Page 54 of Capturing Victory

For a moment no one said anything as they absorbed the impact of Ivan’s words. Finally, Jaya whispered, almost to herself, “Borjan,” saying Father’s birth name out loud. Somehow it took away some of the impact of his importance. The man that had built himself a jungle compound and filled it with semi-loyal followers, then spewed his hate at them, insisting they follow him. Giving him a name took the teeth from his hate a little. His fingers tightened around her, as though it angered him to hear his given name on her lips.

“If you knew who I was then why didn’t you kill me?” Borjan growled, anger making him careless as he pulled his gun from Jaya’s head and waved it toward Ivan. She edged her hands, which were still tied behind her back toward him and took a fistful of his shirt. He didn’t seem to notice. “If you’ve been tracking me all these years, why haven’t you brought me down sooner?”

Ivan’s eyes glinted as his focus finally shifted away from Jaya for the first time since entering the hut. A savage note entered his voice when he responded and his accent became more pronounced. “Same reason you didn’t kill me on that rooftop. You’ll suffer more alive than dead. Every day you spend without your loved ones is one more day that I am victorious over you.”

Jaya froze, her hands stilling in their quest to find Borjan’s bare stomach. She stared at the man she’d fallen helplessly and completely in love with. This was him, the vicious animal, the beast in all his glory. She was deeply and utterly glad he’d fallen in love with her, because she had no doubt that if he hadn’t she would be in little pieces by now, shipped back to the man now holding her, using her as both a weapon and a shield.

Ivan spoke again, his stormy, ice cold gaze now returning to Jaya. “I give you one chance only, Tadic. Let her go. I intend that you die here today, but your manner of death is still in question.”

“I don’t care about death,” Borjan snarled, spit flying past Jaya’s face to land on the ground in front of Ivan. “I will take her with me and enjoy the look on your face as she falls. I will gladly spill the blood of my adoptive daughter if it means crushing what is left of your soul. Fuck this mortal body. I don’t care what you do to it.”

He lifted the gun against her head. Jaya pressed her wrists against the bare skin of his stomach and closed her eyes, waiting for the jolt. At least she hoped that’s what she was about to feel, because she’d take electrocution over a bullet to the head any day of the week.

A powerful, sharp vibration hit her, stabbing her arms and running right through her body. Jaya’s knees gave out involuntarily and she tumbled to the ground at Borjan’s feet. Though she knew the electrical current had hit him too, he somehow managed to stay standing. Probably because he didn’t take the bulk of the electricity that Ivan hit them with. As she tumbled, Jaya’s head snapped back and she saw something fly over her head and bury itself deep in Borjan’s shoulder. She lay on the ground, still within reach. She tried to crawl away, but her limbs wouldn’t obey, Ivan had probably hit them with the maximum jolt of electricity the bracelets were capable of.

Borjan hit the ground next to her, collapsing to his knees. She searched for his gun but didn’t see it. He must’ve dropped it when Ivan zapped them. She rolled her head up in time to see Ivan climbing to his feet and talking a step toward them, the dam finally breaking on the fury within.

Borjan didn’t see Ivan, wasn’t looking at him, he was so intent on killing Jaya. So utterly focused on destroying the one thing Ivan loved. He crawled over top of Jaya and wrapped shaking fingers around her neck.

“It’s over, Father,” she whispered.

He didn’t even get a chance to tighten his fingers around her throat. Ivan stood behind him, looking down at Jaya over top of her captor’s head. He took the knife he’d thrown into Borjan’s shoulder and yanked it out. Blood sprayed across Jaya. She tried to turn her head to the side, but her head was being held immobile. Ivan lifted the blade and sank it into Borjan’s other shoulder, weakening his grip on Jaya.

She wiggled in his arms, desperately wishing her hands weren’t tied behind her back, until his grip, weak now and slippery from blood, finally gave way. She crawled out from under him and sat a few feet away, hunched over and gagging. She spat out some blood, maybe hers, maybe Father’s. She looked over at the scene in front of her; Ivan standing over the man that had once rescued her from the streets of Mumbai. She could see Father’s fate written all over Ivan’s face.

