Hitman's Captive: A Bad Boy Romance (19 page)

We were only a
little
late.

It was nothing my
accountant would take exception to. He cooked all sorts of dirty books, after
all, and while I might not be the worst of his clients, you still didn’t offer
complaints to a hitman unless you were
utterly sure
that you were
indispensable. And since
I
wasn’t sure he was indispensable, I doubted
that he’d convinced himself of that idea.

Alessa’s hand crept down
my thigh as I drove, and I felt my cock stiffening yet again for her. Would’ve
thought the damned thing was tired by now. I caught her mischievous glance and
covered her hand with mine, squeezing and stopping it in its tracks.

“Behave!” Maybe I loved
what she was doing - her whole attitude - but she didn’t have to know that. And
I did need to concentrate at some point.

“You’re the one who
insisted on dragging me along - I could’ve slept some, kept the bed nice and
warm…” She mock-pouted at me and I had to laugh. Turns out her grouchiness at
early mornings was still in full force if you actually pulled her out of bed,
morning orgasms fulfilled or not.

“In my sight at all
times, you know the drill, princess.” I said it with a grin and enjoyed the
scowl in response.

The rule wasn’t quite as
necessary as it had been - after all this, I believed what she’d promised about
not running off anymore. Hell, if she wanted to escape, considering how drugged
up on lust and indulgence I’d been the last few days, I was pretty sure she
could have found a way out. Hit me over the head in a moment of passion,
convince me to take her shopping for some sexy little outfit, sneak out while
I’d been comatose after climax…

Yep, I had not been a
good fucking kidnapper recently. Or hitman. Or anything but an Italian
princess’s sex toy.

Fuck. That sounds good.

I shook it off and tried
to convince myself that my complete lack of self-control was a problem, but all
I could see was how much I was fucking enjoying myself. I’d taken pride my
whole life on my focus and training, but somehow it just didn’t seem to matter
so much. And if I was probably giving it all up anyway, I might as well get
used to it, right?

Even the killers chasing
me didn’t bother me that much - I’d put myself in danger almost every moment of
my life, so if fucking Alessa might get me killed, that was at least a damned
better reason than half of them had been.

No, I wasn’t worried
about Alessa escaping. If I was feeling egotistical, I’d say she was far too
lost in passion and addicted to my cock to go anywhere. But in truth, I guessed
her last attempt had scared her off, and she felt more confident about her chances
if she stuck with me and waited until I let her go.

I still wasn’t leaving
her behind, though. Call it instinct, but with all the shit that could happen,
I felt better having her with me. If the safehouse was found, if something
happened…at least this way, I knew we wouldn’t get separated.

We stopped in an
underground parking lot and headed for the elevator that would take us to the
3rd floor. The office space was professional and trendy, and it fit the
impression my accountant - Jim Faris - liked to give. He had enough legitimate
clients to cover for the less reputable side of his business, which was one of
the many reasons guys like me worked with him.

I gave Alessa a brief
smile as we headed up. “This shouldn’t be long. I just need to sign a few
documents and then we can get out of here.”

She nodded, her eyes once
again covered by sunglasses, but we’d left the large-brimmed hat behind.
Neither offered any real disguise, and once I’d worked out that her picture wasn’t
being plastered everywhere, I wasn’t worried about being spotted by a random on
the street. No, if someone who mattered found us, they’d recognize her well
enough that a few accessories wouldn’t fool them. Simply seeing a hitman
trailing a woman along with him would be enough of a giveaway, anyway.

As she’d pointed out
though, the sunglasses suited her, so she kept them.

The elevator
ping
ed
as we stepped out, and I traced the route through the elegant wood-paneled
space to Faris’s office.

“You’re late.” The
receptionist gave me an irritated glance when I mentioned my name, and gestured
curtly to a seat. “I’m not sure whether Mr. Faris is still available.”

Unfortunately, while
Faris would never bitch at me about that, his secretary didn’t know enough to
think better of it.

“He’ll see me.” My voice
hardened, the earlier lightness of my morning with Alessa disappearing as I
stood over her desk, waiting.

“I will have to—”

“Ring through. Now.” I
cut off her pretentious tone and shifted slightly, well aware that I was
deliberately intimidating her, but the woman’s attitude pissed me off.

She looked for one
instant like she was going to protest again, but then settled for shooting me a
glare as she reached for the phone, pressing a few quick buttons.

“Mr. Faris.” Her voice
switched to sweet and conciliatory immediately. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but
I have your 8.30am appointment here. Of course I know—”

“Yes, send him through.”
Faris clicked off before she could make a show of how difficult I was being,
but the quick victory meant nothing to me - I was just irritated that it was
necessary.

Turning, I ignored the
secretary and spoke to Alessa instead. “Wait for me out here, I won’t be long.”

For once, she didn’t
argue with me, and settled into one of the seats against the wall. I flashed
her a quick smile - an apology for my attitude - and then moved up to the
office, once again all business. I didn’t like leaving Alessa, even on the
opposite side of the glass wall of the office, but it was probably best that
Faris didn’t see her. Bringing her in could only draw his attention to her.

I wasn’t too worried
about her being in the office - it was unlikely Faris had any other less
reputable client in here at the same time as me, and I doubted his colleagues
knew anything - but for all that Faris was generally oblivious, seeing me walk
in with a woman on my arm
would
be a first. And he was just close enough
to the underground circles to hear - or be questioned about - a hitman with an
Italian mafia princess.

Besides, nothing could
happen to Alessa with me only moments away.

