Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Piper

B y the time the deadbolt slides free and the door opens, my fear has morphed into an eerie calm and my world is buzzing with a low hum. I might be losing my mind. Either that, or maybe this is what it feels like to be homicidal.

As crazy as it sounds, I'm relieved it's Vladmir and not Arkady that comes through the door.

Vladmir may be delusional to think I will ever be his blushing bride, but he's mostly a scary brute and wants me to stop fighting him.

Arkady is a mean fucker who wants to hurt me.

Vladmir strides over to sit on the edge of the bed. He reaches up to my face and moves my hair to see the hamburger he made of my left cheek. "Time to get dressed. Guests are arriving."

My brain can't even process that. I've heard the trucks and the people coming and going all afternoon, and despite Vlad telling me the wedding is tonight, I didn't think it was possible.

How can this be happening?

"I can be good friend with powerful family. My cousin says if I am happy, he is happy. Then your family is happy, too. Your father gets guns."

"My father is a liar and a monster. You can't believe anything he says."

Vladmir frowns. "Last week you say your father is upstanding man and powerful businessman."

"Last week I didn't know he had signed me up for an arranged marriage. It won't hold up. I'm not a child bride that has no say. I'm an adult and I don't agree to any of this."

Vladmir frowns. "I have papers."

Yes, yes. He seems to think that's his answer for all of this. Not the brightest bulb, Vladmir.

"The papers are a lie. I'm not an innocent virgin, Vladmir. I have a lover and my father knows it. He's playing you for a sucker because he wants your cousin's guns. You can't believe him."

There have been few moments when I've gotten through the testosterone fog these Russians live under, but the moment I say I'm not a virgin, Vladmir stiffens. "You lie."

"No. It's the truth. I'm not an innocent. I won't be your good girl virgin. I'm in love with another man—a powerful man who has an army at his command. He'll be coming for me."

The words come out of my mouth as an attempt to gain my freedom, but as they hang in the air between us, I acknowledge how true they are. I love Sean.

I'm in love with Sean Quinn.

Just as I think I'm getting through to Vladmir, Arkady joins us. He looks at the two of us and says something to Vladmir in Russian.

Vladmir stands gesturing to me lying there. "She says she's not innocent—not untouched."

Arkady's gaze darkens as he scowls at me. "Lying to Vladmir Volkov is dangerous. His cousin very dangerous man."

"I'm not the one who lied to you. My father lied. When I found out he sold me off as a virgin, I told him I'm not. I made it clear he had to fix this and tell you the truth."

Vladmir frowns. "He said nothing."

"One of you lies." Arkady flicks his hand toward Vladmir, motioning him toward the end of the bed. "Time to find out who. Grab her legs."

Without hesitation, Vladmir's meaty hands clasp around my ankles. The breath rushes out of my lungs as Arkady climbs over me and lifts the skirt of the dress I wore to Ryan's funeral.

I fight to kick my feet, but Vladmir's too strong.

I fight against the plastic binding my wrists, but that only serves to make the cuffs bite harder into my flesh.

"Get off me," I screech, bucking my hips. "Don't fucking touch me."

With a violent grab, Arkady snaps the crotch of my underpants and sticks two fingers in me. He's rough and I'm the farthest thing from turned on, so the digits feel like sandpaper as he penetrates me.

I scream and then it's over.

Arkady pulls his hand back and spits on me. "Not a virgin."

I turn my head to the side, wiping his saliva onto the pillow. "How is this my fault? My father is the one who lied to you."

"McGuires are liars," Vladmir shouts, scowling at me. "When I tell Anton, no guns for you. And no wedding. I want an innocent, good girl, not a whore."

I take the insult because it doesn't faze me. The important points in Vladmir's rant are that the wedding is off, and I've screwed over my father. Technically, I was a virgin when Da drew up the marriage contract, but no one needs to know that.

See, I can fight dirty, too.

Now the question is, will they let me go or kill me?

Sean

The sound of the waves slapping against the side of the boat syncs with the pounding of my heart as we approach Vance's Harbour. The night is dark, only the distant lights of south Dublin and the soft glow of our equipment lighting our way.

The salt in the air mixes with the adrenaline that courses through my veins, each breath tasting of the bay and imminent danger.

Beside me, Brendan checks his gear for the umpteenth time, his movements precise and methodical. The guy is an adrenaline junky, but I wouldn't want anyone else by my side.

"We'll get Piper back for you, brother." Brendan lays his AR-15 across his knee. "Whatever we need to do."

"Without killing Russians." Bryan gives Brenny a knowing look. "Tag said this won't work if we kill the Russians."

That will be a challenge.

If they hurt her or violated her, they will be put down.

It's been hours since she was taken, and we're only just launching our assault. It was hell waiting for the sun to go down, but Tag needed time to work his magic, and we needed the cover of darkness to get into McGuire territory without tipping anyone off.

Thanks to Kieran's informant following the limo from the cemetery, we know where Mattie McGuire moved the Russians after we snatched them from the Nyx Hotel.

