Beautiful Prey 2: The Storm Series (BWWM Romance) Read online

  CHAPTER 39

  JACK

  Jack untucked his shirt and stuffed his handgun in the back of his pants. Victoria stood in the corner of her bedroom and watched Jack get ready for his rendezvous with the kidnapper. Their baby had been gone for more than twelve hours with no further instructions; until Jack received a text message from the same number, instructing him to come to an abandoned paint factory on the south side. The text said to come alone, and warned not to contact the police.

  He kissed his teary-eyed wife goodbye and told her how much he loved her. Her anguish was obvious when Jack left their house and got into his car. He knew that Victoria was having a fit. It took a lot of convincing to keep Victoria from following him. She was sure that he was being set up, and so was he. But it wasn’t like he had a choice. He couldn’t risk losing either one of them. He drove the twenty minutes that it took to get to the south side and pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned factory. He closed his eyes and thought of his beautiful wife and Jasmine’s bright blue eyes. Jack could still picture her batting her little eyelashes at him. For the two of them, he would die easily. He got out of his car and walked toward the door.

  Looking up at the broken windows, Jack expected a sniper to take him out in any second. When he made it to the door without being shot, he stepped into blackness. He walked slowly down a dark corridor. He slid a big metal door open and stepped into the manufacturing plant. In the middle of the room was a bassinet. Jack carefully looked around before advancing forward. He stood over the bassinet and stared down at his sleeping daughter. But before he could reach for her, he heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked behind him.

  “Well, there you are. I’m so glad that you could make it,” said the familiar voice.

  Jack turned to find Caroline pointing a sawed–off twelve gauge shotgun at him. Since the recoil of the shotgun would, more than likely, knock Caroline clean off of her feet, Jack wondered why she’d be brandishing such a weapon. She had a crazed look in her eye. And even now, she was wearing a ridiculously tight dress and impossibly tall heels. She smiled sadistically and nodded her head toward a chair next to the bassinet. “Sit!”

  Jack took another peak into the bassinet.

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t hurt your precious child. Now I can’t say the same for that bitch you married. Deon is probably killing her right now as we speak.”

  Jack’s eyes snapped back to Caroline.

  “Aww, but don’t worry, I’m sure that he’s going to have a little fun with her before he slices her throat,” she taunted.

  Caroline’s face lit up as she spoke of Victoria’s death. She was outright giddy. Jack ignored her glee and thought of Victoria. She was right; it was a set up. Except she was the target. He needed to get that shotgun away from her and get home to his wife. So instead of sitting, he casually stepped away from the bassinet. Since she was pointing a weapon at him, he needed to distance himself from his baby.

  “So, Caroline, do you plan to kill me?”

  “Do I plan to kill you? Well, now that depends. Before that blue collared piece of trash entered our lives, we had something special. We could’ve had a wonderful life together. And, since you had a taste for the taboo, I was even willing to share. But that selfish bitch refused. She even unleashed that rabid dog, Natasha, on me. Oh, but don’t worry. By now that bitch is being ass fucked by a bunch of Russians.”

  To Jack, Caroline’s depravity was unbelievable, but he needed to keep her talking.

  Easing closer to her, Jack asked, “How did you get my daughter?”

  “Oh, now that was easy.” She beamed. “Emma. Everyone has a weakness. For Emma, it’s her good for nothing son and his gambling addiction. It seems that he owed a large amount of money to some very bad men. Well, let’s just say that she chose the life of her child over yours.”

  Jack was enraged. He’d trusted Emma to care for his child, and she handed her right over to a nut job. In his mind, Jack was narrowing down ways to make her pay.

  “Don’t worry, Jack. She’s dead.” Caroline was, apparently, reading his mind. “Knew too much,” she added with a shrug.

  Jack didn’t have time for Caroline’s gloating; he needed to get to Victoria. He stepped closer to Caroline and whispered, “Thank you for killing her.”

