“I—le—” She blinked as Caleb appeared in her peripheral vision and launched himself at the asshole holding her. A lethal smile ghosted across his face as his shoulder slammed into him, sending all three of them to their knees.
“Run,” Caleb yelled at her with a jerk of his chin as he rolled up, keeping his knees in the center of the asshole’s back.
Rose didn’t need to be told twice. Despite having no idea who was out there or what awaited her, she bolted in the direction of his chin jerk.
Rose heard the sound of footsteps behind her and knew Caleb couldn’t have gotten the goon under control that fast. She raced down the aisle as fast as her legs would carry her, but it wasn’t fast enough.
A jerk on her hair brought her to a sudden and painful halt.
“Why run when you know I will catch you?” Janek snarled. He wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed, cutting off her air. “I told you. If I can’t have you, nobody can.”
She struggled for breath, her hands flailing. With the sounds of fighting all around them, she knew there was little chance of rescue. It would be so easy to give up. So easy to admit defeat and allow him to kill her, but her heart which beat for Caleb refused to allow her to stop fighting.
She beat at Janek with her fists, growing weaker by the second.
He laughed evilly. “Too bad you ran from me and showed how unworthy you are. You would make an excellent wife.”
“Never.” Unable to speak, she mouthed the word. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caleb, Wolf, Mozart—and was that Cookie?—fighting with the goons.
She had to somehow get away from Janek without help from the guys. She just had to. She had a man to tell she loved, and a life to live. She wanted her fairytale happily ever after, damn it. She’d more than earned it.
Black spots danced in her vision. Her hands pulled weakly at his fingers, trying to give herself just a tiny inch of room for air.
“Enough.” His voice boomed around her as he shook her hard.
Her arms flailed, hitting something sharp that she couldn’t see on a shelf. She ignored the pain, her instincts taking over. God, she hoped whatever it was she’d managed to pick up wasn’t something too small. Rose put every ounce of the minimal strength she had left into her swing and slammed her arm forward.
Janek screamed, released her, and put his hands to his face. She watched in horror as he dropped to his knees and sank sideways to the floor with a knitting needle sticking out of his eye.
Her legs refused to hold her any longer and she fell to the floor, scooting her butt back until she hit a shelf. She brought her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and squeezed her eyes closed to shut out the horrific sight in front of her. “Oh my God. I killed him.”
“Rose. Rosey-Posey?
When she opened her eyes, Caleb knelt in front of her.
“Hey, baby girl.”
“I—I killed him.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She threw herself at his chest, and his arms closed around her as police swarmed the store. “Oh God.”
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” Caleb whispered against her head.
“On the ground. On the ground,” a policeman ordered in Italian, then repeated it in English. “On the ground.”
Caleb eased her out of his arms and nodded. He lay down and spoke in halting Italian over his shoulder as the policeman cuffed him. “My woman is hurt; he tried to kill her.”
“I will see she is looked after.”
“Grazie.” Caleb lay passive and let what needed to happen, happen. “It will be okay, Rosey-Posey. I promise.” He climbed to his feet as the policeman half lifted him. “Sir, can you call the base commander at NSA Naples? Our commander in chief will need to know what happened here today.”
“You are military?”
He eyed the Italian, as if unsure how to answer. “Sometimes.”
The Italian cop barked a laugh. “My cousin, Midas, is sometimes too.” He paused to check Janek’s pulse, then turned to her. “Come with us, miss.”
