~Kai~
I glared at Hunter. He was trying his best not to roar out laughing but failing fucking miserably.
I kept my distance from that annoying brat. Five feet away from her car, I took shelter under the tree’s canopy, nursing my bruised face and ego.
She’s lucky she’s a girl, not just any girl but Bossman’s little sister, or else I would’ve recouped what she did to me ten folds. She sits quietly behind the wheels of her Rover, wiping her cheeks harshly every ten seconds. I don’t know why she’s crying. She looked hurt, but I checked out her body and found no injury.
Yes, I fucking checked her out because she’s gorgeous. Her make-up-smeared cheeks only made her appear like a damsel in distress. Eyes so green, cute little nose and pouty lips. She kept running her fingers through her dark waves, musing them to perfection.
A permanent current seemed to keep sizzling under my skin where we had been in contact earlier. My hands, my chest, and my legs. I had been with many women, but my body never responded this way. She didn’t even touch me intimately, nor bat an eyelash. She gave me a black eye, for fuck’s sake. But she awakened something in me. Her mere presence, annoying as such, sends my mind into a chaos of indecent thoughts.
Hunter, standing in front of the car, prevented her from leaving the premises unless he ran him over.
After she elbowed me in the face, she tried to leave again, but Hunter stopped her from doing so. He used words, reasoned with her, and it worked! Now my cousin is laughing at my quickly swelling face.
For a small woman, she did good damage to my face and, worse, my reputation.
Moments later, Ro ambled across the lawn with Klaus and Rylee in tow.
Klaus surveyed the situation, his eyes landing on his sister.
“Hey,” Rylee, Klaus’ wife, broke the still silence between the three of us, speaking directly to the annoying brat, a.k.a Berenice.
From what Bossman told us, Rylee’s plan was to talk to Berenice and get a feeling of her actual situation. Rain and Ghost will come to their rescue. Once they’re out and safe, they’ll blow this place up. With about two hundred men in the vicinity, it seems an impossible feat for three people to follow. But Rylee is not just a pretty face; she has brains and skills, a cunning and deadly assassin. It’s what drew Klaus to her. He’s like a moth to a flame, insanely in love with his wife, and he couldn’t bear the thought of sitting around while Rylee does all the work.
Berenice broke her intense glare from the windshield and turned to Rylee. Recognition flickered on her face. Her green eyes showed emotion other than anger. “Can you tell these dogs to leave me alone?”
‘Dogs?’ Insulted by her words, I pushed away from the tree with a grumble. I need more distance from that brat. “Fucking brat,” I huffed, pulling out a cigarette stick, and lit it up.
Hunter chuckled. I glared at him, throwing the freshly lit stick to his face. “What?” he asked innocently, still wearing that insulting grin.
“Stop laughing at me!” I groaned. If Klaus wasn’t here, I would’ve pulled out my gun and grazed his head with a bullet. I was a better shot than him, anyway.
“I can’t help it,” Hunter replied. “We finished the job scratch-free, only for a chick to give you a black eye.”
Ro snorted. Klaus’ eyes twitched, clearly fighting off the urge to join the fun at my expense. Since I’m the youngest on our team, they always make fun of me. I’m used to it, but that doesn’t mean I like it.
When Hunter’s laughter mellowed down, Klaus nodded at him, Ro, and me, needing privacy with his sister.
Ro led us to the dirt path dotted with palm trees serving out of the estate. From our vantage point, I could still make out the frown on Berenice’s face.
Their exchange continued. Rylee was the mitigator between the three of them, calming her obviously infuriated husband. How she manages to calm Bossman when he looks like an agitated beast is still a mystery to me. Neither sibling seemed to be happy with whatever they were discussing.
“Berenice!” came the broken voice of a woman. She had the heart shape of Berenice’s face. She must be the brat’s mom. Just like Berenice, her cheek is a mess of makeup and tears. I have no idea what happened between them, but Berenice doesn’t look happy to see her.
