Never Have an Outlaw's Baby: Deadly Pistols MC Romance (Outlaw Love) (46 page)

By then, the Ligiotti crew had to be dead or wounded. Our crew in the van needed to be gone, waiting for us in the empty SUV we'd parked behind this place to make our escape.

The garages were near, and crawling with cameras. Whatever. They wouldn't do the fuckers inside much good when they'd spent their manpower fighting my boys in the van. I raised my nine millimeter and blinded one of the little black lenses with a bullet. Lights out.

Lev threw himself at the side door to the garages, hurling his boulder-like weight into it. Three good slams and it collapsed. Daniel and I were right behind him, running like hell, heading for the door leading into the house. We had to maneuver our way through all the shit in the huge garage, perfectly polished collectibles and sports cars from Gioulio's younger dick waving days, before he became an old mob boss with a lower profile.

I stuck out my hand and ripped a golden hood ornament off a sleek black shark on wheels – why the fuck not? I whipped it at the ceiling and heard it fall. The gold shape bounced on the concrete loudly as we started working on the door.

The loud, harsh jingle reminded me of bones rattling. I grinned behind my mask. Sweet music, reminding us what we'd come here for – death and judgment, vengeance for my baby girl, payment for every second she suffered in my bed from the poison in her blood.

Shit. This was really it. Do or die time. The blood hissing through my veins turned my whole body into a foundry, ready to melt from the inside out.

It was a relief when we burst inside and the first goon found us.

He fired at me and missed twice. Guess I stunned the fucker charging right at him. It was a stupid thing to do, but I was gonna get a lot more reckless if I didn't feed my bloodlust now.

I tackled the fuck to the ground, grabbed the back of his head like a ripe melon, and slammed him into the staircase over and over again. His forehead was a bloody mess by the time I was done. By then, the servants had inevitably heard us and come running.

“Freeze! You move your fucking asses an inch, you're dead!” Lev roared, flatting two old maids and a wiry butler against the wall with his rifle.

“Radio your friends outside and play stupid. Act like everything's okay in here. The real fight's out there. This doesn't have to end with your blood added to theirs. We're just here to pay your master a friendly visit.” Daniel sounded surprisingly dark and dangerous when he had assholes under his thumb.

Had to be the Ivankov way. Even the smart ones turn into stone cold killers in the thick of it.

I took off while they secured the entrance. Flipped corners like a maniac spy, gun ready to spit death at any assholes who popped out in front of me.

Shit. Nothing. The whole place seemed like it was deserted.

I kicked down the door to every guest room and the big master suite upstairs. Nothing except the neat, tidy luxury rooms I expected a man like Gioulio to have – all empty.

Motherfuck. Panic shot through my chest for the first time. This wasn't the only time the demon managed to slither away before we hit him where he lived, but now the clock was ticking like never before. I couldn't stand here like a dumb fuck and piss away the
only
chance I'd ever have to win what my girl deserved.

I took off, mentally guessing we had about six minutes left. Flew down the stairs, crashed through my brothers, and grabbed the asshole butler. He shook like a fucking scarecrow in my lock.

“Where the fuck is he? Where!?” I growled it over and over again, dragging him headfirst through the house.

I checked every little twitch in the bastard's face, listened to every note in his voice when he begged for his life. His eyes were bulging, but I wasn't choking him so bad they wouldn't work. The butler just flailed around like any asshole screaming for mercy when I dragged him through the kitchen, the big sitting room, the dining room, and then back to where we'd started. He didn't reveal shit.

Fuck! Where the fuck is he, asshole? Lead me home.

Lev and Daniel looked at me impatiently. They were just as pissed as I was Gioulio hadn't turned up yet, and this latest stunt looked like fucking insanity. I thought I'd lost my mind too until I absentmindedly shoved the human scarecrow against the banister.

He stomped his feet, looking over my shoulder nervously a couple times. What the fuck was back there? I couldn't believe we'd missed the ratty looking wooden door, something narrow and old, straight outta the fifties.

Bingo. I dropped him on the floor and listened to him struggle for breath while I tore open the mystery door. It led down deep, branching off at one level into the house's basement, and then going deeper.

