Page 139 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

NOLAN

“ W e have a situation,” Xavier says as the two of us walk out of the club floor in the direction of the elevators. “Lockhart and Payne’s team saw an opportunity tonight, and they grabbed it.”

I stop dead in my tracks. “They have Bianca?”

“Yes.” We walk through a staff-only door. No cameras in this part of the castle. “She’s here.”

“Here?”

“Our security is good,” he replies. “The team hadn’t planned on extracting Bianca Thompson tonight. Aydin was in charge, and they were being pursued.”

“Ah.” In a previous life, Omer Aydin was a commander in the Turkish Army. Maroon Berets, Turkish Special Forces. He’s scarily competent. Adrian and Brody put one of their best people in charge of this operation. “Is she hurt?”

“No. She’s fine. Henri put her in a bedroom upstairs. I thought you’d want to talk to her before Kiera did. Omer didn’t debrief her; that wasn’t part of his instructions.”

That was thoughtful of Xavier. Kiera’s just finished her first scene.

If Bianca doesn’t want to see her, or if she’s going to rage at her sister for abandoning her, I want to protect the woman I love.

I have no right to keep Kiera and her sister apart, but I won’t expose her to Bianca’s anger tonight. “Thank you, Xavier.”

“Not a problem.” We take the staff elevator to the top floor. “She’s in the Orange Room. The access code is nine-seven-three-eight-four-five.”

“You locked her in?”

“Would you prefer that she accidentally wanders into the club floor and stumbles on you flogging her sister?” he asks caustically.

Yeah, that might not have been the best setting for a family reunion. “Valid point. Does she know why she’s here?”

Xavier shakes his head.

“She doesn’t know she’s been rescued? She thinks she’s been kidnapped?”

The elevator arrives and the doors slide open. Xavier punches in an override code and takes it out of service. “Omer’s team took gunfire. Rachel was hit.”

Anxiety stabs me. Omer and Rachel Abara have worked together for a long time. “Is she okay?”

“She’s stable. Adrian and Brody are at the hospital now, as is Omer.” He grimaces. “Martinez’s security team fired their guns in the middle of Manhattan. NYPD swarmed the scene.”

“Martinez will be on high alert.” Fuck. If he goes underground now, it’ll be years before he surfaces again. The man has a dozen passports, money hidden all over the world, and powerful connections that will protect him. We’ve freed Bianca, but at what cost?

Xavier sees the expression on my face. “You put Kiera first,” he reminds me quietly. “You made the right call.”

I take a deep breath. Xavier’s right. Yes, I’d have liked to take Martinez down. But if it comes down to a choice, I will pick Kiera every single day. “Time to talk to Bianca.”

The Orange Room is at the end of the corridor. I punch in the access code, and the lock disengages. I knock.

“Come on in.”

I enter. Bianca Thompson is standing by the window. “Don’t worry,” she says, not turning around. “I’m not thinking of jumping.”

“That’s reassuring to hear.” I advance into the room. “You’re probably wondering who I am and why you’re here.”

“The second part is perfectly obvious. You saw me, you wanted me, you took me.” She finally turns.

She’s blonde, like Kiera, but her face is thinner, and her eyes are harder.

Life hasn’t been kind to Bianca Thompson, and her eyes wear the proof.

“Whoever you are, you’ve just signed your death warrant. Luis will hunt for me.”

“I’m quaking in my boots.” She doesn’t trust me, and that’s okay. I don’t expect her to. “You’re safe from Martinez here. My name is Nolan Wolanski. I’m in a relationship with your sister.”

“Kiera?” Shock slaps her face. “What have you done?” Her voice rises. “Luis will find her, and he’ll hurt her.”

Her fear is real and palpable. We were right; she isn’t with Martinez by choice.

“I promise you that he won’t.” I sit down on a spindly chair that creaks under my weight.

Knowing Xavier, it’s probably a priceless antique.

“I know who Martinez is. I know what he’s capable of.

Your sister is protected, Ms. Thompson. She’s safe, and so are you. ”

“No, we’re not,” she says flatly. Her voice doesn’t betray her emotions, but she can’t conceal the tremor in her hands. “Luis is obsessed with me. He’ll never let me go; I will never be safe. If I disappear, he’ll make Greg find me.”

“Greg Dratch is no longer relevant,” I reply. “He can’t help Martinez find you. He’s in jail.”

“That’s never stopped him before,” she says bitterly.

“It will this time. Have you heard of a man called Anton Nekrasov?”

Her head snaps up. “The Russian.”

Anton’s reputation saves the day. If I tell him, he’ll be impossibly smug. “We gave Dratch a choice. He could either go to prison, or we’d surrender him to Nekrasov’s custody. You understand what that means.”

The first sign of hope dawns on her face, but it quickly smothers out.

Bianca Thompson has gone through too much to believe in happy endings.

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” she insists.

“Luis… he will go after Kiera.” She wipes her palms on her dress.

“Greg told me Kiera was dead, but the night Luis bought me, he showed me pictures. Kiera wasn’t dead; she was in witness protection.

The detective who was supposed to be protecting her identity had sold her out.

” Her voice turns lifeless again. “He swore to me that if I ever tried to leave him, he’d make my sister pay. I believe him.”

“When Mandy gave you Kiera’s note, you told her you didn’t want to see Kiera. Are you angry with your sister?” I’m being blunt, but I don’t want to see Kiera heartbroken tonight.

“That was you?” She shakes her head. “I was terrified. Luis is… jealous. Wildly possessive. He has me watched around the clock. He flies into a rage if a man even looks at me. I’m not allowed to have friends. He wants me alone, isolated, completely dependent on him.”

“That’s why you never visited Kiera?” I persist. “You knew where she lived, yet you never once called her to let her know you were alive.”

Her eyes narrow. “Is this an interrogation, Mr. Wolanski? I don’t know where Kiera lives, but even if I had, it wouldn’t have mattered.

If I gave Luis the slightest sign that Kiera’s well-being was important to me, I would have been putting her in even more danger.

My love for my sister is the weapon Martinez has used on me for three years. ”

“You don’t know where Kiera lives? That’s not what you told Mandy.”

“I don’t remember what I told the woman. I just wanted her gone before my bodyguards entered the washroom.”

She’s telling the truth.

“Luis doesn’t know either,” she continues, answering what would have been my next question.

“I’m sure of it. If he knew where Kiera lived, he’d have taken me outside her house.

He’d have taunted me with that information.

He would have told me that if I behaved myself, then maybe I’d be allowed to see my sister. ”

Miles Armstrong never gave Luis Martinez Kiera’s precise location. I’ll be damned. Did the detective have a belated attack of conscience?

“But he’ll find out,” Bianca finishes. “So far, he hasn’t needed Kiera’s location. But now I’ve disappeared, and he needs leverage. One way or the other, he’ll get it from the detective.”

Armstrong’s life could be in danger. Too bad. Crooked detectives who take bribes from criminals are not my concern.

I stand up. The chair creaks alarmingly. “Your sister is the most important person in my life,” I tell Bianca. “And you’re important to her. I meant what I said. You’re safe now. Martinez won’t touch you again. Let me help you. Please. For Kiera’s sake.”

I’ve helped people before, but it’s always been anonymous. But this time, I’m helping Kiera’s sister. This time, I get to see the joy on Kiera’s face when she lays eyes on Bianca.

It won’t undo what happened to Lina and Stephan. Nothing will do that. But for the first time in years, I feel at peace. I can have love and happiness now, because I finally deserve it.

“What can you do?”

I smile. “For starters, I can tell you that Kiera is downstairs. Would you like to meet your sister?”