Page 17 of Queen's Move

She crammed one of the pillows against her stomach, tucked a hand underneath her head and drifted to sleep feeling a little safer knowing she would set a more permanent escape plan in motion.

* * *

Firelight flickered behind her closed lids, warming her chilled body. The crackling of burning wood drifted through her subconscious. She sighed, feeling more content, more comfortable than she had in a long time. As she swam gently toward wakefulness her dream world gradually melted away. She’d been dreaming that she was at lunch with Casey and the rest of their Tuesday crew. She’d hated the entire bunch of hypocritical, cynical bitches, until she got to know Casey and found a woman as damaged as herself. She’d taken the younger woman under her wing, as much as she could at the time. She would miss Casey when it came time to flee for good. But Casey was loyal to her husband, Vee couldn’t divulge her whereabouts without the information making its way back to Sotza.

As she slowly became aware it occurred to her that she hadn’t started a fire the evening before. She’d wanted to save the last of her wood for an upcoming cold snap. Her eyes flew open and she sat up in the bed, lunging for her gun on the nightstand. She searched for it, squinting at the shadows, nearly knocking over a glass of water in her frantic scramble. It was gone. Of course.

She shifted into the centre of the bed, pressing her back against the headboard. She shoved a handful of hair out of her face and yanked the quilt up her body, covering her breasts and wishing she was wearing something less revealing than the satin spaghetti strap sleep top. Her eyes travelled the room until her gaze landed on the chair that sat a few feet away from the fireplace. It had been turned so it was facing the bed. She couldn’t make him out; he was a shadowy figure and a pair of legs.

“Sotza,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper. It was like seeing a phantom. A nightmare come to life. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest that it ached. She pressed a hand between her breasts to ease the feeling, the quilt still clutched against her.

“Vee.” That one syllable. His accented voice. It was like deep, dark velvet the way he caressed her name. He didn’t move, didn’t say anything else. Just sat watching her.

She wanted to say something snappy, something brave. But she was vulnerable. Alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, nearly naked. And she was desperately frightened. She had faced down bad situations, held her own among the baddest of them and kept her shit together. But Sotza was different. He couldn’t be defeated with words, with bullets or with false bravado. He saw through everything and took lives that were in his way as if they were nothing but specks of dust on his well-tailored suit.

“Are you here to kill me?” She hardly dared to breath. She had no way to fight back if he attacked her. Her only weapon was gone and she didn’t for a moment think she could match him in physical combat.

He gripped the arms of the chair and stood. She barely had time to blink and he was standing next to her, beside the bed. She flinched, tried to still the shivers that racked her body, hold the terrible fear inside.

“It has never been my intention to kill you,” he said quietly.

She swallowed and licked her lips, then turned her head to the side, looking up at him. The firelight caressed his sharp hawk-like features, making the craggy valleys of his face more pronounced. She thought maybe he hadn’t shaved in awhile, several days worth of beard growth darkened his jaw.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if I was dead? You wouldn’t have to look over your shoulder, wouldn’t have to worry about me coming back to Miami, taking back what’s mine.”

His lips curved into a semi-smile at her little jab. “No, Vee, your death isn’t an option. I’ve told you this, it’s time for you to stop being afraid of me, stop running.”

She could see the dark gleam of his eyes in the flickering light, fixed on her, never wavering. “What do you want from me, Sotza?” she asked, trying to be brave.

He seemed to realize that she hadn’t meant the obvious. That she was brushing aside his standing marriage proposal and looking for a deeper explanation. “I want everything you have, everything that you are. I want everything you never gave your husband or anyone before him.”

She shuddered and curled her legs up against her chest. “You have the wrong woman. I’m not anything special and I have nothing to give you.”

He chuckled. “I won’t waste time trying flatter you, Vee. Not yet. But rest assured, you are everything I want in a woman, in a wife.”

She shook her head, her bangs flopping in her eyes. Fuck, she needed a haircut. Shoving the bangs aside she glared at him. “You’re wrong. I’ll be a terrible wife. I’ll fight you every step of the way. I’ll make your life miserable until you have no choice but to get rid of me.”

He considered her for a moment and then said, “You really don’t have much respect for your own life, do you Vee? I’m not sure if your attitude is a turn on or if it’s going to get you in trouble.”

She stared up at him. She hadn’t meant to throw attitude at him. She really wasn’t kidding when she said he would eventually want to kill her. Very few people liked Vee in the long term. Not her family, not her dead husband. She’d been completely dispensable until she took Reyes’ offer to take over the Miami underworld. She’d been mafia royalty until Sotza showed up and destroyed all of her hard work in a few short weeks, knocking her off her throne so easily.

“It will never work,” she said bitterly. “I’ll try to either kill you or run away at every opportunity.” Maybe she was stupid for verbalizing her thoughts, but Sotza saw right through her, the way he saw through everyone. He had to know that if he forced her into a union it would become all out warfare. She would make Miami look like a tense tea party.

Still, part of her looked forward to making his life miserable. She knew, no matter what she said or did in the next few minutes she would be leaving with him. She just didn’t have the tools at her disposal to get away from him. He was obviously able to track her. Hell, Danny was probably right, Sotza probably knew exactly where she was all alone. Had a bead on her, men sitting on her location, watching in case she made a move.

“I’m not going to make this easy for you,” she said stiffly, tensing her body, getting ready to fight and run.

“I wouldn’t expect this to go any other way.” His voice was a smooth caress that flowed over her skin like the satin of her pyjamas. It wasn’t fair that such a horror show should be so sexy. “You’re a fighter, Vee. The battle just makes the prize that much sweeter.”

“Don’t sound so pleased,” she snapped.

He laughed, this time the sound was full-throated, deep and mesmerizing. She had to remind herself that she was about to try to fight for her life.

“If you force me to fight you, Vee, I will be taking a kiss for my efforts.”

She snorted at the old-fashioned, chauvinistic logic. “Try it and I’ll bite your tongue off.”

“I have no doubt you’ll try,” he replied easily.

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