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  “I do trust them, all of them. And that includes Aleksei.” Her jaw locked from saying the words, both in defiance and to convince herself.

  “I don’t like it, not at all. I just rescued you from the Bratva!”

  “I can’t explain everything that happened or why I came out of hiding for this, but it has to do with Aleksei. And his brothers. Let’s find a neutral ground, keep low for now until we can sort everything out. I think that it would be best for both of us.”

  Damon turned his head and stared deep into her eyes for a second. “I know a place. I’ll only let my lieutenant know where I’m going, with the reason that I need to have time alone with you. Give the information to your crew. It’s a bit far away, but apart from me, nobody knows the place. And it’s under my sister’s name. Check the phone’s contact list under ‘Cottage’. The address is there.”

  Deva relayed the details to Gabrielle. “Good, I’ll tell everyone. And Deva, be careful. The more we dig, the more I sense a trap.”

  “I’m right there with you. Find Sasha for me, please. And once she’s safe again, we’ll bring this son of a bitch down.”

  Chapter 31

  It was almost dark when they arrived at Damon’s cottage located near the Starved Rock State Park. Deep in the woods, she only saw a few houses behind the trees before they finally turned onto a small dirt track leading to the house. More rustic than a cottage, in her opinion. It looked cozy and secluded. And safe. For now at least. Damon didn’t say a word as he stopped the car. She followed suit as he went to unlock the door.

  When he flicked on the lights, she was surprised to see a vast and open area, mostly white and welcoming. And clean. Quite unlike the man who rescued her, the dark and dangerous MC president.

  He removed his coat and rolled his shoulders in a groan. “Are you hungry? The fridge is most probably empty, but there’s always food in the pantry.”

  Deva went to the table and let herself fall into a chair. “Anything will do.”

  Damon opened a couple of drawers and cupboards to finally present her with ramen noodle packages. “Here’s quick and easy for you. So? We have a little time before your friends arrive, what about we discuss our arrangement?”

  Deva wanted to groan in frustration when all she wanted to do was take two aspirins and fall unconscious into bed. Didn’t these men ever sleep? Her headache had lessened considerably, but she was running on fumes.

  “Sure, let’s talk about it. But you’re giving me way much more influence and power than I have in reality.”

  “You are a Johnson, just having that gives you power.”

  Deva snorted. “I’m female, and that alone removes any power I may have had. My brother Johnny would have been a better asset to you.”

  “There are other ways to make a statement.” The way he lingered on that sentence had her rolling her eyes.

  “If your idea is to talk about a wedding again, forget about it.”

  A smile tugged at his mouth. “I agree with you on that point. No, what I was referring to was you making a gesture. Officially ally yourself with me.”

  Where was he going with that proposition? “And what would that entail?”

  Damon put water into a saucepan and switched on the stove before turning to face her.

  “Only that. Be on my side, support my decisions, appear at a few gatherings, continue despising your father only in a more public way this time. Shoot him again for all I care.”

  “As simple as that?” Deva rubbed her face before looking at her gritty hands. It seems that every step she took forced her deeper into staying in Chicago.

  “You know my father will fight to get me back when he understands that this scheme is only to throw him off. And if he fails, he’ll try his damnedest to kill me, and possibly you in the process. He wouldn’t even care about a war if it meant revenge and gaining back control. You know the creature he is.”

  Damon nodded. “I know, but every step he will take in that sense, for retaliation or revenge, will only expose his growing insanity more and more to the other MCs and his own men. And that’s what I want.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I know I can’t overtake the Rows. The timing will never be good. But Mex hasn’t been the same since you left. It has been a slow descent, but undeniable. In the background, people are talking, and some are preparing to possibly overthrow him. An inside job.”

  “Don’t you think you are oversimplifying things? You are expecting, hoping, that because I’m turning my back on my father and the Rows are already in an uproar, that somebody will seize the opportunity to take his place? Your plan relies too much on wishful thinking and suppositions, Damon.”

