of her.” He shoves me forward, and I see another guard standing behind the door with a gun pointed at where she’s standing on the other side. “You make one mistake, you give her one clue, and we’ll shoot her where she stands. Do you understand me?”
My heart lurches in my chest when I open the door. Sloane stands there, presenting me with her coffee cake. Pride shooting from her every pore. It takes only a second and hard shove from behind to get to the task.
The hurt embedded in her gorgeous face when I’m through guts me, slamming the door in her face is the final nail through my heart. Nothing these assholes can do to me will be worse than that.
Mikhailov has his goon turn me around just in time to see a knife slice the side of Ashton’s face. The blade enters near his right eye and slices downward past his lips and over his chin in slow motion.
“No,” I scream, charging them. Three men tackle me to the ground and bind me to a chair while I kick and fight with everything I have. They call in another man to help hold me down, and it still takes them longer than they would like. When they have me subdued, Mikhailov steps forward and drives a knife into the palm of my hand.
Time passes slowly as I hear Ashton’s grunts grow quieter. Eventually, silence blankets me, but it doesn’t last long.
“Now, the fun begins, Mr. Kane. Have you ever seen your friends gutted like a pig before?”
I spit in his face, and he laughs. The sound is more demonic than anything I’ve ever heard before.
I’m fighting to regain the headspace that will allow me to survive what’s coming next when Ashton is dragged to the center of the room by an ankle. He leaves a trail of blood in his wake, and I snap.
I fight and thrash against my restraints so much my heavy, wooden chair tips over. Mikhailov orders someone to sit me upright when we hear the explosion. I’m dropped to the ground again as all Mikhailov’s men run to the foyer, shouting in Russian.
I hear a click behind me. I know that sound. Someone just opened the secret passage. I can’t see behind me from my angle on the floor, so I have no idea if it’s friend or foe. Since it hasn’t been used since my childhood, I’m praying for a friend.
Lifting my head, I see one of the guards enter the room as a bullet buzzes overhead, hitting him dead center in the heart. He drops to the ground, and the haze of gunfire begins. Bound to my chair, the most I can do is try to take cover.
Amidst the blasts, one hits me in the chest, knocking me and my chair to my back. The last thing I see is a red ponytail falling to the floor.Red. No, not my Red.
Chapter 43
Sloane
An explosion happens across my chest, and I’m thrown to my back. I can’t breathe. I can’t move. Terrified doesn’t begin to describe the emotions coursing through my mind.I think they shot me.Bullets are still flying overhead, and I didn’t save Loki. We’re both going to die.
The house suddenly goes silent, and my panic kicks into overdrive. I can only manage short, shallow breaths, and it makes everything worse.
I hear sirens and yelling but can’t make out any words. I feel like I’m drowning.
A man leans over me, and the tears spring free without any warning.Is this really how I’m going to die? With this ugly fuck leaning over me?
The man laughs. “Well, my wife seems to think I’m handsome. We can’t all be as good looking as Kane.”
