“I have access to Natasha’s phone calls.” Lorenzo’s voice thickened with triumph, as if he’d been waiting for this revelation. “I love her voice even when she doesn’t want to hear from me.”
The words iced my blood. Cold. Frozen. My chest rose, fell—but no air filled my lungs. My body stayed locked to the seat, tethered by the zip ties that chewed into my left wrist.
“You see, she was mine before she was yours.” Lorenzo hissed at Edik. His teeth glinted wolfish in the sunlight. “Yes, the two of you restructured your contract,aftermy lovely twenty-first birthdaygiftto Natasha. Such a sweet little chat you had, Edik. She didn’t tell you that she’d made love already—that she’d voided the contract. No, she just said she was happy with Lach. And you agreed that you wanted what she had. Love. But did you think Lev Mikhailov would allow that?”
“Wenevermade love” spat from my lips at the same time Edik growled, “Doesn’t matter. We deserve to choose our own paths toward marriage.”
“Whatever. And you gave me leverage, an asset. Let’s just say, the Mikhailov Bratva has been accommodating.”
Edik’s eyes widened. “You’re the anonymous caller?”
“Before the plane even cleared Cali airspace, I had you all en route. Your team devoured every update. And when the Russian extracted Natasha from the dump in Dundee, you executed my plan like clockwork.”
My stomach lurched violently, vomit clawing my throat. Lach and I never had a chance.
“Natasha, if he hadn’t supported your choice not to marry during that call …” Lorenzo’s eyes flicked to mine. “Well, it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t like you. You don’t like him.” Enzo backhanded him. “Edik, you saved yourself a bullet to the head the day after her birthday because you agreed not to marry her. Though, she really had called you because we had breached that contract.”
“We?” I found my voice. “W-wedid nothing.Youraped me! You heard the tears in my voice when I called him. They. Were. Because. Of. You?—”
Ignoring me, words erupted from his chest, overpowering mine. “She was mine, Edik. Not the Scots. Not yours, Edik. Mine the moment she kissed me!”
His eyes danced toward me. Crazed. Possessive. Fixed on me.
Lorenzo’s smirk widened, a predator basking in the kill. Edik froze, shock lining his face.Oh, no! If Lorenzo killed him, he couldn’t help stop the war between our families.
A shadow moved. Rope whipped around Lorenzo’s throat from behind. A familiar silhouette—broad, burning, wild-eyed.
Lachlan.
A storm lived in his face. Fury carved every line of him as he yanked back on the rope. Staring at me, eyes glazed with perplexity, Lorenzo clawed at the rope.
Lachlan overpowered him from the rear. His Scottish roar shook the walls. “You touched her! You bloody raped my woman! Me wife!”
The sound detonated inside me. In that split second, the room contracted. Time distorted into silence. The man who twisted my nightmares and the man who rescued me finally collided.
Unable to latch a finger into the constraint at his neck, Lorenzo reached a fist behind him to attack Lachlan’s jaw.
My husband took every hit, predator against protector. One fought for obsession. The other fought for love. Only one would leave this room alive.
56
LACHLAN
I hadn’t feltmy heart beat this way since my first major league game. But this wasn’t a game. This was worse. Natasha’s broken whisper from after Valentine’s hung in the air.
The fake Italian thrashed in my grip, trying to claw the rope from his throat. I dug my boots into the floor and snarled, dragging him back. He rammed an elbow into my ribs. Pain cracked sharp through me. Didn’t matter.
Couldn’t matter.
I’d let him out of my sight once. Let him live to terrorize and pillage another day.
And I couldn’t let the pain bother me.
I would not lose this fight. Not to him. Not today.
Lorenzo surged, throwing his head back, skull smashing into my brow. White burst into my vision. My grip slipped. He spun, feral, throwing a jab. I ducked—dove my fist into his ribs. Felt cartilage shift.
He lunged again. I blocked, forearm to forearm; the jolt numbed my arm. He kicked my knee, and I buckled. Twisting into it, I dragged him down. We hit the wood floor. His hands clawed for my eyes. Mine for his throat.
