Chapter 12
Zane
Lex glances at his watch, and as he does so, it makes me realize that Vani has been gone a while.
I sign to the twins. Going to look for Vani.
Just as I’m about to exit the room, the captain steps out in front of me, blocking my way.
“Going somewhere?” he asks. “We’ll be serving your meal shortly.”
I can’t answer the fucker, so simply roll my eyes and make to step around him. The next moment, a click right beside my head, and cold metal at my temple, stops me in my tracks.
Slowly turning, my heart kicks up a notch. The barman smirks at me, gun held to my head.
What the absolute fuck?
“Turn around, dumbass,” he orders.
He did not just call me dumb. That inflames the rage that’s building in me to nuclear levels.
I’m about to lash out and take my chance, not caring if I get shot, but I stop. The two waiting staff are standing by Saint and Lex, and each have a gun aimed at a twin.
“Please.” The supposed captain gestures back into the room. “Go take a seat.”
Who is driving the boat? I realize then, belatedly, that we’re not moving, we’re docked somewhere.
I peer out the window and see nothing but darkness.
When had the view changed from the lights of Paris to this?
I’d been distracted. They must have tucked this thing in somewhere quiet along the river.
I shuffle back into the dining room, obeying his order but taking my time, because I need a moment to think.
Four men are accounted for—the two waiters who have their guns on the twins, the captain escorting me, and the barman who has shoved his gun back in his waistband.
There are five members of staff, they said. That could be a lie, but if not, it means there’s one more. But he’s unaccounted for, and Vani hasn’t returned from her bathroom break.
Fuck.
My eyes meet Saint’s, and I can see he’s thinking the same as I am.
We need to save Vani, which means we can’t get our heads blown off. We must play for time.
Lex clears his throat. “What the hell is this shit about?”
“Yeah,” Saint drawls. “Do you know who we are?”
The captain laughs as I take a seat across the table from where Lex and Saint are standing.
“Of course we do. That’s why we’re on this boat, and the original crew are dead and stuffed in cupboards. You wouldn’t believe how much space there is on these things.”
Frowning, I raise my hands and sign.
“In English, you dumb motherfucker.”
The captain pulls a gun out of his waistband and uses it to pistol whip me. He’s not that good at it, and while my head whips to the side and pain explodes in my cheek, I know he’s not broken anything.
“He can’t talk.” Lex gestures to his own throat, making a cutting motion. “See? He has a scar.”
The captain laughs. “Oh, so you’re literally dumb. Okay. Got it.”
I want to beat the son of a bitch to a pulp.
“Right, this is the situation.” Captain points to the twins.
“You, Laurant one and Laurant two, are both dead. Orders. The girl. Fucked every which way to Sunday, to send a warning to all and sundry not to mess with us. But you?” He glances at me.
“What outfit are you with? You’re not part of the Laurant world, I know that much. ”
I simply smile and shrug. It takes every part of me not to show my true feelings.
The thought of someone hurting Vani like that makes me want to tear out my own heart.
If we don’t survive this, will each of these motherfuckers take their turn with her?
She’ll never be the same again. That beautiful, bright light I love so much will have been extinguished.
“That’s an audacious choice, not telling me, when doing so could save your life,” Captain says.
Saint signs at me. Let me fucking tell him. It might save your life, and you can help Vani.
The shock of Saint suggesting something so chivalrous as him dying so Vani can be saved makes me unable to think, but then I get with the program.
I can’t sign back because my right hand has been slowly moving to cover the steak knife these amateurs have left out on the tables. Fucking idiots. It’s the whole reason I took a seat so compliantly.
Saint stares at me, as if waiting for an answer. I give a nod, needing him to stop directing attention my way, but before Saint can speak, a wail from behind me lifts every single hair on my neck.
It sounds like a banshee. An unholy scream threatening vengeance and justice.
I turn to look, and my eyes must bug out of my head at the sight.
Staggering into the room, wailing and moaning like some sort of fucking demon, is a naked—well, almost naked—wild-haired, blood-drenched Vani.
