Page 106 of Rescued

Ryder pulled her tighter against him. "Nothing you need to worry about, Princess. McLean and I had a few details to ironout."

"Likewhat?"

He scooped her into his arms and turned to carry her towards the dungeon room where he had the sudden desire to recreate one of their scenes from Valentine's night. "You don't need to worry about it, baby. In fact, I think you'd better start worrying about all of the devious things I'm planning on doing to this gorgeous body ofyours."

As he pushed into the expansive medieval inspired space, he was happy to see they had the dimly lit room tothemselves.

Only after he scaled the steps to the stage did he put Khloe's feet on the floor. She craned her neck to look around the space, taking in the pointed wooden horse, St. Andrew's cross and dozens of punishment implements ondisplay.

"I was so afraid of you the last time we were here together. It feels like a lifetimeago."

Ryder understood completely, yet her words bothered him. "So are you still afraid of me,Princess?"

Her smile could light a full-city block. "The only thing that still scares me is youleaving."

Ryder unbuttoned the buttons at the cuff of his left sleeve and then began rolling up the fabric. As he rolled up his right cuff, he took a step closer to Khloe. Their eyes locked as he moved to unbuckle his leather belt. He purposefully let the leather snap as he quickly pulled it free of his beltloops.

Khloe's eyes widened as she realized he was stalking towards her. The sadist in him fed on the lick of fear he saw jump into her gaze as he cracked the belt against the empty wooden pony. They were going to have so much fun playing out every single deprived kink his dirty mind could think of, but not until he did one thingfirst.

He stopped his advance on his submissive to ask. "Princess, what's your safewordtonight?"

And just like that, the fear in her gaze was replaced with a love that he wouldn't trade for theworld.

Khloe grinned her most mischievous smile before answering, "Roulette."

"Perfection."

Epilogue

Alexi Ivanov pulledthe collar up on his jacket to keep the early May chill at bay. Had he known when he left the house that morning that he'd be sitting on a bench in the cold for almost an hour, he would have made different choices inwardrobe.

He took his final cigarette out, wadding up the now empty wrapper and throwing it into the last remnants of a dirty, melting pile of snow already polluted with a garbage can's worth of trash. Not for the first time, he consideredleaving.

He replayed the details of the anonymous phone call he'd received on his personal cell phone hours before. The phone that no one but his Volkov brothers had the number to. The mysterious voice on the other end had been brief, but had dangled a carrot he couldn't resist; information on enemy numberone.

Only the promise of getting a lead on tracking the traitor Nicolai Romanovski kept him waiting in thechill.

Alexi may not share the Volkov last name, but he was more aware than ever before that he shared their blood. Now that his cousins had been murdered like their father before them, the remaining members of the Bratva were looking to him forleadership.

To say he was in over his head was anunderstatement.

All his life, he'd been a second-class member of the family at best. Unlike his cousins, his mother had shielded him from the harsher realities of growing up a Volkov, making sure he enjoyed the freedoms of attending university and traveling abroad. He hadn't been groomed for leadership since he was a kid like his cousins Artel, Vladimir and Oleg had been, and it was alreadyshowing.

He didn't know the first thing about setting up arms deals with the dangerous underground criminals of the world or smuggling drugs or flesh across the Russian boarders. He'd been a simple soldier. Amule.

Muscles who tookorders.

With his cousin's sons all under the age of ten, the remaining Volkov Bratva henchmen now looked to Alexi as the heir apparent to the Volkov kingdom. He was to give the orders now instead of take them. He had dived in, determined to learn as fast as he could. So far the hardest part of the job had been figuring out exactly who he couldtrust.

While there were many things he was still unsure of, there was one mission he knew he needed to carry out with great clarity. His Uncle Viktor would never rest easy in his grave until Nicolai Romanovski was hunted, tortured and killed. That he and Nicolai had been good friends only angered Alexi that much more. He had trusted the arms dealer and he'd been duped; made to look like an idiot and he didn't likeit.

It was dark, almost nine, when a nondescript sedan pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the bench he'd been perched on. The back passenger door sprung open, but no one exited the vehicle. After a few long seconds, Alexi rose on his stiff legs and slowly approached the vehicle. The windows were tinted so dark, he couldn't see anything or anyoneinside.

"Please join me, Mr.Ivanov."

That voice. It was so familiar, yet he couldn't place it. Desperate for information, Alexi took a leap of faith and took a seat in the back of the black car. There were no interior lights to see by, so the passenger in the seat next to him remained a shadow. The eyes of the driver met his in the rearview mirror as they passed under an overhead street lamp. He was relieved to see it was George, his uncle'schauffeur.

"It wasn't wise to get into the car without knowing who was picking youup."

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