Page 76 of The Kiss that Captured a Billionaire
“Yeah, well sue me after you get out of jail,” Rose shot back, giving the last knot a good yank. “Now help me get this out the window.”
They shoved the window open, the balmy air rushing in. Rose fed the knotted curtain-rope out until it dangled against the wall. It swayed slightly in the breeze, looking far less sturdy than she would have liked.
“Are you sure this will hold?” Allegra asked, her voice edging toward panic.
Rose flashed her a crooked grin and tried to hide her own fear as she slid a leg over the ledge. “Nope. But it’ll make for one hell of an exit.”
Nineteen
Kallistratos Security Systems: Athens, Greece
The facial recognition from the photo came back fast.
The man in Rose’s background was a petty crook, but the car he leaned against was registered to Allegra Rossi.
Theo’s pulse went from steady to a deep, pounding thrum. Heat surged up his spine as if someone had thrown open a furnace door.
His phone rang. Alexandros.
“I can’t talk right now?—”
“You’re going to want to,” his brother cut in. “I just got off the phone with Vito. He knows where Rose is being held.”
The icy grip on Theo’s chest tightened. “Go on.”
Alexandros relayed the mess in clipped, measured bursts—Vito’s gambling debts, Allegra’s harebrained ‘delay’ scheme, that Rose was with Allegra right now. And the address.
By the time Theo ended the call, his breathing was slow, deliberate.
He was going to kill them. All of them. Family friends be damned.
Markos, who’d caught enough of the conversation to follow, was already moving. “Angel. Cole. Gear up. We meet at the chopper in ten. Sending coordinates now for the location of the targets.”
Theo’s voice was calm and controlled. “I’ll alert local police en route. No warning— if whoever is holding her senses us coming, they’ll move her.”
Ten minutes later, Theo and Markos climbed into the helicopter in silence. Angel would pilot the aircraft while Cole co-piloted. The countryside blurred past in shades of dusty gold and deep green, but Theo’s focus was pinpointed on the location ahead.
He contacted the local authorities, debriefing them on what had happened. The local Municipal Police Chief, Homerus, was already aware of Rose’s abduction after a local discovered an unconscious man along the road. Homerus assured him they would have vehicles and men ready by the time they landed.
Twenty-five minutes later, the helicopter set down in a farmer’s field. The house where Rose was being held was on the far end of the village, approximately fifteen minutes by car.
Theo exited the helicopter and strode forward to clasp Homerus’s hand as the police chief approached. Both men wore grim expressions.
“Mr. Kallistratos. I appreciate your assistance in this. There are only myself and two others. The village is small, and wedon’t have much crime—certainly nothing like this,” Homerus admitted in a gruff, apologetic tone.
Theo nodded in understanding. “My team and I are trained for hostage situations. I have the permissions to handle this,” he said, motioning at Cole, Markos, and Angel. “We’ll go in first and secure the house and the hostages.”
“They are two women?” Homerus asked, his brow furrowed with worry.
“Yes.”
Theo’s clipped answer was pulled from him. His throat tightened as he remembered Dani’s recent near-death experience. His brother’s wife had nearly died at the hands of a vengeful ex-boyfriend who had stalked her. She had barely made it out alive. If he and his team had been even a few minutes later, she would have died.
He pushed the thought away, knowing that any distraction could jeopardize the mission. He rode with Homerus while the rest of the team divided up into the other two police vehicles.
Fifteen minutes later, they slipped through olive groves, police blocking curious villagers at a distance.
“Two men on the back. No sign of movement inside yet,” Angel murmured.
