Chapter 21
Shit. Olivia was struggling to keep away from that taser and away from the gorilla of a man, Nicholai. It was his beefy arms that had grabbed her from Todd’s house. Even though she’d walked willingly into the trap, she’d been shocked at how large the man was, easily as big as Ethan had been.
When Javan had shown up at Crystal’s house while she’d been there to grab Simona, she’d instantly been worried. Javan had a busted nose and a bloody lip and had obviously been in a fight.
He’d explained how he’d been attacked and tied up in the apartment above Todd’s garage, and had to watch on the monitors as Todd had been kidnapped.
Olivia had panicked. Full on lost-her-shit kind of panic. Like last night when she’d taken off with Simona in her arms. She wanted to rush into action. Rush to Todd’s place to look for him.
Instead, she’d been convinced to wait for Ethan to arrive. The man had been on his way there after following a lead in Texas.
So, she’d waited, holding Simona as tightly as she could for almost an hour before Ethan finally walked through the door at Crystal’s place. By that time, all her friends had gathered, after hearing the news about Todd’s kidnapping.
They were surrounded by friends and people she deemed family.
There had been speculation as to who had taken him, but until Ethan walked in with a picture and proof, none had even come close to the truth.
When Ethan had mentioned the name Kimber Ivanov, her first thought had been of the pretty blonde Russian that had come into her store the other day. Then Ethan had shown her a picture, and she’d confirmed that it was the same woman.
“There’s been a yacht floating off the edge of the island for a few days,” Sarah had jumped in. “My staff claims that some Russians were trying to dock the large vessel at our pier the other night.”
“That would go along with my intel,” Ethan had agreed. “It appears that they rented a van and drove to San Diego and then back to Texas, but then, the trail dried up.”
“Do you think they sailed here from Texas?” Olivia asked.
“It would only take a little over a week,” Ethan supplied.
“What do we do to get him back?” she asked, tears stinging her eyes. “I need him back.”
“Mommy, is Todd okay?” Simona asked.
“I don’t know, baby.” She hugged her daughter again. “I’m going to do everything I can to get him back.”
Simona started to cry. “I don’t want anything for my birthday, except for Todd.”
“Oh, baby.” She closed her eyes and held onto her daughter. “We’ll get him back.”
“There is a chance,” Ethan said. “It’s slim and might be dangerous.”
“I’ll do it.” Olivia jumped up. “If there’s a chance we’ll get him back.”
“No,” Crystal and Sarah said at the same time. “Let us…”
“This is for me,” Olivia said. “He belongs to us.” She looked at her daughter, then turned to Ethan. “What do I need to do?”
He’d taken a deep breath and then answered. “Get kidnapped.”
So, here she was. Stalling for time. Waiting for the unseen boats outside to surround the massive yacht that she’d been dragged to.
The only way she knew how to stall was a classic catfight. Oh, she’d seen enough Bond movies to understand that the villainess would use her and the hero’s past to try and damage true love. And at this point, she was pretty damn sure that’s what was between her and Todd.
She’d witnessed the grotesque display with that kiss when she’d been shoved into the room.
Todd had looked disgusted during the kiss, then he’d seen her, and his look had changed to full blown worry.
Now she was having a hell of a time distracting Kimber. Especially after she pulled out the taser. If Olivia got tasered, there was no way they would hear the woman’s confession on the wire that she was wearing in her hair.
Nicholai had searched her, just as Ethan had explained he would. She’d closed her eyes and held her breath while his beefy hands ran over her breasts, her buttocks, thankfully, not once had he run his fingers through her dark locks to expose the hairpiece that hid the device.
“I’m not as fragile as you think.” Kimber finally took the bait and tossed the taser aside.
Olivia watched as the woman stepped out of her red high heels and started moving towards her.
“Oh, right.” Olivia shook her head. “This is a fair fight. With Nicholai here.”
Kimber barked something in Russian at the man, which had him moving back away from Olivia and standing on the other side of the room.
Turning back to Kimber, Olivia allowed her body to remember all of the moves she’d learned in the self-defense class she and Crystal had taken shortly after Brock had been arrested and her arm had healed.
She took the first blow to her chin and almost landed on her butt. The second blow was more of a slap and bounced off Olivia’s shoulder.
