Jace.
“You look gorgeous,” I breathed deeply, unable to look away from the goddess right before me.
Carly was in a long evening gown that fit her upper torso like a corset and fanned out past her knees. From under the hemline of the cream pink satin, I could see pointed and strappy high heels that probably took a lot of skill to walk in, and she did it effortlessly. She glided across the marble floor like she had not a care in the world, as if we weren’t about to face one of the most dangerous men in the country. If we screwed this plan up, one or both of us could be dead by the end of the night.
“Thank you,” came her quick response. I could see a blush threatening to surface on her cheeks.
“Nod your head if you can hear me,” Adam spoke, the miniscule listening device wired in my ear. I did as he said and he responded with, “Good. Vlad said you’d meet in fifteen minutes?” I tipped my head again. I glanced at Carly, and she was looking at me half-curious and halfworried. She was wired to Adam too. “You two will be fine,” he then attempted to ease our nerves.
“We’ve gone through the plan countless times.”
“Shall we head to the restaurant?” I then asked Carly, resting a hand on her hip and guiding her towards the far end of the hotel where the French restaurant had been built.
In the past months I’d been working undercover, I found out just how much control Vlad had over this city. He was a part-owner in countless businesses, including this restaurant where we were about to have dinner. He was even the one who made the reservation, and the joker in me wondered if Carly and I would even get to taste a meal in this upscale establishment. I was a thousand percent sure Vlad wanted me dead for betraying him for a woman. I doubted he was itching to spend money on us. He’d probably rather shoot a bullet through our heads and be done with us.
I exhaled deeply, noticing how tense I was feeling, and this wasn’t good. Carly was already nervous to the point that she’d barely spoken tonight. I didn’t want to worry her any more.
“Reservation under Viktor,” I said with zero hesitation. That was the name Vlad used to keep his identity safe and secret.
The waiter instantly beamed at us before he said, “Good evening Jace and Carly.” I wasn’t surprised when he called us by our first names. We were expected, of course. I could even see it from the two muscular men situated at the bar. I squinted my eyes and saw they had their fingers close to the belt loops of their jeans. One wrong move from us and a gun would be pulled out. I kept my calm. There was a hidden camera on me, so Adam and the rest of the police could see everything I did. We could do this.
“Have you been to this place before?” I then proceeded to talk to Carly when we were seated at our table. She hadn’t spoken a word, and she had a shell-shocked expression the whole time. This was why Adam and I decided not to let her know I was working undercover yet. As much as I loved the woman, I didn’t trust her acting abilities, and we couldn’t risk spoiling the plan and letting Vlad get away. This was the closest we’d ever been to catching him in the act. There was no way we could mess this up. “I heard their degustation menu is one of the best in the world.”
“I haven’t tried it here,” she responded, words coming out almost like a squeak. Before any more words could be spoken, a familiar figure sat at the only remaining seat and greeted us with a charming smile on his face.
I’d said it before, but only a handful of things scared me: one was getting Carly out of that building alive, and the second was sitting a couple feet away from Vlad tonight. A cold shiver ran up my spine at the sight of the drug lord. Just with the way he sat tall and proud, he knew he was the big guy; he was the shit. I was dying to knock the smug look off his face and arrest him.
I controlled myself. He had two men by the bar ready to shoot at any moment. I didn’t know who else among the staff held weapons and were playing dress-up to blend in. I turned to look at Carly, reached for her hand under the table and squeezed.
“Ah, love,” Vlad spoke. I guess there was no way to hide our intertwined fingers from him.
If the guy had x-ray vision, I didn’t bother to know. Our lives were at risk tonight. I needed to focus on the mission and keep Carly safe. “It makes you do stupid things, doesn’t it?”
Clearing my throat, I couldn’t disagree. “Yes, it does.”
I felt Carly tense up, my hand still on hers. “You’re giving up the life I can give you for a woman who’ll soon be dead?”