  As the contents of the saucepan started to boil, the man only crossed his arms, looking at her. And then everything clicked in her mind. A flash of knowledge.

  “You have an inside man in the Rows.”

  He didn’t have to answer, it was etched clearly on his rugged face. Without acknowledging what she was saying, he turned to pour the soup into two bowls. But what troubled her, even more, was the idea nagging at the back of her head.

  “Shit!”

  Damon jumped at her sudden outburst and burned himself when boiling liquid splashed on his hand.

  Ignoring the string of curses coming from her blond savior, Deva dug into his back pocket.

  His hand under a stream of cold water, Damon twisted the best he could to look at her. “What are you doing?”

  “You are a genius, Damon.” And without a backward glance, she dialed Gabrielle.

  “Hey, Deva. Is that you? I’m about an hour out. Lance is with me in the car, listening.”

  “Put Lazarus on the line too.”

  “Sec.”

  Damon came beside her, wiping his hand. “Put it on speaker.”

  When she hesitated, Damon sighed and pushed the button. “It’s my phone. It’s my cabin. I’m listening to the plan.”

  The line clicked a couple of times before Gabrielle returned on the line. “Okay, I’m here with Lance. Oz, are you on?”

  The wind intensified a little before Oz’s voice came on the line. “Oz here with Aleksei. Glad to hear you are well, Deva.”

  “Are you alright, Deva?” Aleksei’s voice came on the line, deeper than she remembered. The sound closed her throat for a second.

  “Yes, I’m fine. A bath and a night of sleep will do miracles. And also on the line is Damon Evans, the president of the Storm Wayfarers. He’s the one who saved me.”

  No way she was going to explain the relationship she had with Damon over the phone, so she quickly followed with a question.

  “Any news about Sasha?”

  Lazarus growled. “I have Kai following Semyon. And Liam is using all of his contacts to see if any of the men who accompanied Semyon to the hospital can lead us to her.”

  Fear for Sasha gripped her so hard, tears started to stream down her face, and she coughed a couple of times to get her voice back. Damon put a hand on her shoulder, which bolstered her spirit. Enough to continue at least.

  “On the other front. I was talking with Damon and something popped about Finch’s plan. There is no way he would be able to gain any kind of leverage against the syndicates. Business opportunities are limited, and as for power, he would never achieve anything as an outsider. But what if it’s coming from the inside?”

  Lazarus answered. “What do you mean from the inside? That he has turned people from the different families? Is that what you mean?”

  “It’s virtually impossible to corrupt anybody from the Bratva, Deva. And I’m convinced that it’s the same with other syndicates.” Aleksei’s voice was adamant which made her hope a little that she was wrong about his possible involvement with this entire plan.

  “I agree. And I couldn’t stop thinking what Finch and my father had said. All those speeches about patience, about preparing for war. What if he was speaking about a war from within? What if Finch had prepared things way in adv
ance, and placed his pawns in strategic places.”

  The silence on the line was telling, so she pushed a little more. “Aleksei, you are close to Gerasim but didn’t know Semyon. I would ask the same question of Hector and Andy, and any other contacts you may have. Are there men in their organizations who appeared a few years ago, probably five, out of nowhere and made their way to the top? I would research that. And I’m pretty sure that if you dig deep enough, you will find something that connects them to Finch, one way or another.”

  Lazarus whistled. “If this proves true, that plan was years in the making. Finding the infiltrators, allowing them to climb all the way up… it takes planning and a shitload of patience. Mex was right about that.”

  Deva turned to Damon. “Didn’t Finch try to coerce the Wayfarers too?”

  “Jamieson Finch? Yeah, he came, but the club chose to wait. It pissed off Finch, and that’s probably why he went to the Rows. Johnson is crazy for money and power, it was a more sensible choice for his plan. I wouldn’t be surprised if the fact they contacted me about you was a way of forcing my hand into jumping into the game.”