Kimber used her long nails to scratch Olivia’s arm, causing blood to squirt out and land directly on the woman’s face.
“I draw first blood,” Kimber said with a smile. “You are weak, just like Adrian.”
Olivia used the moment the woman was distracted while she spoke to twist and kick out, knocking her onto her ass. Then she kicked out with her foot and hit the woman’s chin, knocking her head backwards.
When Kimber recovered, Olivia smiled at the empty space where one of her perfectly white teeth used to be. Blood spurted from the gaping hole.
“You bitch.” Kimber wiped her mouth and jumped up to rush towards the taser.
“Am I too much for you to handle now?” Olivia teased, fear spiking as Kimber grew inches from getting the taser.
She relaxed when Kimber turned back around and started moving towards her instead.
“When this is all over, I am going to enjoy watching the fish eat your corpse. Then I’ll dangle your daughter over the edge of the boat as the sharks circle and slowly bite her to pieces,” Kimber said while blood flowed from the spot where her front tooth used to be.
“You will never touch my daughter,” Olivia said, sidestepping another blow, then using her elbow to knock Kimber onto her ass again. She knew better than to get too close to the woman. She didn’t want to be pulled down onto the ground.
Olivia’s best moves involved twisting away and kicking. Or so her self-defense coach had informed her. She allowed Kimber to stand up and square off once more.
“You are nothing!” Kimber screamed as she threw herself at Olivia.
Olivia fell backwards, bouncing off the wall while taking the scrapes and slaps Kimber used on her.
She was too close to fight back the way she knew. So instead, she did what she could. She kicked, pulled hair, and even bit her way free. She pushed Kimber to the ground and used her own weight to pin the woman down.
When Kimber yelled something in Russian, Olivia knew she was in trouble and glanced up to brace herself for Nicholai’s attack. Instead, she watched in horror as Todd yelled. “Leave her alone!” and threw himself, chair and all, at Nicholai.
Both men flew across the room and landed in a tangled heap on the floor. The chair that had been holding Todd down shattered into pieces.
Nicholai tried to get up, but now that Todd was free, he sat on the man and started throwing powerful blows at the man’s head.
Olivia’s hair was yanked back as Kimber jerked out from under her. She’d been so distracted watching and worrying about Todd that she’d forgotten she was sitting on Kimber.
For the next few moments, Olivia did everything she could, used every move she had in her arsenal, to overcome Kimber.
She’d finally gotten the woman under her again when the door to the room flew open.
“Get on the ground now!” multiple masked men in all black yelled into the room.
Olivia jerked her hands into the air and did as she was asked. Only to have Kimber throw one last sucker punch, slamming her head back against the wall until she saw stars.
“Olivia?” Todd’s face appeared directly in front of hers. His lip was bloody, and his eye was swollen. “Honey, look at me.”
“Todd? Did we win?” she asked, holding onto her head.
“Yeah, baby. We won.” He smiled at her.
“You’re bleeding.” She lifted her hand and touched his lip.
“No, it’s lipstick,” he assured her as he wiped his mouth clean. “I might have a black eye though.”
She smiled. “Me too.” She touched her left eye and he laughed. “You fight like a champ.”
“Not like a girl?” she asked, as every part of her body began to ache.
“Hell no.” He leaned in and brushed his lips across her forehead. “Remind me to never cross you.”
She smiled and looked around. “Where’d Kimber and Nicholai go?”
“They’ve been taken away. Ethan’s team took them outside.” He wrapped his arms around her again. “What were you thinking?” He leaned back. “Putting yourself in danger like that.”
“I was thinking of you.” She stood up with his help and started to dust off her jeans, only to realize they were beyond ruined. So were her shirt and shoes. Everything she wore was ripped or covered in blood.
“You have to think of Simona.” He took her shoulders lightly and turned her towards him. “She needs a mother.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “She needs a father too, and I had hoped that you would fill that position.”
Todd remained silent for a moment. “You…” He swallowed. “You want me to be Simona’s father?”
“Yes,” she said rolling her eyes. “I really had hoped you weren’t this dense,” she added with a smile.
“You put yourself in danger to save me.” He pulled her into his arms.
