Russian Enforcer's Royal Engagement (Russian Enforcers Book 7) (7 page)

She let her hand slip into Jack’s as they walked down the corridor. She was glad he was here, and when he gave her hand a squeeze, she knew that whatever happened next, he had her back.

CHAPTER 14

Jack kept his eyes peeled as the terrorist led them down the hall, then along the main marble staircase. He wondered where they were headed. He also wondered why they hadn’t brought Yulian Gornakov along. It was obvious this guy wanted money, so why not bring the golden calf?

As his mind spun, he was starting to doubt whether the terrorist leader had any inkling what he was doing, because as far as he knew the guy didn’t even need Diana at all. He could simply have abducted Yulian and forced him to transfer part of his fortune into an offshore account.

In short: none of this made sense. He felt Diana’s grip tighten and his gut clenched. With the thug’s shocking revelation her life had been thrown into a tailspin.

He threw her a sideways glance. So she was a Gornakov, huh? Armand had briefed him on Yulian, the heir to notorious crime boss Yuri Gornakov.

He didn’t fucking care who she was. She could be Lucretia Borgia’s favorite niece for all he cared. All he knew was that he’d never felt about any woman the way he felt about her. Whether she was Diana Petrov or Anastasiya Gornakov didn’t matter one bit. She was his now, and he’d make damn sure she stayed that way.

It had surprised him she went along with this ruse about the engagement. He hadn’t thought it through—it had simply been a spur of the moment kind of thing, like most of his best ideas. Even in the battlefield he liked to follow his hunches. They’d saved his ass and that of his men more than once.

If this terrorist thought he could manhandle her and make her do his bidding without him by her side he had another thing coming.

He assessed the situation. They were descending, the leader of the outfit in front of them, two of his flunkies at their heels. He could take them out now, but didn’t like the odds of Diana getting caught in the crossfire when he made his move. He could take the two assholes trailing them, but that left the one in front free to retaliate. He quickly dismissed the move. If it was only his own life on the line he wouldn’t hesitate a millisecond, but he had Diana to think of.

Then again, if all they were after was money, perhaps they should simply let this thing play out. Let the bastards get their hands on the Gornakov millions. By the time they thought they were safe to enjoy their ill-gotten spoils, Interpol would be on them like white on rice and retrieve both them and the stolen funds.

They’d arrived downstairs in the ornate hallway and were led to the left. Exactly what he’d figured. They were heading for the command center. He hoped Armand would be waiting. Three against three. Those were odds he could live with.

They arrived at an inconspicuous looking wood-paneled elevator door. From the outside it looked like a service elevator. In reality it led straight down to the castle’s security nerve center. To his surprise, the terrorist produced a highly secure passkey and shoved it into the small security panel placed next to the door. The elevator doors immediately swung open.

What the hell? He stared at the key in the man’s hand. How had he managed to get a duplicate? Those were impossible to manufacture.

The terrorist held the door and all five of them crowded in.

He found himself face to face with the terrorist leader and stared him down. The asshole’s icy blue gaze never wavered. The man had balls of brass to think he could pull a stunt like this and not get caught. This wasn’t some Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. This was the capital of Montinia, one of the most beloved and popular tourist destinations on the planet, the home of the rich and famous and secured by a highly trained police force.

Which reminded him.

Where was the fucking cavalry?

They should have been here by now, taking these assholes down.

He’d called them in the moment he heard what was coming.

The elevator jerked to a stop and they were led into the deepest part of the building: the underground command post where all of the security for the castle and parts of the capital and kingdom were monitored. State-of-the-art and constantly manned by security personnel, CCTV feeds were all centralized here. This was Montinia Security GHQ. And now it had been breached.

How did they get a hold of the codes? All the systems in here were secure, only accessible with the right access codes.

The moment he stepped into the cavernous concrete space, he saw the body.

“Armand!” he thundered, and was upon the man, kneeling down beside him, cradling his head. He was out cold, but when he felt for a pulse he was relieved to find one. He was knocked out but still alive, thank God. He directed a look up at the three terrorists who stood staring down at him impassively and his voice shook with barely veiled rage. “You’ll pay for this!”