  Aleksei returned on the line. “I’ll call Hector and Andy, and a few more others and see if there is anything that you say that jives. I can’t promise anything as this is sensitive information for all of us. But they owe me.”

  Gabrielle came back on the line. “Sorry, I was manning two phones and the steering wheel at the same times. I swerved a bit too hard, and I think Lance must have peed a little out of fear. I contacted a few people who are good at finding things that seemingly don’t exist. We’ll start with Semyon, but send me the names when you have them Aleksei. I’ll disconnect now. I have a few more calls to make. We should arrive soon. Good work, Deva.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Deva. I’ll follow up, and I hope to have some news about Sasha when I arrive.” Lazarus seemed pumped now.

  “Go rest, solnyshka.” This time, his voice was softer, more caring.

  “I will, Aleksei. See you later, guys.”

  Once disconnected, she started shaking. It was strange, she didn’t realize it until the phone she had been clutching so hard fell to the carpet, and Damon took her shoulders as she was about to follow suit.

  “Deva, dammit.”

  In an attempt to stay upright, she gripped his forearms. Laughter made her shake even more. What a wreck she was. It took another minute to finally calm down and draw a deep breath.

  She was about to push away from Damon when he swept her into his arms. “What the hell are you doing, Evans? Put me down.”

  Damon went to the back of the house. “This is me being scared shitless and doing something about it. You may not know it, but men tend to freak out when strong women dissolve into a shaking mess in front of them.”

  “It must be due to the kidnapping, or Finch, lack of food, sleep, or the recent flu I had. And because of Sasha. Or all of those answers.”

  He pushed a door open with his feet and with the light from the hallway, Deva saw an immense bed. Even though Damon never made any insinuation about consummating their agreement, she tensed instantly.

  “Easy, babe. I have no intention of taking advantage of you. Seeing you anything but kickass is a definite turn off for me, same as imagining my balls cut off by your Russian.” Instead, he made her lie on the bed, not even taking the time to turn the sheets down. Instead, he grabbed a comforter and tucked it around her body.

  “There, snug as a biker’s bug. Rest until your friends arrive. The soup can wait. And I’ll find out if some of my sister’s clothes can fit you, so you can take a shower and change when you wake up.”

  Deva wanted to thank him, for going beyond the call of duty, but before she could react, her body shut down, diving into a deep, dreamless slumber.

  Chapter 32

  Deva’s eyes opened as if she hadn’t slept at all. Wide open, looking around in the darkness. The drapes were not drawn on the window and night prevailed. Still in the same position she had been when Damon put her to bed, she turned to find another, more comfortable position, but her body strongly disagreed with her. Moaning, she stretched to loosen her muscles up a little.

  “Deva?”

  The deep voice came from the corner of the room, but she only saw a shadow moving. Still too tired to react, her brain connected the voice to a man.

  “Aleksei?”

  The form climbed onto the bed like a cat, a very big one, and now up close, she could see his tired, worried face. He seemed to hesitate, holding himself back. “Are you okay?”

  Deva nodded and extended her arms in invitation to lie beside her. He shook his head.

  Frowning, Deva pushed herself up to rest her back against the headboard, and she was able to get a better look at him. He was now kneeling on the bed, clad in the same black clothes he had been wearing earlier, his hands fisted, resting on his thighs.

  “What’s going on Aleksei? What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head, black hair tousled, gray eyes not even looking at her. Instead, they were fixed on his hands. In fact, his entire body was tense, his breathing hissing through his nose. When she attempted to reach for him, he jerked back.

  “Aleksei, talk to me, you’re making me very worried.”

