Irresistible Nemesis (20 page)

“Your connection to her is strong.” Aristotle smiled, a glint of pride reflected in the wisdom of his gaze. “Let me go back to my office and do a computer search. I may be able to narrow down our options and find out where her captives are holding her.” Andreas nodded as the cell phone in the pocket of his silk trousers began to buzz. At the back of his mind, hope prevailed. Hope that the brave and breathtaking huntress had escaped and was making her way back to him rose to the surface. But disappointment overshadowed his optimism as he looked at the phone’s caller ID. The number belonged to his friend and
The Crypt
’s bartender.

“Hey, Bobby. I’m kind of in the middle of something right now. What’s up?” Andreas’s voice remained steady as he tried not to alarm the other man.

“Sorry, man. I don’t want to bother you, but something went down earlier today, the implications of which have been nagging at me all afternoon.” Bobby sounded hesitant. By the tone of his voice, it was obvious Andreas’s friend was about to deliver more bad news.

“It’s Natasha. I think she may be up to no good.”

“How so?” Andreas prompted him to explain, not quite making the connection yet between Natasha’s strange behavior and Eva’s sudden disappearance.

“She mentioned something about finishing what you started in the most slow and painful way possible. I’m not quite sure what she meant by it all. But if you ask me, she ran out of the club in a rage, hell bent on killing someone. I thought you might want to check up on her and make sure she hasn’t lost her freakin’ mind!” Andreas knew Bobby felt like a snitch, telling on one of his so-called friends. But if everything he mentioned was spot on, then Natasha could possibly be involved in Eva’s kidnapping. He didn’t want to believe it, but right now, it was the best lead he had on his lover’s whereabouts.

“Thanks, bro. I’ll check in on her and keep you posted.” Andreas slammed the phone shut, not about to waste time burdening Bobby with the details of Natasha’s treachery.

Andreas sprinted into his father’s adjoining office to share the intel on Natasha. Together, they narrowed down the search for warehouses to two separate storage facilities used by AK Oil International for the import and export of crude oil in New York Tri-state area. One of them was located along the Hudson River, a few hours north in the small town of Troy. The other was located right here in the city. Near Coney Island. Bingo! Natasha’s home turf would be her place of reckoning if what Andreas’s gut told him, turned out to be accurate.

Andreas left his father in front of the computer to dig up as much dirt as possible on Natasha. He jumped in his Porsche and headed straight for the highway. Along the way, he put in a call to Oliver, and asked him to meet him at the Coney Island warehouse in case he needed back up.

I never thought I’d live to see the day that I’d be working on
the same side as the BPA.

The Rescue Attempt

Andreas instructed Oliver to meet him several blocks away from the location of the warehouse so as not to tip off Natasha and her henchmen that they were on to her. Only a few minutes after he’d parked his car, he laughed aloud as he saw Oliver pull up behind him in his bright yellow SUV. A stereotypical vehicle for a vampire hunter. With enough of room in the back for stakes, bows, and arrows, it was almost creepy.

Oliver stepped out of the automobile and walked up to the driver’s side window. “So what’s the plan, lover boy?” Oliver inquired, ribbing Andreas with shameless sarcasm.

“I’m gonna kill the bitch. That’s the plan.” Andreas swore he heard the other man snicker in amusement.

“That part’s obvious. How do you plan on getting Eva out alive?”

“I already sent a man ahead to scope out the place.” Andreas noticed the look of worry settle over Oliver’s face and placed an assuring hand on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Oliver. My man will be discrete. He’s Special Forces, and I pay him well to remain invisible. He already did some recon. There are currently five people in the warehouse. Eva, Natasha, and four men. Piece of cake, right?” Once Andreas pinpointed Eva’s location, the tension diminished slightly. He’d always been a cocky bastard. But knowing that his woman’s life was at stake made his adrenaline kick in. Nothing would stop him from protecting her.

As they made their way closer to their target, Andreas and Oliver flushed out their plan of attack. The mercenary he had working for him would take out the two men stationed at the front and rear entrance of the building and would act as their look out. From what they gathered from the infrared scanner, there was one person with a shoulder-length hair and curvy hips seated at a table in what the architectural designs of the building indicated as some sort of office.