The leader of the outfit merely chuckled lightly. “The old fart tried to be a hero. Even drew a gun on us. Imagine that.”

He abruptly took a hold of Diana’s arm and steered her toward a bank of computers in the center of the room. Jack saw a small group of security personnel seated in a corner. They’d all been bound and gagged and were held at gunpoint by yet another terrorist. He counted at least three more. This operation was even bigger than he’d anticipated.

The man in charge shoved Diana down on a chair in front of a computer console, then tapped a few keys and the screen lit up.

“All I need from you, my dear,” he drawled, “is to look pretty and smile.”

Jack walked up to the pair and stood watching stern-faced as the screen changed into camera mode, the small built-in webcam capturing Diana’s features and projecting them onto the screen.

The camera zoomed in on her left eye and she blinked.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Anastasiya,” the guy growled. “Wide open. Now!”

Diana did as she was told and stared into the camera. The screen morphed into a surprisingly detailed image of one of her gorgeous blue eyes. The image captured all its aspects and nuances. He frowned when an overlay appeared, and the software started connecting dots. Suddenly the screen went dark and there was a noticeable hush as the terrorist stared intently at the screen. Three of his men had joined them and also stood staring expectantly.

Then the screen suddenly popped to life again, and a welcome message popped up. Alekskombank. A loud whoop and holler rang out amongst the terrorists.

“We’re in!” said the leader, pumping his fist. He practically shoved Diana from the chair and took her seat, then started tapping the keys frantically.

So this is what they wanted. Access to some Russian bank. But why?

The terrorist turned to Diana. “Thank you, my dear. You would never have thought it, but deep in his heart your dear old father has a soft spot.” He tapped the keys frantically. “I don’t know how, but at some point Yuri Gornakov discovered that he had a third child. Perhaps your real mother told him. I don’t care. All I know is that he felt there was a wrong to be righted, and he set up a secret account in your name, the funds to be disbursed the moment you tied the knot and got married. You were never to know where the money came from, the whole thing handled through a law firm. You were to be led to believe some distant uncle had died and left you a substantial amount of money. The only way to unlock the funds was with an iris scan.” He laughed. “Brilliant, huh?”

He gestured to the screen where a transfer of funds was being initiated.

“Unfortunately you will never get to enjoy your daddy’s money. But then you never really had any need for it anyway.” He eyed Jack. “Now that you’ve managed to snag your very own prince you won’t even miss these couple of millions.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, three men took a hold of them.

“Hey!” shouted Jack, fighting back.

The terrorist leader was in his face before he could shake off his assailant. “Contrary to what you might think I’m not a violent man, Your Highness, but I will use force if necessary—even lethal force.”

To demonstrate his point, he raised a small handgun to Diana’s temple. “You wouldn’t want to have to bury your fiancée before the wedding now would you?”

Jack scowled at the man. “Touch her again and you’re dead,” he snarled.

The terrorist shrugged. “Suit yourself. It’s not like I need her anymore.”

And then he pulled the trigger.

CHAPTER 15

Rob watched one of the terrorists signal the others. As if on cue, they all made their way to the door. Then, after a last glance around the room…simply walked out.

For a moment, no one dared to move. Like idiots they all sat there, even though the guards were gone. Then Rob rose, as did his brothers. He quickly darted to the door, and when he stuck out his head he saw to his surprise that the hall was empty. He jogged to the main staircase, glancing down. Not a soul in sight. It was as if the terrorists had simply vanished into thin air. What the hell…

He ran back to the room, meeting some of the hostages tentatively checking if the coast was clear. He gave them a thumbs up and when he met Mike, said, “They’re gone! The fuckers have left the building!”

“You’re kidding,” Mike said incredulously. He was clasping his bride’s hand tightly in his oversized mitt. Both of them stared down the corridor in amazed relief.

Rob returned to the room, shaking his head. What the hell was going on here? What kind of hostage-takers would just walk away? He didn’t have a clue. All he knew was that he was starving, and that a fine royal wedding buffet stood awaiting them.