“What the fuck?” Lex breathes.
The sight of her commands everyone’s attention—even the men who are currently holding us hostage with guns.
How could anyone not look? She’s half-naked, her breasts bouncing with every step.
I can’t let myself think about the reason for her nudity, or the torn dress, or even where the blood has come from. ..
I don’t even hesitate. I grab the steak knife and twist in my seat, lunging up. The chair falls backward as I stab the blade right into the captain’s throat.
He steps back, arms wheeling, and his gun goes off, loud enough to risk making me deaf as well as unable to speak.
All around, chaos breaks out.
The captain gurgles and staggers around like a zombie, blood running from his neck. Unluckily, it’s not spurting out, which means I probably didn’t get the artery.
One of the waiters fires a shot, and Lex grunts. He falls sideways, crashing through a glass topped side unit and slicing his arms. Fuck, he shot Lex.
Everything slows as I go into the zone, focused only on what I need to do, which right now, is getting a gun and protecting Vani.
I lunge for the captain and grab his weapon, spinning around once the gun is in my hand and side-kicking him in the chest. He flies back, crashing against a serving cart next to the window and stumbling over chairs and colliding with the fake Christmas tree in the corner.
Ornaments scatter across the floor. I twist, breathe, and aim at the waiter who shot Lex.
I fire once, hitting him in the stomach.
He yells in agony and falls to the floor, clutching his guts.
Saint is on the other side of the table from me, standing, but with a gun still aimed at his head and a meaty arm around wrapped his neck from behind. He’s staring at something over my shoulder.
I follow his line of sight. Vani is being dragged by her hair toward the door by the supposed barman. I aim at them, following the movement, but don’t want to fire unless he goes for his gun, as that risks hurting Vani.
Saint or Vani? Vani or Saint?
I have a weapon but can only save one of them. I never thought I’d let anything happen to a fellow Viper, but in this moment, it’s not even a choice. I know it’s what Saint would want, too. I focus on Vani and the asshole dragging her away.
I realize I can see what’s going on behind me in the large antique mirror, which means I get to witness Saint go limp as the arm around his neck tightens.
For a horrifying, heart-stopping second, I think he’s been shot, even though there was no sound, but then I realize he’s fainted. Or pretended to.
He slides out of the thug’s grasp and drops to the floor.
“Fucking pussy,” the waiter snarls.
But the next moment, he yelps and falls to the side.
I know what Saint did. He made himself go floppy and the waiter let him fall. It’s an old trick. Once on the floor, he could kick the man’s legs out from under him.
The waiter’s gun skitters to the side as he flails.
The sounds of fighting and scuffling fill my ears, but I focus on what is in front of me. On Vani and the man dragging her back with him. We’re on a fucking boat. Where does he think he’s going?
He’s heading for the door, but he’s not taking her through it, if I have any say in the matter. I fire one shot in warning, and the man stops dead, his gaze darting to me.
Fuck, I hate that I can’t speak.
Let her go, I mouth, unsure if he can lipread what I’ve said.
A shape catches my peripheral vision. Lex stands beside me, blood on his arms and face, but with a gun shakily aimed at the man holding Vani.
I exhale a sigh of relief. The bullet must have caught Lex’s cheek, but that’s all. While he’ll have a pretty scar—just like me—he isn’t mortally wounded.
The grunts, groans, and smacks of a fight ring out behind us, but neither Lex nor myself break off our focus from Vani. Saint is more than capable of taking care of himself.
“Let her go.” Lex’s words are low and deadly but slurred a little.
I hope to God he’s not losing too much blood.
The barman holds Vani tighter. “I let her go, and you kill me, so how about you let us both walk out of here, and then I release this pretty thing into the wild?”
“I won’t kill you,” Lex says.
“Ha fucking ha.”
The barman takes another step toward the door.
Vani is dragged with him, her breasts bouncing as she moves, and I can’t help noticing her nipples still look swollen. Has whoever delayed her in the bathroom done shit to her?
Her gaze meets mine, and I mouth, move.
