16. Ben
16
BEN
I shot the man who wanted to attack Sonya with a crowbar. He dropped dead.
Then I shot the men holding her back. Both fell before they could reach for their guns.
I killed them all. One by one, the Ilyin Mafia men filed into the room, lured by the commotion. And I ended each one of the bastards.
I didn’t think. I didn’t feel. I moved on autopilot, numb to any distractions in this war. All those times in combat in the military had honed me into this machine of death. My hits were solitary tasks, carefully planned out and executed.
This was a massacre, and I didn’t stop until every single one of them was dead.
More will come.
I knew that. This wasn’t a game over moment just because I’d moved with precision and professional accuracy to shoot all ten of these men before they could get a reliable shot at me. Someone would be alerted further back from another part of this building. A camera could be watching. These Mafia families didn’t leave shit to chance, so I knew, without a doubt, this window of opportunity to flee with Sonya wouldn’t last.
“Get up.” Keeping my gun at the ready and scanning my surroundings, I ran up to Sonya curled up on the floor. She was hunched over, covering her belly, but she was alive. Bruised, bloody, and shaking, but alive.
“Sonya. Get up. Let’s go.” I couldn’t soften my voice. I wasn’t able to lighten up and coax her into rising off the filthy floor. This was the time for orders. For strategy. For getting the fuck out of here while we could.
I reached for her sleeve as she slowly began to lift up. Blinking her big, dark eyes, she showed me a bewildered gaze as she checked her surroundings. More and more, she leaned up, but this wasn’t the time to dawdle. She could react and freak out later. Right this instant, we had to move it.
“Come on. Let’s go!” I held onto her arm with a tighter clutch, helping her to stand and also to pull her along with me.
She didn’t protest. Maybe she was too shell-shocked to process what was happening or that she still lived. Tucked into the middle of a shootout, it was a miracle she hadn’t been shot. And she wasn’t. On her feet, her legs shaky as she found her stride, she moved without any suggestion of a gunshot wound.
“Come on,” I urged, still using a voice of command to push her to hurry as fast as she could. Any second now, an Ilyin could show up and try to stop us. I was half tempted to pick her up and carry her, to rush faster, but I had to keep at least one hand available to shoot if I had to.
No one came at us as we ran for my SUV idling outside the building, and I exhaled a slight breath of relief that Sonya was too dazed to protest. Or maybe she trusted me because I’d killed those men to spare her life.
Now wasn’t the time to figure out the reason for her motivation to go with me, but the second she was in the passenger seat and I shoved the gear stick into drive, I appreciated that she hadn’t put up a fight, argued, or wanted to ask any questions.
This was a matter of life or death, and she was in agreement to come along.
“Are you kidnapping me?” she accused as soon as I sped further from the warehouse.
“No.” I reached over to shove at her head, though. “Get down!”
Gunshots were fired, and the pings of the shots on my bullet-proof windows followed. Two cars zoomed close, giving chase, and I focused on speeding away without crashing. All the while, Sonya tucked down and ranted at me, bitching me out for daring to think I could be the next one to kidnap her.
“I’m not—” I cut myself off with a growl as I turned sharply to lose the car after us. They crashed into a building, and I checked on the location of the other car.
“Then where do you think you’re taking me? Against my will.”
“For fuck’s sake. You want to live, don’t you?” I gritted my teeth to get the SUV turning even sharper the other way. The car in hot pursuit after us couldn’t keep up, and they slammed into a truck at an intersection. “I’m taking you to a safe location.”
When she didn’t reply, I glanced at her and tried to catch my breath from the adrenaline rush. She glowered right back, her kissable lips thin in a firm line as she stared me down.
“I’m taking you to a safe location.”
She narrowed her eyes more, not speaking.
“Do you hear me?”
“How could I not when you’re shouting at me?” she sassed back.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I volleyed my attention again, looking back to see if any cars were coming and forward again as I checked the route ahead. “I?—”
Don’t. Don’t lash out. Keep your cool. She’s shocked and traumatized and… I whooshed out a long breath. “I’m taking you to a safe location.”
“Of your choice? You’ll decide that?”
“Yes!” I again shot her a side-eye, trying my hardest not to be annoyed at her attitude after I’d literally followed those Ilyins to save her.
“Then how are you not kidnapping me?”
“I’m not?—”
“Because I am sick of being taken!” She screamed it, fisting her hands as she snarled at me. “I am sick and tired of being taken and controlled.”
I licked my lips and forced a dry swallow, minding my temper. She was venting, raging and releasing all that pent-up fear. I recognized that it was happening, and I schooled myself not to react, not to reply in kind with anger and frustration.
