by J. L. Beck
If anyone decides to test her strength again, they’ll find me answering the challenge instead of her. I only prayed we found Sal before I had to go out there and hunt him down myself.
When the doctor completed his exam, he turned to face me again. “She’s mending, Mr. Doubeck. Be patient and be gentle with her. That’s what she needs right now.”
Not trusting myself not to say something cutting, I gave him a curt nod and jerked my head toward the door. He didn’t need time to get the hint. The doctor fled, and I approached the bedside to look her over.
The bruises I could see above the covers were changing shade, something I knew to be a good thing from my fighting days. The IVs were helping ensure she received enough nutrition, but I needed her to wake up so I could stuff her full of her favorite foods and put some curves on her too lean frame.
The door opens as I am about to get some water to give her another sponge bath. Kai entered, his frustration evident by the fact he’d taken his jacket off, and his tie hung loose around his neck. “What is it?”
He scowls as he glances over my shoulder at Valentina. I move into his line of sight so he can’t look at her. I don’t want anyone looking at her while she is weak and unable to defend herself properly. Until then, I’ll be here to protect her.
“The fucker has gone to ground. He hasn’t been back to his apartment, hasn’t been to the Novak house, and he hasn’t been to his usual sleazeball haunts. I don’t know where he is, and I’m about to start razing each of the disgusting establishments he manages to the ground to root him out.”
I shrug. “Did you come here for my permission? I said find him, and I don’t care how you do it.”
It’s not just the hunt that has him frustrated then. “What else?”
“Her father is still in New York, and he hasn’t even made a move to come home. It’s like he has no idea his daughter almost died or that his niece is dead.”
I waved at where Val lay unconscious. “You think he’s going to advertise his handiwork to her father? Not if he thinks he can still marry her and get access to her money.”
The thought makes me want to kill him all over again. Slowly. Painfully. I want to inflict every injury he did on her and then see how long he can stay alive, left bound to a bed, alone, with no food, water, or medical care. I suspect a lot less time than she did.
“When Sal surfaces, let me know immediately, especially if you get a hold of him. Keep me updated on the movements of her father and note if he makes any sudden changes like he knows what happened here.”
Kai nods. “Anything else?”
I’ve already turned back to the bed, my attention on the way her chest rises and falls. “Keep one of the five on the door at all times and have Andrea go get some clothes for her. She’s going to wake up soon, and she’ll need something to wear.”
He doesn’t need to say anything. I hear the soft settle of the door against the frame to indicate he left the room.
I was going to bathe her, but right now, after talking to the doctor and then Kai, I need to calm down. So I sit in the chair next to her bed and watch her carefully. Each little blip on the machines monitoring her condition signals she’s still with me, but it’s also a reminder that I could have lost her before I even made her mine. I won’t make that mistake again. The second she is well enough, I’ll be sure she knows she belongs to me in every way.
I don’t know how long I sit with her. Long enough that Andrea returns with two large white paper bags. “She isn’t my size, so I went out and got some things that will fit. And things she can wear as her injuries heal.”
I can’t believe I didn’t consider she’d need comfortable clothing to wear until she was back to full strength. Once again, I’m reminded why my team is the best.
She sets the bags at the end of the bed and does a quick once-over of the equipment and me. “Do you need anything else, boss? Want me to sit with her while you get some rest?”
“I’m not leaving her. I’ll rest when she is conscious again.”
“Any word?”
“The doctor continues to tell me I must wait. Little does he know I’m not a very patient man.”
She snorts. “He knows just fine. He’s the one who had to stitch up a bullet wound twice when you didn’t wait for it to heal before you went back to work.”
“Well, he gets paid well enough. Two rounds of stitches are nothing.” I know she’s trying to take my mind off worrying about Valentina, but it’s not working.
“You can go now. Make sure you guys rotate shifts on the door. No one comes in except one of you, me, or the doctor.”
She gives me a salute and leaves as quietly as she entered. I turn my attention back to Val and shift my chair closer. When she wakes up, I want to be ready to reassure her that she’s safe. Every time she’s woken since I found her, she’s been groggy and barely discernible. And each and every time, I add one more mental tally to what I’m going to take out of Sal’s hide in payback. As of right now, nothing will be left when I'm finished with him.
I take her hand in mine. It’s bruised across the knuckles from where she fought back. Her nails are jagged and split, but worst of all is the raw skin around her wrists from trying to free herself from her bindings. She never stopped fighting, even as her body began to give out under the strain of captivity. I’m so proud of her.
Gently, I smooth my thumb over a pale patch of healthy skin on the back of her hand. The need to touch her is overwhelming, but I won’t hurt her, not like he did.
Her fingers twitch against the plush duvet, and I lift my hand to make sure she doesn’t move and cause me to touch one of her wounds. When her hand curls into a fist, I scan up her arm and into her face. It’s drawn tight, like she is having a nightmare, so I ease out of my seat and gently prod her shoulder. “Val, wake up, Val. You’re dreaming.”
To my surprise, her eyes fly open, and she lets out a gasp. Then she settles back on the bed and looks at me with full wide eyes, and says, “Rose?”
