Witness Protection Read online

  He pointed to the sofa, then proceeded to take off his jacket and toss it on the coffee table. All his equipment was covered in a thick layer of dust. He grabbed a rag and swiped it over his monitors, computers, and surveillance gear.

  Cayden looked around the bachelor pad. Everything was as he left it. There was a mini fridge, bed, sofa, and every other comfort he needed for an extended stakeout. He leaned over the keyboard, booting up his systems.

  “Where are we?”

  He turned his head. “Far from home, little girl.”

  She narrowed her eyes, and he went back to his work. Maybe the Morenov family would pay for her return. He could turn an inconvenience into a payday. He’d need the added funds to get himself set up somewhere new. His basement apartment in the heart of the city had been home for years. It was in the middle of his stomping grounds and being forced out now that his identity was public didn’t sit well with him.

  “Why am I still alive? Hawk said you wanted me dead.”

  He sat in his office chair and twirled around to face her. Cayden leaned over, his elbows resting on his knees. “You’re brave,” he said. “But not too bright. You shouldn’t be putting ideas in my head.”

  “Is it money you want?”

  He smirked. “Sorry, princess, but you can’t buy your way out of this one.”

  “Everyone wants something. Do you plan to keep me here forever?”

  Cayden shrugged. “Maybe. That’s really up to you and Hawk, isn’t it?”

  “You were worried about me going to the cops. I’m not a civilian. I’ve lived my life around crime,” she said. “I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

  He reached around and hit a few keys to reveal the security in his apartment. After rewinding to the first intrusion, he hit play. Several large screens above him showed Hawk lounging on his sofa, petting his cat, then rummaging through his personal shit.

  “It’s too late for any of that, sweetheart. Thank your boy for that.”

  She watched the footage, her lips parted. Sophia cringed when Hawk punched a hole in his drywall.

  “Thanks to Mr. Go-Getter, my identity is no longer a secret. That doesn’t bode well for anyone in this business. If it wasn’t for him, you’d be home by now.”

  “No, he bought me time. You weren’t going to let me leave that hotel alive. I’m not stupid,” she said. Sophia looked him right in the eye. “Is there any scenario where you don’t kill me?”

  He wasn’t sure what to make of Vasily’s little girl. She was fearless and kept trying to push his buttons. He had to remind himself this had never been about her. He’d entered the Morenov mansion set on revenge, on killing Vasily in retaliation for taking everything that ever mattered to him. He didn’t give a shit about his men or his daughter.

  She’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Sophia was next in line to the Morenov Empire, so not his average witness. Her innocence was all an act he wasn’t buying.

  Now that his name was out there, he didn’t really see the urgency in killing her. He was waiting things out, and expected this could end with a trade, both parties going their own way.

  “He took my cat.”

  “What?”

  Cayden stood up. “You better hope he doesn’t hurt her. She’s all the family I have.”

  Sophia actually kept quiet, which was nice for a change. He checked out his fridge, but there was nothing to eat. He’d have to get the place supplied in case this took longer than he hoped. At least his minibar was stocked. He knew for a fact he could live off booze and cigarettes for a damn long time.

  He reached for a glass, but they were all dirty, so he drank straight from the bottle. “Want some?” Cayden held out the bottle.

  “You’re disgusting.”

  He sat on the coffee table directly in front of her, taking another swig, then licked his lips. “I know you’re probably used to the very best.” He waved the hand holding the bottle in the air. “And this is big time slumming for you. But you know what? I don’t care about your fancy upbringing. Spoiled brats like you make me sick.”

  “I hate you,” she spat. “You know nothing about me.”

  “Then tell me why I’m wrong.”

  “Money can’t buy happiness. It can’t buy love.”

  “Daddy didn’t love you? He has men willing to die for you, so I doubt that’s true.”

  Her jaw clenched. Cayden decided she was an amusement. Getting her feathers ruffled would be a welcome distraction while he waited this shit out.

  She bolted to her feet and came at him with both fists, throwing her weight forward. He wasn’t expecting it, and dropped his bottle of whisky, the glass shattering on the concrete floor. She pounded at his chest, arms flailing, all the while crying and trying to overpower him. He stood up, grabbed her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. She kicked and struggled as he carried her across the room.

  “You don’t know me!” she shouted. “My father didn’t love me. And I never wanted his money. You have no idea what I’ve been through!”

  He dropped her down on his bed, shackling her hands at the sides of her face to keep her from striking him. Her eyes were red-rimmed, tears staining her fair skin. “You want to talk shit childhoods, I’m an expert. You had it all. Don’t tell me you don’t miss being queen of the castle.”

  “I never asked for any of it. I just wanted his love.” She fought to free her hands, straining and getting more frustrated when she couldn’t move. He kept her pinned until she lost her steam. Sophia started to calm down, trying to catch her breath. “I never got it. Thanks to you, I’ll never get a chance to, either.”

  As soon as he eased his weight off her wrists, she tugged her hands free and twisted her body, knocking him to his side. She didn’t know when to quit. They struggled briefly. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her immobile and had to use his foot to keep her from kicking. He could have snapped her neck or knocked her out with a single punch. Cayden wasn’t sure why he kept humoring her.