“Don’t make me regret it.” She kissed him.
“I was going to ask you to marry me on the Fourth,” he said as he rested his forehead against hers. “I figured that way, if you said no, I could use the excuse of not hearing you over the fireworks I had planned to set off.”
She smiled. “What if I said yes now, so you know my answer ahead of time?”
He grinned. “Does that mean I still have to get down on my knee to ask?”
“Yes,” she said. She kissed him again. “And this time, I want a big fancy wedding. White dress, bridesmaids, and all.”
“That can be arranged. I know your family wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“Oh!” she gasped. “My family.” She tried to jerk out of his arms. “They’re probably worried sick. We have to…”
He took her hand and followed her outside.
“There’s a boat ready to take you back to the harbor.” Ethan came out of the dark and motioned to a small dinghy attached to the yacht.
She pulled off the hairpiece that was, at this point, hanging from her head and handed it to Ethan. Then she climbed down the ladder and sat next to Todd on the small boat.
They held onto one another as they rode back to Silver Creek docks. When they grew closer, she noticed that everyone they knew stood under the lights, waiting for them.
Crystal was holding onto Rory, who held Simona in his arms. Sarah and Ben, Lilly and Adam, and Kayla and Rowan waited with all of their kids gathered around them.
When they saw them coming, they all broke out in cheers as Olivia and Todd started waving.
“Mommy!” Simona jumped into her arms when she stepped onto the dock, causing Olivia to hiss with pain. Todd snagged Simona from her grasp and spun her around to distract her from Olivia’s pain. When he stopped spinning her, he wrapped an arm around Olivia’s shoulders.
“Your mommy has agreed to let me be your daddy,” he told Simona.
Her daughter looked up at her with big eyes. “You have?”
“Yes,” Olivia answered with a smile. “If it’s okay with you?”
“Yes!” Simona started bouncing in Todd’s arms. “It’s the best birthday present ever!” Simona shouted.
“This calls for a celebration. What do you say to an early birthday cake at our house?” Crystal suggested. “Your mommy and your new daddy can shower and change into some clean clothes while we dish up some ice cream?”
“Yes!” all the kids shouted as they started dancing around.
Half an hour later, Olivia stood under the hot water in Crystal’s guest room shower, letting it wash over her sore muscles and bruised body.
Warm hands gripped her waist and pulled her body back into a hard, powerful chest.
“Feel better?” Todd asked.
“Not really.” She laughed. “Every single part of me hurts. My only prize is knowing that I still have all of my teeth and”—he turned in his hold and wrapped her arms around him—“you.” She kissed him as he chuckled.
“Marry me,” he said softly against her lips.
“I’ve already said yes,” she reminded him.
He smiled. “I know, but I was afraid I was concussed and imagined it all.” He kissed her again.
“In that case, you can ask me as many times as you want. The answer will always be yes.” She leaned up on her toes and brushed her lips softly against his.
“How is it that every part of me hurts?” he asked.
She laughed and then hissed when her ribs ached. “I think you need to look at getting that hot tub we talked about installed this weekend.”
“Done.”
“We’d better go downstairs. I hear that after the kids are shuffled up to bed, the adults are going to have a story time where we get to fill them in on every detail of what happened on the yacht.”
“Oh fun. I get to tell them how you kicked Russian butt.” He sighed. “The kids are going to love having a sleepover.”
She smiled. “Crystal sure knows how to throw a party.”
They got out of the shower, dressed in the borrowed clothes, and made their way downstairs, where all of the kids were enjoying cake and ice cream and a movie.
A plate with a large piece of chocolate cake was thrust into her hands along with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.
“Coffee?” Kayla asked.
“If I’m going to relive what happened on the boat, yes.” She sat down at the table and dug into the treat.
“Mommy, CJ says you killed a Russian spy,” Simona said, rushing over her.
Olivia laughed. “I didn’t kill anyone. But I did knock her tooth out.”
Simona’s eyes grew big. “You did? Was it her grown-up tooth?”
Olivia laughed and pulled her daughter into her lap. “Yes, it was.”
Todd’s hand reached out and took hers. “Your mother is a hero. She saved my life.”
“She did?” Simona asked.
“Yes,” Todd said, winking at Olivia. “She did.”