Chapter 7

Stavros

Blood.

It was the creation of life. We all witnessed volumes of the substance as it pumped through a person’s body, providing them with nourishment, oxygen in order to breathe.

I’d also been the one to watch it flow from a man’s body, pooling underneath as vacant eyes stared back up at me, the haunted look not something I usually remembered or gave a damn about. But as I yanked the knife from deep within the man’s throat where I’d twisted and driven it as close to his pea-sized brain as possible, I reveled in the deep color more than usual.

Perhaps that was because I’d saved a life today while taking another.

Only the innocent life I’d saved was far superior to this fuck of a man, a hired thug and nothing more. I tore away at his pressed shirt collar, noticing what most would consider a brand carved in his neck. The shit was just getting deeper. I needed to confirm but I had a very bad feeling about the brand.

Sure, there were dozens of cartels and syndicates who required their low-level soldiers to wear tats or be branded, but I had a sinking suspicion I’d smashed into something far more dangerous. Fuck me if I was right. And why would the Death Squad have any interest in low level squabbles or a sweet and very innocent girl? I had to be overthinking this shit. All I knew was the guy lying in a pool of blood on her formerly clean tile was a trained assassin.

As I stood, wiping the blood from the blade, I sense Jenna’s eyes remained concentrated on what I was doing. She’d witnessed me killing two men in less than twenty-four hours, both times to save her life.

Not that it would matter to her at this point. I could hear her ragged breathing, could feel the irregular pulse ticking away in her body. But what stood out even more than the ridiculous moment was the crazy static electricity that flowed between us. I could tell by the way Christos was staring at the two of us that he could feel it. Hell, even the skin on my arms was prickled more than I’d experienced before.

The vicious games had continued, only I hadn’t initially anticipated that I would have been followed from the moment I’d arrived in the fucking dirty city.

“Shit,” Christos huffed under his breath. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

To be burned in effigy wasn’t anything new for some in the middle of a war, and there was no mistake the Albanians had initiated a war between our two regimes, but the way it had been done pissed me off more than usual. They were notorious arms dealers, managing to grab the kind of weapons that could not only start a powerful way but end it within days. They had connections and zero scruples, their integrity in the toilet. That’s why they wanted to grab hold of Philly. The ports were easier, less painful to deal with.

Then why pretend as if they wanted to go legit with casinos other than to launder money?

Just like our family had done in the early days.

And why lure us away from the scene? Had this jerk been hired to kidnap Jenna, hoping to lure me to my death? Nothing was making any sense, at least in the terms of usual turf wars.

Someone had placed blown up photographs of my entire family smack in the middle of Rockefeller Center along with crosses and flowers, striking through the pictures with blood X’s. It was a prank, something high school kids would do, but it had been meant as a distraction, pulling me away from the asshole who’d attacked Jenna.

Now, moments after I’d slit the unknown bastard from ear to ear, my hands now covered in blood, I realized that I could be in over my head. The best thing to do would be to keep to my original plan of getting the fuck out of New York. But now, I had a guest in tow. If I left the beautiful young woman, she would be killed, tortured first, as if she knew a goddamn thing about me. But my enemies didn’t know that. If she wasn’t killed immediately, horrible photographs would be sent to me, as the captured image of the lure had been sent to Christos on purpose from the scenes in the park.

Plus, we’d had to do some fancy talking when a beat cop had shown up.

The moment my Capo had walked into my hotel room showing me the text from an unknown source with the disgusting attachment, I should have known a game was being played. I should have realized since I was up against one damn good poker player that I was being tossed around like some fucking pawn.

But I’d chosen to be an arrogant son of a bitch, thinking I could best my enemy with what? A single soldier? In turn, an innocent flower had almost lost her life.

“Jesus Christ,” Christos muttered. “Well, he’s dead.”

“Yeah, which is what he deserved.”

“I kinda thought you’d want to talk to him.”

“About what? The fucking weather? These men are highly trained, ready to die at a moment’s notice. Some even carry cyanide with them instead of risk losing their nerve.” I was furious, so much so that if he wasn’t dead, I would take additional time to torture him as only I could do. “Search his pockets.” Although I knew that was futile.

“This doesn’t appear to be something Viktor would do. It’s too sophisticated.”

Christos was right. Someone else was involved. “Just see what you can find.”

“Just let… me go. Please. I won’t tell anyone. I won’t call the police. I promise.” Jenna seemed much frailer than she had the night before. I kept her in my arms as I glanced around the clinic.

“I can’t do that and I already explained why. You will not survive another attack. Now, I assume there’s no one else here?”

She shook her head. “I sent my assistant… home.”

“Good. We need to get going. I hate this fucking city,” I huffed.