12
Valentina
I’m not sure how long it takes me to realize I’m awake. It takes a few blinks to clear my hazy vision and then notice the strange ceiling. Then down to the unfamiliar bedding and the bandages around my wrists.
A figure looms at the side of the bed, and I simply react, clawing out while trying to scramble away. I don’t know why, but something inside me needs to hide.
“Stop fucking moving,” a deep voice says. It soothes something in me that had raised its hand, prepared to strike. Now, it paces, waiting to see if we’re safe.
“Who? What’s going on?” I’m still baring my nails at the figure when the light flicks on. I stare at the figure and recognize him. “Adrian?”
He plops on the edge of the bed, grabs my shoulders in his huge hands, and gently eases me back onto the mound of pillows. I let him guide me since I have no choice.
“Who the fuck else would be sitting beside his own damn bed?” he grouses while he adjusts the covers around me again, then checks the line on my IV. I trace the path of it to the back of my hand. Then his words filter through some of the haze.
Own? Bed? I clutch the covers and drag them up to my chest. I’m wearing someone’s black dress shirt, but still… “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
For a moment, I fear he won’t answer me since he won’t even look at me. Not that I’m eager to put myself under his intense gaze. When he finally does shift those dark eyes to mine, I flinch. Oh yeah, I forgot just how heavy the weight of his regard is.
“Tell me what you remember,” he says. It’s nothing short of an order. The tiny part of me that wants to rebel against a man giving me orders doesn’t stir. I want to please him, the same way I have since I met him.
I clear my throat, only now realizing how dry and scratchy it feels. So I whisper because he’s looking at me like he won’t wait forever. “I came to see you. Rose was covering the house so I could sneak out. I asked you to…” It comes back
in a flash—me asking him to kill Sal and him making the offer under the condition of well…me. A hot flush hits my neck and cheeks. I can’t believe I stripped naked for him or, worse, that I liked it.
He gently tilts my chin up to force our gazes together again. “Asked me to?”
“Kill my fiancé,” I whisper.
The very corner of his lips tilts up, and I can’t not look at them. It’s as if that tiny corner is proof I gave him what he wants, and for some reason, I want more of that tiny smile, more of a smile period. I want him to look at me like he did at the party that first time we met. I know I shouldn’t, not while I’m engaged to Sal, but he was never my choice.
I’m still staring at his lips when he asks his next question. “What else do you remember?”
Everything in my head feels hazy. Like a dream. “Not much. We spoke, and I went home, but after that, I can’t remember anything until I woke up just now.”
“Nothing?”
Something in his voice worries me. Obviously, I should be able to remember something else than what I’ve told him. Or why bother questioning me. “Why are you asking? What else am I supposed to remember?”
I scan his face, waiting for a sign of what he’s looking for. After years in my house under my father and then Sal, I’ve gotten very good at reading people’s every twitch. Sometimes it was the only thing between me and Sal cornering me in a hallway and leaving bruises on my skin as punishment for being unable to touch me the way he wants.
He stands with his back to me, but I can’t help but notice the rigid line of his spine and the hard set of his shoulders. He’s angry, and I don’t know why.
“Tell me what I should remember, and I can try. Let me try, please.” I don’t know why I’m begging him, but something inside me is telling me he might be my only chance at safety. I can’t lose it.
His hands clench along his thighs, and I shrink back into the pillows. I know how my father’s hands feel on me and how Sal’s hands feel on me. So far, Adrian hasn’t hurt me, so I don’t know what to brace for or what to expect when he strikes out.
When his arm flies out, I clench up, turning my face away to protect it. The sound of glass breaking makes me flinch more, and I huddle into the pillows, trying to use the covers as some kind of meager protection.
When everything is quiet, I slowly blink my eyes open and risk a glance toward him. He’s standing at the side of the bed, his eyes angry, his mouth set in a grim line. When he speaks, his tone is soft and gentle. “Look at you. Why are you cowering away from me?”
I whisper immediately. “You’re angry.”
“So?”
“I just…don’t want to get hit anymore.” I know I sound defeated, and I hate the thread of it in my voice, especially in front of him.
He sinks slowly onto the bed, his hips almost against my knees. “I don’t fucking hit women, Val. And I would never ever hurt you.”
I assimilate that information. My father never pretended he was a good man. Lord knows Sal prided himself on the way he overpowered and demeaned women. Adrian telling me he won’t hurt me makes me want to believe him so badly my chest aches.
“I don’t know you. You’re the last person I saw, and now I’m here, in your bed, hooked up to hospital equipment. What am I supposed to think?”
His eyes go wide. “You think I could have done this to you? You asked me why I’m angry; it’s because I found you like this. I’m angry for you, not at you.”
Is there a difference when it comes to men’s anger? It really doesn’t matter. I stretch out and throw back the covers to reveal my bare legs. My yellow and purple bruised bare legs. I can’t look at them, so I don’t. It’s not something I can help right now.
“What are you doing?” He reaches out but then stops so he doesn’t touch any of my numerous injuries.