  “I guess you like being tied to a fucking toilet because it looks like you’ll be sleeping on the bathroom floor again. The one here ain’t as nice as the hotel’s.”

  Their faces were inches apart, the volatile energy in the room fueling him. He could play this game better than her even on his worst day. She didn’t know who she was fucking with.

  “You took him from me,” she cried, barely above a whisper.

  Something changed.

  Her strength shifted to vulnerability in the span of a second. She wasn’t acting. Her tears were real. He could feel her pain, and she suddenly became more than just a wealthy captive. Cayden saw a new side to her, a broken side he could relate to.

  “Behave yourself.” He moved his foot and eased up on his bear hold, but he still had her pinned tight to his body. She wiggled her arms up until her forearms were pressed to his chest. She grabbed handfuls of his t-shirt, and her stomach lurched as deep sobs stole the last of her fire.

  Sophia rested her forehead against him and cried, her body shuddering. “I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t.” He leaned away, willing to give her some space. “No, don’t leave me.”

  This chick confused the shit out of him.

  “I’m the bad guy, remember?” He ran his hand through her black hair, noticing his shitty dye-job, her roots still a mix of black and blonde. One moment ready to kill, the next completely broken.

  He didn’t know what to make of Sophia Morenov.

  ****

  Her father was gone. All his men, the ones normally in charge of protecting her, were gone.

  Hawk was gone.

  Sophia never felt so alone and vulnerable. Even when she was being whisked away after her father’s murder scene, at least she’d had Hawk.

  This was worse.

  She was scared, tired, confused, and needed comfort … anywhere she could find it. Cayden was cruel and vicious, but men didn’t turn cold if they’d had an easy life. Her fat
her had stolen people Cayden loved, and it wasn’t the first time her father had arranged hits on innocents. Part of her knew Vasily Morenov’s lifestyle would come back to bite him in the ass. As invincible as her father appeared, no man could escape death.

  What Cayden didn’t realize was she wasn’t like women from other crime families. Sophia wasn’t an evil person, and she wasn’t ready to order hits or sell her soul for money. All she ever wanted was love and freedom. She was born into a lifestyle that never suited her. She always felt alone, never belonging, always searching for something more.

  It hurt her when Cayden assumed she was a spoiled bitch. Sophia would have traded every last thing she owned for something as intangible as a real conversation, true love, or friendship with a person not paid to be nice to her.

  “What happened to you, Cayden? What changes an innocent little boy into a criminal?”

  She hated herself for feeling it, but she was falling for her captor. He was gorgeous, those narrowed blue eyes sharp and intelligent. She’d seen all his tattoos before, and just like with Hawk, they turned her on.

  What happened if the bad guy could fall in love?

  Could she change him, make him love her?

  Sophia bit the inside of her lip. She was fucked up, getting wet for the man who’d murdered her own father. This was Stockholm syndrome at its finest, and she should know better. But she still didn’t care.

  “You’re assuming I was ever innocent.”

  “People aren’t born evil,” she said.

  She reached up to touch his face, craving to feel the dark stubble coming in, but he snatched her wrist before she could make contact. “My father was a big player in the criminal underworld. When my mother was murdered by one of his rivals, he went crazy, killed everyone he could before being taken down. No one remembered the baby.”

  His father was passionate, just like Cayden. Only he’d come out with a scar rather than a death certificate.

  “That’s why people in our world aren’t supposed to have a happily ever after. When you love something, you become an easy target. I’m not even sure I know what love is.”

  “I never had a choice in life,” he said. “I was only a few months old when the government stepped in. I ended up in the system, the ninth circle of hell, and you don’t know what that shit can do to a kid. If I could cut the memories from my head, I wouldn’t think twice.”

  God, she wanted to fix him, to heal him with her love. She’d always been a hopeless romantic. Sophia had tried to get through to Hawk, to show him how much she loved him, but he only ever pushed her away. Her fantasies never evolved much beyond her imagination.

  Maybe she was destined to fall for all the wrong kinds of men, thanks to her father and the daddy issues he’d piled onto her.

  “You’re a man now,” she whispered. “You can’t live in the past forever.”

  “It shaped me into the bastard I am today. I can’t change that.”

  She leaned closer to him. They were both still lying on the bed, her wrist still in his firm grip. She wished he’d kiss her. Was that insane? Sophia could already taste his lips, and she craved his domination. “Like when you kissed me in the elevator? Was that just an act?”

  “It’s all part of the job.” He rolled off the bed, putting an end to the brief intimacy she felt growing between them.

  He sat back in his office chair, the leather creaking as he spun round to face his screens. She watched him, angry that she craved his affection. Angry that he showed no interest.

  Just like Hawk.

  Sophia hated Cayden more than any person in the world—at least she should. She’d witnessed him kill her father, take everything from her with one bullet. The man didn’t give two shits about her, either.

  As soon as it was more convenient, she’d be dead.

