Kincaid was sure if there was true hell anywhere; it couldn’t be more torturous than this. Getting shot. On the verge of collapsing. Being prodded by a gorgeous woman with flying hair that looked oddly familiar. Holes in him that hurt like a sonofabitch. Yes, he was sure he could smell the brimstone already. He held on tight to consciousness that seemed intent on slipping from his grip. He couldn’t black out. If he was thinking right, he wouldn’t have made himself vulnerable by unveiling his hiding spot when he grabbed her ankles. A saner Kincaid would know that he had no way of overpowering his opponents if they had been the ones that came for him. Not when he was so weak that he could barely lift his limbs. But he had been weak and the loss of blood seemed to have affected his thinking as well. Not only had he grabbed the intruder’s ankles. In his rage at his powerlessness and the person approaching; he tackled the person to deliver a blow that would knock the person out. Yeah,
“Call someone and you will find yourself to blame” the kid had said. What the heck? Serena thought in rage. Well, the person on the other end couldn’t have been much of a kid but she was sure that he was no adult either. Ridiculous, isn’t it? That she had felt a frisson of fear run down her back even as she had let out the enraged “Excuse me?” He had simply replied that they would join them soon before he disconnected the call. Her anger had not let her ask him just how he intended to do that when she did not tell him where they were. Not that he gave her the opportunity, though; the phone had gone dead in her ears. She might not be so sure of where she was at the moment, but she did remember where she had started her drive, didn’t she? She had not taken any detour and telling him something at all would have been better than he or they, whoever they were trying to locate them without direction. The arrogant ass. Serena was too angry at the moment to bother about how easily swe
“I am what?” Serena asked in incredulity, not caring that the young man with the piercing eyes in front of her had a gun, a gun he was fast to pull out as he had demonstrated twice already that night. “Coming with us” he completed simply with a deep scowl that seemed alien on his youthful face “Damn it, are females here stupid that they don’t get things once?” Serena was enraged and couldn’t keep in her anger “I don’t care about whoever you think you are. Nobody talked to me that way” she shouted, ignoring her subconscious that raised her eyebrow at her as if saying “really?” “And I am going home,” she said, making her way to the door. She realised her foolishness though when two of the men that were with them blocked her way. “Tell them to let me go” she yelled back at the young man. Basset, was it? Serena thought she had heard his brother call him that the other time. That was before he fainted. Again. “I would do no such thing and you would stop yelling like that. I do not c
Serena had no idea what she had been expecting but it was not this. They arrived at Kiribati Island country the following day close to midday. She had a chance to look outside when the pilot announced that they were close to landing. Somewhere along the flight, they had finally uncuffed her. Thank God, since she had felt pressed some minutes after that and simply went to the restroom without asking any of them. Annoyed as she was with the impertinent young man, she couldn’t begrudge the fact that he was genuinely worried about his brother. Though he was with the pilot at the front, he had been to the back to check on the unconscious man so many times that she stopped herself from almost telling him that he shouldn’t worry so. No, she had no business extending any assurance to him when he was the reason why she was here now. The reason why they were looking for her at home right now. Oh, Mathew would be so worried. She deliberately took her mind off the inevitable trouble she woul
She had fallen asleep in the chair next to him and fallen into a sleep that was filled with accusations and yelling from every angle. Tart! Mathew called her. With condemnation in his eyes. Loose woman! A shameless, loose woman! Her mother-in-law shouted so viciously her veins seemed as if they would pop out of her neck. I did not raise a daughter like this! Her mother shouted. I raised a proper lady, her mother’s face twisted in her disappointment. Not a disgrace like you! Go back to your husband and seek forgiveness! Then she was spinning again. Farther, farther away and she seemed to be looking for something. For someone. Amara? She was not sure. There seemed to be someone out there waiting for her. Maybe, she wouldn’t be a disgrace to that person. Maybe she wouldn't be a tart. Maybe he wouldn’t call her loose and shameless. He? She jerked awake to a sound close to her and she was blinded for a while by the glare of morning light that penetrated through the windows. The sky
Serena had never dubbed herself as religious. Of course, she said her prayers. When she could, but the influx of deadly pinging sounds that had been bouncing off the bulletproof car followed by the tense waiting moment as the masked men circled them made her spout out prayers randomly, half unaware of what she was saying. There were four of them. Four mean-looking, brutal men with even more mean-looking guns. Their ammo belts slung carelessly around them. “Get down, I said” Kincaid yelled at her and she blankly looked at him. She wanted to shout at him not to yell at her again, wanted to tell him it was all his fault that she was in this situation. Not in a thousand years would she have been in this kind of dangerous situation if she had just been at home where she belonged. But all she could do was tremble as tears came to her eyes. A sinister voice in her head seemed to gleefully shout “You are going to die!” His alert eyes seemed to fill with sympathy. Then he stretched his hand
Stupid, stupid shaking Serena thought to herself as she tried to atop the spasmodic reaction of her body yet no amount of “You are fine now" from Kincaid nor her determination to stop the shaking changed anything. It was as if her body was functioning independently from her will, so she just huddle there and shook like a leaf in the winter night. A whistle from Bassett had her looking up "Wow, babe. You look hot! No wonder the men couldn't shoot straight" Serena craned her head to see who he was referring to. A gorgeous redhead in a pink leotard with what seemed like mile-high leather heels on her tanned, dainty legs stood with a pistol in each of her hands as she rolled her eyes at Bassett. "Oh, hush. Remind the bad guys to give me some ample warnings next time they decided to strike and not do it when I am in the middle of my training, will you?" She leaned in to kiss his cheek soundly before shifting her gaze to Kincaid. Her eyes shone with curiosity as she saw Serena and she
Rayla dragged her down with her as she ducked beside her car. "Those bastards!" She said in fury as she patted her body as if anything could be hidden in her skin-tight one-piece suit. She seemed to realize that her guns had been handed to someone else and she swore, long and hard. Profanities that Serena was sure would make her mother develop migraine and probably make Eugenia drop dead. "Illinois!" She hissed at one of the men returning fire to the men shooting at them with guns fitted with silencers. "Yes, miss" Illinois, a lanky young man that couldn't be more than in his early twenties replied to her even as he ducked behind the car and returned fire. "How many are they?!" She yelled. "About…." He shoot back as another silent ping hit the car, rocking it with a jarring sound that made Serena flinch "...Ten this time, miss" "Shit! Who are these people? How dare they…scoot down more, Serena! How dare they do this on Aslanov land?" "No idea, miss but they seemed intent on tak