by Alyssa Cole
Salomeh knew that place. And she realized then that this fight had something to do with her—had everything to do with her.
She swallowed her fear and found her voice.
“I’m not volunteering, in case you were wondering,” she said. She kept her gaze fixed on Julian’s. “I think I’ve already gone above and beyond my job description.”
Something flashed in those green depths. He had heard her.
Unfortunately, she had also garnered Bardhyn’s attention.
“Ah, she speaks!” he said, gazing at her intently from behind Julian’s shoulder. “How was your reunion with Yelena? I trust you weren’t too disappointed with our hospitality.”
His gaze was unnerving. He didn’t blink as he waited for her response.
“I wouldn’t call drugging and imprisoning a young girl hospitality, but maybe this is just one of those wacky cultural misunderstandings,” she said. “I’d offer you a cup of tea, you’d tie me up and sell my body for money.”
He grinned at her, a shark’s grin. “You’re different than I imagined you’d be,” he said. “I had planned on killing you quickly, assuming you would be boring, but it would have been much more fun to break you.”
Salomeh had thought him cold when his ice-blue gaze had first raked over her from the backseat of the sedan. Even now there was no passion in his tone. But his eyes danced with mirth and something else: enjoyment. The bastard was enjoying this.
“Enough,” Julian said with authority. “Your meeting is busted, and soon this place will be crawling with more feds than a Quantico happy hour. Save the empty threats, put down your weapon, and maybe we can work out some kind of deal.”
Bardhyn laughed, and Salomeh shuddered at the sound.
“I don’t need you to make a deal, you spineless dog,” he spat. “I have Henderson by the balls. So why don’t we talk about something more interesting. How does it feel to know that Ryli has been with me this entire time? That while you were on your self-serving mission for justice, I’ve subjected her to every degradation possible?”
Julian’s jaw was tight, and beneath his mussed hair, a vein throbbed on his forehead. Salomeh felt a slight movement in Linda’s hold and flinched, expecting the worst until she realized what it actually was. Linda was shaking. A droplet of liquid hit her arm and rolled down. A tear, cooled during its descent. The tears of a woman who had experienced what it was to be broken by a man like Bardhyn instead of given the mercy of death.
“This is ridiculous!” Julian shouted. “All this pain, all this destruction because I didn’t want to be under your thumb anymore?”
“A Besa is a Besa,” Bardhyn said simply. “You broke the blood promise to be loyal to me always.”
“Ryli had nothing to do with it. My parents had nothing to do with it. You made me think she was dead and kept her all these years…and you think that isn’t breaking the Besa? You’re demented.”
Salomeh felt the grip on her hair loosening, a tingling rush of sensation in her scalp as Linda’s arm dropped limply to her side. She risked a glance up and saw Linda taking in the scene with glazed eyes.
“You—” the woman started and then faltered. “You said that Julian sold my family out to pay a debt.”
“He did,” Bardhyn said at the same time Julian roared, “I would never!”
“You said my parents died because of him, and I owed my life to you,” she said, her voice slowly regaining the controlled malice that had chilled Salomeh even over the phone.
“Ryli.” Julian’s years of tortured guilt seemed to be encapsulated in those two simple syllables. “I have always loved you. I have always regretted not being able to save you that night. But now I can, if you’d let me.”
Tears welled in his eyes, and his face contorted with grief, making the resemblance between him and Linda even more apparent.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and Salomeh felt her own tears start again. The pain in the room was almost palpable.
Linda lowered the gun away from Salomeh’s head, and Bardhyn’s eyes narrowed.
“Bitch,” he growled, displaying the first sign of true emotion Salomeh had seen. “What did you say the other day before you sucked my dick like the whore you are? You said you’d kill the teacher in a heartbeat. I should have let you burn with your pathetic parents. The word of a Tamali is meaningless!”
He had worked himself up, and as he shouted the last words, Julian wheeled and kneed him in the stomach. Bardhyn jumped back, moving with Julian’s leg so the blow didn’t completely wind him.