“I’m only taking you to a safe location,” I repeated.
She didn’t speak up. Seething as she turned, giving me her shoulder, she crossed her arms and stared at the window.
“I’m taking you to a safe location,” I said once more, just to drive in that reassurance. I felt obligated to treat her like a feral, cornered, and scared animal. “Were you shot?”
No reply.
“Are you seriously injured?”
Again, no reply or reaction.
“Are you?—”
She shifted, turning away from me even more, and I clamped my lips shut tight in frustration. She wasn’t going to tell me shit. I got it. But she would. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was letting her out of my sight now that I had her.
The further I drove, the more I mapped out a rash plan. Lev and Eva would demand that I bring her to the Baranov mansion, but I didn’t think that would be the best course of action until I had all my answers. Until this enigmatic woman could explain what was going on, I would keep her where I could control her safety and security.
Looks like the Ilyins really did intend to hold her until they could force her into marriage. Since that day I heard Igor Petrov and Geoff Ilyin talking, when Geoff claimed that they’d had Sonya taken for a future arranged marriage to their benefit, I’d dismissed it as his making up lies to sound impressive. I hadn’t wanted to be convinced that they’d actually done that, that the Sonya I’d met and desired could be the woman they were using like that.
But now that I’d found her in the Ilyins’ custody, abused and beaten, it seemed that they hadn’t been bluffing. They really had taken Sonya. Eva was wrong that her sister had run away.
Yet, there were still too many unknowns I wanted cleared up.
Letting Sonya stew seemed smartest while I tried to figure out how to get her to talk. But the next time I glanced at her, I found her fast asleep. Dark circles lined under her closed eyes, and I sighed at the sight of her at peace. If not at peace, then relaxed to the point where she could rest.
Making up my mind to give her a chance to rest as much as she could in the hopes that she’d open up to me when she wasn’t scared or threatened, I drove to one of the remote cabins I owned upstate. While I drove in a different direction from the small town where I’d first encountered her and taken her virginity, I counted on the distance between my place and the city to be an advantage.
She slept the whole way there, and when I parked in front of the small cabin, she still didn’t stir.
What happened to you? I furrowed my brow as I opened her door then brought her inside. Carrying her didn’t rouse her, and I tried to imagine what had caused her to be this exhausted.
Once I got her inside and secured the cabin, I checked that we had food and essentials for a few days. A glance at my phone showed no reception, but that didn’t surprise me. The reception was always terrible out here, and I hoped I wouldn’t need to make an emergency call.
I laid her on the only bed here, then tried to check her over for any injuries. It didn’t seem like she’d hit her head on the ground, but redness and swollen spots showed from those fuckers hitting her. Nothing seemed too serious, though, from what I could tell. When I lifted her shirt to check her stomach, she snapped to and bolted upright.
“Let me?—”
She jack-knifed, sitting up so quickly and bringing her hand forward.
I caught her hand, deflecting her hit. “Easy.”
“No! Don’t tell me to be easy.” She scanned the room, frantic to get off the bed. “I won’t be kidnapped again.”
I held her back, not letting her scurry away. “I said easy ,” I told her in my most commanding voice.
“Are you kidnapping me?” she asked, sounding like a panicked, broken record.
I frowned at her, not wanting to commit to a yes or no. The answer I gave her would dictate how hard she’d want to fight me off. Deep in my heart, I tried not to let that fantasy entertain me. Because kidnapping—or keeping—Sonya didn’t sound so bad. After only seeing her twice before, I was well aware of the spell she’d cast on me.
It wouldn’t be a hardship on my part to keep her.
“I’m trying to help you,” I said instead.
She didn’t lose the furious scowl or intense stare that hinted at zero trust or faith in me.
“I am going to keep you safe, Sonya, while you explain what the fuck is going on.”
She pressed her lips tighter together, stubborn to stay silent.
“I need answers.”
She tipped her chin up and narrowed her eyes more.
“Dammit, Sonya, talk to me!”
“No.” She licked her lips before shutting them tight again. “I’m not telling you anything.”
“You owe me some answers.”
She gaped at me. “I don’t owe you?—”
I lowered my hand to tug up her shirt, exposing that small bump. I hadn’t noticed it at the strip club, and I was shocked how I hadn’t. Sure, I’d been distracted by desire, wanting her, but…
“Is this my child?” I stared her down, daring her to lie. “Is this my baby in there that fucker wanted to hurt?” I couldn’t help the enraged growl in my tone. Flashbacks of her being held and attacked infuriated me all over again. But to aim for harming my child, too?
