‘Will you join me for a meal?’ he asked, the words sounding very casual, but she knew him well enough to know that her answer mattered to him somehow. Did he feel like celebrating the fact that the missing baby had been recovered uninjured, or did he just not want to eat alone?
Whatever the answer, she’d been so relieved that the whole kidnapping business had not had anything to do with Laszlo after all, that she felt like accepting a man’s invitation for the first time since the age of sixteen.
‘As long as it isn’t anywhere expensive,’ she warned, trying to tamp down the sudden feeling of giddy excitement. ‘I’ll be paying for my own meal and we don’t all earn doctor’s salaries, you know.’
‘In that case, we can go to the little place just round the corner from my flat. The prices are reasonable and the service is friendly…and there’s no washing-up to do at the end of the meal.’
‘Always a bonus at the end of a busy day,’ she agreed on a chuckle, wondering if this was how other women felt when they set out to spend an evening with a man they admired and respected.
Except, if she was honest with herself, what she felt for Gideon was far more than admiration and respect.
Even while she’d been shoring up the walls of her decision to keep a safe distance between the two of them—something that she’d had no trouble doing with any other man—he’d somehow found his own way around the previously insurmountable obstacle to find a place in her heart.
The realisation that she loved him was bitter-sweet.
She’d honestly believed that she would never be able to get past the horrors she’d endured, and the realisation that she had met a man so honest and trustworthy that she’d actually been able to let down her guard was only balanced by the recognition that there could never be a future for her with him. In all honesty, she couldn’t contemplate having a relationship with a man without warning him about the effects her past might have on their future together, and she’d tried too hard to leave those memories behind to ever want to tell anyone about them.
Still, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t enjoy the friendship that he seemed to be offering as they found topic after topic to discuss over their delicious meal.
‘That’s where I live,’ he said, pointing to a beautifully restored Victorian house as they strolled almost aimlessly away from the restaurant.
‘Nice,’ she said, hoping she didn’t sound envious. It was a far cry from hers, even though the two buildings dated from the same era and stood little more than a quarter of a mile apart. It was far nicer than anything she was ever going to be able to afford on a nurse’s salary, even a nurse as highly qualified as she was. That didn’t mean that she didn’t love her job. She did, passionately, believing that in some small way she was atoning for Anya’s death with each frail baby she nursed.
‘Nadia?’ The tone of his voice told her that it wasn’t the first time he’d tried to attract her attention and she silently cursed the fact that she seemed unable to stop herself disappearing into the labyrinths of her memories these days.
‘I’m sorry. I must be more tired than I thought,’ she apologised quickly. ‘Thank you for being such good company this evening. Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow?’ And before he could offer to escort her to her door she hurriedly crossed the road and set off in the direction of her bed sit.
She’d only been back a few minutes when there was an unexpected knock at her door.
‘Gideon?’ she breathed, wondering if he’d decided to follow her home to make certain that she was safe. She didn’t know whether to be flattered that he would care enough to do such a thing or cross that he now knew where she lived. She’d been at great pains not to let any of her hospital colleagues know her address so that none of them would be able to inadvertently give it to anyone who might be looking for her.
The knock came again, louder this time, and she realised that Gideon might be standing out there, worrying that something had happened to her.
She was just reaching for the first of the locks to release it when the knocking became an angry banging and she heard the sound of her worst nightmares.
‘Open the door, bitch!’ snarled Laszlo in the tone she’d hoped she would never have to hear again.
Just the sound of it was enough to make her cower back against the wall as he spewed a stream of foul invective.
‘You owe me!’ he shouted, switching to English, and she cringed at the knowledge that everyone in the house would be able to hear him. ‘I gave your father good money and you’ve barely started to repay me.’
The door was shuddering under his repeated blows and she began to wonder if the locks she’d installed as soon as she’d moved in would be able to withstand his anger. There were three of them, as well as a bolt at the top and the bottom of the door, but she still wasn’t certain that it would be enough when he was in this sort of temper.
She hadn’t heard more than a passing snatch of her own language in years but she had no trouble understanding him when he switched back to his native tongue.
‘You’d better come out of your own accord, and fast, or I’ll call for Mihal,’ he warned with a sadistic chuckle that turned her blood cold. ‘He knows how to make you sorry. Remember?’
She shuddered and barely stifled a whimper. Oh, yes, she remembered only too well what Mihal would do to her to make her sorry, and for one dreadful moment almost gave in to Laszlo’s demands, just so that the hulking brute wouldn’t be given permission to do it all over again.
A muted bleeping told her that she was too late, that Laszlo was already using a mobile phone to call Mihal to deal with her door. It was only his expression of disgust that reminded her that it was almost impossible to get a decent signal anywhere in that corridor that made her think she had any chance of escaping him.
Thanking God for the fact that she’d had the forethought to be prepared, she hurried to the other side of her bed and retrieved the precious store of money from under the loose floorboard, grabbed the small bag from where she’d left it ready in the cupboard, stuffed with the few things she couldn’t bear to leave behind, and snatched her handbag off the little hall table beside her front door even as she was reaching to release the first lock.