Salomeh stood, her joints aching from being forced to the ground in such an uncomfortable position. She wasn’t sure what to do exactly, but she knew she needed to help take Bardhyn down.
Linda glanced in Salomeh’s direction but made no move to stop her. Instead she stepped toward the two brawling men but froze when Bardhyn swung the gun in her direction.
“You never did choose, Julian, so I’ll choose for you. Ready for the blood of another innocent to be on your hands?”
Salomeh didn’t have time to process his words as he shifted the gun away from Linda and toward her, and then pulled the trigger. Before her life could flash before her eyes, before she could regret not telling Julian she loved him, a tall, pale frame jumped in front of her.
Linda convulsed as the bullets pierced her. Her body was thrown back from the impact, slamming into Salomeh, and they landed in a heap on the floor. Salomeh tried to get up, confused by the lightning-fast turn of events, but a searing pain radiating through her torso kept her immobile.
Linda lay on the floor beside Salomeh, unmoving. Bardhyn stared at her, as if he had finally done something even he found shocking. Julian was already in motion, flying toward his enemy like an enraged Greek god. Julian hammered Birdie with several blows to the stomach, but the man was a wall of muscle himself, and he responded with a backhand that was just as powerful.
Salomeh felt her shirt sticking wetly to her side as blood seeped from her wound. But if she were dying, it didn’t feel like it, and that meant she had to help Julian. She pressed a hand to her side to stanch the blood loss and gasped in a silent cry of pain. Okay, maybe she was dying, but that didn’t change the fact that she had to help. If Bardhyn won, she was definitely dead and so was Yelena.
She rolled toward Linda. Julian’s sister was even paler than she had been before, a feat that didn’t seem possible. Salomeh wanted to hate her, this woman who had stuck needles into Yelena and done horrible things she couldn’t imagine. But somewhere inside Linda was a hurting girl who hadn’t had anyone to guide her except for a psychopath. Somewhere inside was a woman who had decided to sacrifice herself for Salomeh for reasons unknown.
Linda’s chest rose and fell, but the breaths were shallow, and the front of her dress was a deep, dark crimson. Her lips fluttered, but blood leaked out instead of words. Salomeh saw she still clutched the gun and tried to grab it, but Linda shook her head and managed to hold on to it, despite her injuries.
“Give me the gun, and I can help Julian,” Salomeh demanded, her voice sharp with frustration. Linda’s mouth curled at one corner, and she shook her head again, mouthing words that didn’t reach Salomeh’s ears. Sirens were wailing somewhere nearby, drowning out the weak sounds.
Julian and Bardhyn had fallen to the floor where they grappled for control of Bardhyn’s gun. In a move straight out of Greco-Roman wrestling, Bardhyn flipped Julian and landed on top of him.
“Good-bye, Julian,” Bardhyn said as he pushed the gun against Julian’s jaw.
“No!” Salomeh shouted, and Bardhyn’s gaze flew to her. That sadistic smirk lit up his face, as if he had just realized he had a witness and was excited about it.
Everything in Salomeh went numb.
No, no, I’ll do anything, please, help. The random phrases jumbled in her head as her mind tried to wrap itself around the fact that she was going to lose Julian. After all this, Bardhyn was going to win. Then she saw the smug satisfaction on Birdi
e’s face turn to shock as Linda hauled herself up, as ungainly as a zombie and just as close to death. She didn’t bother with any witty rejoinders or good-byes. She shot Bardhyn dead center in the forehead, and then collapsed back into Salomeh’s arms.
The pain in Salomeh’s side exploded as she caught Linda and cushioned the woman’s fall, but she sucked in a breath and tried not to cry out.
“Why didn’t you just give me the gun?” Salomeh asked on a harsh exhalation, balling up Linda’s dress to push against the woman’s wounds. She wasn’t doing so hot herself, but Linda didn’t look long for the world.
