RunningScaredBN (33 page)

Yes, this man had no idea who he was dealing with. He would enlighten him, then he would be suitably impressed and frightened.

“Do you know who I am?” He swaggered toward the giant, feeling quite safe. The man was naked as the day he was born and hanging from the rafters. All that muscle and sinew was worthless now. He was at the mercy of Dimitri Soukis. Before he had the man killed, he would have him begging for his life.

The thought made him smile.
 

Like a powerful gymnast, Justin grabbed hold of the chains securing him and pulled himself up. Raising his legs, he kicked out with all his might. Dimitri’s eyes barely showed shocked comprehension before he went flying across the room, landing in a heap in the corner.

A small smile cracked Justin’s face. Now that had been fun.

Chapter Thirty-one

Sweat covered her entire body, and Riley knew that if she didn’t break out of the box soon, she would pass out. She had pushed, shoved, and hit the lid so many times, her hands and knees were ripped to pieces, drenched with blood. A sob built in her chest and tried to break free. The feeling pissed her off. She was not going to cry like a weakling, like some kind of sniveling coward. She was going to get out of this freaking box and go rescue her partner!

With one final shove, giving it her last ounce of adrenaline, she splintered the box apart. Riley drew a giant gulp of fresh air into her starved lungs. Gasping, she crawled out of the box and landed on her hands and knees. Standing wasn’t quite as simple. Thousands of tiny needles held her limbs hostage, and she had no choice but to allow her circulation to return. The instant she felt her legs would hold her, she stood. The pain was still there, but as long as she could run and fight, she was good to go.

She didn’t bother to look around the room for weapons. This was her former bedroom and would hold nothing that could help. She raced to the door, opened it, and peeked out. The hallway was empty. Dimitri had not lost his arrogance. He’d never expected that she would dare try to escape the box.

She crept down the hallway. The mansion was huge, and though she had only been allowed inside a few rooms, she had no real problem determining where she should look first. The torture chamber was on the first floor, at the back of the mansion. She had been there numerous times.

Knowing Dimitri as she did, he would need to feel in control. There was nowhere that he felt more superior than in the place where he considered himself master of everything and everyone.

She stopped at the landing and looked down at the giant marble foyer. A guard stood at the bottom, facing the stairway. He would see her the moment she started down the stairs. She needed a diversion.

Turning, she quickly took in her options. Up and down the long, carpeted landing were paintings that were probably supposed to be erotic art but looked violent and evil to her. Looking farther, she spotted a long, narrow table holding a sculpture, the perfect size for what she needed. Creeping down the landing, she lifted the statue. It was heavier than it looked but would do the job.

Returning to the top of the stairway, Riley hefted the statue over her head and threw with all her might. The sculpture landed with a crash behind the guard. The man rushed over to it, and Riley zoomed down the stairway. She made it to the bottom without detection. The guard was now looking up at the stairway, apparently trying to figure out how the statue had fallen. When she was inches away from him, he turned around. His eyes and mouth opened in shock. A naked, bloody woman was one thing he was not expecting to see.
 

He never knew what hit him. With swift precision, she delivered multiple punches to his face. He managed one swipe at her head, which she was able to duck. She then finished off with a one-two kick, first to his stomach and then his groin. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed at her feet.

She took precious moments to take off his heavy shirt and confiscate his weapons. Even though it was dangerous to leave him lying out in plain sight, she couldn’t spare the time to hide him.
 

Now to find Justin and get the hell out of here.

***

Dimitri crawled out of the corner, his ears ringing. What had happened? He shook his head to clear it and looked around. When he spotted the man hanging from the ceiling, he roared with fury. He dared to attack him? The stranger would pay dearly!

Stomping to a long, narrow cabinet hanging from the wall, he swung the doors open and viewed his selection. He had started collecting swords a few years ago. He’d wanted to learn how to fence, but taking on an opponent who had the same weapon and possibly better skills than his own wasn’t something he enjoyed. He preferred having an advantage in everything. He did, however, love the weapons themselves.

Withdrawing one of his favorites from its sheath, he swung the sword in an intricate, artistic pattern he’d seen in a movie once. Mocking male laughter from the other side of the room stopped him in the middle of his swing. Stumbling, he glared, stupefied, at the man who dared laugh at him. He was hanging from the ceiling without a stitch of clothing, and he dared laugh?

Dimitri stalked over to the insolent man, raised his sword, and slashed a long, bloody slice across the man’s broad chest. Instead of screaming, the man never changed his expression. There was still amusement in his eyes. And something else. Something that made Dimitri shiver.

His unease increasing, Dimitri swiped the blade down the man’s shoulder and then across his belly. Bloody lines appeared and oozed in streams down his body, dripping to the floor. And still the man continued to stare, his expression unchanged.

“Who are you?” Dimitri bellowed.

Amusement flashed on the man’s face. “Your man Ari told me it’s good to know the name of the man who’s going to kill you. My name is Justin Kelly, and I’m going to rip your dick off and make you eat it. Then I’ll use your sword to disembowel you. And if you happen to still be breathing after all that, I might be generous and tear your head from your body.”

Dimitri almost stumbled back but caught himself in time. Showing any kind of weakness would be an abomination. He was Dimitri Soukis. He had people like this giant maggot killed all the time.

“You’re very arrogant for a man hanging from the ceiling with no weapons but your mouth.”

The man said nothing more. Just continued to look at him, almost as if he were bored.

“Not that a weapon would be helpful. You can’t even shoot straight. You shot at me and injured one of my men instead. Perhaps I should use your weapon against you. Shoot you straight through your heart.”

The taunt had no effect whatsoever. The man, Justin Kelly, never blinked. It was infuriating!
 

