Free Captive of the Hitman: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance Novel by Alexis Abbott, Alex Abbott Page A

trusted.”
    Though thoughts of being hidden among a... club are more than a little upsetting to me. I know what he really means.
    “So we’ll be staying with a gang , is what you’re saying?” I ask with a little more panic in my voice than I intended.
    He shushes me silently as it comes our turn to pay the toll.
    “We’ll be staying with friends and family,” he informs me as the toll booth operator watches with particular interest to us both. Maybe it’s the car. It does stand out, even in this crowd. “And don’t call it that when you’re with them. They’re sensitive to that, da ?”
    I keep quiet until the window is back up and we’re on the move again.
    “Right, but how is a gang going to be safe for me, Mikhail?” I ask, earnest in my fear. Everything about my life, ever since the party, has been terrifying. And the only constant has been Mikhail. Quiet, imposing, in control...
    I should trust him more, especially after last night, and so my hand reaches out to rest on top of his. I can feel the thick, bulging veins upon the back of his powerful hand jutting out so prominently. They remind me of another part of him, a more private part, that pulsed with blood and veins.
    “I know you wouldn’t take me somewhere unsafe,” I finally say, taking a deep breath.
    His gaze flicks down towards our hands, then over at me.
    “A gang as you call it—a family—is the only thing that will keep you safe, my kotika ,” he says. “These are good people. Not like me. They do what they do because they must. They do not deal like mobsters,” he explains to me patiently.
    “I have a feeling that if you weren’t a good person, I’d be dead by now,” I murmur, not ready to admit that fully. It sends a cold shiver up and down my spine just saying the words, a pit of heavy dread in my stomach. My hand tightens upon his, and I relax.
    “You presume upon my character too much,” he says, but he leaves it at that as we settle into the rest of the drive. My mind is left to wonder at all the ways in which he thinks himself not a good man. And of what that means for our future.
    I’m so distracted I barely notice the maroon car that’s still behind us. I recall glimpsing one just like it since the moment we left the toll bridge.

9
    Mikhail
    T he old neighborhood .
    The dingy docks, no longer as bustling as they once were, lining the shorefront. The buildings mostly old and peculiar. But there’s a simple sort of humble homecoming feeling to it. Even if I never called Bayonne home, it was a home that always awaited me, if I wanted it.
    “Are we nearly there?” Alicia asks, and I nod.
    “Yes, this is the area. The club will look out for you,” I say, knowing it to be true. Part of me wishes I had long ago taken the invitation to join this crew. But a bigger part of me knows it was never my destiny. I had too much of a man’s ego back then, and now? Now I’m too bloodied.
    There’s no getting out of the Bratva, not now. I know too much. I’m too valuable to them, and they might have me killed if they ever found out I was even toying with the idea of leaving. Hell, Gregorovich would have me killed for a lot less than that if he thought he could get away with it. He just needs an excuse, and my leaving a witness alive?
    That’s one hell of an excuse.
    “Smells like burning rubber or something,” Alicia says, turning up her nose, but I can see her looking around with renewed interest. Her hand hasn’t left mine the entire drive, and her touch is driving me fucking crazy, but I can’t show her how much she’s getting in under my skin. I’m afraid I showed her too much already, letting down my guard with her last night.
    “Some might find it a dingy place, but it’s old and fiercely independent,” I say to her, realizing my fondness for the place goes a little deeper than I realize. I take us down a road, heading towards The Glass , a club where I’m to meet Leon.
    She looks at me, and I get the feeling