Kidnapped by the Thief: An Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves Retelling (Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night) by Cyndi Faria & Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night

Author:Cyndi Faria & Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night [Faria, Cyndi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: An Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves Retelling
Publisher: Sugarbird Publishing
Published: 2020-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Ruger

I knew Ko would send his men after us the second they found Giana had disappeared. It wouldn’t be hard to deduce what happened. I wasn’t there. The money was gone. Giana was missing.

Everything is ruined.

Well, maybe you shouldn’t have run off with the girl before you could get your own revenge?

I shake the thought out of my head. Even though I’m miles from Ko, away from his band of thieves, a part of me still doesn’t feel safe thinking about who I pretend to be and why I’m here.

The second Ali was killed, everything went south. There weren’t any formal instructions, of course. Nothing from my handler, who wants me to continue on as though nothing happened. As though my partner hasn’t been murdered in cold blood over money Ko somehow found out he possessed.

I can’t blame anyone but Ali for getting himself killed. Ali was enthusiastic and a shit liar if he drank, which wasn’t often. Something had set him off the night he decided to take to the bottle. I still don’t know what caused him to get intoxicated to the point of gambling with Ko.

Stupid fuck.

From what I’ve seen, Ali’s undercover strategy was to tell some version of the truth, so he didn’t have to lie. It was how Ko knew Ali had a daughter, I suspect. And I suspect that Ko sent Tony to track Ali, which led him to the Den. But then, over a drunken night of cards later that evening, Ali ran his mouth.

Rookie mistake.

And in some ways, Ali was a rookie.

That fact got him killed.

And it was my fault. I should have volunteered to tail Ali. I should have done a lot of things differently, but I can’t go backward only forward, and I’m no rookie.

I need to tell Giana who I am. She deserves to know, even if the strangled truth ruins everything between us. Even if it’ll kill any chance I’ll ever have at being with her, but it’s the right thing to do.

I disentangle myself from Giana’s arms carefully. The last thing I want to do is wake her, not when she looks so peaceful, her pretty blush making her look like an angel. It’s probably the best sleep she’s had in the past couple of weeks.

I don’t want to think about why.

She trusts me. And I’m about to shatter her trust.

Dark hair falls in her face as she shifts, clashing with the shadows. Only bits and pieces of moonlight flood inside our bedroom, preventing me from seeing her completely. It’s almost preferable this way. Giana’s the sort who thrives in the shadows. She’s unexpected. I’ve underestimated her. But she’s everything I ever wanted in a woman, and everything I’m about to lose.

And it’s all my fault.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. How have I let it go this far? How have I waded from the shallows into the depths where I can’t sense the bottom?

Yet, looking at her now, closing my eyes and remembering being wrapped up in her the way we had been minutes ago feels right.

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