The air was too warm and dry for a boring old wine cellar. The old door popped open with a jerk. Inside, it looked like a total rat hole lined with linoleum and sleek metal filing cabinets.

A shadow moved between them and fired my way. Fuck!

I ducked, rolled on the floor, and returned fire. Some fucker screamed when one bullet found its mark on his calf. I quickly checked to make sure I was in one piece – sometimes when you're shot and hopped up on this much adrenaline, you don't realize it 'til you keel over.

Everything was still in one piece. Perfect. I stayed low to the ground and ran, diving for the legs in the gray trousers when I swept around the corner.

Gioulio got about two more shots off before I beat the gun outta his hands. They both went wild, embedded themselves in the old decrepit wall. Then I nearly did the same to him, slamming him so fucking hard on the old concrete his bones clacked like the hood ornament I'd bounced in the garage.

Our eyes locked. Bastard looked smug as the devil I expected, smiling through the pain from the hole I'd torn in his leg. Nobody ever looked like that when they were well and truly fucked.

Shit. He wasn't alone.

In one movement, I swung him around, using his pale body like a human shield. My gun lined up with the side of his head and I fired, careful not to graze his skull – not just yet. He had a bullet with his name on it for later.

The goon who'd had his gun trained on me dropped. Now, for the first time, the fuckhead in my arms began shaking. We moved, and I flattened him against the filing cabinets, satisfied with the way his spine crunched when I slammed him on the metal.

Fuck. Only about three minutes left, the clock in my head reminded me. We had to make this fast.

Gioulio didn't say a word. His dark, hateful, arrogant eyes said enough. I watched his jaw working, realizing he had one more surprise to take care of.

“Oh, no, motherfucker. No. You. Don't.”

I reached into his wretched mouth and held his jaw open like a dog. He tried to bite my fingers off as I wrestled around for five obscene seconds, pulling the little glass capsule outta his mouth. It rolled on the floor next to my foot and I slammed my heel down on it.

He hadn't bitten into the cyanide, or else he'd be seizing in my arms. Good. The asshole howled, screamed, despair setting in as he realized I'd just slammed his last escape hatch shut.

My fists went to work. I pistol whipped him near the temple for my old man, remembering the way the fucked up hit tore papa up, reliving the night I found his body bloodied and dead.

Three more blows on both sides of his head for the girls he'd enslaved and pimped to those sick motherfuckers. Didn't know how the fuck we'd set them free, but we'd find a way once his crew was in chaos. Daniel and Lev promised me they'd do it.

I didn't know how many women he'd trafficked. Probably dozens. Unfortunately, those three blows had to make do for all of them. Anything more, and his old skull might shatter underneath my fists.

I clenched my gun like a heavy rock, and stopped just short of pounding it right through the top of his head, into his sadistic brain.

Shit, shit. Hold on. Just a little while longer.

I froze my killer instinct, shaking from the effort. The fear in Gioulio's eyes faded as they rolled, went white, and the last resistance in his muscles faded like a balloon losing its helium.

He was out cold. I grabbed him by the neck and dragged him up those stairs, quickly as I could. It wasn't easy. Every muscle in my body strained to haul his ass up. He'd been a muscular man in his younger years, but he'd clearly let it go, packing on fat while his strength faded like a bloated fucking guard dog in retirement.

Soon as I burst through the door, D and Lev were on me, helping me haul him to the main floor. Daniel aimed his gun at the ceiling and fired a few shots, screaming at the cowering servants. “Go! Get your asses out of here! And don't you think once about calling your boys outside or the goddamned cops.”

The servants took off in all directions, screaming up the stairs and into the kitchen. Who could blame them after they'd spent the last five minutes wondering if it was their last?

Five minutes. Fuck!

Time was running out. My brothers and I hauled ass through the house, heading for the spa and gigantic pool in the back. We saw dark shapes lingering near the hill. My gun was drawn, ready to shoot our way out, even though we'd be fucked if we took any more delays. We were too fucking close.

Then one of the shadows signaled. Smoke seethed out my nostrils.

Vlad and our boys were waiting, right next to the SUV parked conveniently in the back for our escape. They helped us all over the gate. I got in the back with Gioulio, sat on his worthless carcass like a sack of potatoes, and we were off.

Just in time too.

