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‘Yes, I can. I have every right to retrieve my property.’
It was useless to ask how he’d found her. Men like him always found a way. What she needed to do was get away from him as quickly as possible—especially when the open back door of an SUV parked a dozen feet away revealed his intention.
Odessa didn’t think twice about struggling, and then screaming as he yanked her towards the vehicle. She clawed at the hand imprisoning her, swallowing her mounting fear when he only dragged harder.
Dear God, she was being kidnapped in broad daylight.
If he succeeded...
If Vincenzo discovered she was pregnant with Ares’s child...
The terrifying thought made her kick harder, her heart lurching as the open door loomed closer and the heavyset man standing guard advanced towards them.
Knowing that once he’d helped Vincenzo bundle her into the vehicle it would all be over, Odessa loosened her knees. She risked hurting herself, but he wasn’t expecting a dead weight, and she momentarily slipped from his hold onto the baking pavement.
She’d bought herself mere seconds, but—
A vicious roar ripped through her thoughts. The scuffle, like everything else that had happened, took only seconds. Odessa didn’t even have time to scream again before Vincenzo and his bodyguard were laid out cold.
She was struggling upright when strong arms closed around her, engulfing her with warmth and safety.
‘Odessa! Are you all right?’ Ares demanded, concern hoarsening his voice.
She nodded, her throat closing as she burrowed into him. ‘Y-yes... I’m fine. I...’
‘Shh, it’s okay...’
Murmuring words in Greek, he moved his hands over her, stroking and soothing as approaching sirens rippled through the air. Minutes later, the authorities were carting away an incandescent Vincenzo.
Ares, visibly shaken, barely holding back his fury towards her attacker and his concern for her, watched as paramedics examined her.
From her struggle-tossed hair to her grazed knees and the soles of her bare feet, he seemed to devour every inch of her in minute detail, his nostrils flaring as his gaze dwelled on the large rip in her dress.
With a single shake of his head, he gathered her in his arms. ‘Thee mou, Odessa...’
Her name was a command, a question, a declaration.
A shaken plea.
She shamelessly clung to the lapels of his jacket, her breath emerging in sob-tinged gulps. ‘I’m f-fine...’
‘I will be the judge of that,’ he rumbled, in a voice so rough, so dangerous, a few passers-by exchanged nervous looks.
He ignored them all, his stride unwavering as he marched towards the SUV.
‘But...the police—’
‘They can wait until I’m good and ready.’
He buckled her in, his gaze once again roving feverishly over her before he shut the door with quiet, suppressed movements.
Settling behind the wheel, he gunned the engine and accelerated away, his jaw set in rigid steel.
He was clearly operating on a razor-thin edge. She wasn’t going to be the one to tip him over. Hell, she was still shocked by Vincenzo’s appearance.
‘I can’t believe Vincenzo is here...’
Realising she’d blurted her thoughts aloud, she cringed.