But then he remembered that Diana was missing and his appetite vanished.

He caught sight of his parents. They were huddled together, both in tears, clasping each other in a desperate embrace. His heart broke at the sight of them. He knelt and hugged them close. “We’ll get them for this,” he managed to mutter. “We’ll get the bastards.”

Then he saw that Yulian was standing next to them, clenching and unclenching his fists. “I—I’m sorry,” the billionaire muttered, clearly not used to dealing with these kinds of situations.

Anna looked up. “It’s not your fault, Yulian. You couldn’t possibly have known.”

Yulian shook his head. His wife Julia was at his side, clasping his arm, relieved to be reunited with her husband. “I
should
have known. Somehow…” His voice trailed off. “Thank you for looking after my…sister,” he finally managed, controlling his voice with an extreme effort.

“She will always be our little girl,” Anna said simply.

Rob nodded. No matter what, Diana would always be his sister.

He stood and clapped Yulian on the shoulder. “Looks like we’re brothers, huh, buddy?” Yulian muttered something unintelligible, then started to walk away, but Rob didn’t let go. “Who would have thought?” he added pleasantly. “The Petrovs and the Gornakovs. One big happy family.”

With a vicious grunt, Yulian turned to the door. Rob stared after him with a wistful sigh. Now that he finally had a billionaire brother the man didn’t even seem to like him all that much. He shrugged. No matter. Yulian would learn to love him—would learn to love them all—like his very own family. Then he jogged after the billionaire. “Hey, Yulian!” he called out. “Wait up, bro!”

He caught up with him as he strode from the room, and placed a hand on his shoulder, only to find it instantly shrugged off with an irritated growl.

Undeterred, he fell into step beside his newfound relative. “So tell me all about yourself, buddy. I feel like we have a lot of catching up to do. First off, the most important question of all. Yankees or Mets?”

“Fuck off, Rob,” Yulian grunted, none too friendly.

“Hey, is that a way to treat your brother!”

“You’re not my brother,” hissed Yulian as he descended the stairs.

“Well, if you wanna get all technical about it,” Rob grumbled, easily keeping up. They’d arrived at ground level and he suddenly turned serious. “Where do you think they took her?”

Yulian cast him a quick glance. “Only place to get access to anything is the command center in the basement, so I’m assuming that’s where we’ll find her.”

“How come you know so much about this place?”

“Ruslan got the grand tour the moment we arrived.”

Ruslan was Yulian’s personal jack-of-all-trades. Manservant, butler, bodyguard, secretary and chef, he’d been Yulian’s shadow for years. Wherever the billionaire went, Ruslan was never far behind. Except today.

“I hope nothing happened to him,” Yulian grunted.

“I hope nothing happened to Diana,” Rob added.

Both men exchanged a look of understanding. Whatever their relationship, they were going to save Diana or die trying.

They’d arrived at an inconspicuous elevator that Rob would have passed by. Producing a key from his pocket, Yulian slipped it into the lock and turned. Within seconds the car arrived and the door slid open. “This takes us straight to the command center,” Yulian told him.

Rob was going to ask him how he’d managed to get a hold of the key but then thought better of it. The billionaire was a very special guest of the king. He’d probably been granted this exceptional access as a way to make sure he felt safe.

As the elevator zoomed down, Yulian warned, “Better keep your eyes peeled. Those assholes might still be around.”

Rob cursed under his breath. He wasn’t packing. “They better not have harmed my sister,” he growled.

“
Our
sister,” Yulian corrected.

They stared at each other for a beat, both men mentally readying themselves for whatever awaited them down in that dungeon. Then the elevator jerked to a stop and the door swished open.

The sight that met their eyes took their breath away.

CHAPTER 16

She’d dreamed of her mother, or at least that’s what she thought as she came up for air. It was as if she was drowning in a deep blue sea. Slowly it all came back to her. As she splashed about with her mother, father and siblings, she noticed she’d been drifting ever further away from the beach, and now suddenly found herself in open water, the shoreline almost disappeared from view. The water had become colder and the surface more choppy and there was no way she would ever be able to reach safety now.