My free hand balled into a fist, but I quickly opened the palm of my hand and shook my fingers. I needed to relax and play the apathetic part. I couldn’t let Vlad get to me. Him affecting me could spell the difference between this mission succeeding and failing. This was the closest we’d ever gotten to capturing him. There was no way I’d let this opportunity slip away. Adam and I would never hear the end of it from our superiors.
“There’s no need to threaten her. She’s agreed to sell the property to you, Vlad.”
A waiter stopped by with a short glass full of bourbon and Vlad took the drink, swirling the liquid around and around in a nearly hypnotic way. “So, you are going to sell me your land, young lady? Just like that?”
Carly straightened her spine and I was so proud of her. “Yes. Just like that, if you let Jace go. You have to give me your word you won’t hurt him.”
“And you would take my word?” Vlad raised his brow and sipped his drink.
“Honor among thieves, right?” She reached forward and sipped from a glass of white wine that was on the table. “Look, I don’t care about the property. You can have it. Just let us go.”
“All right. If the price is right.” Vlad agreed, just like that, and Carly was about to jump out of her seat.
“You’re buying the property from her at fair market value,” I responded, keeping my cool. I was the idiot criminal who had the balls to kidnap Carly right out from under his nose. I couldn’t act like a coward now. “You buy her land, I walk away and everyone is happy.”
I watched as Vlad furrowed his eyebrows together; he looked like he wanted to glare at me but didn’t want to show any emotion because that would mean he’d let me get under his skin. And that would be bad for business.
“Where’s the deed?” he then asked, moving his eyes from me to Carly.
I tipped my head to the side and watched and waited for her reaction. The copy of the deed Adam had gotten for us was in the purse in her hands, tightly snug in between her thighs. The server had offered to keep it for her for the entire length of dinner, but of course, there was no way she’d let that happen. If she did, then the mission would’ve failed before it’d even begun.
“Where’s the money?” she then asked. Vlad was about to speak when she cut him off. This time, my eyes widened into the size of golf balls at the words hastily leaving her mouth. “I should charge you double for killing my parents.”
Fuck. I knew she wouldn’t be able to act and play her part; her nerves just got to her and were too much to handle. I tried my best to keep my poker face. Good thing I succeeded.
“Watch your mouth with me. You will show me proper respect.” Vlad swerved his head to stare and glare at me, as if asking me what was going on. “Take care of this problem. She is your problem, not mine.”
“Carly!” I needed to think and act quickly. “You won’t even have time to call the police. You’d be dead before you can even reach for your phone.”
“Still think she’s worth it?” Vlad then asked me, and I just shut my lips. “If you decide to start thinking with your head instead of your cock, we can kill her now and take the deed.” Vlad sipped his bourbon. “You were good, Jace. I can always use a good man like you.” I froze. Holy shit. Had Vlad really just threatened to kill Carly?
“Fuck you, you asshole. I know you murdered my parents.” Carly was seething, rage overriding her fear of this monster. “I know you killed them.”
“Yes, child, I did.” He was trying to rock the already rocky boat; he was probably enjoying it as well. “And I see no reason not to finish what I started.” He snapped his fingers and two thugs stepped up, taking Carly by the arms. “Give me her purse.”
“Hey!” Carly yelled, but one of them men tossed Vlad her purse. He rifled through it and pulled out the deed. Unfolding it, he lifted his brows. “You haven’t signed it.”
“You have to let Jace go.”
It took me a full second to get my heart out of my throat. I needed to calm down.
“Carly, this is none of your business,” I said instead. “I’ll handle this.” I sucked in a breath and then exhaled deeply, trying to calm myself down before I spoke to Carly. Her outburst just made the whole mission a lot more difficult.
“I’ll sign, if you promise me you won’t hurt Jace.”
“Carly, please.” My tone was begging, as I looked her in the eye. “Let me handle this.
Didn’t we talk about running away from this city and spending our lives together in some exotic location?”
She nodded, her gaze darting to meet mine, a world of apology in her eyes. “Vlad will never stop chasing us if I don’t hand over the property. He has the money, time, and resources to follow you all over the world.”
