Lace and Sin (Sinners Series Book 1) (17 page)

Holy. Shit. I am not dying here tonight, and neither is Alek.

I hear different doors being kicked and slammed back shut as they search
for me, and then finally one of them waltzes in to Alek’s room. I move swiftly
from my position behind the door, as I spin the bat with a flick of the wrist
like a pro, then come out wide and bring it back to come in contact with his
side.

I grin with sick pride when I hear the crack of a rib, and he drops to
the floor on his knees gasping. I wrap my arms around his neck as he wheezes
and struggles to breathe, slowly but eventually rendering him unconscious. I
let go, watching as he drops to the ground with a soft thud against the hard
wood floors.

I pick the bat back up and give it a quick spin for good measure, before
I’m ducking back out into the hallway. I’m caught off guard when the other guy
wraps his arms around me from behind, squeezing tightly until I’m hurting and
almost gasping for air. The more I struggle, the harder he squeezes like a
goddamn Anaconda.

I kick my leg backwards and up, trying to get him in the groin, but he
manages to avoid every kick. I clench my jaw, and put as much force as I can
into it when I whip my head back, cracking him right in the nose with a
satisfying crunch. He immediately drops me and I fall onto my hands and knees,
gasping for air, reaching for the bat blindly.

“You stupid bitch, idi syuda” I hear the guy say in a mixture of thick
Russian and English behind me as he covers his face, blood seeping through his
fingers from his nose.

I kick out instinctively coming in contact with his knee, then scramble
to stand up as he drops to the ground swearing and yelling.

There’s so much adrenaline pumping through my body. I could be one of
those people that end up on the news for lifting a car to save a baby or
something. I never believed those stories until now. I give him a quick kick to
the gut (payback for kicking Alek), and then sprint back into the living room
to get us the heck out of here.

I squat down next to Alek, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialling
Carter – I don’t know why considering he’s miles away on another continent. As
the phone rings I check his pulse, and breathe with relief when his eyes
flutter open. He groans and grabs his side just as Carter finally answers.

“Hello?” says Liz to my surprise.

“Put Carter on the phone” I say quickly, not really in the right frame of
mind to be annoyed that she’s even answering his phone in the first place. I
tuck my arm under Alek and slide it around his waist to help pull him up. He
starts sliding across the floor as I practically drag him by his arm.

“He’s a little busy right now, he’s in the shower” she giggles, trying to
make it sound like they were there together. I grind my teeth trying to compose
myself, not believing any of her bullshit.

“Fuck Liz, just put him on the phone…I don’t give a shit if you have to
break down that fucking bathroom door just to get to him” I quickly say. I hear
her groan and get up from what I assume to have been the bed and shuffle her
way to Carter.

As I’m in a crouching position trying to drag Alek across the floor,
whilst also trying to hold the phone against my ear, I hear footsteps outside
by our front door – too many of them to only be one person. Fuck, there goes
the plan of getting out of here.

I practically start dragging Alek across the floor as he wheezes with
what’s no doubt a cracked rib.

“I’m so sorry, Alek” I breathe out as I keep trying to move us backwards and
towards the back entrance of the apartment. I realise it’s a lost cause as
there’s at least another two guys about to walk through our front door. I make
a hasty decision, and practically shove Alek under the dining table away from the
war zone.

I almost forget I have the phone against my ear, when I finally hear
Carter. “Why are you answering my phone Liz?” He says annoyed. I don’t hear her
response, and then there’s a muffled exchange when he grabs the phone off her.

“Hey, sorry I was in the shower. I swear to you it’s not what you’re
thinking” Carter rushes to get out. I breathe deeply and rapidly with anger as
three more men step through my busted down front door.

“Doesn’t matter right now Carter, I don’t give a shit. I trust you” I
rush to get out as I tap the end of the bat on my foot, eyeing the three of
them as they grin at me and my pathetic bravado.