“Kai!” Klaus’ commanding voice pulled my attention from the woman. “Go with her and make sure she’s safe.”
I was itching to leave this place, to get away from this brat’s disturbing presence that I didn’t understand what he said. It took me ten seconds to process what he commanded.
‘Go with her?’ I glanced at him, Rylee, and Berenice, and back at Klaus.
“Why me?” I protested, my voice rising an octave higher. “I’m not babysitting that bi- “ Klaus’ eyes narrowed at me. He might see me as a younger brother, but while working for him, I have become acquainted with his moodiness. One twitch of his eyes, a quirk of his lips, and I knew reasoning with him would be futile. “Fine!” I huffed, dragging my feet to the driver’s side of the Land Rover.
Like an obedient child, Berenice slipped out and moved to the passenger side. It’s like she was running away from her mother.
Once the doors slammed shut, I stepped on the gas. Berenice fumbled with her seatbelt as the car swerved on the dirt path, leaving dust behind.
I had no idea where I was going or what the deal was with this brat. God help me, but I don’t have a good feeling about this situation.
~Kai~ Twenty minutes. That’s how long I’d been confined in this car with Berenice, and I already regret following through with Klaus’ directive. Everything about her is driving my senses crazy. She hasn’t said a thing since we left the mansion. She kept on wiping her cheeks, staring out the window, and sniffing from time to time. She truly looks vulnerable, pained, and broken. But that is not what bothers me. I’ve been with women of all shapes and sizes and attitudes. It’s not my first time dealing with a crying chick. What bothered me was her mere presence, her scent, which filled the car with a sweet and comforting cinnamon scent. It had the opposite effect on me. Like a puppy, I wanted to sniff more of that scent. I want to smell it from the source. I want to grab her and bury my face in the crook of her neck. Better yet, rub her all over me. From my peripheral vision, I got to admire her closely without the danger of adding another purple blotch to my face. She wore a skin-tigh
~Benny~Twilight blanketed the city of Granada when I reached the capital. My feet hurt. Sweat dribbled down my spine, but I still had to find a place to stay for the night.Taking the road and hitching a ride was off the table. That’s where Kai would look for me first, so I endured the five-mile walk from the convenience store to town.It’s an advantage that I know my way around the city. Before the night deepened, I fixed a change of clothing for tomorrow, a place to stay, awaiting dinner while the lavender-scented bubble bath alleviated my aching muscles.White foam oozing surrounded me like clouds above water. I rested my head on the bath pillow and stared at the cream-colored ceiling, warm overhead lights casting an intimate atmosphere in the bathroom.I sighed, concentrating on my next step instead of the pinching sensation in my chest. Dwelling with my pain is on the back end of my priorities. I might not have to deal with it if I end up dead. I have to get off of everyone’s ra
~Kai~Defiance was written all over her face. Those piercing green eyes burned with rage determined to burn me to the ground, and it’s fucking turning me on. I had to keep my hands busy with the food on the tray. My palms were itching to make her submit to me, to have a taste of the gorgeous brat standing before me in nothing but a bathrobe.Droplets of water dribbled down her exposed skin. My jaw clenches at the thought of her answering the door only wearing that. Her hair was a dark mess in a bun above her head. A few locks, wet from her bath, stick onto her neck. The robe ends in the middle of her thighs. I knew she had a gorgeous body, but her skin… damn, it’s tanned to perfection, and I want my lips to map every inch of her.If only she wasn’t my job. If only she wasn’t the boss’s daughter. I could look past her bratty attitude and make her mine. And fuck, I badly want to make her mine; it’s driving me crazy that she’s off limits.Staring at her right now, really staring at her e
