Page 77 of The Russian's Kidnapped Bride
Cradling her face, I look her over, scanning her quickly while I’m nearly breathless.
“Are you hurt?” I ask, well aware we don’t have much time.
Lily shakes her head, eyes wide and damp. Her hair is disheveled, and her dress is torn in some places. Then I realize her wrists are bound with rope. “No, I’m fine…but it’s not just Maxim.”
Brows furrowing, I pull out my pocket knife, snapping it open before making quick work of the bindings, before they eventually slide away, leaving her wrists bare but raw. I brush a thumb along the one.
Despite the immediate relief, she still looks frantic. “We have to go. He’s working with someone—someone with more resources.”
My blood runs cold. It’s no surprise, given what I’ve seen, but it's not good either. “Who?”
She searches for the name for a moment, hurrying over the words while the noise continues around us. “It started with an ‘A’…I think it was Aldo or something, but I’m not sure. I heard them talking, and they were hoping you’d come here. I’m the bait.”
I blink back at her, slipping my knife away while keeping my hold on her. I want to stop and celebrate, to bask in the reliefof having her with me, but I know I can’t. We can’t stay still for too long.
Still, her words hit me hard. I knew it. After all this time, the manpower, the coordination, and the fact that Maxim was making moves despite hiding out…it wasn’t just him.
Whoever this Aldo person is, he surely has ulterior motives of his own, which means he’s another player to contend with.
“I have to get you out of here,” I murmur, skin cold despite the energy I’ve exerted. Keeping a solid grip on her hand, I keep her behind me. “Stay close…we’ll find the perimeter—”
Before I can finish, movement on either end of the container corridor stops me. Figures shift and emerge, armed and eerily calm.
Keeping Lily behind my back, I press against one wall and look between them. A flicker of panic moves through me, but I swallow it back, forcing my training to take center stage.
To my left, Maxim stands with his gun arm raised, eyes trained on me. He looks smug, assuming he has already won.
On the other end is a man I don’t recognize. He looks older than all of us, with black hair streaked grey, wearing a leather jacket over his somewhat hunched back. Yellow-tinted glasses partially shield his eyes. He doesn’t grin like Maxim. Instead, he’s stern and not nearly as smug. From the look of it, he’s been in the game for quite some time. One of his men stands beside him, armed with a rifle.
The pressure of the situation weighs heavily on me, but I remain calm. I have to be with Lily behind me.
“Looks like the bitch managed to escape,” Maxim says, grinning while he takes a step closer. “How lucky.”
Lily tenses behind me, but I keep my gun aimed in his direction, not taking my eyes off the other.
“You abduct my wife, and now you assume you can talk about her?” I growl out, feeling the adrenaline coursing through me relentlessly.
He chuckles. “I didn’t take you as a white knight, Mikhail. But does that really make you better than the rest of us?”
I grit my teeth and don’t say anything.
“If I remember correctly, you’re the one who abducted her first.”
So he was watching all along. At the very least, his men were. That makes me tense slightly.
“Shut your mouth.”
Maxim just laughs again, moving the gun idly in his grasp. “You can dress your crimes up all you want, but spare me the good guy act.”
“Enough prattling,” the other man says, presumably Aldo, keeping his tone cool. He looks away from Maxim and focuses on me. “You don’t know me, but I know you…I’ve heard quite the stories of you, Lukovs, even from New York. I’ve been watching for a while now, and I’ll admit, Vegas is quite tempting.”
I tighten my grip on the pistol, not knowing who to aim at. Maxim is a wild card, but this one has a cold confidence I don’t trust. “And who are you?”
His lip barely pulls. “Aldo Cattaneo. That’s all you need to know.”
While I stare him down, I remember what Lily said. How they’re working together.
“And you made a deal with Nikolaev?” I ask, unable to keep the disgust from my words.
