“I don’t think so.” Montrose clicked his tongue. “Release my fiancée first. Once I’ve got her, then you can have your man back.”
“And give up my leverage?” Hasan shook his head. “Remove his hood, or the girl goes nowhere. I have all evening.”
“I call the shots here, not you,” Montrose spat.
“On the contrary,” Hasan retorted. “You have one of my men, and I have your fiancée. Men are replaceable. Fiancées? Not so much.”
“But he’s not just one of your men.” Montrose’s expression was far too gleeful for Hasan’s liking. “He’s your brother. And while fiancées are hard to replace, brothers are even harder.”
Poppy stiffened in Hasan’s grasp, but he paid her no mind. “That’s preposterous,” he bluffed, even as his heart sank.
“Hardly,” Richard countered. “I’ve been following you Devars for a long time,Jackal. All the evidence lines up. In fact, I myself thought there was quite a strong family resemblance. You two share very similar features?—well,shared. He looks a little different, an unfortunate outcome of being uncooperative during our interrogation. Let’s hope it isn’t permanent.”
A snarl ripped out of Hasan’s chest before he could stop it, all but confirming Richard’s hunch. “Take. The. Hood. Off.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed. “Let my fiancée go.”
When Hasan didn’t move, Richard snapped his fingers at one of his men. They struck Paranjay over the head. His brother grunted in pain. Despite this, Hasan held firm, but then they lashed out at Paranjay’s knees, causing him to cry out and stumble.
“Stop!” Hasan shouted. “Okay, you want her back? Here.”
He released Poppy’s wrist. She didn’t move. Both feet remained rooted to the floor, her expression blank save for her eyes, which burned with an emotion that Hasan didn’t understand.
“Poppy, come here,” Richard said.
Poppy remained beside Hasan. She glanced at him, then at Richard. He stared at her, bewildered. He opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing, but before he could speak, the window shattered with a crystalline crash.
Samina stood among the shards, a gun in her hands. Before he could move, she fired once. Her bullet cut between the guards, striking Paranjay squarely in the throat. Blood sprayed the officers behind him. They scattered, crying out in alarm as his body slumped to the floor.
For a moment, his heart stopped, his ears ringing in the aftermath of the shot. His vision flickered black, then red. Nausea rolled in his stomach; he swallowed back the taste of bile. “What the fuck?” he roared. “You killed him!”
Samina shook her head, firing at two more officers while the others fumbled for their weapons. “It’s not Paranjay!” she shouted. “He’s a plant. None of the prisoners are here.”
Now that the body was on the ground, no longer blocked by the other officers, Hasan could see that Samina was right?—this man’s arms were bare, whereas Paranjay’s had accumulated a plethora of tattoos and scars over the years.
Paranjay was not here. He had never been here.
They had been set up.
Chapter Nineteen
Over the Bridge
Everyone moved at once. The officers drew their weapons, pointing them at Hasan and Samina. Montrose sprang for Poppy. Poppy jumped back, crashing into Hasan. He grabbed her, pulling her into his chest. Keeping one arm around her front, he pulled a dagger from his belt, pressing it against her throat. Poppy squeaked, but he held firm. Montrose came up short.
“Let us go,” Hasan growled, “or the future Lady Montrose won’t leave this room alive.”
“You wouldn’t harm her,” Montrose said, but Hasan had seen him waver. The man might have taken his own sweet time getting his fiancée back, but it was clear that even if he didn’t care for her well-being, he still needed her alive. “If you kill her, I’ll kill your brother,” Montrose threatened. “Don’t forget?—he’s still in my custody.”
The reminder wrapped itself around Hasan’s neck like a noose, but if he faltered now, he’d never recover the higher ground. Montrose thought him a soulless criminal, loyal only to greed. Though his pulse was roaring louder than his thoughts, he forced himself to sneer, leaning into the other man’s prejudice.
“You’re already planning to kill him?—if you haven’t already.” He shifted the angle of the blade, allowing it to bite a fraction into Poppy’s throat. Hot blood kissed his fingers, trailing down her neck until it seeped into the neckline of her white gown. “If I can’t have my brother, then I’ll have my revenge.”
“Get down!” From the doorway, Harithi’s order swept through the room. He dropped the dagger and wrenched Poppy to the floor, covering her body with his as Harithi opened fire. Richard dove, crawling toward them at lightning speed, but Samina pounced on him, her brass knuckles flashing as she pounded him in the back of the head. He roared, trying to buck her off.
“Let’s go!” Harithi shouted. “It’s a bloodbath downstairs.”
“Leave me!” Samina said, choking Montrose with his own collar. “I’ll hold him.”
