Chapter 20 #2
Afterward, I staggered back to the bar, cheeks burning, lungs begging for mercy, and downed half a freshly made margarita.
I honestly didn’t care whether Dina was behind me or not after that fiasco.
If she wanted to sing, she’d have to do it on her own because one public embarrassment was enough to sustain me for a while.
And then I saw him.
Kian stood in the VIP section above, leaning against the railing, watching me with an expression I couldn’t decipher, and somehow I started to fear that my level of chaos might have caught up to me.
“Oh my God,” I whispered. “Kian is here.”
Dina glanced up and waved cheerfully. “Of course he is. It’s his bar.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. Traitor.
“Your drinks are covered.” The bartender slid another pair of flamingo glasses toward us, along with a folded note.
I downed my drink and started on another one before reading the note.
Please don’t do any more Britney.
“Please, Earth, open up and swallow me whole,” I muttered, then turned to Dina. “Why didn’t you tell me Kian owns this place?” I hissed.
She laughed. “Mr. Cortes owns this bar, the beach resort, the restaurant with the red tiles, the parking lot, and the yacht company. Basically, if it doesn’t move, he owns it.”
“Of course he does,” I said weakly.
As if summoned, Kian descended the VIP stairs like a Bond villain, his presence sucking the oxygen from the room.
His eyes were on me as people parted like the sea. He stopped in front of us.
“Enjoying yourselves?” he asked.
Dina nodded brightly. “Very much, Mr. Cortes.”
“I’m glad,” he said, smile tight. “That’s all that matters.” He paused. “Though, I noticed my DJ quit.”
Dina beamed. “I can fill in!”
I squinted at her. “Driver, DJ, and what else…?”
She purred. “Multitalented.”
Kian turned his attention to me. “You and I need to talk.”
“We are talking.”
“Alone.”
Dina slid off the stool and vanished with impressive speed. She was definitely not a girl’s girl material.
“Why alone?” I asked. “Do you have a mysterious disappearance planned?”
He didn’t blink. “If I wanted that, it would’ve already happened.”
I looked up and took him in. He appeared every inch the mafia boss in a suit that screamed money, control, and immaculate taste. Maybe my guard was down. Maybe it was the flamingo glasses. Maybe it was public karaoke in a backless dress.
I lifted my chin. “Talking tonight doesn’t work for me.”
He nodded once.
Then, without warning, he took my drink, set it on the bar, and threw me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I squealed.
“Getting you out of here.”
Kian
Unfortunately, there was no cloak of night to hide us—at eight o’clock the sun still lingered, slipping lazily toward the horizon. Many onlookers threw curious glances our way as Sophie demanded I put her down.
The music thudded behind us until it was replaced by the steady roar of the sea. I adjusted my grip automatically, one arm locked around her thighs, the other braced across her back. She was lighter than she looked. Too light for the amount of trouble she caused.
“Put me down,” she demanded, breathless, fists beating uselessly against my back.
I kept walking.
The valet froze when he saw us. I didn’t slow down, didn’t explain. The car door was open before my name finished forming on his tongue.
Sophie finally stopped struggling and I set her onto the passenger seat.
She yanked her dress down the moment my hands left her, eyes flashing with annoyance.
“You’re insane,” she said. “And violent.”
“Boss, I can drive,” Amir offered, appearing at the curb.
“Listen to your sidekick,” Sophie chimed in. “I don’t want to be alone with the head of the Albanian mafia and the Brazilian cartel! He ends lives, I save—”
I shut the door harder than I should have, but the woman was driving me insane.
Amir tried again. “Boss, let me—”
“No,” I cut him off. “You stay with Dina.”
“But—”
“Amir, I’m quite capable of getting myself home.”
I got behind the wheel, her scent already filling the car. Sophie sat stiffly with her arms crossed, legs angled away from me and chin tipped up in defiance.
I shifted into drive and sped out, Vlore sliding past us in streaks of light—bars, vendors, tourists already drunk—while she watched the road like her life depended on it.
“You wanted to talk,” she said, breaking the silence. “Talk.”
“You learned something about me,” I started, flicking her a glance, then returned my attention to the road. Driving in Albania required vigilance, nerves of steel, and preferably no attractive complications in the passenger seat.
She scoffed. “You could say that.”
I turned onto the coastal road. The villa gates were visible in the distance, black iron against the moonlit white of the cliffs.
“Do you have questions?”
“Honestly, Kian, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
I clicked my fob as I slowly approached the gate. “Okay, then I’ll start. Initially, I was annoyed that you crossed the border into Albania.”
She whipped her head my way. “You’ve been stalking me?”
I let out a sardonic breath. “I guess so, in a way. Your cousin asked me to keep an eye on you when you took off to Croatia.”
She shot me a surprised look, her voice somewhat high-pitched when she said, “He did what?”
“Kristoff was worried,” I started slowly. “Initially, he hired a team of agents from my security firm to watch over you,” I continued, “but nobody had jurisdiction in Albania. So I stepped in.”
“So our little snake encounter wasn’t an accident.”