Linda smiled. When she spoke, her voice was thick with blood but still held that imperious tone. “You’re a teacher, not a sniper,” she said as her eyes fluttered.
Salomeh choked back a laugh that ended on a sob. Linda and Julian were more alike than they’d ever get a chance to know.
“Salomeh, Jesus, are you okay?” Julian asked as he crouched down beside her, and then he saw just how bad Linda was doing. “Ryli.”
The word came out as a low wail, blending with the sound of the sirens just outside the building.
Yates ran into the room then, gun drawn. She kicked at Bardhyn’s body and then stepped over it.
“Where the hell were you?” Julian asked.
“I was finding room after room of teenage girls penned like livestock,” she countered, her face flushed with emotion. She swept the room with her gaze and holstered her handgun as she ran to assist with Linda.
“This is the bitchy Girl Friday I heard about?” Yates asked as she unwound the scarf from Linda’s neck to stanch the bleeding.
“She’s my sister,” Julian said darkly, and Salomeh couldn’t tell if he were saying it more to himself or to Yates. As if to affirm his words, hidden beneath the scarf were thick scars that matched the ones on Julian’s arms.
“And you knew this since when?” Yates asked, still all business.
“Since five minutes ago,” Salomeh said weakly. Linda was beginning to feel so heavy in her arms, but she clutched the woman, hoping to give her at least a little comfort in this life. She felt very strange, but she managed to ask what she needed to know. “Where’s Yelena?”
Yates answered, but Salomeh didn’t hear. She was too busy focusing on the fact that there were two Yateses in front of her instead of one. She felt hot, much too hot, and then the world around her receded into darkness.
Chapter Thirty-One
Julian gazed through the hospital window into the morning sunlight and tried to center himself. He was too tired to exercise, and his brain was too muddled to conjugate, so he simply stared at a squirrel that ran in circles on a small patch of crabgrass in the parking lot.
I know how you feel buddy, he thought.
A sound behind him, one that was different from the blips of Salomeh’s heart monitor, grabbed his attention. He turned and found her wide-eyed in the bed, smacking weakly at the machine next to her. She stopped suddenly and looked at him, abashed.
“I thought it was my alarm clock,” she said groggily, and then smiled at him. “You look like an angel with all that sunlight shining in from behind you.”
His heart constricted at her words. He certainly didn’t feel like an angel. He felt like a demon who brought danger and pain to every person he touched.
“You’re still doped up from the surgery,” he said, approaching the bed. Salomeh was bruised and covered with bandages, but he had never seen anyone more beautiful. He cupped her face and kissed her reverently on her temple. Her hand came to his, holding it to her face as she rubbed her cheek across his knuckles.
Yes her, he thought randomly, a sharp pang of love sidling up to all the other emotions he was already trying to process. Disbelief. Anger. Fear.
Salomeh suddenly looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked, readjusting her hold so their fingers interlocked.
“Are you serious?” Julian asked. “All I have is a few cuts and bruises. You just got out of surgery to remove a bullet that was lodged between your ribs. Ryli absorbed most of the impact, otherwise you’d be gone.”
He had to force the last word out. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he had already promised himself he would never be dishonest with her again, even by omission. She deserved to know how close she had come to being more collateral damage in the feud between him and Bardhyn.
“I meant about Linda. Is she…”
“She’s alive,” he said. “Barely. I guess it shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, she’s survived this long. “
“It’s not your fault, Julian,” Salomeh said quietly. “What happened to Linda, what happened to Yelena, the only person to blame is the man who hurt them: Bardhyn.”
“The man who’s conveniently dead and won’t have to pay for what he’s done,” Julian said bitterly.
Salomeh shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about him right now,” she said with a shudder. “Where is Yelena? And where are the other girls?”
Julian sighed.
“They’re at another hospital, one better equipped to deal with the problems they’re facing.”
She moved to speak, but he cut her off. What he had to say wasn’t going to be pretty, but it was honest.
