Submitting To The Devil - The Devil's Snare - Book 2

Chapter Thirty Six

Niko

I barely had enough time to glance at Alexandra's way, let alone devise a plan with Bianca to lure her away from that table and to safety. I took too long entertaining Bianca and failing to ignore the men's stares when, in fact, I should have been devising a quick escape plan as per my brief.

I start thinking of big distractions. Having something like a fire creates chaos seems the best bet. We could grab her as everyone rushes to safety, but the Densels obviously do not want to play around.

This Passover seems to be happening far quicker than many before it, and Alexandra is in serious danger of being lost to the Densels.

No one has a clue about their bases or where they take their girls, but they live off the grid somewhere protective, and no soul has breathed a word of their whereabouts in years. I've lost a fair few girls, and none have ever shown up afterwards so I fear that's the reasoning for the lack of information. And unfortunately each girl is a life etched into my brain, a life I lost because of my lack of success on those occasions.

Stop dwelling on your failures. Time is of the essence, and I have none of it to reveal to Bianca that I'm going to start a fire.

Quietly reaching in my pants, I grab my matches, swiping one before tossing it in the drappings along the wall to my left, hoping the flame will remain and not extinguish itself.

"Don't panic, Bee," I warn in the following moments as silence stretches between us. She's frowning, internalising her upset, I believe. I wish I could reassure her and apologise for my lack of upfront knowledge, but I knew Densel's attendance might have an adverse effect on her.

I try not to make any sudden movements, knowing that if I draw attention to myself now, things can go out of my favour rather quickly, and I need to move things swiftly.

"What?" she begins to question me, but her eyes widen, and I know instantly that my plan is hatching as I had hoped. The smell of burning material sparsely hits me as a draft wafts it my way and I know the fire is spreading behind me rapidly.

"Raise the alarm, Bee. It can't be me. I shouldn't know about it just yet," I stipulate with a soft nod as if I agree with her statement. I doubt our conversation will come off naturally, but I need to guide it that way to fool those around us.

"Fire," she tells me, so I shake my head with a sure smile. No, even she knows it needs to be louder than that. Then she shouts it louder: "FIRE. Niko, there's a fire behind you."

Faking shock, I turn to note the fire I lit and jump into action. Reaching for Bianca, I help her up and out of her chair to turn to the room. My eyes connect briefly with Densel's; unfortunately, and he appraises Bianca with keen interest.

"Fire," I warn the table closest to us in a panicked voice as I move Bianca from her chair like any good-standing husband would.

The men move quickly, jumping up as I want them to. Drawing attention to us and the evident fire that is now heating my back. The room becomes a flurry of panic as the word 'fire' is repeated, and bodies move in a mutual frantic need to escape out of the one small doorway that is the sole way in and out of this private back room. This creates the perfect opportunity for me to grab Alexandra's hand as we pass her table.

Everyone rushes to fit through the small doorway as I struggle to keep my calm. With Bianca before me and Alexandra trailing behind me, I simultaneously move in enough of a panic not to raise concern or suspicion that I created this for the best opportunity to grab her.

But panic overtakes me when I break free from the crowd, with Alexandra struggling against my hold as I lose contact with Bianca completely.

One minute, she's pressed against my front, moving in a hurry, and the next, she's completely gone, and I no longer have eyes on her or that stupidly short black dress.

Fuck, I knew bringing her here would mean trouble. No girl enters the den if not to be sold.

"Stop," I hiss at Alexandra's struggles as I circle in a hurry. The weight of her stare has me wilting, yet I cannot concentrate on protecting her as I should. I should be hurrying her out of the hotel, getting her into the getaway car. Yet I'm failing my job because of Bianca's whereabouts.

"Niko?" Alexandra's voice shows her confusion as she looks up from where my hand is crushing her wrist to my face. I allow myself one moment to look her in the eye, and then I continue to look around the dispersing people for Bianca but not before I see her shoulders square up rather than drop in relief.

"Yes, it's me. Please stop trying to get away from me. I've lost Bianca," I worry aloud.

"She's over there with Mr Densel," she points out.

I halt, turning the way she looks as I see the tail end of Densel leading Bianca through a door at the back of the restaurant's main room, much as I led Alexandra here.

"Lord give me fucking strength," I hiss at myself as I stalk that way, battling against the current of people still crowded in the small space, leading Alexandra with me as I take her back towards the danger I came here to save her from. I take back everything I said or thought about the topic of working with Bianca.

It might be less lonely, may even be more enticing, but this is the very top reason that we shouldn't be working together, and it's exactly as I thought. Having a wife, a family, and, in the future, a child is always going to be my biggest weakness.

"Bee," I call down the quiet and darkened hall. Stepping inside, holding Alexandra, I trigger the sensor lights to flicker on. It's empty, eerily so yet I plaster us to the wall just in case someone is waiting for us.

"Bianca?" I call again, trying the closest door to me. It doesn't open, but it won't; that would be too easy.

"Room nine," Alexandra whispers to me as I push against the fifth door in the hopes I might get lucky.

Panic rises within me; the thought of losing Bianca after everything we've been through and overcome in recent days is hurting even the most dormant part of my soul.

I don't take a moment to judge whether I should trust her instincts or whether this might be an ambush; I walk down the corridor and around the corner, finding door nine right next door to the fire exit door in the corner, which is open just a crack. I pray to god that the door isn't my undoing because once out there in the open, it'd only take a moment or two to get her on a moving boat, and I would lose her forever.

"If you're orchestrating anything, I swear to god I'll let Luca skin you alive without a second glance," I hiss at Alexandra as I pull the cover off the electromagnetic box for the room keys. I'm just about to rewire it when the door swings open, and I come face-to-face with Bianca.

"Bee," I exclaim with eagerness, my whole body jumping back out of pure surprise.

"Oh, good, you still have her," she seethes at Alexandra.

"What happened?" I ask her, lacing our fingers together before I pull her to me and pin her to the wall with my body. I've still yet to let go of Alexandra, and she seems like a gooseberry at this exact moment, but I can't risk losing her.

Leaning forward, Bianca cradles my jaw and kisses my lips.

"Not here, let's get her out of here," she stipulates.