Her hands were shaking so badly by the time she got to the third one that it took her two attempts to open it, all the while desperately aware of the seconds flying past. By now Laszlo would have reached the front door of the building and discovered that the signal was finally strong enough to make his call. Then he would return to wait for Mihal to join him at her door, making sure to tell her in excruciating detail what was going to happen to her when he got his hands on her again.
‘Well, this time it isn’t going to happen, not if I can help it,’ she muttered as she sped lightly up the nearby stairs to knock on the door of the only other young woman living in the house, her other hand pressing on the button of the doorbell for good measure.
‘Maria?’ she called hoarsely, when everything inside her wanted to scream for help as loudly as she could, then she had the sudden terrifying thought that her neighbour might not be home. In that case, she would be caught up here like a rat in a trap without even a door between her and Laszlo’s idea of vengeance.
‘Nadia? Is that you?’ said a sleepy-sounding voice on the other side of the door.
‘Yes!’ She swallowed convulsively when she heard the ominous sound of male footsteps downstairs, walking swiftly along the corridor directly below her towards her room. ‘Can…can I come in for a minute? Please?’
Her neighbour’s hesitation was understandable. The two of them had done little more than exchange bland pleasantries when they’d passed in the entrance hall, both of them apparently equally averse to forming close friendships with chance neighbours.
She could have wept with relief when she heard the unmistakable sound of a bolt being drawn back and almost tripped over Maria’s feet in her urgency to get behind the safety of a closed door.
‘N
adia!’ Maria exclaimed, clearly startled by her precipitate entry, ‘What on earth…?’ Then something in her face must have told her young neighbour that this was something more serious than an inept attempt at a social visit. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’ she demanded, her dark eyes sharp with a knowledge of things that a girl her age shouldn’t have to know. ‘Man trouble?’
Nadia nodded. ‘Bad,’ she said succinctly, grateful that Maria didn’t seem to need any more words to explain the situation.
‘What do you need?’ the young woman asked briskly. ‘Shall I phone the police for you?’
Nadia shook her head frantically. She had survived this long by lying low, and what could she prove? Nothing more than a man knocking on her door. Besides that, Laszlo had the connections to allow him to disappear at will, only to return when the coast was clear to take up where he’d left off.
‘Wait till I’ve gone,’ she pleaded. ‘I don’t want to get stuck here, answering questions.’
‘I’ll tell them I heard a lot of shouting and screaming. Will that do?’
‘Thanks. It might slow him down.’ She nearly managed a smile, but her heart was beating so fast that it was almost impossible to think straight.
‘Could I borrow your mobile phone?’ she asked, suddenly realising that there was only one person in the whole world that she could go to for help…only one person she wanted to go to.
‘Of course you can.’ She held it out straight away. ‘Then you can use my window to get to the fire escape.’
Nadia nodded her agreement, but she was already concentrating on dialling the number she’d used every time she’d needed to report yet another setback in either Amy’s or Adam’s progress.
‘Gideon?’ she said when he answered after just three rings, her voice vibrating with the terror filling her veins. ‘Please…I need your help’
Gideon was pacing backwards and forwards in front of the window, half-convinced that he must have dreamed that frantic phone call.
Nadia was usually the epitome of calm and serenity so it was hardly surprising that he hadn’t recognised her voice for a moment. Then he’d realised that she was in some sort of trouble and every protective instinct he possessed had leapt to attention.
He’d immediately suggested that he should drive round to her flat to collect her but Nadia had begged him to stay where he was.
‘It will be easier if I come to you,’ she’d said, and even over the poor reception of the call he was sure he could hear her teeth chattering.
‘What on earth’s going on?’ he demanded of the darkened room, his eyes fixed on the road he’d seen her crossing such a short time ago, peering through the driving rain that had suddenly started to fall. ‘If anyone’s hurt her…’ His hands clenched into fists as visions of vengeance filled his mind.
He already knew that she’d suffered some sort of trauma in her past, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so jumpy every time he’d gone near her. It had taken patience he’d never known he possessed to give her the time to recognise that he was a person she could trust.
But the last thing he would have wanted was to find out that she trusted him because something bad had happened to her.
‘Where is she?’ he demanded when there was no sign of her familiar slender body hurrying towards him along the road. Was she one of the people huddled under umbrellas who were scurrying to reach their destinations?
Then there was a knock at his door and he had to stifle a curse. Which one of his fellow residents was visiting him now? He needed to keep his vigil for Nadia, needed to stay close to the security phone linked to the front door of the building so that he could buzz her in as quickly as possible. If she’d been hurt and needed to be taken to A and E…
‘Yes?’ he said curtly as he dragged the door open with one eye towards the front window, hoping his tone was sufficiently offputting to dissuade whichever neighbour it was from wanting to keep him talking.
‘Gideon?’