~Benny~ The lights were off. Slivers of moonlight’s silver streak fusing with the lamppost’s orange glow from the street passed through the gaps of the balcony drapes. Apart from utter silence, my uninvited company’s even breathing on the couch had been the only sound drifting inside the room. Eyes glued to the ceiling, I eyed the silhouette of a tree branch in front of the hotel swaying, moving in sluggish motion. The digital clock on the bedside table ticks every second. It was hushed as though a silent count down before I dropped a decision. I’ve been silently pondering on what I should do next. There are a lot of things I should consider. Kai and those three guns were a testament to my vulnerability and the power of the people I am trying to outwit. But my need to be left alone weighed heavier than my want to be safe. Today, the gravity of my choices hit me like a raging wave, a wake-up call. For months, I have depended on people around me. Tony, I let my love for him lead me
~Kai~ Other than me, there is someone else following Berenice. It’s different from those three in Granada; this one is professional. I don’t know when and where he picked up a trail of her scent, but I could feel the danger up close. I’m unsure if he realizes I am following Berenice, but whoever this was, he’s good. No one was following Berenice from the hotel to the cafe, University, and bus. The bus picked up tourists and travelers on the way here. Maybe he was one of the passengers. But I didn’t feel any threat until here. She glanced at her side and over her shoulder. The way her shoulders went rigid was a tell that she could feel eyes watching her as well. If something happens to her, it would be all on me. I shouldn’t have let her walk out of that room; now, I had put her in a dangerous situation. I only wanted to know what she was planning to do. Where she’d go and how she’d proceed after learning that Tony’s people were after her. Do a repeat of what I did in the hotel
~ KAI ~ A pool of steaky crimson liquid on the ground was my indication that a bullet miraculously pierced the gunman. I pulled the trigger blindly, aiming to distract him, but one lucky bullet must’ve struck an artery. I followed the blood trail cautiously. Howls of police and ambulance sirens had already prevailed over the once busy atmosphere of the harbor, blanketing the air with anxiety and fear. Reaching the fifth corner away from Berenice, I still found no trace of the gunman. I need to find him, question him and eliminate him. I have to do it quickly. Keeping Berenice safe is still my top priority. Soon, the police will sweep these parts of the port. And once they discover the woman’s dead body, alarm and panic will soar. For decades, cartel wars cast fear on the people of Spain. Cases like this will likely draw excessive attention from the local and international media. And getting the Martinelli’s tangled in this mess is the last thing the Italian mafia needs. We already
~BENNY~Dread rose from the pit of my belly when I opened my eyes.The bed where I laid on my back sways. No, the entire room rocked in a steady, familiar, and daunting rhythm.I blinked hard, pushing away the pull to go back to sleep, ignoring the stabbing pain all over my body, particularly in my midsection and throat.Four corner lights diffuse a soft, warm glow on the room. The salty tang of the air made me nauseous. Realization dawned on me. I am in a cabin… in a boat. I couldn’t hear any other sound apart from the soft hum of the engine and the continuous crashing of waves. We are far from land; how far is the question and knowing the answer scared the shit out of me.Chills coiled down my spine. Thinking of anything other than how vast the waters were sailing is an impossible feat.I shook my head, clutching the white covers that pooled on my waist as I sat up. I closed my eyes and pinched myself, hoping to wake up from this nightmare, but no. The room was still the same when I
~KAI~They say that we’d meet someone we’d follow blindly to the pits of hell every once in a while. Burn for them, take a bullet for them without thinking twice. For me, that’s Klaus Martinelli. I trust that man’s judgment without needing to ask questions.He told me I could infiltrate the Russian mafia and make it out alive, and I did. His trust in my abilities was more than I have for myself. But what fucking qualifies me as a babysitter? Only Klaus knows.He refused to relieve me of babysitting duties. He kept repeating how perfect I was for this job.In my opinion, Ro would do an excellent job in taking care of someone like Berenice. He was made to lead an army and take care of a family at the same time. He has bottomless patience for kids, while me... I hate brats! I am one second away from gagging Berenice or knocking her unconscious just so I can continue doing this job.My clothes were soaking. My mind was fogged with anger and irritation. There’s a brat I need to deal with,