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

Chapter Thirty Eight

Niko

The short ride to the private dock is tense and, quite frankly, unnerving as I try to remain stoic and quiet after saving Alexandra and nearly losing Bianca in the process.

I want to ask Bianca exactly what happened and how she came to be in that room alone with no one holding her there as I thought I'd find, but I cannot fathom asking these questions in the earshot of Sven, and perhaps even Alexandra.

I need to judge whether the pair of them are safe, and I definitely need to gauge whether Alexandra is a threat.

How did she know that Bianca would be in that room, and would she tell me if she had planned to abduct her alongside the Densels?

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but the Densel dabble in illegal requirements of girls, even by the mafia's sordid morals and not one family knows the coordinates of any one of their bases.

Most girls, if not all, disappear without a trace after they are handed over to the Densels. It's quite literally as if they vanish into thin air. Only everyone chooses not to oppose their literal disrespect because it's easier than starting a war with another family everyone knows little about. That's the thing with people who keep themselves so well hidden: It usually means they have allies and not the law-abiding legal kind that many have within the cartel.

The four of us gather on the little boat Sven seems to call his own, not much more than fifteen minutes later. It starts almost immediately in tense silence, and we are on our way out of the dock into the open ocean promptly, which leads me to believe Sven has his instructions also and rightly so if you aren't seen and all that.

The sun is still high enough in the sky to give us enough light to travel to the island, but that leaves no time for Sven to come back, nor does it mean Dimitri will arrive tonight to collect Alexandra as he usually would. Unless, of course, he's already waiting on us, which is not something I wish to dwell on right now.

"Are you okay?" I finally ask Bianca as she snuggles into me. My arm moves around her, holding her against my body. I relax for the first time in a few hours. Yet the looks from Alexandra and Sven are the reality that brings everything crashing straight back down on me.

Bianca shivers against me, making me aware that she's barely wearing anything at all. The chill from the oncoming evening on the ocean bites at her skin, leaving goosebumps to prove such evidence.

I move back, taking my jacket off to wrap around her, though there's not enough material to cover her legs, which brings my attention to Alexandra across from us.

She's wearing half of what Bianca is wearing, and I can tell she's barely holding onto the lack of control she desperately clutches to seem indifferent. Even so, a shiver runs down her body, and it makes me feel sorrow for not having another jacket to offer her.

Trying to ignore the gentleman in me, I turn my attention to the ocean, but I can't help but look back to Alexandra when she wraps her arms around her body in an attempt to warm up.

Sighing and gritting my teeth in annoyance, I begin to unbutton my shirt in a hurry. Shifting it off my shoulders, I hold it out to Alexandra with a stern look of annoyance, willing her to take it without saying thank you.

Sven chuckles from the back of the boat. He's far enough away that his chuckle comes at me quietly, but I hear it anyway as I make eye contact with him. He never did appreciate having morals.

"Thank you," Alexandra eagerly takes my shirt, wrapping it around herself, proving she was trying her damned hardest to conceal the fact she was indeed very cold. I train my gaze away from her lack of attire, aware that my staring might well upset Bianca, and I far from want to create that distance between us. Not after we've come so far in our relationship.

"I think you need to start talking, Alexandra," I finally demand with a low undertone, my voice as menacing as I can make it. I want to instil as much fear as I can to successfully seek the answers I need. But even I know that it's always been Luca people fear over me.

"You know I can't talk," she says defensively almost immediately. Her voice wavers and I wonder just how closed off she's willing to become to protect whoever she's working for.

"You weren't at our wedding with your husband as expected. I find you here, being sold, yet you don't really look like the damsel in distress—and it just so happens to be to my worst enemy. And now you're acting unusual, avoiding telling me the truth to hide what exactly? How did you know Bianca would be in room nine," I ask.

"I'm working," she shrugs dismissively. She turns her body away, a decisive move many women make to feel defensive when targeted.

"You're cheating on your husband," Bianca chimes in out of the blue. Well, that's exactly what I had thought, too, but I didn't want to say it outright.

"No. Not exactly. It doesn't matter," Alexandra stammers, waving her hand, a sure sign of guilt.

Watching her, I note she comes over clammy, a mist of sweat covering her otherwise cold skin, another telltale sign she's uncomfortable.

She shifts, and then I realise I cannot see either of her hands; now, they are back under my shirt. A sudden influx of anxiety rolls through me, and I wonder if she would pull a gun or knife on us. More importantly on, Bianca. I can't leave it to chance. So I reach for my own, pulling my pistol out to point it right between her eyes.

She cries out and drops my shirt, revealing her hands hold nothing. For a moment, I regret aiming my weapon between one of our ally's eyes when I'm supposed to protect her, but I'll stop at nothing to protect Bianca, as she's the only person I want to protect right now.

"I mean no harm, Niko. I can promise you that," she tells me, and it's a blatant fucking lie; I can smell being deceived all the way from over here.

"I can't be so sure of that. And I won't chance Bianca's safety."

"Who knew a playboy could change their ways," Sven shouts over to us, sounding jovial.

"Fuck you!" I spit at him as I turn my gun from her to him. He just chuckles and turns away as he slows down the boat. The shores up ahead and the house is darkened with no lights on.

Good, Dimitri isn't here just yet. That gives me time to gather as much information as I can to piece this shit show together. Only, I need to find a place where he can't hear me.

"I never thought you would have cared for her," Alexandra notes with a frown line.

"You never thought? Why would you need to think that?" I question.

"When it was announced you'd marry the true heir, we never thought it would last," she smiles.

"Whose we?" Bianca frowns.

"I," she stammers.

"I think we have a lot to catch up on, don't you?"

"I've said too much already," she mutters under her breath.

We'll see...