THE PRICE OF SIN

BLOOD AND BULLETS

Chapter 15

Elena moved through the chaos like an angel of death, her enhanced reflexes turning her into something beyond human. She could feel Lorenzo's eyes on her as she eliminated targets with surgical precision, and the heat in his gaze made her pulse race even in the middle of combat.

"Magnificent," Lorenzo breathed, watching her disarm three soldiers simultaneously.

Elena caught his admiring stare and felt a rush of satisfaction that had nothing to do with combat and everything to do with the way he looked at her—like she was a goddess of war and he wanted to worship at her altar.

But their moment was shattered when Vance's voice crackled over a loudspeaker: "Enough games, Elena. Surrender now, or I start executing hostages."

Elena spun toward the captives and saw Vance holding a gun to Mia's head. Her best friend was conscious now, tears streaming down her face as she mouthed "I'm sorry" over and over.

"Let her go," Elena snarled, raising her weapon. "Your fight is with me."

"My fight is with everyone who stands between me and my life's work," Vance replied. "You're coming with me, Elena. We have so much to accomplish together."

"Over my dead body," Lorenzo said, appearing at Elena's side with his gun trained on Vance.

"That can be arranged." Vance's smile was reptilian. "In fact, it would solve several problems at once."

Elena felt Lorenzo tense beside her, his protective instincts flaring. She could practically feel the violence radiating from him, barely contained beneath his controlled exterior.

"You touch her, you die," Lorenzo said quietly, his voice carrying the absolute certainty of someone who had killed before and would kill again.

"Such devotion," Vance mused. "Tell me, Lorenzo, will you still be so protective when you learn what Elena really is?"

"I know what she is," Lorenzo replied without hesitation. "She's mine."

Elena's heart did something complicated at his possessive declaration. Even knowing what she was capable of, even seeing her kill without hesitation, Lorenzo still claimed her. Still wanted her.

"Does she know what you are?" Vance asked, turning his attention to Elena. "Has he told you about the laboratory in the basement of his club? About the experiments he's been conducting on captured enhanced individuals?"

Elena's blood ran cold. "What laboratory?"

Lorenzo's face went carefully blank. "Elena—"

"Answer me," she demanded, her enhanced hearing picking up the way his heartbeat had accelerated.

"There was a laboratory," Lorenzo admitted quietly. "But not for experiments. For medical treatment."

"Medical treatment?" Vance laughed. "Is that what you call it when you inject enhanced individuals with tracking nanobots? When you monitor their vital signs and document their abilities for your buyers' catalogs?"

Elena stared at Lorenzo, feeling the ground shift beneath her feet again. "Tell me he's lying."

Lorenzo's silence stretched too long.

"The tracking devices were for their safety," Lorenzo said finally. "Enhanced individuals are valuable targets. We needed to be able to find them if they were taken."

"And the documentation?"

"Insurance. Proof of what they could do, in case we needed to negotiate for their release."

Elena wanted to believe him, but doubt was eating at her like acid. "Release from who?"

"Other buyers," Lorenzo said quietly. "Elena, the enhanced human trade exists with or without the Santangeios. At least when we controlled the market, we could ensure some level of... humane treatment."

Elena felt sick. "Humane treatment? They're people, not cattle."

"I know that," Lorenzo said desperately. "That's why I've been trying to shut it down, why I've been fighting with my father—"

"Touching," Vance interrupted. "But ultimately irrelevant. Elena, you have thirty seconds to decide. Come with me willingly, or watch your friend die."

Elena looked at Mia, terror-stricken but trying to be brave. Then at Lorenzo, whose dark eyes held desperate love and crushing guilt. Then at her mother, who was watching the entire scene with calculating coldness.

"Mom," Elena said quietly. "Help me."

"This is your choice, stellina," Maria replied. "I can't make it for you."

Elena realized that for the first time in days, she was truly on her own. No one else could save Mia. No one else could decide what kind of person Elena wanted to be.

"Fifteen seconds," Vance announced.

Elena closed her eyes and reached for that cold calculation that had served her so well in combat. When she opened them, she had a plan.

"Okay," she said. "I'll come with you."

"Elena, no," Lorenzo grabbed her arm. "We can find another way."

"There is no other way." Elena looked at him, memorizing his face. "Take care of the other hostages. Make sure they get home safely."

"I'm not letting you go."

Elena rose on her toes and kissed him, pouring all her love and regret into the contact. "You don't have a choice."

She pulled away from Lorenzo and walked toward Vance, her hands raised in surrender.

"Smart girl," Vance said, lowering his gun from Mia's head.

But Elena had counted on Vance's arrogance. As soon as his attention focused on her, she moved.

Elena's enhanced speed allowed her to cross the distance between them in a heartbeat. She tackled Vance away from Mia, both of them hitting the concrete floor hard. Vance's gun went sliding across the hangar.

"Run!" Elena screamed to the hostages as she and Vance struggled.

Lorenzo and Maria immediately sprang into action, cutting the restraints and hustling the captives toward the exits while Elena kept Vance occupied.

But Vance was stronger than he looked, and he had advantages Elena didn't know about. When his hand touched a device on his belt, Elena felt electricity course through her body. Not enough to incapacitate her, but enough to disrupt her enhanced reflexes.

"Taser net," Vance explained as Elena stumbled. "Specifically calibrated for enhanced nervous systems."

Elena tried to move, but her body wasn't responding properly. The electrical interference was scrambling her enhanced abilities, leaving her as helpless as a normal human.

"Elena!" Lorenzo's voice was desperate. He was torn between helping the hostages escape and coming to her aid.

"Go!" Elena managed to gasp. "Get them out!"

Lorenzo's anguish was visible, but he kept moving, covering the hostages' escape with Maria while casting desperate glances back at Elena.

"Such devotion," Vance mused, hauling Elena to her feet. "Too bad it won't save either of you."

Elena tried to fight, but the electrical disruption made her movements clumsy and predictable. Vance easily controlled her, dragging her toward a waiting helicopter that had apparently landed behind the hangar.

"This time, my dear, there's no rescue coming," Vance said. "Lorenzo and your mother can play hero with the other captives, but you're coming with me."

Elena's last clear view of the hangar showed Lorenzo helping an injured hostage while her mother provided covering fire. The look of desperate fury on Lorenzo's face would have been terrifying if it hadn't been directed at someone trying to hurt her.

As Vance dragged her toward the helicopter, Elena managed to catch Lorenzo's eye one last time.

"Find me," she mouthed.

The promise in his dark eyes was unmistakable.

But as the helicopter lifted off, carrying her toward an unknown fate, Elena wondered if even Lorenzo's determination would be enough to save her from whatever Vance had planned.

Below, she could see Lorenzo running toward the landing pad, but he was too late.

Elena was gone.

And this time, she was truly on her own.

The helicopter banked toward the mountains, and Elena's last sight of the ground showed Lorenzo standing in the desert, his fists raised toward the sky in helpless rage.

But Elena wasn't helpless. The electrical interference was wearing off, and she could feel her enhanced abilities slowly returning.

Vance might have won this round, but Elena wasn't done fighting.

Not by a long shot.

She was Lorenzo Santangelo's woman now, and she'd learned from the best.

Time to show Dr. Vance what happened to people who threatened what belonged to the Santangelo family.