Sniffling once, she nodded. “From…” Her throat flexed with a swallow. “From when I saw you at the bar and…”
“It’s mine?” I had to ask again. I had to hear her confirm it again to erase the doubt. I hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up high.
She nodded a little more firmly. “I gave my virginity to you that night. And no one else has touched me since.”
I was going to be a father. She’d confirmed it, and I didn’t detect a lie in her quiet, sheepish admission.
I would have a child.
Me—I would have a son or daughter to raise and care for.
I’d been loosely wishing I could slow down and settle with someone. Turning forty had been on my mind a lot lately. But to actually already have a child on the way…
I exhaled a long breath as I stared at her.
“I didn’t let them. I couldn’t let them hurt my baby.”
I set my hand on her stomach, so moved and overwhelmed with indescribable emotions that I could barely breathe past it all. Awe. Shock. Wonder. Excitement. Utter surprise.
“ Our baby.”
I admired the contrast of my darker, tanned skin with my fingers over her pale belly. Feeling this soulful and heartfelt connection to Sonya seemed like a mystery I’d never solve, but knowing she really would be the mother of my child? I couldn’t get over it. I couldn’t accept the miracle of it and let it sink in.
“Our baby,” I repeated. “One you didn’t bother to mention when I spotted you running through that strip club.”
“Oh, you mean when you pretended not to recognize me in that little room? You want answers from me, but I demand them from you , whoever the hell you are.”
“I’m the father of this baby,” I said, slanting over her on the bed. I couldn’t help the smile on my face. This was serious business, but just saying it out loud got to me.
I would be a father .
“Yeah, but…” She frowned slightly, reclining as I advanced over her on the bed. “But I don’t even know who you are or why or how?—”
I closed the distance between us, lunging in for a kiss. It was swift, hard, unforgiving and full of all the awe and marvel of her and the fact that we had a baby to look forward to.
“I’m the father of this baby,” I reminded her as I stroked up her stomach, rewarded with the gasp of surprise she gave at my touch.
Hovering over her more, I kissed her again. “I’m the man who took your virginity.”
She licked her lips after that kiss. “But why did you pretend not to know me at that club?”
I tugged her shirt off. “You faked it too.”
“I didn’t fake it .”
I grinned, mesmerized by how this immediate, potent desire rendered her helpless to needing my touch too. Lust warmed up her gaze, and she moaned when I kissed her again. “You faked not knowing who I was.”
“Only because you did first.”
As I kissed her again and again, giving up on seducing some answers out of her, I slowly got our clothes off until this burning need to have her again was all that I could think of. “You’ve been in my life as nothing but a mystery, Sonya.” I urged her to part her legs for me, and she did.
“I barely know you.”
I lined up my dick and nudged inside, robbing her of speech. Low, sexy moans left her lips now.
“There are too many questions about you, too many things that don’t add up yet.” I almost closed my eyes at how good it felt to thrust all the way into her. “I was surprised to see you, and it seemed easier to focus on this” —I pulled out and slid back in quickly— “instead of interrogating you.”
“Oh, fuck.” She hugged me close, already writhing slightly. “Yeah. I… Yeah. I want to focus on your doing this too.”
Mindful of where she had to have been injured and hit, I fucked her. Steadily. Slowly. Thoroughly, only letting her get close to coming when she seemed ready to explode. A hard, fast quickie could be just as hot as a slow, lazy fuck.
“But after,” I promised her, panting as I strained to breathe through the exertion of holding myself back, “after, we’re going to talk.”
She shook her head, but I couldn’t tell if she was arguing or just thrashing to come. Her pussy gloved me so tightly that I wouldn’t last. She felt too good. She tempted me to let go and embrace this sense of belonging that knitted us together so close.
We will. As soon as I could please her and watch her face as she hit her orgasm, we would talk.
“I’m not letting you go,” I mumbled between short, harsh breaths as I resisted the urge to come. I had to wait for her, and blessedly, she came.
Crying out, she clenched around me and rode out the pleasure. Her face contorted into that intense wince of bliss. Her legs trembled as she kept them slung around me. And her inner walls clenched and squeezed, triggering me to come so hard that I wanted to bellow and roar. I shot my hot cum deep inside her. I let the tingles of that electric thrill chase down my spine. And I relished the slick fit of her pussy milking me until I was dry.
Mine.
I rolled over, keeping her close. Our cum stuck to our legs as she moved onto her side with me, and I couldn’t help but lower my gaze toward her stomach.
Ours.
I kissed her once more.
You’re mine. I placed my hand over her stomach. And it’s my turn to protect what is ours.