Page 53 of Soldier of Death

“I took you, and now your father is back under Tiberius’s thumb.”

“I’m just a commodity to all of you.”

He leans in closer to me, and I should be afraid, but mostly, I’m tired and defeated. I’m back to feeling like nothing.

“I have two bosses wanting to get their hands on you. Do you know what sort of torture that would be for me?”

“Yeah, right. Your little prize stolen from you. You’d just go kidnap the next?—”

“Wrong!”

His voice is so loud, so booming, I take a step back.

He advances on me. “Believe what you want. But know this—I'll burn down the world before I let anything happen to you."

My heart pounds, heavy and erratic, as I try to make sense of his words. It sounds like I’m important to him. But I’mreminded that it’s not about me. It’s about how I can be used to humiliate his enemies.

“All in the name of getting your revenge.”

His eyes flash with what I first take to be pain but quickly morphs into emptiness. A deadness. "Get out.”

“Niko.” I reach out for him, not understanding the guilt I feel.

“Don’t.” He pushes past me, exiting his office. “Donovan!”

I take a breath, working to figure out what just happened. Then I follow him out. He’s heading to the front door.

“Niko.”

He ignores me.

“Where are you going?”

“Elena.” Lucia calls my name as she descends the last steps of the stairs. "Let him go. He can’t save your friend unless you let him go.”

I watch Niko exit the house, and something inside me shifts. Despite everything, part of me longs for him. Not his protection, but his love. Is he capable of that?

Lucia’s arm comes around me. "He’ll take care of it all. And when the dust settles, you can come with me to Italy."

I should be relieved by her assurance, but the turmoil inside me only intensifies.

I'll burn down the world before I let anything happen to you.

Does he feel something for me, or were those just the musings of a man possessed by power? I wonder if I’ve somehow just ruined something that could be real.

“Are you okay?” Lucia watches me.

My hands tremble as they slide over the growing swell of my abdomen.

Her brows lift. “Oh, God, Elena. Are you…?" Her question hangs in the air, as if she’s too afraid to know the truth.

I nod. "With twins. He doesn’t know."

20

NIKO

My chest burns with rage as I leave my office. Elena's defiance, her brazen challenge in front of my men, is enough to make me see red. In this life, such insolence is a death sentence, yet here I am, walking away. My men will question my authority. They’ll think I’m weak. God damn her!