  Chapter Seven

  How could a woman he barely knew manage to fuck with his head? His cock felt heavy in his jeans as he bolted from the bed. Cayden flew solo and wasn’t the type to get seduced by any woman. One-night stands were as far as he committed, and even then, he rarely knew their names.

  His captive was a mix of wildcat and scared kitten, one minute trying to attack him, the next seeking him for comfort. He was supposed to kill her or use her as a pawn, not dry her fucking tears.

  Before he could think straight, his cell went off.

  “I have a job for you.”

  Cayden wasn’t exactly in a position to take on new hits, not with Ms. Fancy Pants in tow. “I’m laying low for a bit.” He reached in his jacket pocket for his smokes and lit up.

  “Oh right, Vasily’s kid, eh?”

  “How’d you know about that?”

  Ricky was the underworld equivalent to a temp agency. He was one of the middle-men who hooked up people wanting someone dead with the people who specialized in getting it done. “Word gets around.”

  “Then you know why I’m unavailable.”

  “No, Cayden, you gotta do me this one. It’s fucking easy money, I swear. It’ll take you, like, two hours max,” Ricky said. “I’m in a hard place.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine.”

  “Where you at, buddy?”

  “Remember the old factory?”

  “Be there shortly.”

  Cayden tossed his cell on the desk. He didn’t need this right now, but if he pissed off Ricky, he’d never see a good assignment from him again. The sleazeball liked to hold a grudge.

  He’d just taken a deep drag when something hit him in the head, making his vision swim. Sounds became muffled. His ears rang. He pulled himself together, gripping the edges of his desk, and whipped his head to the side. Sophia stood there with the base of his marble table lamp in her hands.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” He stood up, forcing her to walk backwards.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, still holding the lamp as if ready to hit a home run.

  “Give it to me right now, goddammit.”

  She shook her head.

  He snatched it from her hands before she knew what was happening.

  Anger washed over him—hot, red, and blinding. It tainted his blood, made his heart race to a toxic beat. All the pain and hate and regret bubbled to the surface as it often did. His dark side wanted out, the one trying to escape since Frank’s murder.

  Cayden tossed the lamp on the sofa, continuing to stare her down and back her up. He wanted to strangle the fucking life out of her, but something inside him resisted. Not because of the money or the complications with the Barettis and Morenovs. No, it was something else.

  Something foreign and intrusive.

  She looked up at him with those big, brown, deceptively innocent eyes. How many times had his victims pissed themselves and begged for their lives? Sophia put on her diamond plating, but he saw right through it. She was a lost little girl, and just about every person he knew would eat her up and spit her out, no matter how tough she thought she was.

  Part of him wanted to protect her from the world.

  Protect her from himself.

  “I thought you heard me coming. I didn’t think I’d actually get a shot in,” she said. Her chest heaved as she hit the wall behind her.

  “Well, you did,” he said, his voice controlled. “Now I can’t trust you to have free rein around here.”

  “No, please. I won’t do it again.”

  As soon as he turned his back, he’d bet his last dollar she’d try the same damn thing. “I should teach you a lesson, show you what happens when you pull shit like this.”

  Her lips parted, but no words escaped.

  He fisted his hand into the hair at the base of her skull, making her neck crane back. She squinted from the pain but refused to make a sound. He lowered his head until only a breath away from her lips. “One minute you’re ready to kiss me. The next you want me dead. Which is it, princess?”

  She didn’t answer. The sound of her heavy breathing dominated the room.

  The buzzer soun
ded, loud and grating from the main doors of the factory. That bastard Ricky was quick. Cayden stared down at Sophia for another minute, making no move to answer the door despite the repeated buzzing. He ever so slowly released his hold of her hair. The tension in her shoulders eased, and she exhaled once the pressure was gone.

  “I’ll deal with you later. Sit and keep quiet.”

  Once she was on the sofa, he darted up the staircase to the main level and let Ricky inside. Business must have been good because the Italian’s gut was twice the size.

  Ricky followed behind him through the factory, each step punctuated from the mess of broken glass and scrap metal on the ground. “How’s life been treating you, Cayden?”

  “Same shit, different day.”

  “I was sorry to hear about Frank and his family. That was messed up.”

  “Yeah.”

  He opened the door to the basement, half expecting Sophia to be ready to bolt, but the staircase was clear. She was sitting on the sofa where he’d left her. He ignored her and sat on his chair, rubbing the spot where she’d hit him.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” asked Ricky.

  “What’s the code?” he asked.

  Ricky gave him the code, and he entered it into his encrypted program. The details of the contract appeared on his screen. It was a quick find and eliminate. His favorite. And it was only half an hour away. He scanned through some of the details.

  “Hey, gorgeous. My name’s Big Rick.”

  Cayden turned in his chair. Ricky was only a few feet from the sofa. “Don’t talk to her.”

  Ricky put up his arms at the elbows in mock surrender, taking a step back.

  As he continued to read through the file, he frowned. “Why did you bother driving out here to give me the code? You could have used our secure line.” He hadn’t seen Ricky in the flesh for years. There was no need.