Please, don’t let it be him.

I hold my breath until he adds, “Vetrov.”

My entire world comes to a screeching halt.

Unspeakable fear and a sense of hopelessness drown the light from my existence as I stare at the most dangerous man in the world.

God.

Demitri Vetrov. Personal protector of the best assassin.

Assassin.

I’m as good as dead.

God.

Demitri crouches in front of me, his eyes narrowing on my face. “Breathe, Ariana,” he orders with steel in his voice.

I suck in a painful breath and then begin to shake my head. “I have nothing to do with my father and brother. I’m just a normal twenty-three-year-old girl. I was raised by my mother,” I ramble, hoping I can somehow convince this killer he has the wrong person. I gasp for another breath of air, my body trembling so hard it’s starting to ache.

Some kind of realization dawns on his face, then he asks, “You know who I am?”

Oh crap.

I shake my head hard. “No. No. Definitely not.” He’ll probably kill me right now if he finds out I know exactly who he is.

Demitri gets up and walks to the door. With dwindling hope, I watch as he closes the door and then heads to a cabinet. He pulls out a first aid bag, but when he removes a syringe from it, I start to struggle with all my strength.

As Demitri comes toward me with the syringe, I begin to plead again, “Please, don’t do this. Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what happened.”

His hand darts out, and his fingers wrap tightly around the left side of my neck to keep me in place. “This will make you sleep. I’m doing you a favor.”

The prick is sharp, and I let out a cry, tears escaping my eyes.

Crap.

No.

Shit.

“Shh…” Instead of the sound being comforting, it’s threatening and dark. I feel his thumb brush over my jaw. “You’re going to be okay.”

Everything dims, and no matter how hard I fight against whatever he injected me with, I can’t keep from drifting off.

Chapter 4

DEMITRI

After placing Ariana on the seat of the speed boat, I wrap a blanket around her. I spare the unconscious girl a glance, then start the engine and steer us toward the island.

The sun is beginning to rise as the boat glides through the dark blue water.

Unlike Alexei, I’m usually not affected by a woman’s tears. He’s the one with the soft spot for the female species.

But Ariana’s fear and tears stirred something in me I haven’t felt before.

Annoyance?

No.

Pity?

Definitely not.

I shake my head to clear my mind of the unwelcome thoughts, my eyes scanning over the water for any signs of the border patrol. I think of everything I’ll have to do once we reach the island.

I’ll check in with Alexei, and I have to call my younger brother, Damien, so he’ll know I’ll be out of reach for a while.