Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(73)
She pressed her hands against his chest, but his hold wouldn’t budge. “Knox, I have to go. If he finds you with me...” A shudder racked her from head to toe, the horrid stories gleaned from her days working with Yefim stirring unwelcome images in her mind. “Please,” she muttered. “If something happened to you or your family, I could never forgive myself.”
His arms loosened only enough to let him soothingly stroke her spine and lay a sweet kiss to the top of her head. He chuckled low, the beautiful sound completely incongruent with the moment, but beautiful all the same. “The guys were right. I should have just claimed you right out of the chute.”
This time when she pushed against him, he gave her enough play to meet his gaze. “Claim me? What’s that supposed to mean?”
His smile was pure confidence laced with wickedness. “Exactly what it sounds like. That you’re mine. You, your past and your future.”
She fisted her hands in his T-shirt, the faded red fabric so soft it was a wonder it didn’t tear behind her brutal grip. “Didn’t you hear me? I have to go.”
“I heard you. Though, if I’d listened to my brothers four weeks ago, you’d know by now our women don’t sacrifice anything for us. They live how they want. Free. Without fear. And that happens because we have the means and the fortitude to obliterate any threat to their happiness, no matter where that threat comes from.”
“Knox—”
“No.” Knox dipped close. His deep voice reverberated through her, a thundering vow delivered with an assassin’s stealth. “I don’t know who Ruslan is or what he wants with you, but your days of running are over. We’re going to close those suitcases, get them and you in my car, and then you’re going to give me the whole damned backstory while I take you home.”
More than anything she wanted to do just that. To give way and let yet another person protect and shield her from the ugliness of her past. “I can’t do that. Think of your mothers. Vivienne, Natalie and Gabe. Or worse, Levi. If Ruslan can’t get to me, he’ll use them.”
Knox dropped his hands, slow as though he’d had to force the action, then stepped back. “I don’t think you understand.” He turned for the bed and coiled his hand around the handle of one packed suitcase. “The only place you’re going is with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Fifteen minutes and a string of continued arguments later, Darya was in the passenger seat of Knox’s car. The top was up and the music down, both completely outside the norm compared to other times she’d ridden beside him. He’d also been frustratingly tight-lipped. Where long stretches of silence between the two of them were normally filled with comfort—two busy minds working silently yet seamlessly in parallel—this time the quiet made her fidget.
As if he sensed her discomfort, he shifted to the next gear then coiled his hand around one of hers fisted in her lap. “Whatever you’re worrying about, let it go. I’ve got this.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but closed it just as fast at the warning look he shot her.
With one last encouraging squeeze, he released her hand and plucked his phone from the center console. In the last four weeks, she’d rarely seen him use the device while he drove, but when he did, he used every hands-free feature available. This time, he turned off the Bluetooth and anchored the phone between his ear and shoulder.
“Hey,” he said to whoever answered, checking his rearview mirror. “Need you to reroute family night from Haven to our place and call rally. Darya’s in trouble and I’m not leaving her.”
So it was Beckett. Not surprising, really. For men who weren’t actually born from the same womb it was shocking how close they were. Shocking, but beautiful.
“Yeah, it’s that rally, but I need all hands on deck. If what Darya says is true, we need the women and Levi, too. Too risky to have them exposed until we have a plan.” He paused long enough to let Beckett get a word in edgewise then glanced at her. “No details yet, but by the time we get there I’ll have them. We need a sweep of the loft, though. The office, too. Darya found footage of a guy she says works for the goon who’s after her outside our building. If they got that close we have to assume the worst and check for bugs.”
Her lungs hitched and the choking bile she’d swallowed down since finding the damning footage pitched violently in her stomach. She hadn’t thought about bugs. What if Ruslan had managed to plant them in her apartment? If he’d heard what she’s shared with Knox, he’d kill Knox for sure.
Knox’s gaze slid to each side mirror, the focus he put into the action more attentive than what was necessary for seven-thirty traffic on a Wednesday night. “Nope, no tail visible yet, but I’m taking the scenic route home just in case. Make sure the guys know to arm up. I might not know all the finer points, but the men we’re dealing with aren’t amateurs.” He listened for a second, nodded at whatever Beckett had said and answered back. “Right. Got it.”
He thumbed off the connection and tossed the device back to its place below the dash. “Beckett’s changing up the protocols in the building. Security guards will be in place within the hour and camera ranges extended.”
“Knox—”
“Sweetheart, if you start in with how I don’t have to do this again, I’ll tie you down the second we get home and fuck you until you forget how to speak altogether.”