both my grandfather and father. I know places those following don’t have a prayer of knowing. That means yes.”
She wove in and out of traffic, keeping her speed steady as she headed for the exit they needed. She wanted a quick turnaround, off the highway and then right back on.
“The boys will set up just before Bannaconni’s ranch.” Sevastyan sent Ania a quick glance. “Can you get us there before they catch up to us?”
Ania didn’t deign to answer.
Mitya had time to take a breath and let himself admire her. The ride, now that they weren’t spinning madly and being thrown all over the car, was smooth even though they traveled at a high rate of speed and had to make lane changes more than once. Ania was absolutely confident behind the wheel of the car. He was used to driving with Miron, who always clutched the wheel and spent half his time looking in the rearview mirror rather than concentrating on what was ahead of them.
As a bodyguard, Miron was one of the best—as a driver, not so much. He’d volunteered and sincerely tried to improve. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to allow his woman to drive—but he enjoyed their back-seat fucking. He wasn’t about to give that up. He had never looked forward to driving around before; now he made excuses to go out.
“Have you been able to stop Miron’s bleeding?” he asked as he peered out the back window, watching the SUV gain a little ground on them. The Audi was caught behind a red Cadillac. When the driver realized there was someone on his bumper, he startled and hastily changed lanes without signaling, just as the Audi did the same. The Audi nearly rear-ended the Cadillac. Mitya smirked a little, certain Ania wouldn’t have made that mistake.
Ania suddenly cut across traffic, shooting in and out of the cars, timing it perfectly so she hit the exit before the SUV could adjust and take it as well. He was all the way over in the fast lane before she made her move. Within seconds they were curving around and going under the pass in order to get back on the freeway heading in the direction Sevastyan wanted them to be going.
“Damn it, Ania, you lost them,” Mitya snapped. “The plan was for them to follow us.”
“They’ll follow,” she assured, easing off the gas as they came up on the other ramp. “If I hadn’t pretended to try to shake them, they’d be suspicious and maybe wouldn’t have followed.”
“They aren’t behind us.” He pointed out the obvious. He wanted to explode at someone. He was that angry. He’d had enough of these men coming after them for some mythical reason no one knew about.
“The Audi’s fast and will catch up, and the SUV will take the next exit just a mile or so up the road. No worries.”
“We’re not on a fuckin’ picnic,” he growled. He detested that she was anywhere in close proximity. He didn’t want to take a chance she could be hurt. He also didn’t want her anywhere around when he interrogated whatever prisoners they could take alive. He intended that their last hours on earth wouldn’t be pleasant ones. God knew, she already had every reason to run. He didn’t want her to see the real man and what he was capable of doing to another being—or how good he was at it.
Ania’s eyes met his in the mirror. “I know, honey,” she replied softly. “I’m well aware these men mean business. I lost my family to them. I’m not about to lose you, or Sevastyan or Miron, to them as well.”
There was determination in her voice. Heartache. Mitya wanted to kick himself. Dymka prowled just below the surface, an unrelenting, merciless drive to kill. The leopard wasn’t alone in that need. Mitya had the same unforgiving, ruthless, implacable drive to kill, only he wanted to torture every single scrap of information he could from them first. Dymka backed off a little when he was certain Mitya was on the same page with him.
When the leopard stepped back, it allowed Mitya to better get a grip on his anger and dial down the ferocity level. Ania was already nervous about their relationship, and he could feel her pulling back. She’d all but told him she felt she didn’t know him. Torturing and killing those men, even if they were enemies, might not be the best way to reassure her he was doing