  He needed to get her within arm’s length. And when she shoved the barrel of the shotgun into his chest and shouted for him to step back, she gave him the opening that he needed. Jack stepped sideways, and with very little effort, he yanked the gun out of Caroline’s hand. He turned the shotgun and slapped her in the head with the butt of the gun, knocking her to the floor. When Jack pointed the shotgun at Caroline, she crab walked backwards. As he held her at gunpoint, he reached for his phone. He needed to warn Victoria, but there was no answer.

  As he dialed her number again, Caroline’s expression went from fear to rage.

  “Your ghetto rat is dead,” she sneered with an evil laugh.

  “Now you can have a wife more befitting of a man of your status. Someone with proper breeding that can fit in the circles that you move in, without embarrassing you. I compliment you. Now, you can be with me.”

  Jack slipped the phone back into his pocket and pointed the shotgun at Caroline.

  Looking her right in the eye, Jack responded. “I’ll pass,” he said, before squeezing the trigger. The slug tore through her chest, and she was dead.

  Startled by the loud blast, Jasmine began to scream. Jack rushed over to her. He sat the gun down on the chair and carefully lifted her out of the bassinet. He placed her over his shoulder and softly shushed, while patting her back.

  Just as he turned around to grab his gun and make his exit, he was stopped by Deon pointing a gun at him.

  GIANNI

  Gianni stopped running and attempted to control his breathing. One of the Russian’s was aiming a weapon at Natasha’s head. Gianni only had one shot to take him down. He inhaled a breath and held it in, raised his weapon to eye level, lined his sights, and took the shot. The kidnapper’s head nearly exploded, but somehow he was still able to jerk the trigger.

  Gianni looked at the woman that he loved, naked and clutching her head and his heart stopped. She was going down. Running as fast as he could, he reached her in just enough time to prevent her head from hitting the ground. He held her close to him and inspected her wound. Relief flooded through him when he noticed that the bullet hadn’t penetrated her skull. Instead, it was only a superficial wound. He kissed her face while laughing hysterically. In his eyes were unshed tears.

  He heard Frank shout from behind. “Gianni! Polizia! Andiamo!”

  Gianni heard sirens in the distance. He stood, lifting Natasha in his arms, and jogged to his plane. He carried Natasha up the steps and looked back at his men, who were still on the ground.

  He rushed Natasha on–board, sat her down in one of the seats, and buckled her seatbelt. She was still out from shock. Since no one else was on the plane, he ran over to a window in order to see if they needed his help. Frankie, followed by Hank, Miguel, and Luca were running up the steps. Gianni stepped back in order to allow them entry.

  Gianni asked Luca, “Why aren’t they boarding the other plane?”

  “They’re gonna hold them off so that we can take off,” Luca responded, while closing the aircraft doors.

  Gianni yelled, “Francis is out there Luca.”

  Gianni was well aware that there was about to be an even bigger gun battle. Some of the Polish police officers, along with some of Luca’s men were possibly going to die. And Gianni definitely wasn’t ok leaving his cousin out there.

  “He knows what he’s doing. Sit cugino. Fasten your seatbelt,” Luca urged.

  Luca stuck his head in the cockpit and ordered to the pilot, “Let’s go.”

  Gianni sat next Natasha and stared out of the window as they taxied to the runway. Luca sat in front of him.

  “Gianni, we have to refuel in Czech. We may or may not run into resis
tance. But if we do, we’ll have to hold them off until the other plane lands,” Luca explained.

  Frank yelled in shock. “What the hell?! Private planes, filled with weapons; shoot-outs with Ukrainian mobsters; resistance in Czech... Who are you people?! Damn, I ain’t never been to Europe. Can’t we go someplace where they ain’t shooting at us?”

  Gianni laughed. He turned to Luca and said, “See if we got enough fuel to go home.”

  Luca nodded and picked up the phone to call the pilot.

  Frankie asked, “Where’s home?”

  “Palermo.”

  Frankie asked, excited, “Sicily?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh yeah. Strippers that don’t speak English,” Frankie said, laughing.