“She’s right, you know. You two can’t escape from me,” Vlad said with a cocky smirk on his face. I was doing my best to not to punch the arrogance off him.
Carly fell silent and it tore my heart apart to see her looking so helpless. A few minutes passed—they felt like an eternity—until Vlad finally made up his mind.
Vlad’s face may as well have been carved from granite as he motioned for one of his men at the bar to walk over. From under the bar stool, the man picked up two black briefcases and walked over to us. He made a move to unlock one of them, but then a bullet pierced and broke the window and shot him in the temple.
A gunshot was heard just a second after, but this time, it killed off the man at the bar. I took this as my cue to land a combination of punches on Vlad before I placed his hands behind his back and pushed him towards the floor. In one swift motion, I took out the handcuffs hidden in my jacket and put them around his wrists. There was no way he could fight back now. “You’re under arrest, asshole.”
Everything happened so quickly: Adam and the rest of the team swooped in, I pushed Carly under the table to hide her, and I helped the rest in taking down Vlad’s men. By the end, the restaurant looked like a scene out of a thriller-cum-action movie, but I felt like I was on cloud nine.
It was all over now. The plan was a success.
“You can come out now,” I said with my widest smile, as I pulled the table linen up and met Carly’s eyes. She breathed out a relieved sigh as she took the hand I offered and crawled out from under the table. “Vlad’s being taken away.”
Her eyes moved to stare at the restaurant entrance where Vlad was being dragged out. I whispered, “He’s off to jail. He’s not going to hurt or scare you anymore.”
It was the subtlest of gestures but I felt so much lighter and happier when she leaned her shoulder against mine and let me support her body weight. She felt protected and safe with me around. “I could use some drinks and dinner right now.”
“There’s a great bar in this hotel, complete with a live jazz band and some dancing.” I looked at myself. The suit I wore was slightly wrinkled from the fights, but I reckoned I’d still fit in and look the part of a classy man. “I have to fill out a few reports first, but then we can go.”
She nodded her head at the exact moment Malcolm, my boss, walked over to us.
“Congratulations on getting your man.” He patted me on the shoulder. “You know what this means, right?”
“I start a new mission tomorrow?” I responded, half-joking, half-serious.
He paused for a moment, thought about it, and said, “Fine, you deserve a day’s rest.
Celebrate. You’re also getting a raise. You know how long we’ve been trying to get him.” Then, he turned to look at the woman beside me. “Of course, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Thank you.”
A few pleasantries were exchanged and small talk was made until Malcolm excused himself. When he was gone, Carly looked at me with her lips parted slightly and eyes wide.
“So, you’ve been working undercover all along?”
I nodded my head and sent a sheepish smile her away. I then wrapped an arm around her waist and proceeded to explain to her why it was important I temporarily left that part out of our talks. I told her that I was scared she wouldn’t be able to act the part if she knew I was only acting as well. I told her I’d done it to keep her safe, and I didn’t want her overthinking and over-worrying. I told her it was very obvious how scared she already was. By the end, she understood and was just grateful this was all over, finally.
“We’re going to get some dinner and drinks in the jazz club here,” I said when Adam made his way over to us. “Join us?”
He was quick to shake his head. “Nah, I think you lovebirds just want some time alone.”
“Thank you,” Carly answered, taking a step forward to give him a hug. “Thank you for having our backs.”
“Anytime.”
When they pulled away from the hug, I patted Adam on his back in a congratulatory manner, and he did the same to me. After that, he said his farewell and joined the rest of the team back at headquarters. When it was just Carly and me, I turned to her, intertwined our fingers together, and stared at her.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight, never ever,” I said, moving my head closer to hers.
“I’d love that. You’re literally my hero.”
And with that, there was no way I couldn’t kiss her. I closed the distance between our lips and sent a hard, crushing kiss her way. She responded by wrapping her arms around me, and it took some time before we finally pulled away and left the restaurant for some dinner and dancing.