“Where are you taking me? I have a life. This is my business. You can’t… I mean I don’t want to…” She looked away, her body swaying. I moved closer but she wanted nothing to do with me, taking a long stride backwards, almost stumbling in the process.

I pulled her close, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

“I do not want to go.” The girl was forever defiant, doing what she could to drive me away. She had no idea what she’d gotten herself in the middle of or what the bastards like the Russian were capable of. Now wasn’t the time to share the joyous information, but at some point, I might have no other choice.

“As I already told you before. There is no other choice that will keep you alive. That dead man is one bad asshole.”

“And you’re not?” She managed to punch me in the jaw.

I closed my eyes briefly while I snapped my large hand around her fist to keep her from doing something else stupid. “Do not do that again.”

Christos lifted both his eyebrows, obviously amused this vulnerable girl thought she could get away from me.

“Do you have a purse or any belongings here?” I asked.

“Yep. In my desk drawer. I’ll get it.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do that. I have a feeling you’ll try and leave. I’m going to tell you one more time. He’s not alone. There are more of them, an entire freaking army. Christos. Please get her things.”

“What about the dead man?”

Sighing, I realized that calling Gabriel a second time wouldn’t bode well for his relationship with my brother but at this point, I had few choices. While we’d ripped the oversized photos from the center of the fucking New York universe, I had a bad feeling the police had already been notified. The last thing I needed was interference from police outside my jurisdiction. Even if I could easily call in more than one favor.

“Where there’s one, there will be more. See the tat on his neck?” I asked.

“It’s unusual.” He crouched down, jerking on the dead man’s jacket.

“He was Russian,” Jenna managed.

“We heard,” my second told her. “Odd, boss man. I don’t like it.”

While it wasn’t unheard of the Albanians working with the Russians, sometimes using the brutal thugs as their bodyguards, I found it interesting at this point since I’d heard the two factions were battling amongst themselves and had been for over a year. Maybe the intel I’d received was wrong.

“There’s nothing in his pockets,” Christos stated as he rose to his feet. “But he has a great tailor.”

I gave him a hard look, shaking my head. “Whatever occurred is just the beginning.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” my Capo grumbled before heading toward the girl’s office.

“Tell me your name.” Her question was asked with anger and no other real emotion. That meant she was firmly placed in the middle of shock. Somehow, I knew when it wore off, she’d be a bear to handle. But I would have no issue taming her.

As I continued to cradle her against my chest, she continued to push me with everything she had.

I could lie to her or provide some sense of information that might calm her down. I doubted my name had been heard in the city since Phoenix was in charge of the entire regime. “My name is Stavros Diamondis.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes, but I sensed there was no recognition. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Let’s just call me your savior.”

“I don’t want to do this. You can’t take this away from me. I won’t let you.”

“Understandable but you need to make the choice right now if you want to live or not. And that’s the only choice you get at this point.” The flash of comprehension was immediate but so was her continued anger.

“What about my clinic? What about my apartment? You’re crazy. You’re… a killer.” The last two words were said almost in passing, as if the fog she’d been in had suddenly lifted.

Christos returned with her purse, still staring at me with amusement on his face as he handed Jenna her bag. She continued to try to pull away. The woman was frustrating as fuck and needed a shock of reality. Call me an asshole for doing so but at this point, I couldn’t care.

“Take a look, Jenna. Take a goddamn look at the asshole lying there. See the blood? See the tattoo? That man was sent to rape and kill you or take you to some even worse people where they would have enjoyed toying with you, torturing you in ways you have no understanding of to get what they wanted. Information you don’t have but they were certain you do. He was nothing but a fucking mercenary, a man hired to a do a job with no remorse, no emotion whatsoever. He’s like a fucking machine. But he’s just one in a massive army.”

“Fuck you! Why are you trying to scare me? Why?” she hissed, the girl full of fire and brimstone. However, I had a feeling I wasn’t far off about sending someone else. How she’d been made a target so quickly meant I’d likely been followed.

“Because you need to be afraid. That’s the only way you’re going to understand this shit is serious.”

She cinched her eyes shut, shaking all over. “Serious. This is all about you. You’re a fucking monster, a killer as well. You’re right. I should be and I am afraid. But this is my place of business, my life. I worked so hard.” Her voice started to falter as reality finally tore away at the initial shock. Goddamn it, all I wanted to do was pull her into a tight hold. What the hell was wrong with me?

I rubbed my jaw. I wasn’t used to bringing a captive into my world. Then again, I also wasn’t used to being led into a maze of bullshit either.