Three police choppers descended on the mansion with their searchlights going the instant we were about a mile away. Soon, the ashes of Gioulio's empire were bathed in cherry red, glacier blue, and blinding white lights, dead and haunted to the authorities as the ruins in ancient Rome.

I
woke
up weak and sweaty. The pain was all gone. Amazingly, inexplicably vanished. I thought I was going to die, and I had to check myself several times to make sure I hadn't.

No ghost would ever feel she'd just survived a direct hit from a freight train.

I floated on a steamy high, thick and hot and invincible, the way you feel after getting over a bad illness. My memory took a few more seconds to follow.

My heart remembered everything that happened, and soon gave me some new pain to chew on.

Jesus. I'd really tried to kill him, hadn't I?

I'd saved him from swallowing the crap in the bottle and poisoned myself. I hadn't meant to, but as I slumped into the comfortable silk sheets, I wondered if I deserved it.

Everything feels like a distant dream when you're coming off a serious fever. But right now, the only thing I had to reach and hold onto was this weird and wonderful thing I'd built with Anton. I smiled when I thought about it, marveled at how it must've been unbreakable.

Somehow, I survived.
We
survived.

I couldn't understand it. Nothing made any sense, but my brain didn't lie. He hadn't squandered a second when he realized what was happening with the poison. Anton rushed me to the bathroom, kept me from dying until the doctor came.

It was more than lust, more than using me as a tool. I saw his love, his kindness. I felt his truth every time I took a new breath.

We'd both made mistakes. Our hearts were cruel, and they needed to be to survive the savagery constantly hammering away all around us.

Anton almost killed me by tearing out my heart with his betrayal, plus a little help from my twisted uncle. I'd tried to murder him for it, and I'd nearly died when I realized my mistake and my regret.

Sure, the poison was responsible for almost sending me into an early grave. But really, it was grief, brutal regret that I'd nearly destroyed the man I loved over a battered heart and a lie.

I still wanted to throw myself at him, tell him how sorry I was.

That didn't compare to the need I had for his lips, his embrace. I'd let him suck the last poison from my heart with every fiery kiss. Gioulio's toxin had faded and gone. Soon, I knew the rest of the venom he'd injected into my brain my entire adult life would go with it.

Anton.
I needed to see him. I struggled to sit up, throw my feet over the bed to the cool floor.

I smiled when I was able to stand. Back when I was collapsing in his arms, puking out the poison while he held me, I never thought I'd stand and breathe again.

A window was cracked, letting in the cool autumn air. It was either dusk or just before dawn, judging by the little blue splash on the horizon. I didn't have a clue without something to tell the time.

I staggered to the bathroom and washed my face. The cool, refreshing water helped bring me back to life, made me halfway human again.

I was about to come out when the bedroom door burst open. Something heavy hit the floor, and someone was coughing outside.

“Shit!” Anton's voice.

A second later, he grabbed the bathroom doorknob and jerked it. I still had it locked. “Babe? Are you okay in there?”

I gave it a little push and flung it open, then fell into his arms. “I just woke up,” I said, suddenly more energized by having his arms around me.

“Damn. I was hoping to have you in bed for the big surprise so it didn't give you too much of a shock. Nobody ever said this shit was gonna go perfect...”

I didn't understand what he was talking about. He held me, walked me out of the bathroom. I stopped when I saw his brothers standing against the wall. Lev and Daniel looked at us both, serious expressions on their faces. They wore matching black tactical suits like Anton.

Then I saw the bastard at their feet. Uncle Gioulio lay on the floor, squirming like an honest-to-God eel. His hands and legs were both bound by black cords. He turned his head, saw me, and started to struggle, grunting through his efforts.

The tape over his vile mouth prevented him from saying anything. For a second, my heart tried to have a flash of sympathy, but all the things he'd said and done came crashing home. The Russians weren't perfect, but they hadn't feigned love. They hadn't poisoned me. Anton and his brothers didn't twist my emotions the way he did – and he was fucking family!

My hand tightened in Anton's and he squeezed my fingers hard. We stomped over. I watched my man lean over the battered creature on the floor. In one fluid swipe, he ripped the tape off his mouth.

Uncle Gioulio coughed, looked at me, and swore. “Fuck. Don't let them do this to me, Brina. You can call it all off, save your uncle.”