I hope she knows what I mean. Up, sideways, or down, it doesn’t matter. Just move, any way you can, Vani, so I can get a shot in.
She screams loudly, bends down, and sinks her teeth into the forearm of the man holding her.
He swears and punches her in the head, sending her flying. Both Lex and I fire at the same time. We shoot way more bullets than we need to, filling his body with holes for daring to touch Vani and hurt her.
The barman jerks and jolts, dancing like a grotesque, stringless puppet, before falling to the floor with a muffled thud.
I move.
Running to Vani, I slide and slip across the bloodied floor, then drop to my knees beside her.
She’s pale but awake. I cradle her head in my arms, kneeling beside her, not caring that my knees are soaked in a mixture of blood, beer, and wine and whatever else has been sloshed all over the floor in the fight.
Lex appears by my side. “Vani, can you speak?”
“Of course I can speak.” She sounds pained but lucid. “My head is splitting, but I’m okay. Go and help your brother.”
Lex purses his lips, nods once, and turns to run to help Saint.
Are you sure you’re okay? I ask, mouthing the words clearly.
She reaches up and touches my cheek. “Yes, Zane. I’m okay.”
She tries to cover herself, but the tattered dress won’t do it. I take my shirt off and gently pull it over her head.
You did good, I mouth, proud as fuck. I have no idea what she did to the fucker who was trying to hurt her, but it obviously involved a lot of his blood.
I lean her gently against the wall and stand to scan the room. The captain is still making an awful gurgling sound, but it’s fading, and his skin is a sickly shade of pale.
One waiter is on the floor, not moving, and the other is still fighting Saint. Lex rushes to his brother, grabbing a steak knife as he passes the table.
He yells and stabs the waiter trying to strangle Saint right in the side of the head, near his ear. Blood, and something else, oozes out around the knife.
The man makes the oddest sound, a low, drawn-out moaning whimper before collapsing to the side, his grip going slack.
Saint crawls away from him, swearing and coughing in a mix of French and English.
Fuck me. That was insane. What the hell happened? I can’t get my head around it all.
“They were after you two.” Vani’s voice is weak. “The one in the b-b-bathroom, he-he said that you were collateral in a war and so was I.”
Is he dead? I ask.
She purses her lips together tight and tears flow down her cheeks. Oh, fuck, no.
“Did he rape you?” Saint demands as he walks over to us, finally standing and breathing normally.
“No, Saint. Don’t worry. I’m still only yours,” she says, angry and tearful.
“Fuck, no, cherie, I didn’t mean it that way. I was only worried about your trauma, I swear.” Saint falls to his knees beside her and lifts her hand in his. “You are everything to me, Vani. I didn’t mean it that way.”
She considers him, and I see when her eyes soften, and she forgives him, the way she always does. The way we all do.
A loud, bellowed roar comes from the hallway, distracting me from the drama, and a sight even more shocking than Vani appears in the double-doored entrance.
A giant of a man stumbles into the room, bleeding profusely from his mangled, massive cock, which is… Oh, God. Jesus fuck. It’s half hanging off and covered in bite marks.
It takes a second to put together what happened.
Calmly, I grab the gun and aim. I shoot him twice, a double tap, one in the chest and one in the head. He goes down with a thunk.
Vani covers her face and lets out a sob. “Thank you,” she cries.
Fuck, we need to get out of here. Not only off this boat, but we need to get the fuck out of Paris. I’m pissed that these assholes have ruined all our Christmas plans, but particularly the one where we were going to take Vani to see Moulin Rouge tomorrow night. She’d been so looking forward to it.
You have to call your father, I sign to Lex.
“What?” Saint says. “No. No way. He’s going to go fucking crazy. He doesn’t even know we’re here.”
Deal with it. I sign angrily. Get us home. We need Vani safe.
Fuck it, if he can’t do it, I will.
“I’ll call,” Lex says.
“No.” Saint sighs. “This trip was my idea. I’ll do it.”
We stand and help Vani up. We need to get back to the house, get cleaned up, and collect our belongings, and then get the hell out of Paris.