Page 85 of Auctioned Surrender

“I’ll get you to a safe place, but close enough to see what’s going on. We’re short men, so I need to focus on the task at hand,and if you’re in danger, my focus will be on you,” I say, inching the car forward in the dark, little by little until we’ve made it down the terrain to a small ravine. I park the Jeep and go around to Layla’s side of the vehicle, opening the door and handing her an earpiece. “Put this in, Layla. You’ll be plugged into the team chat. Stay off the line unless you need something. I know how much this means to you. For the record, I wouldn’t have really left you home if you hadn’t been listening, but you would be watching from a safe place and not in the middle of a fucking mafia war zone if it were up to me.”

She starts to say something, apologies maybe, even though the words haven’t formed yet, but a sound in the undergrowth diverts my attention. I gesture to the undergrowth right before a four-wheeler comes into sight. It pulls up right beside us, and Liam hops off the machine and shakes my hand. “Thanks, Liam. This is Layla. Layla, this is Liam, one of our partners.”

“Nice to meet you. Thanks for your help,” Layla tells him. She clearly doesn’t recognize him from the car in front of her when he helped me pull her off the highway.

“No problem,” Liam says to Layla and then turns to me. “I’ll make sure no one gets through from this entrance. Trent’s already in place on the other side.”

“Excellent. Let’s run it according to plan.” He has the outline we put together last night, knowing that at some point we were going to get the call, and that Marenah felt strongly it was going to be on the shore; we weren’t sure when.

I get on the four-wheeler and gesture in front of me. “Close quarters on this ride, princess,” I tell her as she looks suspiciously at the machine and the sparse seating left for her after my body has settled into the seat.

“I don’t bite,” I tell her, smiling.

Layla’s lips purse with feigned annoyance, but she’s not going to let a little thing like closeness to me stand in her way.She hoists her leg over the middle of the machine. I grasp her by the waist, lifting and settling her slight frame on the seat, before snuggling her against me, right where she belongs, whether she realizes it or not.

It takes time to get through the terrain and undergrowth and to the other side of the shore. Thoughts of how dangerous this could be for Layla creep into my mind, causing me to second guess my decision to let her come down this far to the shore instead of insisting that she stay far out of danger, but it’s too late now. She hasn't submitted to me, doesn’t have to listen to me, and has no idea that I won’t let her throw away what we have because she’s scared. Either way, with her sister’s life in the balance, knowing my fiery princess, she would have made her way to the action one way or another. When we’re close, I pull into a small clearing, get off the four-wheeler, and help her down. “We’ll walk the rest of the way, so they don’t hear us.”

I turn her to me one last time, stroking the softness of her cheek. “If anything goes south tonight, if you need to use your piece, you shoot to kill, and do not hesitate because not one of these people has a thing to lose. If you miss or just hurt them and they get a shot off, they will kill you. Don’t think for a moment they won’t.”

“Roger that,” Layla says, leaning up and kissing me lightly on the lips. “Don’t worry, papi. I’ll do as you ask, and if all else fails, I’ll slay them with my dagger!”

I laugh, holding my fierce, passionate beauty for a moment longer than I should. “Let’s go, princess,” I say, parting the overgrowth and creating a path that she can follow without getting cut by the thistle and thorns.

When we reach the perimeter, I give Trent a nod, knowing he’s settled in on this side and will make sure no one else comes through as long as he can prevent it. We inch ourselves forward, getting as close as we can. “This is where you’re going to stay.I’ll make my way around the bend. When they start transferring your sister to that boat, don’t be surprised when we move in. We’re working with Larussio’s men tonight, and I think you know what that means.”

“Yeah, it means the Larussios are infringing on Bernatelli’s business, and the two mafia families are going to go head-to-head tonight. You work with the Larussios often?” I ask.

“Roundabout way. I work for Chase Prestian, and he’s Carlos Larussio’s son-in-law,” I tell her.

The look on Layla’s face tells me that things just clicked into place.

“Katarina Meilers. She’s the daughter Carlos didn’t know about for most of her life, right? She’s been coined the mafia princess in all the tabloids,” Layla says.

I nod. “That would be Katarina. The family has a lot of history, but they’re good people regardless of how you feel about their business line. They’re not trafficking women and are going to help us get your sister back, so good in my book,” I tell her.

Layla nods. “There was a time not too long ago when it would have bothered me, maybe would have crossed lines of appropriateness. Not so much now,” she says.

“I’m going to work my way around. Keep your earpiece in, and stay out of sight, princess, or there will be consequences you don’t want to learn, and I will deliver them whether you agree to be mine or not,” I tell her, leaving her with that thought while heading down the ravine and toward my target.

“Team one, come in,” I say to Trent, the only team I have on this side of the shore for now, having switched to our predesignated channel, edging toward the other side of the car as the boat slowly pulls to shore. I lay the guns I’ve brought in a line, knowing if I need to that I can make them think there are more of us than there are from this distance.

“Team one’s here in position, and everything’s quiet. I’ll stay in position. The Larussio boys are farther up the ravine with earpieces. You’ll approach from behind?” Trent asks.

“Roger that. I’ll come in from behind with the Larussio boys in the wing.”

“The mafia boys are in position,” someone says, laughing.

I laugh, recognizing Tommy, one of the men who’s worked with us on a dozen or so other jobs. “Smartass. Get your teams ready, and we’ll show you how it’s done,” I tease him.

“We’ll cover your ass. You just get those ladies out of there, and then let us deal with these sons of bitches,” Tommy says, and I don’t have an issue with that.

“Roger that, Tommy, roger that,” I say, as the front doors to the car holding Layla’s sister open.

Two men get out, and one opens the back passenger side door. A man climbs out of one side, another man gets out on the other side and then bends to get Layla’s sister from the back middle seat.

The minivan driver is watching, and he and the guy in his front passenger seat get out. The driver pushes a button on his key fob, and the right side of the van opens. He pulls woman after woman out of the vehicle until I’ve counted a total of twelve. I don’t know how they’ve managed to pack them into the space of that vehicle. Still, there they are, all standing outside the vehicle while someone barks at them to stand still and not to move until he tells them to move.

Two men jump down from the boat and onto the ramp that they’ve thrown out to the shore, and head our way. My cell buzzes, and I glance down at the incoming call.

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