“You are going to wish you went quietly” one of them says and laughs
deeply, while the other two scan the room and down the hallway. One spots the
guy lying on the ground and goes over to help, and must spot the unconscious
one in the bedroom because he laughs and yells, “This one’s a bit of a
fighter.”

“Who’s that?” I hear Carter faintly through the phone.

“I need you, Carter. We’ve got trouble” I answer, just as the one left
watching me cracks his knuckles and grins wide, “I like when they fight back”
he says, making me shiver in disgust.

“Fuck!” No…no, no, no…this wasn’t supposed to happen” he’s saying into
the phone but I’m barely listening. They want to take me with them? Well I’m
not going down without a fight, I don’t care how many bones I break, and they
sure as hell deserve every one of them.

I watch as the guy takes a couple slow steps towards me, so I take a few
steps back – almost like a weird dance of back and forth, as he tries to get
closer while I try to get further. I put the phone down on the kitchen counter,
not really worried whether I’ve hung up or not. I slide myself behind the counter
and spin the bat with a quick movement of my wrist again.

I’m so focused on the guy in front of me, licking his lips as he eyes me
that I’ve totally forgotten to keep an eye out behind me.

“Behind you” Alek groans from the floor as he tries to stand up, and I
instinctively swing the bat as I spin around and crack the guy in the head. He
drops to the ground with a groan, and he’s out cold.

As I was doing that though, the other guy came charging towards me. He slides
one arm around me, trapping my arm at my side, and with the other he grabs the
hand with the bat. He squeezes so hard, and twists it at an awkward angle. I
cry out in pain and release the bat, listening to the solid metal ring out as
it hits the tiles - the soft ping of metal echoing through the kitchen as he presses
himself against me. I can feel his disgusting warm breath against my neck as I
try to thrash in his grip.

“Lyubimaya moya” he whispers into my ear as I struggle, calling me his
sweetheart.

I jab my elbow back but miss, and then both his arms are around me,
suffocating me, stealing the last of my breaths. I’m kicking and wriggling as I
watch two of them start on Alek, and he manages to take one out. Unfortunately
the other one got his hands on the bat and swings out wide, before coming in
contact with Alek’s side.

I watch with wide eyes as Alek drops to the ground and something is
placed over my mouth. I struggle, knowing exactly what it is. But my attempts
are useless as I start to lose consciousness, my eyes getting heavier, my
breathing getting deeper until I’m dropped to the floor. Everything goes black
as three smiling bloody faces loom over me.

“Dobroy nochi” one says with a sick, bloodied grin spread across his
face.

Chapter 20

Carter

After I tried to contact Abram to beg him, to plead with him, do whatever
I had to just to get him to let her go and got no answer, I lost my shit.

Lost my shit as in packed what my hands managed to grab within five
minutes, kicked a few things around out of frustration, and punched the mirror
in Liz's room from her teenage years when she told me to forget about Kayla. She's
fucking nuts if she think’s I could do that.

Jimmy came to see what was going on, and after I managed to actually get
the words out of my mouth and tell him what I just heard over the phone, he
went and packed what he could too.

The first text came when we were in the cab on the way to the airport,
while Jimmy rang every airline he could think of to get us urgent flights back
to New York. Being Christmas Eve it was starting to look a little impossible
which had me swearing at the cab driver, and clenching my fists.

The text was from an unknown number, a picture. At first I was too
anxious to even open it but knew I'd have to eventually. It was a picture of
Kayla, lying on her living room floor with a cut on her cheek and some blood
trickling from her hairline. I swear, and punch the back of the seat in front
of me.

Jimmy realises my hand is bleeding from the shattered mirror back at his
mums place, so he pulls out a red Bandana which he had tucked into one of his
duffel pockets and wraps it around my knuckles.

"Carter you need to calm the fuck down man, you're not helping if
you get us kicked out of this cab and stuck on the side of the road."