  “Your wife is gonna cut your dick off,” Miguel chuckled.

  “Ugh. You had to mention her? My dick just got soft,” Frankie belted out, causing everyone on the plane to laugh.

  When they were at a cruising altitude, Gianni unbuckled Natasha’s seatbelt and lifted her still unconscious body from the seat. He carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. He covered her with a blanket and climbed in next to her, awaiting the moment she opened her eyes.

  CHAPTER 40

  JACK

  “I figured that you’d kill that bitch. No wonder you dumped her; fucking her is like fucking a corpse.” Deon snickered. “Now we just have to wait for your lovely wife to show up so I can see if she’s better.”

  Since Caroline said that Victoria was dead, Jack was relieved when Deon mentioned Victoria’s name. But if he thought for one minute that he was going to get his hands on Victoria, he was deadly mistaken.

  “The instructions were clear. I was to come alone. Victoria’s not coming.”

  “Now, Jack, surely you don’t believe that that hard–headed wife of yours isn’t on her way,” Deon chuckled.

  Jack didn’t reply because Victoria was stubborn and viciously protective of the people that she loved. He clutched his daughter, protectively, and looked over Deon’s shoulder, toward the exit. He needed a strategy to get Jasmine out, safely.

  Deon shouted, pointing his gun directly at Jasmine. “Back!”

  Jack backed up and turned his daughter away from Deon. “Deon, you’d kill an innocent baby?”

  “Possibly,” he answered demonically. “Now get back.”

  Jack did as he was told and backed up. He wished that his daughter wasn’t present because he wanted to kill Deon with his bare hands.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Shut up! My explanations are for Victoria, not you,” he seethed.

  “Well, I’m here now,” Victoria could be heard saying from the doorway. “So let’s hear it.”

  Deon smiled and kept his weapon trained on Jack. Jack closed his eyes and sighed, conceding to the fact that his wife was indeed hard–headed. Although, something deep within him knew that Victoria didn’t have the capability of sitting back, doing nothing, while her family was in danger.

  “Glad you could make it. Now get over there with your family,” he instructed. “But first, take off your shirt.”

  Victoria, without hesitation, took off her shirt. She raised her hands and stood in front of him in her bra. When Deon stared lustfully at Victoria, Jack was contemplating lying Jasmine down in the bassinet and charging at him.

  “Turn around!”

  She turned, proving to him that she was unarmed.

  “Good. Now get over there.”

  Victoria walked over to Jack. She put her hand on his shoulder and stood on her toes to inspect her baby.

  “She’s fine,” Jack assured. “What are you doing here?”

  “Jack, I couldn’t just sit home,” she replied.

  “Ha! Told you!” Deon shouted, laughing out loud.

  Victoria turned to Deon.

  Her teammate.

  Her friend.

  Victoria asked, “Why?”

  “Why? Because you are a cold, selfish bitch,” he hissed.

  Victoria recoiled at his words. She had no idea that her friend felt this way about her, and she had no clue as to why.

  “Deon, what have I ever done to you?”

  “Victoria, don’t pretend that you had no idea how I felt about you. I have always been there for you... always. Even when that piece of shit fiancé of yours dumped your ass for his ex, I was there. I sat back and waited patiently for you to get over that motherfucker. Just so you could allow yourself to be bought by a white man, like a fucking slave!”

  Victoria couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She absolutely had no idea of the rage that Deon hid inside, nor did she have a clue that he had feelings for her. Nothing that he was saying was making any sense to Victoria.

  “So, let me get this straight... You set Natasha up to be kidnapped by human traffickers, you kidnapped my baby, and now you’re holding me and my family at gunpoint, because you want me?”

  He screamed, startling Jasmine. “LOVED!”

  When she started to cry, Jack rocked her back and forth.

  “I loved you, but that was in the past. Now, I can’t fucking stand you.”

  “I see. So, instead of coming after me, you targeted the people that I care about. You go after my husband and my baby, even Natasha?”

