Page 55 of Impossible Thrills
“I own you, princess, and I always will.” Johnny looked her over like she was nothing more than his possession. His fingertips trailed down to her locket, and her skin crawled like a spider was on her. “This locket always shows me where you are.” He smiled. “Had a good trip to the Caribbean? Brought back a little souvenir, did you?”
“You’ve been tracking me?” She shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was another betrayal. The locket she loved had been turned into a tracking device.
He rolled his eyes and lowered his hand. “I’ve been too good to you. I gave you far too much money in the divorce, and I sent my men to watch over you. As long as you played Mama to your little orphans and lived like a nun, staying true to me, I was fine with the situation. You have no idea how liberating it is to sleep with my ladies wherever and whenever I want and not have to worry about keeping up the ploy of faithful husband.”
“You were never faithful, you skunk.”
His eyes flashed a warning.
“I don’t care about you or want you in my life,” she said, glaring at him. “Go have your women and leave me and my children alone.”
“No!” he roared, leaning closer. “You messed this up. Not me. You dared to bring a man here, and not just any man. Lieutenant Nicholas Jacobs.” He sneered as he said Nick’s name. “The very man who won’t quit trying to ruin me and my businesses.”
Nick was doing … what? That made no sense. Nick was a security op. Unless …
Her eyes widened. “Nick would only be after you if you were doing something horrible like human trafficking or drugs or murder. He’s a great man, protecting others and righting wrongs.”
“Oh, really? Well, I hope you enjoyed your little fling with him. When I find Jacobs, I will fillet him and you’ll get to watch.”
“No!” she screamed, struggling to free herself. “Don’t hurt him!”
Johnny smiled. “After he’s dead, you’ll remember your place and who you belong to. I granted you a quick divorce because everybody claimed it was the only way to keep my organization safe. But you’re mine, no matter what the legal documents say.”
“Ah, Trattori,” a deep voice said from the stairway. “You are as delusional as you are ugly and corrupt.”
Nick flew down the exterior stairs to the basement, literally flew through the open door. He tackled two men to the concrete floor. Their heads thudded loudly against the unforgiving surface. The one didn’t move, while the other groaned and rolled onto his back, panting in pain.
Nick sprang from the floor like a tiger going after its prey. He launched himself at the man holding Darcy. He slammed his fist into the man’s face, grabbed the man’s arm, and yanked the guy toward him as he kneed him in the side. Darcy heard the crack of ribs breaking as the man released her.
She would’ve fallen, but Nick wrapped her up and carried her away from the men and toward the corner of the room, shooting at the men behind them with a pistol in his free hand.
He released her and yanked the table off its legs and onto its side in front of them. Then he pulled the mattress from the other direction and shoved it against the table lying on its side.
Bullets slammed into the table, but they had a double layer of protection.
Smiling at her, he pulled a large gun off his back. “Are you all right?”
“Nick! What is going on?” She was confused and terrified and were there really bullets slamming into this table? What if they shot through the table and the mattress? They’d die right here.
“Just a moment, beautiful.”
He edged the end of the gun around the table and started shooting back. Bullets were going like crazy, and she heard screams of pain and cursing in Spanish, but the bullets slamming into the table and mattress slowed and stopped. They weren’t shooting back.
“Stop, stop!” Johnny yelled.
Nick did stop shooting. “Are you ready to turn yourself in to the authorities, Trattori? Confess to all the drug dealing, murder, and thievery?” Nick called to him, edging toward the side of the table.
Darcy heard the sound of a door opening and closing.
“Oh, sure. After I gut you and take my wife back.”
“Yeah, that’s happening.” Nick’s voice was taunting and hard. He looked at Darcy. “Pardon me while I kill your ex.”
“Argh!” Johnny screamed, and the bullets slammed into the table again. Bullets tore through the table and the mattress.
Nick pushed her flat to the cement floor and covered her with his body.
The bullets stopped as quickly as they’d begun.