Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Alexei laughed. Hard. Deep guffaws of laughter that just annoyed the ever-loving-hell out of Simone as he ignored Ryan’s threat and hauled her—and her attached chair—a good three feet away from Ryan.
And then…
Alexei put a knife to her throat, even as the jerk kept laughing.
“Don’t,” Ryan warned him.
“What are you going to do, rich boy? You think you can stop me?” Alexei’s accent slid hard into the words. “You’re weak. Pathetic.”
“That’s…” Simone licked her lips. “Really unnecessary.” She craned her head back, trying to get away from the knife. “No need to insult people. Isn’t it enough that you kidnapped us? Do you have to be rude on top of things?”
Ryan stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. She had not. She was simply trying to buy time. She also wanted to get the knife away from her throat. “Can’t we all be civilized? Is it such a crime to be polite?”
The knife left her throat.
Yes! She pulled in a deep breath.
Only for Alexei to tell her, “I’m going to ask you questions, and when you lie to me, I’ll respond by cutting off a finger. One finger for each lie.”
“What?” A screech from Simone as terror squeezed her heart. She happened to have a deep attachment to all of her fingers. And they clearly had a deep attachment to her. “In what world is that polite? You can’t just go around cutting off—”
He went behind her. She felt the press of the knife against her left pinky finger.
“Fingers,” Simone whispered, finishing. She had to swallow down bile. “Okay, I think we should all calm down. Clearly, this situation has accelerated. We should de-escalate.”
“Get the fuck away from her!” Ryan roared. “You want to target someone, then target me! Come at me with your knife!”
She literally almost said…Yes, go threaten his fingers.
But she didn’t. Because this mess was hers, and she didn’t want an innocent man getting hurt for her crimes.
“The broach and the earrings are in one of my dress pockets.” She still had on the dress.
Slightly wet. Definitely clinging itchily to her skin.
Her eyes squeezed closed. “And you should let Ryan go. He had nothing at all to do with the theft.” There.
Full confession. No need for anyone to lose fingers.
“Simone?” Ryan seemed to be choking on her name.
Grimacing, she opened her eyes and peeked at him. “Hi.”
“Theft?” he repeated.
“Um, so, I may have misled you a bit about who I really am.” Then, duty bound, she added, “It was also more about retrieving stolen property than outright thievery. I was not the original thief. That would be Frederick. He seems to enjoy taking things that belong to others.” She made a show of looking around.
“Alexei, where is your boss? And does he always have you do the dirty work for him?”
“Yes. Always,” Alexei returned without any hesitation. “Because it’s my favorite type of work to do.”
“You don’t say. Never would have guessed.
” A mutter. Like she hadn’t figured that out with his knife play.
The man liked pain and blood. Terrible to know because it meant her current situation was about to get a whole lot worse.
“Will Frederick be making an appearance soon?” She found him far easier to manipulate than Alexei.
She also wanted to know how many enemies she’d be facing.
Right now, it was just her against Alexei.
Well, her and Ryan against Alexei, but Ryan was zero help so…
It was her against Alexei.
“He’s coming,” Alexei assured her. “Had to get the last of those big-money guests out of the way. Should be arriving with the team soon.”
Did that mean it was morning? Sunlight had been streaking through the slats in the stable, so, yes, definitely morning.
She’d been unconscious for quite a while.
Bad. But no time to dwell on that bit of news.
“I don’t suppose you’d define ‘soon’ for me, would you?
Is it like…an hour from now? Ten minutes?
Is it—ow!” The jerk had just grabbed her hair and yanked her head back.
The knife was at her throat. Again. Fear poured through her veins, completely chilling her, but she would be damned if she showed that fear to Alexei.
She blinked quickly, refusing to let any tears fall as he yanked harder.
“I don’t care about the broach! Or any stupid earrings! I took those from you hours ago!” Thundering words that blasted at her. “Where is the egg?”
“What?”
“The egg!”
“I heard you!” She had. “I just have zero clue what you’re talking about!” Why in the world would she have some egg?
The knife cut her skin. She felt the trickle of blood on her neck.
“Stop.” Low. Chilling. From Ryan. “Stop now. Or you’re a dead man.”
What a bold and meaningless threat. Her gaze caught his.
“Look away,” she told Ryan. Because this was about to get bad.
She’d just managed to work her right hand free.
She would have to move quickly. Alexei had a major size and strength advantage on her.
