Jessup and Freeman turned around to look at Polo’s men.
“Polo gave strict orders. She wasn’t to get away and cause more pain for Nina and more trouble between the Cubans and the Russians,” one guy said, and Jessup and Freeman nodded as they watched them walk away.
* * * *
“What t
he hell does it mean, more pain for Nina?” Freeman asked as they headed out of the area before anyone saw them.
“It means that what Viktor explained earlier about why Mirella wanted Nina dead was true. Polo cared deeply for Nina, maybe even loved her. That’s how she was able to go see him and know that he wouldn’t hurt her,” Corona said to them.
“Do you think she loved him, too?” Freeman asked.
“No. I think Nina respected him and felt she owed him because he got her off the streets and gave her that job at his club years ago. That was when Zinc and Viktor found her, and right before the men who were double-crossing Polo tried to kill her,” Atlanta added.
Freeman thought about that and tried to put the pieces together.
“We’ll have to ask Nina when we see her,” Jessup said to them.
“I’m calling Viktor right now. Mirella is dead, as are her little helpers. It should be safe to see Nina and talk to her.”
Freeman couldn’t help but feel excited. He couldn’t wait to talk to Nina and explain their feelings and to just hold her in his arms and love her.
“What? How? What do you mean you don’t know?” Corona raised his voice, and from what Freeman gathered, something was wrong.
His heart ached, his stomach hurt, too. Corona got off the phone.
“She’s gone. Viktor doesn’t know anything, just that she was able to sneak out of the apartment without being detected and she disappeared,” Corona told them.
“She couldn’t have gotten far. What the hell was she thinking?” Atlanta asked.
“She didn’t know that Mirella was caught. She probably freaked out because some of Mirella’s people found out where she was being kept under guard. Viktor said multiple attempts were made to get into the building and to the apartment. Those men are now dead,” Corona told them.
“Where could she go? What if there are still men hunting her for Mirella?” Jessup asked.
“They would stop now that Mirella is dead and the money and drugs are back in Polo’s possession. He put word out fast that his men killed her, and that anyone who helped her was as good as dead, too. They’ll disappear,” Corona added.
“What are we going to do? How do we find her?” Freeman asked Corona.
“We don’t give up. We use our skills and our desire to make her ours and to locate her. That’s what we do, because nothing else matters now but finding Nina and loving her.”
Chapter 12
Nina lay in the shade on the lounge chair, running her palm over her small belly, which was growing week by week. She was thinking about Corona, Atlanta, Freeman, and Jessup, as usual. As much as her life had changed, in which she’d learned the truth about her family, and about Dominion, she still felt a huge part of her heart was missing.
She looked down at her belly. She was four months along. She’d heard the heartbeat and could feel the changes in her body on a daily basis. She was emotional still, crying every time she thought about missing her men and wishing she could have them been a part of her life and part of the baby growing inside of her. She heard footsteps and turned to see Dominion walking out with a tray of fruit and some iced tea. She smiled at him. He was a handsome man, with dark brown hair, deep chocolate eyes, and a look of superiority, power, and wealth.
She saw the resemblances she shared with him. Even some of their expressions they had in common. To learn that he was her biological father had been a shock. Nina never really knew her father, just remembered the various men her mother had relationships with while she and Zinc were growing up. All to try and replace Dominion. He’d left her because of the enemies he’d made, and because she was a married woman. He didn’t even know Nina existed. It turned out that Zinc wasn’t his son and that their mother had fallen in love with Dominion, cheated on her husband, and gotten pregnant with Nina. Her mother, of course, tried to hide that from Dominion, and it wasn’t until Dominion saw Nina when she was five years old and saw the resemblances between them that he’d begun to question if Nina was his. It had been years since he had seen Nina’s mother, and that particular day she was with another man, kissing him while Nina played in the grass. He hadn’t stuck around long enough to know their situation. He was in trouble. The kind of trouble that had him faking his own death, and disappearing. There was no time to find out more about Nina and her mother, and he regretted that all these years.
Dominion was a Cuban boss who had helped Nicolai when he was supposed to kill him. They were friends, and that friendship went beyond any order from the Cuban higher-ups but had cost Dominion his life. Nicolai helped stage Dominion’s death.
“How are you feeling?” Dominion asked as she sat up and fixed her dress.
She looked at him and gave a soft smile.
“Fine. It’s so beautiful out here. I love your house and all this land.”
“I offered for you to live here, but you’ve denied me that.”