He figured that to be Natasha. In larger room, at the back corner of the warehouse, were two additional bodies, one with a huskier build and another more svelte physique hunched over in a chair. No telling who the muscle in the room was, but the more voluptuous frame had to belong to Eva.

“You ready to do this?” Andreas searched back and forth between Oliver and the mercenary. Both men nodded as their plot to rescue Eva kicked into high gear. From his position some thirty yards away, Andreas watched as the hired help took out each guard with a silent, yet effective, snap-of-the-neck technique. When he had both men out cold, they entered the building with guns blazing. Oliver headed toward the office where Natasha sat fiddling with her Blackberry near the open doorway. Andreas took advantage of the situation and made a b-line to Eva.

He kicked open the door swift and easy. He identified one particular man on sight. Olshanskey. The idiot had the nerve to hold his woman hostage. Andreas focused all of his energy on the former bouncer. He couldn’t even look at Eva. Not yet. First, he had to satisfy the beast raging inside him. The need to kill beat at him. Loud and rumbling.

“You are so fucking dead!” Andreas roared at the Russian with his fists ready. His mouth watered as his fangs protruded, prepared to rip the man’s throat out. They exchanged blows for several minutes. Each man drew blood and tore gaping holes in the other’s flesh. But Andreas didn’t have time to spar with this asshole.

He rushed Olshanskey, held him in a headlock, and slammed his knee into the man’s face over and over again. Grotesque, purple lumps formed on his forehead like weeds sprouting through the soil. Then Ivan went limp in his arms. It was time to end his pitiful existence once for all. No mercy. He grabbed Olshanskey by the hair and arched him backwards. With his opponent’s vulnerable jugular exposed, he went in for the kill. Andreas’s lips quivered as his teeth sank into the man’s neck, draining him of his life’s essence.

When it was done, Andreas turned his attention to Eva. He expected the worst. Not that she’d be injured, but that she’d look upon him with contempt because of how awful he’d treated her. But in that split second, he saw nothing but love and acceptance reflected in Eva’s warm, brown eyes. Gone was the pained look of betrayal he observed earlier. His heart seemed to expand further. He ran to his lover and kneeled before her in a submissive gesture.

“Baby. I’m so, so sorry.” Andreas pleaded with tears in his eyes. “I lost control. But it will never, ever happen again.”

“I know, Andreas. It’s okay.” Eva smiled down at his as she placed her lips to his forehead for a kiss. It was an act of unconditional love and forgiveness that words alone could not fully express.

Andreas looked up at her and smiled. He wanted to pinch himself to make sure she was real. He couldn’t quite believe that this strong, beautiful woman actually belonged to him. He stared up at her and confessed what he’d known in his heart for so long.

“I love you.”

“Oh, how sweet! I apologize for interrupting your love fest, but Eva and I have a plane to catch.” Natasha crossed her arms over her chest as she spat the words in bitter mockery.

Andreas stood and turned his attention to Natasha. His stalked forward, to block her access to Eva in a protective stance. “You bitch!

After all I’ve done for you. This is how you repay me? You knew how I felt about Eva, yet you had no qualms about killing her. What do you want with her anyway?”

Andreas’s head of security shrugged her shoulders as if what’d he said hadn’t affected her in the least. “She’s not responsible for this, Andreas. You are. You’re the one who brushed me off like one of your insignificant little bimbos. And what exactly have you done for me
lately
other than piss me off? My only regret is that I won’t be here to watch you squirm once I take your precious girlfriend to live in the brothels of Eastern Europe. Priceless!”

“Over my dead body!” Andreas raged at her. He used the back of his hand to swat her away like a pesky, little fly. With his immense strength, that single blow shot Natasha clear across the room. Her body hit the wall with a thud and bounced off before she fell to the concrete floor. Andreas rushed to her. He understood how dangerous Natasha could be. Deep down, he knew Natasha would use even the slightest bit of hesitation on his part to her advantage.

He picked up her weightless body and set her down in a chair away from Eva. Then he looked at her dead on. “It would be
so
easy to just drain every last drop of blood out your pathetic body. But I’m not going to do that, Natasha. I’ll let the council deal with you.

Because I want you to suffer the rest of your miserable existence in a dark hole somewhere, knowing that I put you there.” Andreas went to gather the extra rope pooled at Eva’s feet to tie up Natasha.

