Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(98)

“Then on to Plan B,” Knox said, taking the next exit and rerouting to the hotel. “But once we’re in, Sergei better holster his weapon, because that motherfucker is mine.”





Chapter Thirty-Five

After two solid hours shopping in one of Dallas’s more elite malls, Darya could say with absolute certainty that Gia Sinclair kicked butt at her job. From the time they’d stepped outside Darya’s front door until now, Gia had somehow kept an easygoing conversation moving with Darya while simultaneously listening and responding to Beckett, Knox and Danny’s intermittent updates via headset. The constant chatter was enough to fry Darya’s mind. Not unlike trying to cram for an important test while someone blared Metallica in the background.

Gia wasn’t the least bit phased. Not by the fact that two of Ruslan’s goons had loosely trailed them for the last hour or that Knox had reported more men had left Ruslan’s suite and headed their way. On the surface, she was just a carefree woman out with her friend and hell-bent on some serious retail therapy. Only the most subtle cues showed how carefully she gauged their surroundings.

They ordered fountain drinks from one of the fast-food places and found a table nestled against a square pillar. Gia took the seat with her back to it, set her open purse on the table and motioned Darya into the seat across from her.

Murmurs sounded in the headset, the distinct rumble of Sergei’s accented voice carrying even though she couldn’t make out the words. A second later, Beckett was back. “Knox, any luck getting a look inside Ruslan’s suite, or is Sergei finding out how many we’re up against the old-fashioned bloody way?”

“Not yet.” From the grumble beneath Knox’s answer, her man was none-too-pleased their plan to get a camera inside via a room service or housekeeping cart was stuck on idle. “After callin’ up room service myself for lunch, I can’t blame him for having his meals brought in from somewhere else, but you’d think the son of a bitch would at least need some clean towels by now.”

Beckett chuckled. “Old-fashioned and bloody it is.”

A cold chill that had nothing to do with the mall’s supercharged air-conditioners snaked down her back. Ruslan might be unpredictable, but he was ruthless and the men who served him were no different. Getting any information out of them would take extreme measures.

“Think about something good,” Gia murmured from her place across the table. Her mic was still on, so it reverberated with a surround sound effect, but also held a sharp command. “Our guys are coming down the walkway behind us. They haven’t clocked us yet, but it’ll be better if you don’t look white as a sheet.”

Her phone rang in her purse, dragging her out of her bone rattling worry. She dug it out and found her first genuine smile of the afternoon at the sight of Knox’s name on the screen. “Hey,” she said, wishing she had the ability to toggle her mic on and off the way Gia could. Unfortunately, she’d be under far more scrutiny with Ruslan’s men than Gia would, which meant she’d been given a nearly undetectable headset with a wireless receiver only big enough to be cleverly hidden by her belt.

“You want out?” Knox said. “All you have to do is say the word and we’ll shut it down.” No preamble. No soft hi-how-are-ya-holding-up? Just straight to business. But then this was his future as much as it was hers. And if she’d learned anything about Knox in the two months since she’d known him, it was that he protected the people he loved with everything he had in him.

And Knox Torren definitely loved her.

“No, I want to finish it. Once and for all.” She glanced at Gia who put on a good show of impatiently waiting for her girlfriend to get off the damned phone.

At first, silence filled the line. She braced, fully expecting to hear his voice shift to the earpiece and to have him shut the whole operation down with one word.

Instead, he spoke only to her and gave her the exact anchor she needed. “We’re gonna kick this thing, sweetheart. You, me and our family. We’ll deal with the lot of them and all this shit will be behind us.”

You, me and our family.

So beautiful. No matter how many times he’d reiterated that very statement in the last few days, it still resonated deep.

“I love you.” It was quiet, but she offered the simple words with all the emotion inside her and prayed it didn’t hit him as a fearful goodbye—even if a part of her was terrified it was.

“Love you, too, sweetheart. You stay close to Gia, listen to what she says and hold the fuck on to her when shit gets real. Got it?”

“Got it.”

He paused and in that second, she could practically feel the hesitation thrumming through him.

“I’m fine, Knox. Hang up the phone and work your magic. I’ll see you at the hotel.”

“I’m right here. Every step.”

And he was. Flooding her spirit with his strength and confidence even from a distance. “I know you are.” She braced and straightened taller in her seat. “I’ll see you soon.” Before she could change her mind, she ended the call and forced a big gulp of Coke down her desert-dry throat.

Gia planted her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her upturned palm. “I’d have ordered food, too, but I figure you’d just pick at it and give your anxiety away.”