With a loud curse, Dimitri lifted the sword. One hard swipe, and the insolent bastard’s head would be rolling on the floor.

“Dimitri!”

He was so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. Turning, he gawked at the vision in front of him. His Jessica, his beautiful girl, was standing before him with an M16 she’d obviously stolen from one of his men. The rifle was almost as large as she was, but she held it with a confidence he found stupefying. She was also wearing a thick, long-sleeved, olive green shirt, the kind his men wore.
 

Had one of the guards given in to her charms? That was the only explanation he could come up with. One of his men had betrayed him by letting the girl out and, adding insult to injury, had provided her with the shirt from his back and a weapon.

“Jessica, what are you doing? Put the gun down before you hurt someone.”

“Drop the sword, Dimitri.”

He waved the sword at her for extra emphasis and said in an imperious tone, “You do not call me Dimitri. Do you understand? You know the punishment for such familiarity and rudeness. Put that gun down, take off that ridiculous shirt, and get on your knees. You will beg for forgiveness. Then you will service me to show your remorse.”

The man hanging beside him gave a roar of protest and jerked on his chains. Dimitri smiled. That was more like it.

“It’s your turn to get on your knees, asshole,” Jessica snarled. “You have three seconds to drop your sword before I put a bullet in your brain.”

Dimitri shook his head, bewildered. It was like he was in some kind of parallel universe where everything was the opposite of normal. This was surely a nightmare that he would wake from soon. His Jessica, his pretty, little slave, who hadn’t an ounce of gumption or bravery in her body, was ordering him about. She was like some kind of parody of a macho woman. It was unattractive and disgustingly unfeminine.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed something else. Her gaze kept skittering over to the man hanging from the ceiling. The anxious look she was giving him told Dimitri that this man meant something to her. The very idea that she had given her affections to someone besides him steeled his resolve.

Dimitri nodded. “Very well. If you insist. I’ll lower my weapon if you lower yours.”

“Think again, shithead,” Jessica snarled. “I’ll put sixteen holes in your body before you can take another breath. Now drop the damn sword!”

 
She would pay for every single insult she had uttered today. This he swore. Taking a bold chance, Dimitri moved in front of the hanging man. If she shot him, the bullets were powerful enough to go through him and into the man behind him. Feeling quite smug, Dimitri swung the sword up, bringing the blade against the man’s thick neck, right over his artery. And then he smiled.

“You twisted piece of garbage, I
will
kill you,” Jessica growled.

“Perhaps, but if you shoot me, you’ll kill him, too. Now drop the gun and do as you’re told.” He gave a jerk of his head. She would recognize the gesture. It was a command to go to her knees in supplication.
 

When she hesitated, he pressed the sword deeper into the man’s neck. “Do it now, or he bleeds out in seconds.”

Justin saw the indecision in Riley’s eyes. She was considering doing what the asshole ordered. “No, Ingram. Don’t do it.”

Dimitri jerked at Justin’s words, and the sword cut into his skin. Any deeper, and the dirtbag would get his wish to see him bleed to death. But damned if he’d let Riley subjugate herself to this monster to save him.

“Do it now, Jessica. I’m not going to tell you again.”

She placed the rifle on the floor.

“Now take off that ridiculous garment and get on your knees.”

She went to her knees but didn’t take off the shirt. And because he knew his partner, knew what made her tick and how she thought, Justin knew Riley had a backup plan.
 

“Crawl to me, Jessica, and I might consider allowing him to live. I’ve never had a male slave before. It might be fun.”

Justin snorted. “And you won’t ever have one, dirtwad.”

“Your insults are becoming tiresome.”

Justin kept his gaze on his partner. She had something up her sleeve. As she crawled toward them, he watched the way she moved and wanted to shout his triumph. Yeah, she did indeed have something up her sleeve.

She stopped about a foot away from Dimitri and kept her head bowed.

“Very good. I’m glad you’re finally minding your manners. Now sit up and take that hideous shirt off.”

She sat back on her heels and started slowly sliding the shirt off, the left sleeve first.
 

Dimitri was so sure he had her cowed that he barely jerked in reaction when the shirt fell free of her right hand and she quickly shifted up on her knees, positioning her own blade mere centimeters from his crotch.

“Drop the sword, Dimitri. Now!”

The sword clattered to the floor.

“Now hand me the key to the cuffs.”

Still arrogant, even with a knife at his groin, Dimitri snapped, “This is unacceptable and inexcusable behavior, Jessica. You will be punished severely.”

“Don’t test me, asshole.” She pressed the blade harder against him. “I go any deeper and your tiny dick gets sliced off. Give me a reason, bastard, because there’s nothing I’d like better.”

He glared down at her for another second and then said, “Very well.”
 

His hand slid into his pocket.

She and Justin saw the gun at the same time.

As if choreographed, Justin wrapped his legs around Dimitri’s neck in the same instance that Riley sprang up and plunged the knife deep into Dimitri’s gut.

Riley backed away, and Justin loosened his legs. Like a broken marionette, Dimitri collapsed to the floor, his eyes wide with shocked horror.

“Your flare for drama never fails to impress me, Ingram.”
 

She didn’t react to his words. Just stared down at the lifeless man.

“Ingram. Look at me.”

She raised her head. The expression on her face was a mixture of shock, triumph, and grief.

He wanted to hold her, tell her how proud he was of her. He also wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled. Since he was still hanging from the damn ceiling, all he could do was say, “How about letting me down from here?”

Riley pulled the keys from Dimitri’s pocket. Grabbing a chair, she stood on it so she could unlock the cuffs around Justin’s wrists. He noted she didn’t meet his eyes. He figured she was in shock, and he wanted to do nothing more than hold her, reassure both of them that she was alive.