Page 11 of Bound by Blood

“Let me go!” she growled breathlessly up at him.

“Not in this lifetime,kotenok.”

Laney glanced around desperately to see if anyone was witness to her distressing position on the dance floor. Other couples swayed closely together, creating a barrier between her and escape. She spied Jane and Vladimir Sitnikov and tried to catch Jane’s eye. Jane was pretty badass in her own right and wouldn’t hesitate to call off the Sitnikov guard dog if she thought he was causing trouble for Laney, but the feisty detective was being held prisoner in the arms of her mob boss husband who was not likely to allow her release.

A few couples away from Jane was her younger sister, Lucy Miller, who did not seem to be faring any better than Laney with her own partner, Mack Hudson. The vicious looking bond enforcement agent had a reckless look on his face. The possessive grip he had on the sweet, younger woman confirmed Laney’s earlier suspicion of the pair. Lucy looked worried and was trying to put some distance between herself and the big man, which he was steadily denying her.

Damn these alpha men! Now Laney was going to have to extricate herself from her current situation, go rescue Lucy Miller and try to find a way to leave this wedding reception because her weekly check-in with the Master was in less than fifteen minutes. In a move that took Boris by surprise, Laney slid her hands up his chest and twined her fingers around the back of his neck. He blinked down at her, hope and suspicion warring in his eyes. A smile curved her lips and she flashed him a little teeth before jabbing her thumb into the pressure point just behind his ear.

“Argh!” he grunted involuntarily and flinched, instantly loosening his hold on her, snarling, “Fuck!”

She winced a little, knowing exactly how much that move hurt, then whirled away from him, not wanting to lose her brief opportunity of freedom. He reached out for her and nearly succeeded in recapturing her with his long reach, but Laney was small and fast. She quickly lost herself in between the dancing couples, where his bulk was unable to navigate with such fluid ease.

Laney flew toward Jane, pleased to see that the woman’s sinister husband had left her side for the moment to speak with Italian mafia kingpin Niccolo DeLucca. This was the most mobbed up party Laney had ever attended, and she was Yakuza!

“Jane Sitnikov!” Laney said breathlessly, rushing toward the other woman.

Jane looked up sharply with a frown, sensing Laney’s discomposure. It took a lot to ruffle the normally calm young Asian woman.

“What’s wrong?” she asked shortly, not wasting time on pleasantries. Her hand fell to her hip where her weapon would normally be, then she sighed and rolled her eyes with impatience. Clearly a holster didn’t go with the Gucci dress. Laney sympathized. Dresses were terrible to fight in.

“Lucy Miller needs help.”

Jane’s golden eyes flared with protective fire and she glanced around. Her eyes fell on Mack and Lucy, who were on the edge of the dance floor, though they were no longer pretending to dance. He was pulling Lucy steadily toward an exit door while Lucy half-heartedly resisted him.

“That son-of-a-bitch is getting on my last nerve!” Jane snarled, stalking toward the struggling pair.

Laney followed Jane, glancing around for her own problem male. His massive height and shoulder breadth made him instantly recognizable in the crowd of people. She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing him make his way toward the bride and groom’s table, where Laney’s seat was. Exactly the opposite direction she was going in. Her much shorter height would give her a few extra minutes to disappear.

Without a second thought, Jane stepped between Lucy and Mack, breaking his hold on the young woman’s arm and sending her fist flying into his stomach. Though Jane was small, she was feisty. Her time as a city police detective gave her both guts and skills, which is how she’d met and eventually partnered with Mack Hudson. He barely flinched at her tap to the belly and merely smirked down at her as she took a protective stance in front of her sister.

“You’re a great partner, Hudson,” Jane snarled up at him with narrowed eyes, “but I swear to god, if you touch my baby sister one more time, I will let my husband dismember you. And you know he’s just itching to take you apart on the mere fact of you being male and hanging out with me on a regular basis.”

Laney glanced over at Lucy who looked visibly shaken and was rubbing her wrist where he’d been holding it. Laney knew little to nothing about comforting other people, but she reached out and touched Lucy’s shoulder. The Amish girl surprised her by stepping close to Laney and leaning in, almost as though they were loosely embracing. Laney stiffened and fought the urge to step away. How did she keep ending up in these situations where she was comforting women in trouble? That was how she’d met and befriended Addison Sterling. Perhaps it wasn’t so surprising, considering who her mother had been.

“Boris speaks very highly of you,” Lucy murmured into Laney’s ear while Jane continued to berate Mack.

Laney didn’t know what to say. She nodded and remained silent.

“He thinks you’re his forever,” the young woman continued. “I know you don’t like him as much, and that’s okay. I just wish… with Mack… that he would want me that way. Then maybe we could be together. Instead he’s all twisted. He just wants to use me, to make me dirty, like he is inside, and then… and then he pushes me away. It’s like he doesn’t want me, but he can’t stay away from me at the same time.”

Laney looked up at Lucy sharply. The lovely girl, her large sad eyes framed by wavy, brown curls, clenched her fists at her sides. Laney reached over and attempted to pat her arm soothingly. Lucy smiled sadly. Suddenly, her eyes looked much older than her twenty-one years.

“Is there a problem here?” a deep, accented voice asked from behind the women.

Despite years of combat training, a shiver of apprehension slithered through Laney. There was something utterly sinister about Vladimir Sitnikov that invited a person to run in the opposite direction if they had an ounce of self-preservation. She simply did not understand how Jane abided marriage to the man. Actually, she did. Jane Sitnikov was at least as insane as her frightening husband. Deciding there was more than enough batshit crazy people there to help sweet Lucy Miller with her man situation, Laney silently extricated herself and headed for the nearest exit. She had two minutes until check in.

CHAPTER SIX

Laney found the quietest corner she could in a small room down the hall from the ballroom. She suspected it was used for catering services or something, but was currently empty, aside from a table. She stood facing the window and pressed the FaceTime contact with shaking fingers, waiting with breathless anticipation for the Master to answer. He picked up immediately, though is was 6:00 am in Osaka.

“Miss Paul,” his cold voice penetrated her heart.

“Master,” she said just as coldly, letting him see the chill in her ice blue eyes. She hadn’t called him father since the day her mother killed herself eleven years earlier.

“Report,” he demanded.

Anger filled her, but she forced it back, knowing it was a useless emotion against such a man. As she’d done dozens of times, she demanded, “Let me see Jin and I will report.”

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