“Andreas, watch out!” Eva’s screamed in warning a split-second too late. By the time he turned around, he felt the sting of a bullet graze his right shoulder and saw Natasha pivot her body to point the gun at his lover. Of course, Natasha hadn’t meant to fatally wound him. She did it simply to capture his attention. But once that same gun was aimed between Eva’s beautiful brown eyes, Andreas froze. One wrong move and Eva, the person who mattered most to him the world, would be nothing more than a bittersweet memory.

“Natasha. Walk away. If you leave now, I won’t come looking for you. Just disappear.” Andreas pleaded with her, his hands raised in defeat. It was the only thing he could think of to say that wouldn’t incite her even further.

She smiled a wicked, sadistic grin and cocked the trigger on the gun. Just as Andreas thought she was about to squeeze the trigger, he heard something whiz by on his left side, right past his earlobe.

The sound it made was distinct. An arrow. Before he could react, Natasha’s body flailed backwards as the arrow hit its mark and lodging itself in her heart.

Andreas looked over his shoulder to find Oliver, blood gushed from a cut on his forehead. He held the bow slow and steady. He nodded at the other man in thanks, and for the first time in God knows how long, Andreas was able to breathe. He took in deep inhalations of air as relief washed over him in wave after wave until the panic subsided and some semblance of control returned.

Then Andreas ran to his lover and untied the ropes that bound her to the chair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s over.” Eva wrapped her tenuous arms around his waist in a tight embrace. “And I’m never gonna let you go.”

The Epiphany

Eva took her time to wake up and acclimate herself to the new surroundings. Bathed in a velvet comforter the color of the Mediterranean Sea, she looked around at the baby blue walls with their painted marshmallow-white clouds. She stretched her arms and legs, luxuriating in the cool smoothness of the bed sheets and the calm serenity emanating from the room. Had she died and gone to heaven?

A soft knock echoed through the walls. At the same time, the mahogany double doors of the suite swung open. Then she saw him.

His gorgeous smile beamed at her from his stance in the entryway.

Eva felt her heart nearly burst. Andreas. He was her whole world.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty. You’re awake,” Andreas whispered, careful not to alarm her. “I thought you would
never
wake up.”

“Hmm. How long was I asleep?” Eva jerked up into a sitting position as if she’d overslept and was running late for an important date.

“Just over fourteen hours.”

Eva’s eyes opened wide in surprise. She’d never in her life slept more than four or five hours at a time, even as a child. Andreas must have seen the confusion in her eyes.

“You needn’t concern yourself. You’ve been through a lot these past couple of days, and considering your condition, I’d say you’re holding up quite well.”

Condition. What condition?

Before she could utter the words aloud, he moved closer and sat down next to her on the bed. “There’s something important we need to talk about.” Andreas swallowed hard before he continued.

“While you slept, I’ve have plenty of time to delay the inevitable. But now, it’s time we talked about what happened in my apartment the other night.”

Eva averted her eyes. Too afraid to see the anguish splashed across his face. While she remembered Andreas professing his love for her in the warehouse, she still didn’t know where they stood with one another. Was it even feasible for her to be thinking about a happily-ever-after with him? And what about the price tag on her head? Did his father still want her dead after everything that had happened? If so, would they have to keep their feelings for each other on the down low?

“It’s obvious you have something on your mind, Andreas. You might as well get it over with.”

Andreas placed his hand in hers. He used his fingertips to tenderly caress the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist. “Eva, baby. First of all, let me apologize
again
for the way I lost control. I was
so
out of line. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I promise.

I’ll spend the rest of my life groveling in order to make it up to you.” Eva saw the truth. Whole-hearted sincerity reflected in Andreas’s piercing green eyes. Her heart stuck in her throat, Eva simply nodded in reply.

“Eva, I love you. In hindsight, I think I knew you were the one from the moment I found you snooping around my office.” The huntress reached up and wrapped her long, slender arms around his neck and held on to him with all her might. She nuzzled her head against his chest and inhaled his scent. Intoxicating and familiar. Once he said the words, she felt her own barriers crash down around her. She was ready to love again after years of immersing herself in her job to block out the pain of the past. She had only one man to thank for that.