“Look, I’ll have my Capo lock up after we leave. It will be okay. Your apartment will be there when you return. Your business will be here as well.” I gave Christos a look and my second in command rolled his eyes. We were both out of our element here. I worked damn hard not to have a civilian get in the way. I’d been careless, allowing my anger to get the better of me.

Goddamn this shit.

As if returning her back to her life in a week or a month would make any difference. She’d been identified as a weakness, someone special to me. The target on her back was huge, but I sensed terrifying her more than I already had would have more of a detrimental effect than helping to make her more compliant. However, at some point she’d need to be told the truth. There was no possibility of returning Jenna to her life, but it was something else I had no intention of breaking to her until I had her safely locked away in my house.

In Philadelphia.

Far removed from her home.

Why the fuck had my luck turned to shit so quickly? And what the fuck was I going to do with her once I had her safely locked away? Suddenly, another light bulb went off in her eyes, another rush of rage that defied all logic.

“Oh, my fucking God. Your Capo. You’re mafia. You’re more of a monster than the other guy was.”

“Very good, sweetheart, but monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Now, we’re getting the fuck out of here before we have company, the kind that you won’t like.” Giving her no choice, I dragged her toward the door. While I didn’t pull out my weapon in case her screams had been heard by anyone else but me, I nodded toward Christos who growled under his breath.

“I need the keys to lock up,” Christos told her.

She furrowed her brow before turning her head in the man’s direction. “Bastards. You’re both bastards.”

I popped her on the butt once to jar her into action. “The keys.” Not a single person had ever challenged me this way. It intrigued me as much as it infuriated me. Maybe I’d been living in a protected environment too long. She was willing to die to protect her hard work. It was insane to me but admirable.

There was something rather adorable about her grumble, the way she cursed under her breath as she dug into her purse. When she handed my second in command the keys, her entire arm was shaking.

Just being here was dangerous, more so than I’d originally thought. The moment I’d suspected who the hell Viktor had been talking about, I’d jumped into the driver’s seat, pushing pedal to the metal in order to get here. My gut had never been wrong. Something had told me I should have taken her the night before. Why the fuck I hadn’t was beyond me.

Other than not once had I been forced to take an innocent person away from his or her life. I was a bad guy, of that there was no doubt, but even I had my scruples. I didn’t broadcast them for the same reason I didn’t want to share my life with anyone. It simply wasn’t a good idea in the world I lived in.

Granted, somehow my brother had made it work, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried constantly or didn’t have guards assigned to his wife at all times. What the hell was I thinking? I might be attracted to this woman, but I had the distinct feeling she’d gut me one night in my sleep. At least the thought brought a smile to my face.

After locking the door and handing her back the thick ring of keys, Christos remained in front of us, ready on a split second’s notice to kill anyone who approached. Unfortunately, any one of the hundreds of people on this particular street could be working for Viktor. What I’d learned about the Russians was that they couldn’t care less about the loss of innocent lives when starting a gunfight in the middle of a bright day.

Thankfully, we made it to the SUV without incident, but as soon as my cousin threw open the back door, it was as if Jenna was pulled out of her state of lethargy and shock. She surprised me with her quick actions, managing to jerk away from me with ease. However, my reactions were almost as quick as hers. Before she had a chance to cry out for help, I slapped my hand across her mouth and nose, squeezing until I knew she’d have some difficulty breathing.

I wrapped my other arm around her waist, pulling her against the heat of my body as I nuzzled my face into her hair next to her ear. “Be a good girl, Jenna. I don’t think you’re ready for another round of punishment but I will be happy to provide one to you. Now, you’re getting in without causing a scene.”

The moment I took my hand away by just a few inches, I was certain she was going to bite my finger.

“Bastard,” she huffed but didn’t fight me as I shoved her into the backseat.

I scanned the area one more time, snarling under my breath.

“She’s a little lioness,” Christos said, keeping his voice low.

“More than you know.”

“What are you doing with her?”

“She’s coming with us.”

“Whew. You go from zero to a thousand in a blink of an eye.”

“Yeah, well, there is no choice. Get us to the damn plane.” The longer we weren’t in the air, the more likely it was we’d be seen as sitting ducks. Game or no game, Viktor had been given a gift when I’d arrived in town and I doubted he was ready to let it go.

“You never answered my question. Where are we going?”

Jenna asked the question as soon as I’d climbed in beside of her, doing her best to slide as far away as possible. The second Christos thumped into the driver’s seat, he glanced into the rearview mirror as he started the engine.

I sensed he was waiting to see how far with the truth I’d go. I glanced over at her, noticing her bottom lip was trembling, her eyes misted. “Philadelphia.”

“What?” She glared at me incredulously, clutching her purse as close to her body as possible. As if it was a lifeline, a tether to a past that would be hard pressed to return to her.

