Her Lucky Number Thirteen (The American Soldier Collection 13)

Cosivan looked toward the boutique. He could imagine himself living here part time with his brothers and Nalia. He couldn’t even imagine her pregnant with their baby, but anything seemed possible now that Nalia was part of them. She changed their world and turned their lives upside down. He thought he was a heartless bastard destined for loneliness and a life of violence. He craved it, lived for it, and even though he didn’t need to engage in violence as much as years ago, it seemed Nalia was making him less and less interested in this aspect of his profession. Perhaps like Storm and his men, Cosivan and his team could make some changes too?

* * * *

Nalia was laughing as Aspen tried on a sexy dress and ran her hands along the small bump of her belly. She couldn’t help but smile and hope to one day have her men’s babies as well. She thought about the dangers but one look at Aspen and she knew that the men would protect them all. This family went beyond blood, and would continue to expand with the years to come.

“I’m going to try this skirt and blouse on. I’ll meet you up front,” Nalia said and Aspen nodded as she continued to look at the rack of clothing in the boutique.

When Nalia entered the hallway and the back changing room she thought she felt a breeze coming from down the hallway. It was a little warm today and the owners probably opened up the back door for some fresh air.

She slid into the dressing room and began to change. She glanced at her body in the mirror and looked down at the sexy lingerie she bought to surprise her men with tonight. She couldn’t help but be ecstatic. She hadn’t chosen a black set, but instead a pretty set in yellow that would look amazing against her tattoo.

She placed it down onto the bench and pulled the skirt and blouse on over her black bikini lace set. She fixed her hair and tried to see how the outfit looked in the mirror but it was tight in there, so she slipped on her sandals and headed to the larger mirror in front of the other empty rooms since no one was inside but her.

As she began to turn she heard a noise and then felt the prick to her neck just as the large man grabbed ahold of her and covered her mouth. “Don’t scream, Nalia, or I’ll kill the pregnant bitch.”

She instantly knew she couldn’t put Aspen and the baby in danger and as she wondered who this guy was she felt the room begin to spin. He stuck her with something. What was it? But as he moved her she felt her legs give out and then him lift her up into his arms as if she were light as a feather before heading down the hall and out the back door into the sunlight. She couldn’t get her voice to work and as he got into the back seat of a van the driver drove off and darkness overtook her vision.

* * * *

“Thank God, you got them. It’s over then?” Cosivan said into the phone and the others around them began to celebrate.

“I have to tell Nalia,” Chatham said and started heading into the boutique. Cosivan followed, excitement in his heart at knowing the danger, the fear was finally over and they could move on with their lives with Nalia.

Then they heard Aspen yell to them from the front door. “Nalia is gone. Something is wrong.”

Cosivan yelled into the phone and ran with the others inside. They were looking in the dressing room and saw the back door open and a needle on the rug.

“Oh fuck, someone took her,” Storm yelled and pulled out his cell phone.

“Get the surveillance tapes,” Zin said to Viktor.

Cosivan yelled into the phone. “Someone took Nalia. She’s gone.”

Cosivan clenched his teeth and felt anger like he never felt before fill his heart.

“They’re dead. Whoever they are, I’m going to kill them with my bare fucking hands.”

Chapter 9

“No. No more, you’re going to kill her, Vlladim. She’ll listen. I’ll get her to listen,” Malayna begged of him as she grabbed on to Vlladim’s arm and hugged him to her so he would stop striking Nalia. Malayna was getting tired of the beatings, of Nalia screaming for help then defying them and not giving in to the control. It had been weeks since she arrived here and she knew that Nalia would rather die than give in to Vlladim and Cornikup’s control.

Vlladim grabbed onto Malayna and pressed her up against the wall. He was breathing through his nose and clenching his teeth. “You know better than to touch me without permission.”

He wasn’t a huge man but he was muscular, trim, and crazy in the head. She feared him more than she feared Cornikup. She had hoped that if Nalia had gotten here that they could talk and get through this together. She had been alone for three years, but

in those three years she learned so much about Cornikup and how to destroy him. She would get that chance someday and somehow. She would do whatever it took to get that opportunity.

He reached up and grabbed her face. She tilted her head back, heard Nalia moaning in the background as she lay on the rug in the bedroom.

“You have not been able to convince her or teach her the rules since she arrived here three weeks ago. She learns the hard way, just as you did three years ago, Malayna.”

Malayna remembered those weeks of resisting and fighting. They beat her down physically and then emotionally. It wasn’t until she lay on the ground bloody and battered that she learned the truth behind who these men were and why they killed her mother and took her when she was eighteen. Cornikup thought she was unconscious as he talked to Vlladim about his revenge. So she did have a father, and his name was Nicolai Merkovicz, and he was a main boss in the Russian mob.

“I want to keep trying. I know she is defiant now, as I was, Vlladim, but she will learn, and then be ready for Cornikup and whatever plans he has for her.”

Vlladim caressed her cheek and then ran a finger over her lip. She forced herself not to shudder at his touch. She knew he wanted her and she feared that Cornikup would give her to Vlladim for being so loyal and for wanting her as his own.

If that day came, it would be her last day on this earth. She would kill him when he wasn’t expecting it, even if it meant him taking from her body, and making her move when he was weak and inside of her.