He nearly gave himself whiplash his head turned towards her exotic voice so quickly. How on earth had she managed to get into the building without ringing the bell? For that matter, how had she managed to approach the building without him catching so much as a glimpse of her?
Not that he would have recognised her looking like this, he admitted as he stood back to let her enter. She looked as if she was soaked to the skin, wearing nothing more than when he’d seen her earlier. The only thing different was the small backpack hooked over her shoulders that thudded against the door when she slumped back against it, gasping for breath.
Her eyes were wild, darting here and there, and she was trembling all over. He was reminded of a kitten he’d once rescued from a pursuing dog.
‘What on earth happened?’ he demanded, wishing he had the right to wrap her in his arms. He could almost hear her bones rattling as she shook. ‘Were you attacked? Are you hurt?’
‘No…I’m not hurt,’ she managed to gasp. ‘I got away, but only through Maria’s window.’
Suddenly, the enormity of what she’d just gone through seemed to dawn on her and without a second’s warning she started to crumple to the floor.
‘Whoa!’ he exclaimed and swooped her up into his arms. There hadn’t been time to wonder about her reaction to the contact or she could have ended up with some spectacular bruises. As it was, instead of trying to preserve her usual distance between them, she actually flung an arm around his neck and burrowed her face into his shoulder.
‘I thought I was trapped…thought I’d never get away,’ she muttered through chattering teeth. ‘Then his phone wouldn’t work…He had to go to the front door…I grabbed my bag…my money…Ran upstairs…’
‘Shh…shh,’ he soothed, not really caring what she was trying to tell him in those disjointed, heavily accented snatches. The most important thing, as far as he was concerned, was that she was finally in his arms and letting him take care of her for a change, and he couldn’t have cared less that she’d instantly soaked him to the skin on contact. ‘There’s plenty of time to tell me all about it later,’ he suggested, and was taken aback when Nadia shook her head violently.
‘No, no!’ she said, pushing against his chest so that she could lean far enough back to be able to see his face. ‘Gideon, it is danger, still. Maria phones the police, but they can do nothing if they do not know about the girls. And if they take Laszlo away, who will feed them? Who will protect them from the others?’
‘Laszlo?’ Jealous rage roared through him at the sound of a man’s name, even though it was obvious that she had absolutely no tender feelings for whoever he was. ‘Nadia, who is Laszlo?’
‘He is a bad man…an evil man,’ she insisted, and the fear he saw in her eyes was dreadful. ‘Maria is phoning police but they will talk and because there is no one to tell them the truth…no one who will dare to stand against him…he will be free in the morning and he will search and search until…until…’
She was already shaking as a result of the icy rain and when she started to sob, too, harsh, raw sounds that seemed as if they would wrench her slender body in two, he had to sit down with her or risk dropping her.
‘Nadia, sweetheart…’ She seemed as oblivious to the endearment that slipped out as she was to the fact that he was now cradling her on his lap with both arms wrapped around her. She really needed to strip off her soaked clothing and get into something dry, but he didn’t think she was ready for something that would make her feel that vulnerable.
‘Please, Nadia…I don’t understand.’ There was something about her agitation that told him it would be wrong to wait until she’d calmed down. Whatever situation she’d just fled from was serious enough that something needed to be done as quickly as possible. ‘Who is Laszlo? Why were you running away from him? Is he a violent man…dangerous? Do you need me to call the police?’
‘Ah, Gideon, the police will be able to do nothing,’ she said with despair in her eyes. ‘He is too clever. I can prove nothing against him an
d he will make me pay for reporting him…’ He wasn’t sure whether she was sobbing again or if that was the start of hysterical laughter.
‘Nadia, we have good police officers assigned to the A and E department. I know them well because I see so much of them,’ he explained, absolutely certain that they would be able to help her if only she would trust him enough to tell him what was going on. ‘Tell me who this man is and what he’s done to you and we’ll make certain he can’t hurt you again.’
The expression on her face was one he’d never seen before and the utter hopelessness of it broke his heart.
‘You can’t,’ she whispered sadly. ‘Nothing can stop Laszlo. He is too powerful…too rich…too…’ She shook her head.
‘But who is he? How do you know him? Is he from your own country?’
It felt cruel to badger her for answers when she was in such a fragile state, but if he was going to have a chance to protect her, he needed the information that only she could give.
‘Yes, he is from my country,’ she said in a strangely dead voice. ‘He made an arrangement with my father so my brother can have the money to go to university, but I did not know this. I thought…’ She drew in a shuddering breath and gave a sharp bark of self-deprecating laughter. ‘I thought I was going to be his wife…I saw the papers and there was a ceremony, but it was all a…a pretend…a lie. As soon as we go to his place there were men waiting because he had told them he was going to fetch a new girl…a virgin…and they would pay good money—bid against each other to be the first to—’
‘Shh, shh,’ he soothed, his mind churning with the horrific pictures she’d painted. He rocked her as if she were a little child as she cried in his arms and he didn’t know when he’d ever felt more helpless or more blindingly angry.
CHAPTER TEN
A Family for His Tiny Twins Page 13