“Buckle up, sweetheart. We could be in for a rough ride.”

“Fuck you.”

Sighing, I reached over and even as she did her best to slap my hands away, I easily maneuvered the seatbelt around her. But not before dragging her closer so I could snap the belt into place.

“Did you see anyone today?” I asked after a few minutes of silence had passed.

“Other than the bastard who assaulted me last night stalking me at the coffee shop I frequent?”

I slowly turned my head, remaining quiet. For anyone to be this defiant was extremely unusual. She truly had no grasp on the fact I was her captor and her savior. “Do not make me punish you.”

Within seconds, her face turned bright red, her entire body now shaking. “Okay, fine. Yes. I was certain I noticed a man standing across the street when I was having coffee. All the way to the clinic I had a feeling I was being followed. When I’d been inside the building for a couple hours, I took the trash out to the alley and there was a man there maybe fifty yards away.”

“The same one who attacked you?”

I could tell she wanted to give a nasty retort then shook her head. “I don’t know. I couldn’t see him that well.”

“Which could mean more than one person had been sent to handle you.”

“Handle me. Why was I targeted?”

“Because the man who ordered the assassin to kill or capture you thought you meant something to me.”

She slowly lifted her head, darting her eyes back and forth. “An enemy of yours.”

“Yes, very good. You do understand my world.”

“I watch the news. I’m not a stupid woman. What I really understand is that I did what I could to help you last night, yet you insist on taking me as your hostage.”

“True, but you’re much safer with me.”

“Safe? You must be crazy if you think I’ll ever feel safe around you. Just leave me the fuck alone.”

When she turned her head toward the window, I took another deep breath, still uncertain what the hell I was going to do with her. I yanked out my phone, dialing my brother. Even with her in the car, at this point it couldn’t matter. I needed to put a stopgap on this.

“You’re on your way back?” Phoenix asked by way of answering.

“Yes, but with baggage in tow. Viktor Marku wants to draw us out in the open. I don’t think he enjoyed losing two of his best men. It might have something to do with our ports.”

“As we suspected but I sense something occurred other than tracking down the goofball brothers. You’re thinking weapons sales?”

“Yes.”

“And this baggage?”

“Let’s call it unanticipated but with a five-foot six-inch hourglass figure.”

Her hateful look was the least of my worries at this point.

“What? Jesus Christ, how?”

“I’ll explain when we get there. Will you grease Gabriel’s palm to provide one more cleanup crew if I give you an address?”

He laughed. “You’re going to owe me.”

“Yeah, well, put it on my tab.” At this point, she was paying close attention to what was being said.

“Yeah, I’ll call him. Incidentally, so far there’s no issues with other members of the Brotherhood hearing about our Canadian friend Justin. Other than they agree it’s a joke being played.”

“I don’t think it’s a joke. I think someone is playing us.”

“Agree,” Phoenix huffed.

“Well, I have a bad feeling the Brotherhood might come to the same conclusions I have.”

“And that is?”

I glanced out the window. I loathed conspiracy theories but at this point, I had no clue what to think. “The Death Squad. While Viktor is an issue that we need to address, I have the distinct feeling Trudeau is nothing more than a warning of things to come from another entity entirely. If not the Death Squad, then who and why would they go to such trouble to cause us an issue?”

“Your theory is possible, but let’s not jump to conclusions. I’ll give Gabriel a call about the cleanup and mention this to him as well. Text me the address.”

“Will do. I think we should have a meeting of the family as well.”

“Agreed. Let me know when you’re close to the house and I’ll make my way over. Although I can’t stay too long. I have a birthday party to plan.”

“Oh, my God, you’re so domesticated.” At least I could smile briefly at this point.

“You have no idea, brother. It’ll happen to you one day.”

“Not this guy.”

As soon as I hung up the phone, she laughed, but not a happy laugh by anyone’s standards. It was almost evil, definitely maniacal.

“A cleanup crew. Does that mean some assholes are going to break into my place and swipe off the blood?”

“Yes, Jenna. That’s exactly what it means. Now, what’s the address of your clinic?”

“Why should I give it to you?”

“Because I doubt you want your landlord to come into your place and see a dead body in a pool of blood. Eventually, New York’s finest will want to have a long chat with you.”

Her eyes opened wide, the hatred still there.

But she gave me the address.

“And I’m five foot eight. Just so you know.”

While there was little to smile about at this point, she’d been the bright spot of my trip. Now I only prayed I could get her to some kind of safety.

Here I was shifting into acting as if I was a decent man.

Nope. It was never going to happen. Not under any circumstances.

Including for a woman, no matter how beautiful and desirable she was.