“You need to get another
secretary.” I said as I walked in, closing the door behind me and not caring
that she’d heard. Hell, it was for her benefit as much as anything - I might
not do more than get a little pissed, but I knew Faris’s other clients. Neither
she nor Faris could afford that sort of attitude around them.

“Ah…uh, I’m sorry if—”

“Don’t apologize. Just
fix it.” I waved Faris back down as he half-stood to greet me. “Now, business?”

“Yes, of course.”
Recovering quickly, he pulled a file out of his desk drawer and started rifling
through it. “I just need you to sign a few documents, and then we should have
everything set up in the next few days.”

I nodded, letting him
walk me through the approvals and permissions I was signing, suddenly itching
to get out of there. These should liquidate a few of my funds and set up
international accounts under my direct control. More than enough to create a
life in another country.

I had wanted to ask him
about the tax and logistical implications - from a financial perspective - of
different potential countries, but since I still hadn’t found anywhere that
captured my imagination, I figured I might end up spending a few months
traveling first and decide after that. The important thing was getting out of
here, not exactly where I was going.

If it came to that.

C’mon Jay, just find
something…something!

In the end, I kept it
short, telling him to expect a call for advice on specific countries, and
wrapping up the meeting quickly. Being out of the safehouse made me uneasy,
even if it was for a short time like this, and I’d done everything that
required me to be here in person.

I collected Alessa
without a backward glance, barely restraining myself from throwing an arm
around her waist with thoughts of drawing attention to us. It was slightly
different between us in public, anyway - with what I was doing here, and the
ongoing tension from being exposed, it was harder for either of us to forget
that I’d kidnapped her.

“That’s most of it sorted
now.” I said as we let the elevator carry us back down. “It’ll be a few days
for everything go through, and I still need to finalize a couple of details and
book flights, but it won’t be much longer.”

And hopefully Jay would
come through for me in that time. If not…I might not have another choice.

I’d taken to giving her
little updates on my progress, even though I probably shouldn’t, wanting
somehow to reassure her that she’d be released soon. Something unpleasant
twinged inside me with the thought, but I knew how ridiculous that was and
ignored it.

The elevator
ping
ed
and we started working our way towards the car, my gaze already heating as I
watched Alessa’s soft movements, thinking of all the things we’d interrupted to
come out…and if I had to spend the next couple of days waiting, I knew exactly
how I wanted to do it.

“Hey! I
told
you
it was her!”

“
Fuuuck
, it is.”

I spun at the rough
Russian accent, hand going to my gun before I took in the two barrels already
drawn and cocked our way. The two guys holding them were both average height
and thickset. The first was older and balding, with just a blond fringe around
his head, while the other’s dirty blond hair was slicked back. Both wore
unpleasant expressions that were quickly turning to rage.

“You the bastard that
killed our
Pakhan
?” The first man spoke, his voice harsh and his gaze
never wavering from me.

Shit.

Alessa stepped backwards
and away from me as I weighed up my options, looking for weaknesses or
opportunities to exploit. I only needed an instant  but with their guns
ready and aimed my way, I had no chance if I made a move.

“I—I’m Alessa Santini.
He…he kidnapped me. I was—was going to marry Viktor—” Alessa’s voice faltered
slightly, and she had to take several deep breaths to get it out, but I felt a
wave of relief at the words.

Good girl.

This way, whatever
happened, she’d get out of this and back to her family.

Except the second man’s
face screwed up. “Ya, we recognized you,
malysh,
but it don’t look that
way from here
.
You’s two look pretty close to me…probably working
together from the start. Italian scum.”

He spat in her direction
as she paled and backed away a step, looking wide-eyed towards me.

Fuck it all to hell.

I seized their momentary
distraction and dived forward to roll between them and her, my hand ripping my
gun from its holster as I heard their surprised shouts. Fucking amateurs.

If they’d had half my
skills, I’d probably already be dead - that’s what you get for diving
into
their
line of fire, instead of away. But I wasn’t about to leave Alessa in front of
those guns.

Instead, I got my gun up
as I came into a crouch, firing off a couple of shots before they could do more
than try and follow the line of my movement. Two cries let me know my aim was
true, but a loud shot followed by a bullet zipping past my shoulder told me at
least one of them was still in this. I glanced up quickly to see the first man
trying awkwardly to aim with a right hand drenched in blood from an open
shoulder wound. The other man was on the ground.

Taking advantage of the
balding man’s injury, I sprinted forward, getting under his guard and knocking
his gun away before he could do more than grimace. My hand came up again, and I
ended it with a final shot to his head.

Then I sunk back into a
crouch, looking around for any other sign of movement or disturbance. Our guns
had suppressors attached, but we’d still made far too much noise. From the look
of it though, no one else had been down here during the confrontation - and I
couldn’t remember hearing any screams.

My heart beat still
thudded loudly through my body, as I tucked my gun away and walked slowly back
to Alessa. She was huddled in a crouch by the car, but there was no blood around
her, and I let a small amount of relief wash through me.

“Here, you okay?” My
voice was gruff, but I couldn’t help it as I helped her to her feet, giving her
a quick once-over. I hated that she’d had to see that, or be in part of it in
any way, but I couldn’t take the time to help her deal with it.

She nodded mutely, not
quite looking at me, and I ignored the way that my heart twisted as I walked us
both quickly back over to our car.

“We need to get out of
here, okay? Fast.” She nodded again and slipped into the car without comment,
but I could see her shaking slightly.