“You, go check that out,” he ordered and his finger moved to the next man. “You two watch the Russian.”
Almost every word I’d have used to describe my father at that moment were negative, but the man was decisive. I had to give him that.
“Don’t worry, Gianna,” Ceci said, hand slipping into his jacket, “I’ll keep you safe.”
My father stepped toward the door, out of range. Ceci stood between us. One of my father’s men exited while the other drew his handgun and neared Alexei. Our eyes met. He winked and his kissable smile sharpened. It was now or never.
The oversized suitcoat around Alexei burst open. His right arm shot from behind him. It slammed the man beside him in the back. His rifle slung from his shoulder. He gave a gurgling groan and tried to grab at his back. I didn’t waste the moment.
The bottle in my hand slammed into Ceci’s temple. He crumpled to the floor. A gunshot echoed around me. I dropped to the floor next to the stricken Ceci. My fingers brushed the pistol he’d been drawing. It rose in the direction I’d heard the shot. The guard near the door held his at Alexei.
I squeezed the trigger. My ears rang. The man stumbled and fell to the ground. My father bolted through the door next to him. The finger on the trigger couldn’t squeeze a second time.
“There are at least three more,” Alexei barked, “but Pavel and Oleg might have taken one out.”
The man he’d slapped lay on the floor in front of him. The handle of a knife jutted out of his back. The rifle slung over the dead man’s shoulder had made it into Alexei’s hands. Other than that and the bloody bandage on his leg, he stood completely naked.
“Can you cover me?” he asked.
At no point in that moment did Alexei worry about my allegiances, not even after the secret he’d kept. Of course, I had just concussed my husband-to-be and killed one of my father’s men. Alexei had evidence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all I knew earlier,” he said, distracting me as he approached, even with a limp. “We can talk about that when we are safe.”
“Oh, we’re going to talk about it,” I hissed but offered a nod as I got to my feet.
I followed him to the door, looking anywhere but at his body. He’d been naked when I’d slipped out of the bed a few hours ago. My father’s men must have caught him then.
The door opened and he swung out, covering one side. I pressed against the wall on the other side of the doorway, then joined him on the balcony when it was clear.
An engine sounded near the back of the yacht. The boat Ceci had come in veered away from us. My father huddled next to the hull closest to us, all but his hair hidden. The gun in my hand rose but Alexei pushed it down.
“You don’t want to do that,” he whispered. “Besides, he’s heading north. Your Uncle Franco’s men are watching those waters, I’m sure.”
I wanted to argue. The man had killed my mother. My father killed his wife and her child, my sister. Because she cheated? I wouldn’t become him.
A door opened on the deck below us. Alexei spun and covered the stairs. A wince spread on his face but he kept it quiet. By his side, I covered him with Ceci’s PPK. Oleg’s face peaked up from the stairs, his left eye swollen shut with a purple bruise. Our guns lowered and the big man rushed up the stairs, Pavel behind him with another rifle.
“We took out our prison guard and the man sent to check up on him,” Oleg said, not even glancing at Alexei’s naked state.
“Marciano ran away, there’s a live one in the lounge but he’s down,” Alexei whispered back. His eyes darted up to the bridge. “They have to have one up there, at least. We should approach from both sides, then sweep the ship on down.”
Oleg nodded and started around the to the other side. Pavel shuffled to follow but flashed Alexei a grin.
“Last time I was walking around naked, you objected,” he said. “Good to see the rules are changing.”
The captain chuckled when Alexei only mock glared as he walked by him. Once they disappeared around the front of the cabins, my naked companion nodded to me and limped toward the stairs to the bridge.
We met them again at the back. Alexei had a silent conversation before they crept along the other side. We did the same on ours. At the door, Alexei pressed against the wall. He opened the latch and flung the door open, still behind the wall.
“Who’s there?” barked a voice in Italian, followed closely by a thud.
“Captain on the bridge,” Pavel called out.
Less than a half an hour later, we’d cleared the rest of the ship. Oleg tossed Ceci and the surviving mercenary into the boat tied to our side before cutting it loose. I kept his pistol. The dead sank to the bottom of the sea weighed down in anchor chains. Four thousand meters of water hid a lot of sins.
The boat was Alexei’s again. Ours?
Epilogue