Given his passion for dirty, bloody work, Simone suspected that Alexei had a whole lot more killing experience than she did.
But Simone would have the element of surprise on her side, and she would not be hesitating.
Still, Ryan did not need to see this attack.
Especially if, say, something went wrong and she wound up getting her throat slashed open from ear to ear.
Not the last visual she wanted him to have of her.
“I really enjoyed our kisses, by the way.” Zero clue why she said those words.
Or why she added, “I wish our time could have been different.”
A deep furrow cut between Ryan’s eyes.
“Where is the egg?” Alexei snapped at her as spittle flew from his mouth.
“Look away,” she told Ryan again.
Alexei thundered, “The egg—”
“Go find a damn chicken! Because I don’t know where your egg is!”
The knife pressed harder.
And her left hand was free now, too. Yes! She’d just managed to wrench it out of the ropes.
“You have stumbled into the worst nightmare of your life,” Alexei promised her. “They know what you did.”
Great. Fabulous. Her head turned. “Come closer,” she whispered to Alexei as she let her shoulders sag. “I’ll tell you everything.” No, she would not.
But he leaned in toward her, and with that lean, he also lifted the knife a wee bit. Sort of an instinctive response. One part of the body moved, and another did, too. She’d been hoping for that response.
If only my feet were free. Then I could really have a fighting chance.
But at least her hands were going to be in this battle.
Alexei had been so intent on his threats that he hadn’t even heard the faint slither of the ropes falling from her wrists.
She sucked in a breath and prepared for the worst. Because she’d had too many worsts in her life.
“Leave her alone!” Ryan yelled. “I have the egg!”
What?
Both Simone and Alexei craned their heads toward Ryan.
“Me!” Ryan shouted. “I took it. Not her. Me.”
He’d stolen an egg? What was happening?
“I’ve got the thirty-million-dollar trinket in my tux pocket right now. You searched her, but you didn’t search me because you are such a dumbass.”
Had he just said…thirty-million-dollar trinket?
“Come and get it!” Ryan taunted.
And Alexei was going. He was surging toward Ryan. Slashing out with his knife even as she screamed.
But…
Ryan was on his feet. In a blink, he was on his feet. No ropes on his ankles. No ropes around his wrists. The ropes around his chest and upper arms had fallen away because he was not bound to the chair any longer. He was up. Ready.
She was screaming at the top of her lungs. Horses were neighing nearby. Ryan caught Alexei’s forearm, stopping the downward slice of the knife before it could make contact with him. Stopping it in one serious, badass motion.
“You should never threaten a woman,” Ryan growled. “Bastard.” Then he attacked.
Fists flew. Bodies collided. Alexei’s knife was swinging, and she was still screaming. Screaming and clawing at the ropes around her ankles because she needed to get out of that chair and help Ryan. The man could not be killed right in front of her.
But even as the last rope finally gave way beneath her twisting, shaking fingers and Simone leapt to her feet, a body was falling.
Right. In. Front. Of. Her.
Alexei hit the floor of the stables with a resounding thump. Her breath heaved. Her hands fisted.
Ryan stepped over the fallen man. Technically, Ryan kicked him first, then stepped over Alexei’s body. Ryan reached out to her. With a careful grip, he caught her chin and tipped back her head. “The bastard cut you.” Low, lethal words.
A shiver skated over her at the murderous look in his eyes.
Um, where had the playboy billionaire gone?
“Barely feel it,” she mumbled. Her gaze dropped to the floor.
To Alexei. Just as he swung out with his knife toward Ryan because Alexei was not unconscious.
He was slicing right toward Ryan’s Achilles tendon.
“No!” Simone bellowed even as she grabbed for Ryan and attempted to toss him to the side.
Her toss didn’t happen. She was the one who got thrown.
Ryan threw her even as he avoided the slice from Alexei.
She hit the stable floor—which kinda felt rubbery beneath the spread straw—and shoved up to her knees even as Alexei leapt at Ryan in a brutal attack.
The two men collided. Fists—and the blade of that knife—went flying.
Terrified that Ryan was about to get his ass kicked, she lunged up and scrambled to find a weapon so she could help him.
Except she didn’t get far. Alexei had broken free of Ryan and surged toward her. Alexei’s beefy fingers curled around her ankle, and he brought her down, hard. All of the air left her in a whoosh even as he was flipping her over and bringing that knife of his swinging toward her face.