"They're fucking hurting her Jimmy" I say, chocking up a little
on the last few words – I really need to keep my shit together. I thrust the
phone into his palm and stare out the window, as we drive for what feels like
an eternity to the airport. He swears as well and tries to console me, make me
feel better, but no matter what he says it doesn’t work.

"We're gonna get her out Carter, she's not gonna go down without a
fight either believe me."

We manage to get a last minute flight, having to fly first class (which
no one is complaining about believe me), and luckily there's only us and
another couple in the first class area. We talk the whole flight about what
we're going to do to get Kayla back and in all honestly I'll do anything. If
Mikhalov asks me to steal more cars, I'd do it. If he asks me to jump off a
cliff, I'd do that too, just as long as he lets her go.

After what feels like the longest flight of the century, we land back in
New York at about three in the morning Christmas Day, finding ourselves
reverting to our old ways. I mean where in the fuck would we find a cab fast
enough Christmas morning to get us where we need.

We throw our bags over, and hike the chain link fence that secures all
the long term parked cars. Whichever car we take, hopefully the owners are enjoying
their holiday wherever they are; long enough for us to go unnoticed and not
reported as car thieves.

Jimmy walks left as I go right, quickly surveying the area for cameras. I
see him pull a car cover off and whistle in appreciation from about eight cars
away. I hike my duffel strap a little higher on my shoulder and jog back to
him, surprisingly grinning right along with him when I see what car he's found.
There’s always bound to be a nice one if someone’s taken the effort to put a
cover on it.

I keep an eye out while he works his magic, alarm blaring momentarily
until silence engulfs us like a winters fog. He fiddles with some wires under
the steering wheel, and the car comes to life as I hop into the passenger seat
next to him. Only a few minutes and we’re in, that’s certainly a new record for
Jimmy especially with a car that’s known to be impossible to steal. There's no
one else I'd trust more to drive as fast as me, or quick enough without
bringing attention down on us.

He revs the engine and grips the steering wheel as he grins at me from
the driver seat. He stomps on the accelerator and the back wheels spin slightly
as he takes off, echoing through the expanse of the empty car park.

We make our way out and onto the empty streets of New York, both anxious
to get to Kayla’s house. A light ahead turns amber, and I find myself grinning
when Jimmy accelerates harder, a bright flash coming from the traffic camera as
we speed through a red light - apologies to the owners who’ll be receiving a
ticket in a couple weeks.

The traffic is pretty light, so we weave our way through easily, turning
corners fast and smirking when the back end of the car kicks out with the sharp
turn.

“Who the hell leaves a 550 Ferrari in long term parking?” Jimmy scoffs as
he keeps the car in control, straightening the steering wheel and continuing on
as if we’re in some high speed chase. We got lucky, real lucky.

I watch the reflection of the gunmetal grey Ferrari zoom past the
different buildings like a bolt of lightning, just a blur of darkness zooming
through the city. We abandon the car a block from Kayla’s place just in case,
and sprint the rest of the way there and up the front steps.

The front door is hanging haphazardly by its hinges, and we step in to
find the place slightly trashed. We find Alek sitting on the couch with his
head between his legs, and what appears to be a frozen bag of peas against one
side of his face. He looks like absolute shit.

I take a quick look around and notice plenty of blood smeared across the
floor which sets me into a panic. God I hope Kayla is okay, please let her be
okay. Alek looks up at that point and tries to smile, even though his lip is
busted and his eye is swollen shut, “That’s not her blood if that’s what you’re
thinking.”

I start to pace back and forth next to the couch, while Jimmy sits next
to Alek and props his feet up on the coffee table.

“So how are we gonna do this?” Alek says and grins a blood smeared toothy
grin, before spitting some blood out on the already messed up floor. I sit down
in the last empty chair, idea already formed in my head, and I begin to tell
them exactly what I’ve got planned – what I should have done in the beginning
instead of leaving Kayla here unprotected.