Page 47 of Rescued By the Convicts
Zev looked at him with sincere curiosity. “Why would I bother? I fucked her when I wanted. But I know whose property she is.”
“You’re dead, Zev,” Ivan’s voice, low and dangerous, pierced the veil of self-hate running through Melina. She’d believed in Zev, even when Ivan had doubted him. She’d let him into her heart, and it was all a sick game to him and Namir.
Before she could lose herself down that dark hole of despair, Ivan said, “They can’t defeat you, Melina. You’re too strong for that. You fought for me and my men. For Jayce and Reece. Don’t give in.”
Ivan was right. Namir would try to crush her soul by using her body, but he wouldn’t succeed. She still had Ivan and Jayce. And Reece, wherever he was. He’d always be hers as well. She rubbed the fingers of her left hand, where her rings had been. She didn’t need the rings to remember the love of her men. Namir could never take those memories from her.
“I won’t stop until you’re all dead!” Ivan raged. “You, Namir, and all your lackeys, starting with Zev. Every last monster in your organization.”
Ivan never made empty threats, but he was chained and powerless. Nonetheless, it fed her soul knowing he’d fight for her, that he had been fighting for her all along.
Melina lifted her eyes to Ivan, to see him one last time before Namir sent him to Tarcliss.
“I’ll come for you, Melina. I promise.”
“I love you, Ivan,” she said, loud and clear. There’d be no more hiding her emotions. Let Namir do what he wanted to her. Ivan would know what he meant to her.
Namir yanked the chain, choking her until she stopped talking. She’d said her peace, and Namir couldn’t take the words or the feelings away. Ever.
“Don’t worry, Perilov. She’ll have plenty of men coming for her. In her pussy, her ass, her mouth. Wherever they want.”
Zev and Namir laughed.
Goodbye, Ivan. Goodbye, Jayce, she said to herself silently as Namir pulled her along by the leash.
“Fuck! Where did he go?” Boxer shouted at the other guards.
Melina’s eyes scanned the area. Jayce was gone! He’d slipped away when Ivan had distracted everyone.
“Find him!” Namir yelled at his guards. “Zev, lock down that ship. Don’t let him escape.”
“Too late,” Melina said, smiling. “He already has.”
Chapter Twelve
REECE
Zev opened the storage compartment below the engine room of Namir’s private ship. It was about time. The lack of gravity in this section of the ship had made him nauseous and a bit claustrophobic. He needed to get out and stretch his legs.
One look at Zev’s face, however, and Reece knew there wouldn’t be any time to acclimate to space. Rolling stomach or not, he had to move.
“Namir has Melina.”
Reece grabbed Zev by the throat and lifted him in the air. Zev’s promise to keep Melina away from Namir was the only reason Reece had agreed to this entire scheme.
“Wasting time. Need-to-find-her,” Zev gasped.
Like a led weight, Reece dropped Zev.
“Kill me later, big guy. Right now, we have to find her. Namir left a few minutes ago, and he was heading toward the center ring.”
‘What about the others?’ Reece signed.
Zev slapped a knife into Reece’s hand. A sonic blaster would have been preferable, but a knife was more discreet, easier to slip past station security.
“Jayce escaped, and Ivan’s being hauled off to level two, bay six to be placed on a transport to Tarcliss. We’ll have to split up. Do you think you can find Namir? If I’m spotted searching the private section of the station, where Namir’s rooms are, it will raise questions. I was ordered to lock down this ship. I’ll see about cutting off the guards escorting Ivan to the prison transport since that’s on the public levels and I can blend in.”
Reece nodded. Zev’s plans usually worked out, though this latest one was less than stellar.
