Page 19 of Daddy's Reluctant Queen

The door opens. “Good nigh?—”

A gunshot rings out and I jump, startled. The smell of gunpowder laced with blood fills the air.

And shouting. Somebody’s cursing. Malkin. I hear him speaking in fast Russian.

“Natalie. It’s all right. It’s…”

He stops.Oh, shit. Adam, what did you do?

The front of the house lights up and suddenly, I see shadows moving everywhere on the grounds. Dammit.

I could try to run back. If I stay here, they will eventually find me. If I try to run, they’ll shoot me down the second I’m spotted.

I duck behind the bushes as several men run up, guns drawn. One of them is a young man with a shaved head and dead eyes. Old bruises cover his face and he’s got a bandage over the bridgeof his nose. They stop on the front stairs and Malkin says, “It came from that direction.”

Fuck, they’re going after Adam. I hope he’s watching. I hope he runs. As for me…

I’m too close to give up. I jump up to the window I just unlocked and I open it. Two seconds before I can get inside, I hear from behind me, “Stop!”

I look over my shoulder to see the one with the shaved head aiming for me. Another one stops him, grabbing his arm and pushing it down. “Alive, stupid,” he barks at him.

I throw myself through the window, but I only get about halfway before I feel arms around my waist pulling me back. I kick out, trying to catch whoever’s holding me.

“Come on, little rabbit,” one of them growls as he yanks me by the waist and pulls me back outside. I tumble backward, falling on the hard ground. By the light of the spotlight around me, I see they both have the same face. Twins. One with hair and one without. The one without hair is the one with bruises all over his face. He scowls at me, his black eyes alight.

I scramble to get away and I feel arms grab at me. I roll over, kicking away arms and hands. One of them yelps out in pain as I get to my feet and start running. I immediately hear footfalls behind me. It’s nothing but open expanse straight ahead, the front lawn of the property dipping off into the dark of night the further I get away from the lights of the house.

And then I hear gunshots. Instinctively, I fall to the ground and cover my head. In seconds, I realize I haven’t been shot and I try to get to my feet again. I’m yanked up by my arm.

“Little rabbit,” the one with the shaved head says breathlessly. “You can’t escape?—”

I whirl around, elbows up as I swing back at him. It catches him in the side of his head and his head rocks sideways, but he keeps his hold on my arm.

“Fucking little bitch!”

I twist my arm out of his grip as he brings his gun up. I swing my leg up, connecting with his wrist as I knock it free from his hand. In this moment, I realize that I’ve gone around and around with this guy before. The faint tint of his bruised skin where I broke his nose looks more prominent now.

I follow the kick with a turn and a back kick, hitting him the chest. He goes flying to the ground. His twin runs up, gun pointed at me as he falls.

“I think that’s quite enough of that,” he says as he steps around his brother. The one with the shaved head twitches and groans in the grass for a second before getting on his hands and knees, coughing blood on the grass.

I put my hands up and say, “You’re supposed to take me alive, right? If I start running and you shoot me, your boss is going to be pissed.”

“He didn’t say I couldn’t shoot you in the legs,” he says. “Blow your knees out. It’s a long crawl to freedom from here, little rabbit.”

Fuck. I’m caught. I look around wildly for an exit and immediately see none. Shadows from the house are walking our way.

If this one gets close enough to me, I can disarm him. But after that…

He seems to know that and he’s keeping his distance, standing by his brother, who’s now getting back to his feet. As soon as he’s up, he takes a step toward me. “I’m going to rip your fucking limbs off?—”

His brother stops him, blocking him with an arm to stop his path. “She beat your ass once. Don’t give her a chance to do it again.”

The bald one grumbles and steps back, letting his brother take over the interaction.

The other one looks at me and says, “Let’s make this easy, rabbit. Come along quietly.”

I shake my head. “No way I’m coming with you.”