CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TIFFANY
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Oh god, oh god, oh god. I feel the metal of the weapon pressing against my skin as I tremble. Cold sweat seems to cover my entire body, and I can barely breathe.
I’m going to die.
All around me guns are drawn, men are shouting and people screaming.
Noah races out, and I’m swung around to face him, but then he’s told to drop his weapon and get to his knees.
He does.
When his eyes meet mine, he looks furious and determined. I know he’s trying to tell me I’ll be okay, but I don’t believe him.
Jayden.
I wish I’d told him I was in love with him.
What a waste of life. I should have listened and canceled the event. Paying off my father was not worth risking my life or all these people’s lives.
“Keep still.” The man shakes me, and I cry out.
That’s when I notice his accent.
Russian.
My mind immediately goes to Alexei, and when I see him strolling down the runway with a smirk on his face, my mouth drops open.
Oh god.
What does this mean?
“Pakhan khochet zapoluchit' vse brillianty.”
“Zamolchi!” The other man snaps.
I don’t speak Russian, but I’d learned a few words, and one of them was diamond. Translated diamond is almaz in Russian. Diamonds, plural, on the other hand, is brillianty.
They are here for the diamonds.
“Just take them, take them,” I cry, wanting to rip the twenty-million-dollar necklace off my neck and throw it at these men.
Where are all the BHS guys? Why aren’t they shooting? Where are the police?
I spot Ryder below me, and his eyes lift to mine, trying to give me a message and reassurance, but they fail. Then I see his lips moving and say, stay still.
I blink.
And freeze.
Then his eyes dart across the way to a hillside, then he starts to count.
What is happening?
I glance up, and it's as if I know. A strange feeling fills my chest. A sense of safety. I feel Jayden’s hand on the small of my back, his lips on mine as he leans down.
I’ve got you, princess.
I hear the echo of the pop as my eyes slam closed and warm blood splatters on my face. I’m released, and the man drops to the floor.
Screaming, I tremble, holding myself up as the other man falls down dead and muted shooting begins around me.
I feel like I’m in a fishbowl.
Before I know what’s happening, Noah has me in his arms and pulls me to the ground, covering me.
“Jay?” I whimper.
“He’s on his way,” I hear Ryder say above me.
Jayden is here?
I thought he had resigned?
LAPD charge in, and people are screaming as they leap over the barriers and run. I clasp the diamonds around my neck and rip at them, wanting them off.
“Ms. Stallone, please—” Todd calls, running towards us.
“Get them off, get them off.”
“Easy,” Ryder says, crouching, “I got you.”
I don’t stop, clawing at my neck and the clasp.
“Get a medic, she’s going into a panic attack.” Ryder calls out, and then, as I feel the heavy necklace lifted off me, the world goes into a blur.
When I regain consciousness, Jayden is striding towards us. There’s murder in his eyes. Murder and determination, and they’re directed at me.
I draw in a gasp.
Without hesitation, he drops to his knees and yanks me against his chest.
“Fuck, princess.” His voice is dark and husky.
“Jay,” I sob into his shoulder, clinging to him.
“You’re safe. We got them.” He picks me up bridal style and carries me away.
I don’t care where we are going.
All I want is him.
“She needs medical attention,” Ryder calls out.
“She needs me first,” Jayden grinds out, marching with me in his arms to who knows where.
My heart soars with a feeling so foreign I don’t know what to do with myself. I want to laugh and cry and cling to him forever.
But he doesn’t carry me off into the sunset, and if I thought there was going to be a happy ever after, I was wrong.
Pushing through a door, we are backstage in a private space where he drops me to the floor. Cupping my face, he lets out a primal growl and slams his mouth down on mine.
His kiss is consuming, claiming my very soul.
I give him everything I am, clinging to him, before he releases me with what feels like a pop.
“Do you need a doctor?”
“I need you,” I reply, echoing what he said.
Jayden tugs up my dress, his eyes flaring like a wild animal as he tears my panties off.
“Jay,” I cry.
“I need to fuck you. I need to be inside you.” His mouth takes mine again. “Don’t stop me.”
I wouldn’t.
I don’t want to.
I need this as much as he does.
The sound of his zipper fills the air, then Jayden lifts me around his waist, and I feel my sex ready for him. I’m hot, wet and open.
The wall reverberates behind us as he pounds me into it, filling me with his thick, hard as granite cock.
“Fuck.”