“You’ll get to see her soon, but I have to let you know that most of those girls are not okay. Almost all of them have been fed drugs for some amount of time, so they’ve developed a level of dependence. They need detox and then rehab. They need counseling and follow-up care, and the system is not set up to help them. I think Yelena will be okay, she has you, but the others…”
When he looked at her, he expected there to be tears, but instead she was staring beyond his shoulder, the expression on her face almost calculating.
“Salomeh?” he asked.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something,” she said, still lost in her thoughts. She shook her head. “And what happens to Linda?”
Julian released a deep breath.
“She’s facing some heavy charges, but Yates is trying to see if she can cut her a deal. As Bardhyn’s second in command, she knows everything, including the fundamentalist groups who were seeking weapons and the dirty cops who helped them.”
Julian didn’t know how to feel about his sister or about how she should be punished. Part of him wanted to shun her, and part of him wanted to hug her tight, to never let anyone hurt her again.
“What do you think?” he asked.
Salomeh studied his face. “If she survives, it would sure make things interesting around the holidays,” she answered.
Julian’s heart throbbed. “You’re still willing to put up with me after all this?” he asked.
“You serve me breakfast in bed. That’s pretty hard to pass up,” she said with a shrug and then winced in pain.
“Should I call for the nurse to get you some painkillers?” he asked.
Her eyes clouded, and he knew from her expression that she was thinking of Yelena and the needle marks that lined the girl’s arms.
“No thanks,” she said. He knelt down and kissed her softly.
The gazed at each other for a moment, and then she asked the question he knew she would ask. “What are we going to do now?”
He kissed her again, slowly and carefully, aware of just how fragile she was at the moment. He didn’t know how she would react to what he had to say.
“I’ll probably have to leave soon,” he said. Tears welled in her eyes, but she nodded her understanding. “I was only here temporarily, and now that Bardhyn has been busted, we’re going to have to track down the other guys that we’re getting leads on.”
He had practiced this speech for the last half hour, but his mind rebelled at the thought of being away from her. His chest felt weighted down like there wasn’t enough air in the room. The truth of their situation had sucked it all out.
“But you’ll come back often, right?” she asked.
“I want to,” he said. “I thin
k I would if I had someone to come home to.”
She grinned at him. “Are you asking me to go steady, Julian?” she asked.
“I’m asking you to wait for me, zemer,” he said. “I know it’s asking a lot, but—”
She cut him off with a kiss that warmed him to his toes.
“We’ve known each other for a few days,” she said. “I wish you weren’t going away, but maybe it will be good. We can really get to know each other, to see if this is real.”
“You’re not mad?” he asked.
“Julian, I love you, but I have things to do. I won’t exactly be sitting here pining away.”
He laughed and kissed her again. “I love you too, Miss Jones,” he said.
“Give me another kiss and then get me a paper and pen. I need to know more about the resources provided for these girls.”
She chattered on excitedly, but her eyes were already dropping with fatigue.
Just then Yates and Marta walked in, returning from a run to the hospital cafeteria. Marta’s face had been drawn with worry when she left the room, but now she looked up at Yates with undisguised interest.
“She’s awake,” Julian said as they entered, and Marta broke off the conversation midsentence, pushed Julian out of the way, and loomed over Salomeh’s bed.
“As soon as you’re well enough, I’m going to kill you! I told you not to do anything stupid, and of course you run out and do whatever you want because you’re a stubborn…”
Marta continued her tirade as she hugged Salomeh, careful not to jostle her. Yates didn’t even pretend not to check out the petite woman’s backside as she bent over the bed.
As Marta babbled on and Salomeh drifted into sleep, Yates tore her gaze away long enough to whack Julian on the shoulder.
“You okay, Tamali?” she asked.
Julian thought up a hundred charming or witty phrases to misdirect her and get her off his case, but rejected them all.
“Honestly? No,” he said and then glanced over at Salomeh. “But I will be.”