“Well, you jumping me wasn’t my plan. But I was there to scout you out, yes.”
“And you put the snake there to scare me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said flatly. “I was there to see you, not to outsource the job to a reptile.”
“God, I feel like an idiot now.” She huffed. “Kristoff gives you a babysitting job, I basically climb you, and… wait, does Kristoff know who and what you are?”
“He does.”
I could feel her wide-eyed gaze on me. “And he’s okay with it?”
“He knew I could keep you safe.”
“And who’s going to keep me safe from you?” she blurted out. “You have a fingerless, dead man in your basement. That’s not normal, Kian.”
I didn’t think it was wise to tell her I didn’t belong in the same sentence as normal.
“I feel very protective of you, Sophie,” I said as we passed the gate. “And I mean it when I say that I’ll protect you from anyone.”
She brought her hand to her mouth and gasped. “Oh my God, did you tell him about Sienna and—”
“I did.”
“Oh no, no, no. Why?”
“Because I want to make sure his kids are protected.”
“They would have been,” she breathed. “As long as I kept my mouth shut and stayed away.”
I stopped the car at the crest of the hill and cut the engine. The sudden silence contrasted to the fear and agitation rolling from her.
I circled the car and opened her door, then offered her my hand. It was more of a practical move than a gallant one, but I couldn’t deny the satisfaction flickering in my chest when she slid her fingers onto my palm.
“They’re safe now,” I said, meeting her eyes. “And I can guarantee your safety too, if you’d only learn to trust me.”
“If you want me to trust you, then stop lying.”
“What did I lie about?” I asked coldly. I might have withheld the truth, but I ensured never to lie to her.
“Imports and exports?” She scoffed. “Clearly a lie.”
“I move products. I never said they were legal. And I do own Blackhawk Security, but I’m just a minority stakeholder these days.”
Wind moved through the palms, lifting strands of her hair. She tucked it behind her ear, her eyes never wavering, almost as if she were searching for hints of deceit.
“Sounds like you got off on a technicality,” she muttered.
I smiled. “Those are important in my world.”
“And the man in your basement?”
Dammit, even the woman’s moral compass was attractive.
“He hurt you, put his hands on your beautiful hair,” I finally said.
“There’ll always be assholes out there. You can’t kill them all.”
“If someone touches what’s mine… Someone who is under my protection…
I can and will end their miserable existence.
” Her lips parted, tempting me, but I refrained.
This conversation was important, and once it was over, it would be on her to come to me.
“He was bound to lose his fingers, but then I learned he’d hurt others.
Much worse than what he’d done to you and I couldn’t let him live. ”
“Dina did mention…”
That asshole in my basement represented my demons and the man who’d hurt the last woman I loved, and I would never repeat the same mistake by letting someone like him live.
Even if Elena didn’t want to leave her husband, I should have killed that bastard for all the pain he’d caused her. She’d still be alive and happy today.
“Okay.” Her acceptance surprised me. “I can’t stay here while a dead body is in your dungeon.”
“He’s no longer there,” I said slowly.
Silence settled between us for a moment as the spoken words sank into a mutual understanding.
“So,” she said, “you bring all your karaoke disasters here?”
The jarring change of subject drew a chuckle from me.
“You’re my first,” I admitted. “Probably be the last too.”
We walked inside the villa, the cool air greeting us. The front door was left open and she paused in the foyer, then turned to face me.
“Don’t hide the truth from me again, Kian.” I leaned back against the column, letting the silence stretch until it started to hum. “No more half-truths if they relate to me.”
I nodded. “If they relate to you, I’ll share them.”
“And I’ll have a conversation with my cousin about that shit too.”
“You weren’t exactly honest with him either,” I pointed out, my voice firm but stripped of accusation.
“Because I wanted to protect Sienna.” Her cheeks flushed crimson. “And I blamed myself for her kidnapping.”
The wind pushed through the open front doors, carrying the sound of the sea. I watched her fingers flex at her sides and the way her pulse jumped at her throat.
“Jacqueline and her entourage are being hunted down,” I said, stepping closer to her. “Every one of them will pay for what they’ve done.”
“Why?”
“She threatened you, hurt your niece, and…” I exhaled, shaking my head. “And she threatened you. In the end, it just boils down to that.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed, the delicate curve of her neck drawing my attention.
“What do you want, Kian?”
“You,” I said. “I’ve been perfectly clear about that.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t understand…Why me?”
“You don’t scare easily,” I said, a hint of a smile threading my voice. “Except when it comes to snakes.”
Her mouth curved into a soft smile. “There’s that.”
I met her gaze before I continued. “You barged into my life, climbed me like an acrobat, sang Britney Spears badly enough to frighten tourists, and somehow managed to wake something within me that I thought had been dead for a very long time.”
Heat bloomed across her fair skin, the flush deepening at the last of my confession.
“You forgot the part where you threw me over your shoulder like a caveman,” she breathed.
My fingers itched to touch her—her hair, her cheek, anything—but I shoved them into my pockets instead.
“I didn’t forget.”