  “Worried?” The word came out of him as a shout before he reined himself in. Furious. If Deva hadn’t been against a solid object, she would have backed up a little. And then he lifted his head to her, boring his silver eyes into her very soul. “You don’t know what worried means. The last forty-eight hours…” His face contorted into a mask of pain. Again, she reached for him, but he stopped her. “Don’t touch me, Deva. I’m way over the edge. I could contain the fear deep down inside me as I was desperately searching for you, I could go through the motions and lock my emotions like I’ve done so many times before, but now… when you are finally safe. I’m so angry at you!”

  And again, she saw him fighting against himself for a while before he continued. “You put yourself in danger! I told you to stay at the hotel under Lance and Kai’s protection, but you didn’t listen. You don’t listen! And now that I know you are safe, still breathing, still alive and whole…”

  Deva’s chest was so tight, it was as if she couldn’t draw a breath. When she had been in her little cell, all she wanted was to see Aleksei again and even take the risk to say three little, dreaded words to him. And now? It was as if he was struggling to find the words to tear her from his life.

  When he spoke next, his voice was so gruff, almost animalistic. “I fear that if I touch you, it wouldn’t be tender or soft, and that’s what you need right now. All I want is to punish you, to torment you, so you have an idea of the torture I went through when you vanished.” He exhaled sharply through clenched teeth after he said the words.

  Finding her voice, Deva risked an answer. “I didn’t know it would turn ugly. I wouldn’t have risked the guys or Sasha if I had known… I know you must hate me now.”

  “Hate you?” He shouted again. “I want to shake you until you realize what you’ve done and never do it again. I want to brand every single inch of your skin so no other man would dare come close to you. I want to make you lose your mind, so you never disobey me again. I want to crawl under your skin as you have crawled under mine.”

  As he spoke, Aleksei was now on all fours, unconsciously inching toward her, and she knew at that instant that if she touched him, it would unleash the beast. Alyosha would be nowhere to be seen, consumed by the darkest part of the man who was Aleksei. He was the incarnation of everything that made her flee all those years ago, but she loved him. Her feelings were as clear as day. It was impossible for her to leave him alone when he was bearing his soul to her. And if she had to submit until the monster inside had his fill of her, so be it. She would do it for him.

  This was no time for half steps, and once she made up her mind, Deva leaped and kissed him. A small part of her was scared about what might happen, but she trusted Aleksei implicitly and knew that his m
ost logical, civilized self would resurface at the right moment.

  Aleksei moved lightning quick and fisted his hand through her dark curls, forcing her head back, baring her neck to him. His teeth grazed her skin as he groaned. Sitting back on his haunches, his other hand tore at her blouse before getting rid of her bra. Then he bit her hard on that sensitive spot just above her clavicle. Her hands went to his chest, trying to hold on to something as she winced in pain. It wasn’t bad and only lasted a second, but she knew he was being true to his word and was branding her skin. Never letting go of her, he scratched and bit her sensitive flesh as he inched lower, always combining pain with pleasure. His teeth grazed the side of her breast, and his stubble chafed a little, and then a lot. Desire for him was starting to haze her brain, making her forget her strained position, pushing her chest out for him, wanting his touch even more.

  As he restlessly rubbed his cheek against the side of her breast, his hands released her and grabbed her waistband. Again, in a matter of seconds, her pants were gone, and she was naked under his still clothed form. Deva wanted him naked too, to feel his skin against her, but when she was about to slide her hand under his shirt, he shackled both her wrists.

  Aleksei wasn’t looking at her, he was a man on a mission, exorcising his own fear and pain, proving to himself she was alive and well. He took one of her breasts into his mouth and positioned his knees between her legs. In this position, he had complete control over her, and the realization that she was completely helpless made her shiver. Still sorting through her conflicting emotions, wanting to bring him closer and pushing him away at the same time, he slid his fingers between her legs. There was no teasing when he parted her slick folds, but she wanted him, wetness slowly dripping from between her legs as proof. As Aleksei realized the state she was in, he released her breast and returned his face to her, his expression feral. His touch intensified, his legs widened, forcing her thighs apart, baring herself more for him as his eyes were focused on her face.