  “Oh no, that bitch brought this on herself. When I finally got over your ass and focused on her, that whore turned around and did the same shit you did. Fuck both of you bitches!”

  Victoria couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was utterly disgusted by Deon, and disappointed in herself for not seeing him for the monster that he was.

  “Deon, since I’ve known you, you have fucked almost every woman that’s crossed your path.”

  He tilted his head and looked at Victoria like she had just said the dumbest thing ever.

  “What the fuck does that have to do with love? I loved you, and you ignored me. If that nut–job, Harold Malone, had’ve done what he was supposed to do, your ass would be dead now.”

  “What?!” Victoria gasped, wondering what the serial killer that had targeted her had to do with Deon.

  “Yeah,” Deon said with a nod, seemingly proud. “How do you think that psycho knew exactly where you’d be that day?”

  “Oh my God!” Victoria was floored. “Wait... When I was kidnapped, you winded up in a coma.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t count on that.” His laugh was menacing. “Aren’t you happy that I survived?”

  “I was,” she mumbled.

  “Victoria, I’m a surveillance expert. Did you really think that I didn’t see that man stalking you? I told him exactly where your mission would be that night. Hell, I even told him about that watchdog that you put on her,” he said, looking at Jack.

  “If Steve hadn’t gone to this motherfucker for help, you’d be victim number twenty–five. Good thing I don’t have to worry about Steve meddling in my shit no more.”

  Victoria tensed. “Deon what did you do to Steve?”

  He responded with a shrug and a gun to the head gesture.

  “Nooo!” She whined, grimacing with remorse. “Why, Deon?!”

  “He found out that I was fucking that stripper. I didn’t need him connecting me to her.”

  Victoria slid her hand down Jack’s back. She was in search of the gun that she knew he had tucked into the back of his pants. But Jack, convinced that Deon was completely out of his mind, placed the baby in Victoria’s arms and pulled them behind him.

  “Oh, isn’t this cute? The great white hope is gonna save the day,” Deon cracked, sarcastically.

  Jack narrowed his eyes and took an angry step toward Deon, but Victoria grabbed his arm.

  “Jack, please don’t,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, Jack, please don’t,” Deon mocked.

  Victoria looked at Deon with nothing less than hatred.

  “You were my friend. My partner. I loved you,” she admitted, with tears in her eyes. “Do you know what that man did to me?! I truste
d you... with my life!” She screamed, no longer able to hide her anguish.

  “Fuck your life!” Suddenly a shot rang out in the abandoned factory. Deon clutched his neck and dropped to the floor, with his gun dropping beside him. He frantically looked around, while feeling for his gun. But Jack was already standing over him. He kicked the weapon out of Deon’s reach and yelled for Victoria to run. For once, she followed directions and fled from the factory. Jack pulled his .45 from the back of his pants and aimed it directly at Deon’s head.

  “Before you die, you should know that Natasha was just rescued by her great white hope.”

  Deon spat, coughing up blood, “Fuck you!”

  “No... Fuck you,” Jack replied, before putting a bullet between Deon’s eyes.

  Jack stared into Deon’s cold dead eyes. Satisfied that he was dead, he looked around for the gunman. He looked up and found John lying on a rafter holding a rifle. Jack dropped his head and smiled. His wife was no fool.

  CHAPTER 41

  NATASHA

  “Natasha, baby? Baby? Wake up.” She heard Gianni’s voice, in her subconscious state. Her eyelids fluttered open and focused on Gianni’s luminous green eyes.

  “Gianni?”

  “It’s me my love.”

  Natasha attempted to sit up, but the ache in her head forced her back down. She brought her hand to her head, rubbing the bandage.

  “It’s just grazed,” he assured.

  “Gianni, what happened?” She asked, trying to remember.

  “They’re dead my love, all of them. You’re safe now.”

  “You saved me?” She asked, already knowing the answer, since the memory of GI

  Gianni popped into her head.