It's a private estate home that backs onto Vance's Harbour in the neighborhood of Blackrock. It's also a stone's throw from several of the McGuire warehouses.

Location, location, location.

"Almost there," Gallagher whispers into the comms from the lead boat.

Bryan scans the shoreline with a night vision scope.

I tap my earpiece and wait for the beep. "Everyone ready?"

We've got two dozen Devils across the three boats, all of which are equally focused on getting back my girl and fucking up Mattie McGuire's plans at the same time.

"Remember to be quiet as we move up the beach. We need the element of surprise and don't know if this party they're having has spilled out onto the grounds."

The boats slow as we near land, the outline of the mansion glowing against the starlit sky. It's a fortress, but many of my guys are ex-military and know how to breach a target.

The important part is that Piper is inside and no one in her life is looking out for her. The betrayal of her parents is unforgiveable. They will pay for hurting her.

"Arriving in two."

Gallagher's voice, barely audible over the comms, brings me back to the moment at hand.

I'm coming, kitten. Hold on.

Everyone checks their weapons one last time, securing silencers, and patting the extra mags in their vests. The hull of the boat gently grinds against the gravelly beach. We disembark swiftly, and fan out, taking cover behind the natural brush and rocks dotting the landscape.

Gallagher's team finds shelter behind an upcropping of rocks. "Good luck, boys. Safe home."

"Safe home," I say, watching as ten silhouetted shadows stalk up the beach. "Light up the skies, boys."

When they're on their way, I refocus on our part of the plan. The mansion looms above a small crest ahead, garden lights dancing against the darkness, its party guests unaware of the storm about to hit.

Brendan moves up beside me, his gaze scanning the perimeter. "The guards on patrol are McGuire men, not Russian. Tag has no problem with us taking them out, right?"

"None at all," I respond, adjusting my grip on my rifle. "Kieran, take your team to the west and front, silent takedowns of any and all McGuire guards you come across."

"Copy that," Kieran responds.

"Brenny, your team has the east and the back of the house to secure our exit."

"Got it."

"Bryan, you're with me."

It's nods all around and then we're jogging off in a crouched run, dodging from shadow to shadow as I close the distance between me and my girl.

As we stalk closer, the mansion's opulence seems strangely out of place for Mattie McGuire and his Bratva contacts. There's a woman playing a fucking harp and an ice sculpture, for fuck's sake.

What the hell kind of party are they throwing?

And then it clicks. The rows of white chairs leading to an arbor weighed down and choking with flowers. The long, red carpet leading from the house to the podium set beneath the arbor.

"It's a fucking wedding."

Bryan stops scanning for danger and takes it in. "Is this Mattie making sure Piper can't get out of his contract?"

My world tilts and my vision flips. Everything around me is tainted red. It's like a lens of savage hatred and the need to kill falls over me like a fiery film.

Mattie McGuire will die for this.

It's a truth I know, down to the depth of my aching soul. He will bleed for this, and it will be by my hand.

I crouch low, moving from shadow to shadow, the cool night air carrying the promise of revenge.

We pass Brendan and Duke dragging a downed guard into the bushes and position ourselves in view of the side entrance. There are catering trucks parked along the side of the house and party workers moving in and out.

I tap my earpiece. "In position. Ready for our diversion, Gallagher."

"Then get ready for the fireworks, boss. In three, two, one…"

There's a beat of silence when I wait for the night to erupt, and then it does. Just down the beach, a fiery burst of explosion lights up the sky and then another. By the time the third goes off, party guests are flooding out of the house and into the backyard.

That's our cue.

Like ghosts, Bryan and I surge forward. Anyone hired for the event back away when they see us racing up the corridors.

The first guard we come across doesn't have time to sound the alarm. Brendan is a crack shot and with his silencer in place, the guard is down, a silent heap sliding down the golden damask wallpaper, before he can react.

Adrenaline surges as we push deeper into the house.

The chaos of the warehouses exploding down the beach has drawn almost everyone out of the house. Men are shouting furiously in the back, and as much as I'd love to see the look on Mattie's face as he's watching his warehouses burn, he's not my priority.

"That looks promising." Brendan points the barrel of his gun down a side corridor to where two armed guards are standing outside a door.

Their focus is locked on a window to the back of the house. They have no idea we've got them in our sights.

"Shoot first, ask questions later?" Brendan asks.

"Not with the possibility that Piper could come out that door. Wing them, but keep things low."

"A challenge. I like it. You've got left. I'm right." Brenny strides forward, letting off two shots in quick succession.

I plug the guy on the left in the thigh. With any luck, I caught his femoral artery, but I don't care. The only thing I care about is Piper. "Finish them up close and personal."

"Roger that." Brendan lets his assault rifle fall to his side on its harness and pulls out his Glock.

As he closes the distance on the two bleeding on the floor, I storm through the chaos and kick the door open. Wood splinters as the slab swings on its hinges, but the only thing I see is Piper.

She's wide-eyed and bound by her wrists to the frame of the bed.

She's alive.

That's all that matters to me—until I see blood staining the inside of her thighs.