“Oh God, Jayden,” I cry, clutching his hair.
“I wasn’t going to let them kill you,” he rasps into my hair, and thrusts hard once again.
He saw?
Slam, slam, slam.
Ferocious eyes hold mine as he demolishes me with his cock. There is a scent I don’t recognize. Is that gunpowder?
“Did you shoot them?” The pleasure that evicts within my body is something out of this world.
This man, who currently looks like a blond mix of Rambo and Henry Cavill, is so sexy, dangerous, and ruggedly handsome, and he saved my life.
I know it.
I’m going to come.
Oh god.
“I told you not to do this event,” is all he says in answer, but I know. I know it was him on that hill.
Tears burn as they run down my face as he cups it. “Feel my cock, princess. I need you to tell me you feel all of it.”
“Yes...”
“I killed for you, and I’d do it again.”
As our gazes lock, his palm slams on the wall behind me, the other one clenching my thigh, Jayden speeds up his powerful thrusts.
“Come, Tiff. I need to feel you throttle my cock and strip me bare.”
I scream, digging my nails into him as we both come crumbling down.
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JAYDEN
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I LOWER TIFF to the ground as I slide out of her and as I do, my senses return.
After skidding the bike to a stop, I tossed the helmet and raced up on stage, dropping to my knees when I found her.
Having her in my arms was not enough.
It was like I was overtaken by a force I’ve never known. One that had me completely and in all ways possess her.
Now, as those big, pretty eyes of hers stare up at me, I realize the message I’ve sent.
The wrong one.
And it was an asshole move, even if I didn’t do it on purpose.
“I should get you back so the medics can look at you.”
“I’m okay,” Tiffany says softly, her hands sliding down my pec.
My body is still shuddering from the powerful orgasm, and I can see the come sliding down her legs. I rip off my jacket, tear off my T-shirt and clean her up as she holds my shoulders.
“Jay—”
“Tiff.” I stand and let out a sigh, barely looking her in the eyes. “We need to get back out there and tell them it was Alexei Romonov.”
She nods, and I take her hand.
Pushing open the door we head back to where the BHS team stands, and I update them.
“The bratva’s brigadier? You have got to be kidding me.” Ryder curses. “Great, you just shot the pakhan’s second in command.”
“I’d do it again in a second to protect her.” I remove my hand and place it on the small of her back. “Where is the ambulance?”
“Two minutes away,” Noah says, running his eyes over Tiffany and then at me, surmising correctly what we just did.
“You should get out of here,” Ryder says. “We’ll say we don’t know who hit them. Keep names out of the press.”
I nod, then glance down at the woman I’ve fallen in love with.
But still can’t have.
LAPD is circulating, and I know I need to go now.
“Take me with you.” Tiffany grips my arm. “Jayden, please.”
Fuck.
“You need to speak to the police and be seen by the medical team.” I run the edge of my hand down the side of her face.
Ryder and Noah turn away, giving us some privacy.
“Jay,” she steps in front of me. “Don’t do this. Please talk to me. You just saved my life.”
Yeah, because I love you, but I’m not the man who is going to make all your dreams come true. Fuck, I can’t even seem to do that for me.
“This isn’t a fairytale, princess. I’m not your prince,” I rasp, looking her honestly in the eye. “Shit. Tiff, I’d rather break your heart now than watch you regret choosing me later.”
I hear Noah curse and turn. He looks pissed with me and I don’t blame him. “We got her, bro. Go.”
One glance at Ryder and I can tell he looks as unimpressed as Noah.
They don’t know.
They don’t fucking know who I am or what I’m dealing with. Josh would’ve kept our conversation private, I know that, so I don’t hold their judgement against them.
Instead, I step away, taking in every ounce of Tiffany’s beautiful soul, stealing a little more of what I don’t have any right to.
Her eyes lift, and I can’t help it, in front of everyone, I pull her into my arms one last time and kiss her like she’s the only person in the world who matters.
Maybe she is.
“I know I’ll regret this for the rest of my life, but you’ll understand one day,” I rasp as I release her mouth.
“Jay,” she sobs.
“Don’t let her out of your sight.” I lock eyes with Noah then drop my eyes back to her and run my hand over her hair. “Goodbye Tiff. I lo...I will miss you.”
Then I turn.
And bolt.
The fewer people who know about me pulling the trigger, and seeing my face, the better. Ryder is right. The risk is real.
The Russian mafia does not fuck around.