“I’m assuming by how upset you are that Sal isn’t dead. He’s the only one, besides my father, who inflicts this much damage on my body. If he’s not dead, then I need to go home or else he’ll come searching for me, and the next time he gets his hands on me, things will be worse.”
He gestures at me in one sweep of his big hand. “Worse than this?”
I shrug and focus on shifting my weight to the edge of the bed. But I don’t even make it an inch before he’s gently curving his hands around my shoulders again and shoving me back into the nest of pillows.
“You can’t leave yet. You aren’t well, and if you try to stand right now, you’ll likely pass out and ruin the work my doctor has done to keep you alive. Besides...” He stiffens, his shoulders sinking back. “We made a deal, remember? I hold everyone to the deals they make with me. No exceptions.”
His tone is no longer gentle. He’s back to the man I met at the party. Command, control, and all the deep dominion men like him cultivate by breathing. I drag the smoky scent of him into my lungs and let it soothe the fear I’d start to let take over. But it’s a dream, a fantasy. We made a deal, and here I am, half-dead in his bed. Obviously, thinking someone else could save me had been a mistake.
“Even if Sal doesn’t come looking for me, my father will. How will you protect me from him? How can you protect Rose?” Oh, God, Rose. How am I such a shitty friend that I didn’t ask about her first?
He tilts his head, the hint of a grin returning. “I have a no-guns-in-the-bedroom rule, Angel, but I promise, I’m fully capable of keeping you safe. Besides, neither Sal nor your father is at your house. Rest now.”
The way he says it is so confident, so full of cockiness. I…still want to believe him, despite the bandages, the bruises, and the IV hanging over my head.
“You’re scared. I told you to rest, Angel. If you don’t make an effort, I’ll have the doctor sedate you.”
It’s not a question, so I don’t respond, keeping my eyes somewhere around his left shoulder.
I’m not surprised when he reaches out and guides my chin to look at him again. “You’re scared, but you don’t have to be. When I let you leave that night, I was stupid enough to think you’d be safe until I did the job you asked of me. That was my mistake, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. But when I say I can keep you safe, I need you to listen and believe me.”
God, I want to. It would be so easy to take his word for it and let him be my shield to the world. I want to believe him so badly that tears slide down my cheeks in frustration. “I don’t know if I can believe that because I don’t know what safe feels like.”
He slides closer on the bed until his legs brush against mine. Like he can’t resist touching me, and even though he must, he’ll be sure not to hurt me, even then. I look at him this time and watch his face as he speaks.
“We made a deal, and I have every intention of holding up my end of the bargain. Just as you will hold up yours. It’s as simple as that. You belong to me, in every way, and I promise you”—his voice takes on a deeper tone, a hint of threat under the bass—“no one will be able to get to you with me in the way.”
This time, I do believe him, and the relief makes me dizzy, causing my breathing to come out in short pants. I relax into the pillows for the first time since I woke up. He gently reaches out and takes my hand, his fingers brushing a patch of skin that isn’t discolored from bruises.
I’d forgotten how beautiful he is. Not traditionally beautiful like a model or an athlete, but he’s big, so much bigger than me. His shoulders must be at least twice as wide. His hands even dwarf mine in his own. I’d forgotten a lot of things about him and how much I liked all of them. I’ve never risked this feeling before, or else it might get him killed. I don’t think Adrian will be that easy to take down.
“So what now?” I ask.
He looks like he’s waiting for something, and then it hits me. If I’m here, and he’s keeping me safe, then I need to hold up my end of our deal. By the way he’d asked me to strip for him at the casino, I assume he wants more than pithy conversation and a mean Spades partner. I shove the covers farth
er away from my legs, and he frowns at them, staring between the plush linens and my bare limbs.
When I don’t move to climb off the bed, he seems to settle, my hand still tucked into his.
Then slowly, as fear and something else skitters up my spine, I raise my knees together and let them fall open.
He jerks as if I’ve struck him. “What the hell are you doing?”
My face is burning now, but I can’t let that deter me, not when my safety is on the line. “You said I have to hold up my end of this deal, so I’m ready to do that. But you’ll have to do most of the work because I’m not entirely sure what to do. Well, I understand the logistics, of course, but I’ve never…”
I trail off because the look on his face is nothing short of murderous.
13
Adrian
I pull my hand from hers and put the distance of the room between us. The bathroom door is closed. I don’t go that far since I still need to be able to see her. Even while she’s in no shape to enjoy herself, I’m three seconds from taking everything she offers. The fire that’s burned in my blood for her since the moment we met rages through me, demanding I make her mine, and I fear I won’t be able to hold out long. Especially with her baring herself to me, offering everything I want.
“Are you okay?” she asks, hesitant and scared all over again because of me.
I face her and shake my head, relieved to see she’d closed her thighs, leaving only her knees and lower legs bare. My eyes trace down to the bandages around her ankles, and it works as effectively as a bucket of ice water on my system. I go back to the bed, but this time, I don’t touch her. “I’m fine. There are some things we need to discuss, and things we will do to settle our debt, but not yet.”
