Page 15 of Revenge

Ava Cawthorne would be thefuckingdeath of me. Kidnapping a woman shouldn’t be so aggravating.

Keeping one hand under her armpit, I slid the other under the back of her legs and lifted her bridal style. She was as light as a feather and her head lolled towards my chest with the movement. I wondered whether she was faking it at first, but that sheer panic on her face had told a different story.

Why did I feel so worried about her being hurt when that is exactly what she had attempted to do to me only minutes before?

Because you’re going soft.

I still couldn’t believe that she had attempted to shoot me again. Had Ireallygiven her cause to believe that I wouldphysicallyharm her? Have her killed?

“For fucks sake, Ava!” I yelled out,pissed offwith the entire situation.

As I held her in my arms, she was now all woman. Gone was the girl I once knew, and in her place was a beautiful female, usually strong and defiant but right then, she was as delicate as spun glass. My protective instincts kicked in so hard it was almost painful.

I inhaled her scent, was it strawberries or raspberries?

“Sup boss. I heard you shouting,” Lester said as he came charging through the front door with his gun drawn. His brow scrunched as he saw an unconscious Ava in my arms. “What did you do to her?” His tone was accusatory and it stoked my temper. Both Lester and Sean, two of my soldiers also had a soft spot for Ava; fuck me most people who knew her did. Even as a little girl she’d had the power to bring men to their knees.

Annoyance flashed through me like lava, “I didn’tdoanything. It appears our tough little assassin is fucking squeamish. The knife must have caught her side when I disarmed her. Ava took one look at the blood and passed the fuck out. Move out of my way,” I instructed with a flick of my head.

“She pulled a knife on you?” Lester said, his expression one of shock as he holstered his weapon and stepped to the side.

“Isn’t that what I just said?” I was surrounded by morons. “Take her phone out of her pocket,” I instructed. Ava’s phone was peeking out of her jeans right next to the cut caused by the knife. I didn’t want it to rub against the wound and I had my hands full.

“Fuck, is it deep?” he questioned as he shuffled next to me and withdrew Ava’s ancient-looking mobile phone. I shook my head and nodded towards what must have been a bathroom.

“I’ll treat it in the car. Go clean off the phone and then check out those two rooms.”

Lester’s expression changed as he replied with a nod, “Boss. Can I do anything else? She looks so frail.”

I shook my head. Ava was my responsibility. “I’m aware of that.”

Once he was out of the way, I started to walk towards the door. Although I was initially concerned, Ava passing out had played into my hands. It would make it much easier to kidnap her, which had been my intention all along. I had a syringe containing a sedative that Dr Famer, a loyal doctor to our family, had given me and it appeared I may not need to use it now. I was a nasty bastard at times but I didn’t drug women if I didn’t have to.

“Grab some of her shit and throw it in a bag,” I shouted over my shoulder.

Lester’s reply stopped me in my tracks. “What type of shit?” Were all my men useless?

I turned with a scowl. “How the fuck should I know. The usual girly crap. Toiletries, underwear, clothes, that type of stuff and bring her phone; we’ll need to check it at some point.” I knew it would have been a burner phone and useless but she must have some contacts in there. Who did this fucking apartment belong to for a start? My intel had told me that Ava’s apartment where I’d sent Hamish was on the other side of the city.

“You want me to packgirlystuff?” Lester’s expression switched to one of horror. He looked like I’d just told him to pick up dog shit with his bare hands. “Tampons and stuff like that?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, huffing, “Whatever. Just do it.”

“What about her paperwork, passport and stuff?”

“That’s the first thing I found when I broke in.”

After securing Ava firmly against my chest, I grabbed her handbag which she’d dropped by the door with her shopping. I needed to check what other ID she had in her purse.

I realised then that I wanted to knoweverythingabout her. How had she supported herself? She must have dealt with cash alone as if she’d used any credit cards, Miles, my tech guy would have picked her up. I checked her passport immediately and it wasn’t a fake. That meant she had come straight to Milan when fleeing London and had remained in the country for the last two years.

So, little Ava had successfully gone underground, not bad considering she’d been seventeen the time she’d fucked off. If I wasn’t so angry with her, I’d be impressed.

All that time living in a foreign city, without the protection of our family. When she’d first run away, I’d been livid. The types of punishments I considered in those first few weeks were extreme. Would I have carried through with them had I found her sooner? Probably not. Although the amount of shit she caused when Gerard was arrested, she would have deserved it.

Leaving the apartment, I went to call one of the lifts. Ava was light but carrying her down six flights of stairs wasn’t a thought my back fucking relished.

Inhaling her sweet scent was like torture as was having her so close to my body. The child I had known had turned into such a beauty. Gone were those teenage features that used to be screwed up in disgust whenever she looked at me. After her sixteenth birthday anyway. Before that, things hadn’t been so bad.

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