So let’s play.
“Where did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I have a room upstairs that overlooks the ballroom. I could have you against the window and no one would know.”
“Hopefully I would know,” I said with a flirtatious smile.
“Why don’t you find out?”
“Maybe I’m not that kind of woman,” I hedged. Without being able to talk to Ian, I’d have to make up a plan as I went and hope he figured it out before we were both killed.
“In that dress? Please,” Riccardo scoffed.
I made a mental note to knee him in the balls at the first opportunity. I forced my mouth into a coy smile and hoped the murder in my eyes was masked. “You’re right,” I managed to get out without choking. Barely. “Let’s see this room of yours.”
He held out his left elbow, forcing me to hold it with my right hand. With the clutch in my left hand, I appeared far more harmless than I was. I wasn’t as strong left-handed, but I could still drop the clutch and stab him somewhere that would hurt, given the opportunity.
I flashed Ian a meaningful look. We had to act before we made it wherever Riccardo was leading us or we were toast. He nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Riccardo placed his hand over mine, trapping my right arm. One of his guards followed directly behind us, then Ian, then the second guard.
I focused on the signals immediately surrounding us, and pain burrowed into my head. One of the nearby guards sent a message: Target acquired. On the move. Oh yeah, they were on to us.
Riccardo led me back into the ballroom, but stuck close to the wall. He held his arm over the chip reader of a side door and we slipped through into a service hallway. A pair of guards flanked the door. One of them fell in behind us. We were now outnumbered by four to two, not counting the other guards spaced throughout the hallway.
Riccardo’s bodyguards weren’t visibly armored, but their suits fit so poorly it was a good bet that the material was reinforced, which might be enough to stop my little dagger. If Riccardo’s suit was reinforced, I couldn’t tell.
We stopped at the elevator and one of the guards pressed the button. The elevator would have to be it. Fighting in such an enclosed space would work against us, but it would work against them, too. Presumably they didn’t want to kill Riccardo, so it would be nonlethal close combat. They’d try to subdue us, because if Riccardo wanted us dead without talking to us, he wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.
The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Empty. I silently thanked the universe for small miracles. Riccardo and I stepped inside. The three guards paused at the door, drew blasters, and turned on Ian, preventing him from entering. He lunged for the closing elevator doors, but one of the guards tackled him, stopping him just short.
Ian’s furious eyes met mine just before he disappeared under another guard. “I will come for you,” he vowed. “Wait for—” The earpiece emitted a sharp whine then went silent. His mike had failed.
The doors slid closed and the elevator started upward.
“Well played,” I murmured, burying both my worries and the flutter Ian’s promise had elicited.
“We meet at last, Bianca von Hasenberg. Did you really think I wouldn’t know who you were?”
“Do you actually use any of those terrible lines on women?”
He laughed. “No. I wanted to see if you’d break cover. Your restraint was admirable.”
“You came close to physical harm.”
“No, I didn’t,” he said with careless confidence.
I could use that confidence against him, just as Gregory had once used my own confidence against me. Confidence was great right up until the point that it became overconfidence and blinded you to danger. I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity because I would get only one.
Chapter 16
The elevator opened, revealing a basic office furnished with inexpensive faux wood furniture. Power cables crisscrossed the floor, leading to a pair of temporary desks loaded with multiple displays. Riccardo jerked his head and the man and woman behind the desks scurried from the room.
On our left, a wall of tinted windows overlooked the ballroom. I moved to the glass and Riccardo followed. Below, the colorful crowd mingled, unaware of our vantage point.
I turned back to him. “I expect my guard to be returned to me unharmed when I leave.”
“So sure you will be leaving?”
I let some of Mother’s icy hauteur slip into my tone. “Yes.”
Riccardo laughed. “My sister said you were a cool one. Perhaps I should crack that ice you wear like armor.”
“Are you sure you’re ready to face what you would find? Perhaps this shell isn’t for my protection, but yours.”
Riccardo’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. I’d set him off balance. Good. I needed to keep him there. “I’ve come for my brother, as I’m sure you know. I’m prepared to pay handsomely for his rescue and care.”
A wrinkle appeared in Riccardo’s forehead as he frowned down at me. “Rescue?”
“My brother lives, does he not? As far as I’m concerned, that’s rescue enough. I will pay you, you will return him, and we will all forget this unfortunate incident ever happened.”
“And if I refuse?”
I might not be able to effectively wield Mother’s imperious stare, but I had Father’s icy, murderous glower down pat. “Do not refuse.”
Riccardo’s right eye flickered, the tiniest sign of his unease. I’d backed him into a corner. He would attack soon, unable to stand not being in control. I had to turn that attack back on him before he realized what I’d done.
“Your brother is dead. Your guard is dead. And here you are, all alone with me. Perhaps I’ll keep you until I tire of you. Then you will become my party’s most prized entertainment.”
I let the words bounce off me, betraying nothing. I gave him a deadly smile. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be more accurate to say that you’re all alone with me? Give me my brother and I will not only let you live, I’ll pay a royal ransom.”
His confident smirk telegraphed his intentions as clearly as words. It had been a long time since I’d had a self-defense tutor, but I’d trained for years. Muscle memory kicked in as he lunged for me.
I wasn’t as graceful as I had been before Gregory, but I managed. I dropped the clutch and stepped into him instead of away. He wasn’t expecting the move and didn’t have time to counter as I drove my knee sharply into his balls. I stepped back as he gasped out a curse and crumpled.
I drew the tiny dagger from my bodice and grabbed Riccardo by the hair, wrenching him up to his knees. I pressed the sharp blade into his throat deeply enough to draw blood.
“Move and die,” I said.
“You need me to save your brother,” he sneered.
“There are more Silvas. You are not essential. Where is my guard?”
“I told you, he’s dead. You’re next. Then I’ll make sure your fucking brother suffers before he dies.”
Ferdinand was alive! I kept my emotions under a tight rein.
A commotion in the room next door drew my attention. Riccardo tried to break away, but he misjudged the hold I had on his hair. However, his struggles meant I didn’t have time to swing him around as a shield, and without a free hand, I couldn’t activate my cuff. I pressed the knife deeper. “Tell them not to shoot.”