CHAPTERTEN
There were a few things she wanted to pick up from the embassy before Conor took her to Ireland.Now her father was behind bars, it was safe to return to that desolate room in the attic where she used to plot and plan to save the captives in the cellar.She didn’t have much, just a few trinkets and keepsakes from the past, but they’d taken on a greater value now she had a better understanding of her mother.
But time was short.Conor had already booked a flight plan, as he would be piloting the plane.She was excited at the prospect of seeing where he lived and learning more about the man she loved from this very different side to his life.“I won’t be long,” she promised as she hurried past him out of the house.“Just need to get some things before we leave—”
“Karolina!Come back here!”
“No.”But she stopped and turned to speak to him.“I have to do this, to prove that I can, to prove my father no longer has a hold on me.Please try to understand.I promise I won’t do anything foolish.And I won’t be long.”
Conor frowned.He didn’t seem pleased, but at least he had accepted her need to return one last time.She waved as she raced away.
She was smiling as she ran down the steps to the subway station.The traffic was heavy, so this was the best way to get anywhere quickly.Suddenly, life seemed full of possibility.It wouldn’t take her long to get there and back.There was a subway stop in the village close to the embassy.And with the excitement of Ireland ahead of her, what could possibly go wrong?She had slept in Conor’s arms last night, and had woken up to find him gazing into her face with a quirked brow and an easy smile.And then he’d made love to her, really made love to her, until her body sang at his touch.
Her pulse was still thrumming to Conor’s beat when she raced inside a car as the sliding doors began to close, and was still dreaming about him when the train plunged underground and all signal was lost.
Cursing viciously when Karolina didn’t pick up his call, he feared the worst.He’d just received the most disturbing news possible concerning the ambassador.He’d played the diplomatic immunity card, and it had saved him, freed him, at least for now.Putting out an all-systems alert to the team, Conor dashed out of the house.After so many years of confinement, he understood Karolina’s thirst for freedom, as well as her need to prove she could face up to the past.He would never dream of restricting her actions, unless circumstances made that necessary.This latest news did exactly that.
Gunning his bulletproof SUV, he headed out of town.He tried several times to reach Karolina with the same disappointing result.If she’d taken the subway, the signal would be lost for as long as the train was underground.
Trying to tell himself not to worry only made him worry more.There was enough animal instinct left in human beings to know when something wasn’t right, and this situation was far from right.Karolina’s father wasn’t just a master criminal, he was a vicious psychopath with zero concern for anyone but himself.Karolina was in the greatest danger.The ambassador would never take defeat and capture lightly.Wherever he was he’d have contacts, and those contacts could be relied upon to be as ruthless as he was.Hungry for revenge, the ambassador would stop at nothing.What that meant for Karolina could only be imagined.
The last thing she’d expected when she set off for the embassy was to be surprised and dragged in through the tradesman’s entrance by a guard she’d never seen before.The embassy wasn’t closed.Far from it.Her father’s tentacles had reached through the bars of his cell to orchestrate everything, just as he always had, and a worse shock awaited her upstairs where she found her father seated in his usual chair.
“Welcome home, Karolina.”
For a moment, she was too confused to speak.Was human slavery viewed so lightly in the UK that her father had been bailed?
“Diplomatic immunity,” he advised her with a shrug.“You can close your mouth now.I have contacts everywhere, and if you or your boyfriend—”
“Husband,” she reminded him.
“Shut your mouth!If you and that Irish tinker think you can get the better of Kaspar Karolides.”
“We already have—”
“Shut the bitch’s mouth for her.”
Karolina reeled back as the thug backhanded her across the face.
Instinct propelled her to respond rather than retreat.Hands up, palms flat, she signaled a lack of wish to fight.Her father’s laugh was cut short when she launched a kick that took out the thug’s gun, followed by a second that landed squarely on his chin.
No one was laughing now.
The remaining guards hesitated to shoot her only because she was the ambassador’s daughter.That fatal moment was long enough.
Conor!
Conor had never looked more dangerous.An unstoppable force, she’d never seen him like this before.The sight of him was enough to throw her father’s thugs into confusion, turning the ambassador’s frantic cries of “Shoot!Shoot!”into a nervy and undisciplined gun battle.Throwing her to the floor, Conor shielded her with his body before commando crawling with her out of the room to relative safety behind the door.
“Where’s the rest of your team?”she gasped, heart thumping uncontrollably.
“I’m it for now.I called the team on my way here.”
“You’re on your own?”Her fear for both of them grew.
“No.I’m with you.”Conor reassured her with a squeeze.“Stay here.Take this.”He pressed a gun into her hand.“Use it if you have to.”
“What about you?Conor!”