“Please, Ivan,” she begged, trying to plead for a swift death. “Please just finish it.”

His gaze became glacial and she knew what his answer would be before he even spoke. “He took from me.” Ivan shoved the man away and knelt down next to Jaya. He took her chin in his hand and he ran a thumb over her bottom lip then her cheek, brushing gently over a tender spot. She couldn’t suppress a flinch. “He hurt you.” Tears filled her eyes and she met Borjan’s shadowed gaze where he lay on the floor watching the pair. “Now I’m going to hurt him more.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Idon’t understand,” Jaya whispered.

She was standing in a gorgeous hotel room in Bangkok, wrapped in a big fluffy bathrobe, the horror of the past day having finally been washed from her skin. She gazed blindly out into the waking dawn of the city below not really seeing the splendor. Her brain was still frozen on the terrors of her kidnapping at Father’s hands, his death and their wild ride back through the rainy jungle at night. Ivan hadn’t wanted to linger in Father’s encampment after dispatching him. Though he hadn’t listened to her plea in regard to Father, Ivan had allowed some of her fellow disciples to live. The ones that had dropped arms and walked away from the conflict, agreed to train with Ivan and his men. Ivan had told Jaya if they survived training and he was convinced they weren’t brainwashed by Borjan, he would give them the same choice he’d once given Keane, employment or freedom.

Ivan came to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her against his solid heat. She closed her eyes and breathed deep, taking in his familiar, comforting scent.

“What don’t you understand, sweetheart?” he asked, gently sweeping the wet strands of her hair aside and kissing the skin behind her ear.

A shiver ran through her in response and her breath caught. She forced herself to step away from his seductive touch so she wouldn’t be distracted. She needed an answer. She turned to look at him. He was so tall, so solid. He was dressed in only his combat pants, having taken his shirt off and thrown it over a chair. Her chest ached with the knowledge that this beautiful, hard man loved her. That he would do anything to keep her safe. Except… would he?

“If you always knew who Borjan was… why didn’t you go after him when you realized you l-loved me?” she had to force the words past stiff lips. She knew this conversation was important, but at the same time, part of her didn’t want to know. Not if he gave her the wrong answer. “Was playing with him, making him suffer just a little longer, that important? That you were willing to put my life in danger?”

Pain blossomed in her chest. Two men had been willing to use her in revenge against each other. The thought was awful, untenable. She didn’t think she could survive knowing Ivan was willing to let her get hurt, or possibly even sacrifice her to Borjan. She’d wanted so badly to believe in all of Ivan’s words of love. But they meant nothing if he’d been willing to allow his enemy to live, putting her life at risk at the same time.

Ivan turned Jaya in his arms. His grey eyes liquid as they looked down at her. “There is a very simple answer to your question, my love. I may have known who he was, but I didn’t know where he was.”

“You didn’t?” she asked, surprised. “All these years, and you couldn’t find him?”

Ivan shrugged. “He would come across my radar once in awhile, but no, for the most part, I had no idea. He kept himself well hidden. Who set up the electronic perimeter defences around Borjan’s encampment? Who installed his state-of-the-art security system? Who ensured that every time an interested enemy of Borjan’s went looking for him, they would think he lived first in China, then in Canada, then Australia… you get the picture.”

“Oh!” she said, her eyes rounding. “I did that.”

“Yes, you did,” he said, admiration clear in his voice. “And you did such an excellent job of his security that you frustrated my every attempt to discover his whereabouts over the years. About two years ago I’d decided that Borjan had become enough of a nuisance, that I was done keeping him alive for my amusement. I tried hunting him, but every time I turned around, I hit a digital roadblock. Then I became curious about the person setting up the blocks. Sweetheart, I didn’t know where to find him. If I knew, then the moment he became a threat to your life, I would’ve taken him out.”

“Ivan…” she whispered.

“I’m so sorry, Jaya.” His deep voice held a wealth of sincerity. “If I’d known you were going to get tangled up in my vendetta, if I’d known what you would come to mean to me, I would find a way to turn back time and change my decision to murder those people. I would have walked away from my burned-out village and dead family and found another way to survive the pain.”

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