Chapter 38 #2
“It means I want to stay here in your arms more than anything, even when staying feels like the scariest thing in the world. But I want to be afraid, because being afraid means you’re someone worth fighting for.”
His chest expands, and his eyes go round.
“Did I say something wrong?” I ask, my heart racing like mad.
“No, baby.” He swallows thickly, his voice raw. “You said everything right.”
And with a hard breath, he grabs the back of my head and kisses me. And I feel it—all those intense emotions, all the things he feels for me. I feel it in our kiss and in my heart. And in this moment, I know for certain that Gio will be my husband and I will be his wife.
His guttural groans vibrate between us, needing and wanting each other like no two people ever have.
“I’ve never wanted to be called by my full name more than I do right now,” he rasps, his mouth sucking my jaw, teeth grazing down my throat as he flips me under him.
“Is that so, Giovanni Marino?” I tease, arching myself into him.
He’s thick and hard, my legs parted for him, needing him inside me, to remind me how right we are together.
“Fuck, baby…” A hand strokes me between my thighs.
I moan as he runs one digit in between my wet slit, forcing the tip of his finger inside me, right before my phone goes off.
Of course it does. But it could be news on Eriu.
“I have to get that.” I push him off and he lets me grab my phone from the nightstand. He flips onto his back while I find Kora’s name on the screen.
A huge grin falls to my mouth as I answer. “Miss me already, huh?”
But instead of hearing her happy voice, I hear a pant and a cry.
“Kora?”
Gio instantly recognizes the alarm in my voice and sits up.
“Kora are you there?”
“Iz?” she cries. “He’s got me…Sergey. They grabbed me on the way from lunch, and—”
An icy current runs down my entire body until I’m bathed in arctic fear.
“Zamalshi, suka!” The moment I hear that bastard’s voice, my fist clenches. A bang registers in the background and she screams, like he just hit her.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” I shout.
Gio’s already on his feet, cursing violently, a gun in his hand.
“Privet, dorogaya, how have you been?”
My insides roil the second his thick Russian accent addresses me. I inhale sharply, trying to control the wave of panic that comes swooping through my body.
“Fuck you, Sergey!” I explode, unable to contain the years of pent-up rage.
“You’ve still got a sharp tongue, I see, huh? Maybe I should’ve burned that off first.”
“How’s your eye?” I snicker, grinding my teeth.
“You think this is funny?!” He howls. “Ya ih ubyu. You understand me? I will kill them!”
“Who’s them?” My gut churns.
“Say hello, krasavitsa,” he tells someone.
And it’s then I hear her, recognizing her weeping.
“Is-Iseult?” Eriu cries. “Please don’t come—”
“Shut up, you stupid bitch!”
She wails harder as he slaps her. Or hits her. Fuck, I don’t even know.
“Don’t you touch my sister!” My breaths barrage out of me. “Tell me where you are. You can have me instead. Just let them go! This is between us.”
“I could do that…but I could just kill them both, no? Then I can come after you and finish you off too.” His laughter is pure evil.
“If you can manage to kill me. Because in case you forgot, you couldn’t kill me at seventeen. What do you think you’d be able to do to me now?”
His breath is noisy, and I’m glad I’m getting to him. I want him angry. I want him to come for me.
“You’re so full of yourself, aren’t you?” he seethes. “Well, we’ll see how strong you are against my men.”
“Your men?” I laugh. “Can’t handle fighting me on your own, huh?”
“I’m not stupid. I know my own limitations. I know what you do and how well you do it.”
“I’m glad you do, old man. Because I will kill you, Sergey. This will end.”
“So then how about you stop wasting my time and come see me for old times’ sake?”
“Name the time and place, you bastard.”
“Look at your phone. And whatever you do, come alone. I will know if you’re not, and I will kill the girls if you don’t obey.”
Then the phone goes dead, and I see the text from Kora’s cell. And when I read the address, every hair on my body rises.
I know the place well. A place that still haunts me. The same one he kept me in.
This means I have to head back home without anyone finding out and following me there.
Gio is suddenly beside me while my head spins.
“I called Tynan,” he says with a reassuring arm around my shoulders. “I told him Sergey has Eriu.”
Fuck. I have to think of a way to go there without any of them playing hero and getting my sister and my best friend killed.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” I pivot to face him. “I have to go alone. He said he’d kill them if someone else shows up with me.”
“Like hell you are.” He takes my hand in his, face twisting with worry.
“I have to. It’s the only way to ensure Eriu and Kora don’t die.”
“God damn it!” He runs a frustrated hand through his hair.
“You make sure no one follows me, okay?” I try to control my racing heart.
Time is running out. Sergey is unhinged. I don’t even know if he’ll keep his word. He could be killing them right now.
“Once I have them, I will let you know.”
“You need backup. Just fucking give me the address, Iseult,” he pleads. “I won’t show up unless you need me. Promise.”
I know he’d never keep that oath. I may not know everything about him yet, but I know that.
“Let me text it to you.”
But instead, I give him a false address, about forty miles off from the target location. By the time he drives back to Massachusetts or tells my brothers where I am and they all realize I lied, I’ll hopefully have Eriu and Kora.
I quickly shoot off a text, and he looks at his phone with a nod.
Suddenly, he grabs both sides of my face, pounding raw emotions spilling out of his gaze. He edges his face closer, looking me deep in my eyes.
“I can’t lose you, Iseult. Do you understand me?”
“I can’t lose you either.” I sigh, holding his cheek in my palm. “But this is something I have to do.”