I shook my head. Amazing. I'd never seen him act so pathetic.

Anger bristled in Anton's eyes. He drew a handgun from the holster near his belt and pressed it to my uncle's temple.

“You heard her. No. Now, shut the fuck up! You don't talk unless she tells you to, understand?” Every syllable he spoke was a feral growl. “And quit your begging, asshole. Be a man for once in your miserable life.”

Uncle Gioulio turned his head on the floor and closed his eyes. A harsh sob jarred his body. I came closer, pushed gently against Anton, pressing my lips to my uncle's ear.

“You told me about mama and how his father ran her down.” I waited until my uncle saw me squeezing Anton's arm, looking lovingly into his eyes. I beamed back just as much hate at the bastard on the floor. “You didn't tell me about Mercedes, the French woman they were really after. Why?”

Gioulio sobbed again. He rolled, until he was flat on his back, miserably staring up at the ceiling.

“I loved that fucking woman. I'll go to my grave loving her like nothing else. Just do what you're gonna do,” he said, a little strength returning to his voice.

“You lied to me.” The words were so dry in my throat I choke back a cough.

I wasn't sure what I expected. Maybe an apology, an unselfish sob, something to tell me he was sorry for all this and wasn't just out to save his own ass.

Uncle Gioulio's eyes shifted to mine. They were narrowed, hateful. He looked at me like a pet who'd just disappointed him. Anton saw it, and he snarled, tightening his hold on the gun. He was ready to pull the trigger well over a minute ago.

“Not yet,” I said, pinching at his arm. “Uncle, I need to know...did you ever care about me at all? Was I ever anything more than a loose end you couldn't tie up after you killed my parents?”

“I had you tied up,” he hissed, bitterness in his voice. “Everything was fine. Perfect, until you decided to start interviewing this asshole in prison. You never would've found out shit. You would've been dumb, blind, and happy. I could've sent you overseas, left you the family fortune, more money than you'll ever see now. I've made ten times more each year alone than I ever did working with Gio.”

I bit my lip when he said my father's name, and the asshole just kept digging.

“He wasn't strong enough. Neither was that fucking whore he married. She turned him soft. She twisted his arm into building more legit shit, riding my ass about leaving the real lucrative stuff behind. We had a problem with the Russians, and I saw my chance to kill two birds at once. It was Mercedes' idea. That woman never made mistakes. Fuck, if things hadn't gone to shit with her, I wouldn't be sprawled out on the floor like this right now!”

“But you are,” I reminded him, running my sharp nails over his chest. “Thank you, uncle. That was all I needed to know.”

Anton looked at me, his blue eyes burning like gas fires. “We ready to flush this turd, or what?”

“Do it,” Uncle Gioulio insisted. “Let him put me out of my fucking misery.”

The terror was gone. He was ready to die, resigned to his fate at the business end of Anton's gun.

Why did that make me feel so disappointed?

Anton looked at me. I nodded. His hand was up lightning fast, and he was about to pull the trigger when I reached up and slapped his shoulder.

“Wait. There's one more thing...” I crawled around on my hands and knees, until I was on the opposite side of him.

I put my hand on Gioulio's head and ran it backwards slowly. I'd inherited the same amazing Ligiotti hair, soft and dark and thick. The adrenaline numbing him made his jaw work like he was chewing on his own anxiety, sinking his teeth into the memories no doubt flashing before his eyes.

Several long, soft strokes calmed him down. He looked at me one last time with wider, softer eyes. There was the man I remembered. Kindly old uncle Gioulio.

Now, I was sure.

Somewhere deep down inside, he really cared for me. That made everything he'd done even more unforgivable.

I was ready.

“Niece, I'm sorry, sorry, so fucking sorry,” he said, his voice breaking.

A thin, pleading smile pulled at his lips. I studied his pale face for a moment, leaning over him, finishing the last loop through his hair with my fingertips.

My face was right over his when I pursed my laps and spat. “I'm not.”

I reached for the gun in Anton's hand while my spit was still in my uncle's eyes. I wrapped both hands tight around the weapon, pressed it to his forehead, and pulled the trigger.

The shot was deafening.

I jumped as its echo died. The gun slid out of my hands to the floor, and I backed away on my knees before my uncle's dark blood could touch me. Anton was on me lightning fast, pulling me up into his arms.

“You did good, babe.”

“Just kiss me,” I whimpered, stumbling away from the dead body.

He did. Anton grabbed me, jerked me close, smashed his lips to mine. His kiss carried me away, let me soar high above the hell below. I'd killed him, and hoped to God he was the only person I'd ever have to pull the trigger on.

Good thing I made it count, my one play at controlling life and death.

Anton's kiss swirled through the icy numbness inside me. With just his mouth, he warmed me, soothed me, told me everything was going to be okay.

We could rebuild after this. I just didn't know how.

“What now?” I whispered, stepping away with him so his brothers could start cleaning up the body.

“Glad you asked. The doc said you're good to travel. You just need a little extra rest, but you can make the trip.”

“Travel?” I shook my head. “When? Where?”

“We're leaving, babe. Tonight. Half the Chicago police were swarming our asses looking for me, and that's before we caused a ruckus at your uncle's place. Now? Shit, I'll be surprised if the Governor hasn't sent out the National Guard.”

“Oh my God.”

My heart beat like a hammer. He really was one of the country's most wanted – something I'd easily forgotten in the chaos. I had to focus on my breathing, anything to prevent myself from falling back into another coma.

“Don't worry. We've already got our rat line worked out. My brothers are staying here. They'll be able to buy time and stay outta trouble with a few good lawyers. As for you and me, we gotta put some serious distance between us and the windy city.”

“Where?” I whispered again, wondering all about the mechanics of loving a fugitive.

Hell, make that
living
like one too. We both killed the bastard at our feet, and we'd both go to jail if the law ever caught up with us.

Where? Where the hell was there anywhere on earth we'd be able to live above the surface, without looking over our shoulder every stupid second?

Anton just looked at me and smiled. “Come on, babe. You're a smart girl. You already know.”

E
arly the next morning
, we left for Lake Michigan. I watched Anton bid his brothers goodbye. The three men exchanged big manly hugs while I looked on.

When they were finished, the sophisticated Daniel came strutting over to me. “You're a lucky girl. Never thought I'd see the day when Anton's ready to run off and settle down. Listen, I'm sorry things had to start out so fucked up between us.”

You and me both.
I chewed on what he'd said for awhile, trying to decide whether he was being sincere or just diplomatic.

Grudgingly, I took his hand, and gave it one hard shake. Anton's brothers had good reason for mistrusting me after everything Uncle Gioulio had done. Of course, they'd been complete assholes and only made things worse.

But when had anything between our families been easy? If someone had told me I'd be standing in this house after a prison break and a near death experience, lovestruck by a man who'd scared my panties off the first time I met him, I would've made them bite their tongues.

“Chicago's in your hands now,” I reminded him. “It'll be good to put some distance between us for awhile. Someday, when we come back...we'll see how I feel.”

An arrogant smirk pulled at his lips. “You'll love us one day. Me and Lev both. I'm sure of it. One big, happy family. Whatever the hell I thought about you before, consider it gone. Clean slate. Take care of him for us, baby. You're good for him, and that's all that fucking matters at the end of the day.”

He hugged me. A dozen emotions tangled in my belly.
Clean slate
resonated, and so did his tacit acceptance. When he let me go, the chauffeur was waiting impatiently.

Another servant carried down our luggage while Anton and Lev exchanged a few more words. I overheard them while I descended, taking the steps to the car, wondering if this dacha overseas he'd picked out had high stone steps too.

“By the time you get back, bro, we're all gonna have another eight figures to split between us. We're gonna make some crazy fucking bank without the Italians in the way.” Lev looked past his older brother like he was waiting for gold coins to start raining from the sky.

“Whatever. You know I don't care about that shit. We're all in one piece. Blood before money. I want my family to prosper, but I'm outta the business for a good, long while. It's in your hands now. You make our old man proud filling up the bank, and I'll do it building this family.”

Anton turned, looked at me. He seriously loved me.

Those lights in his royal blue eyes were as bright as the stars that first night we'd had sex. It was insane how fast I'd let his whirlwind pick me up and carry me away, but love and hate were always rocket fuel in huge quantities.