First of all, shewas tired andtraumatized, so that wouldn’t be too hard. Secondly, she wouldn’ttell him a damn thing. As far as she was concerned, her wholefamily was dead to her. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a littlescared and nervous that he would do as Ryan said.
“Nod that youunderstand.”
She did.
“Thank God.” Peterapproached Katya and embraced her when she got out of the vehicle.She did not return the hug.
“The police were here. Theyfound my car overturned in the ditch smashed to shit. No one knewwhat happened. I feared the worst.”
“We were attacked and takenhostage.” Ryan came around the front of the jeep.
Peter assessed thecondition of Ryan’s face. “What the fuck happened toyou?”
“It’s been a roughtwenty-four hours.” He gave Kat’s arm a squeeze. “Katya, go to yourroom, clean up and get some rest.”
“I want a debriefing,”Peter ordered.
“I’ll give you that.” Ryanstated as Katya walked through the men and into the house without aword to anyone. “She’s dealing with too much right now and reallydidn’t see anything. They had her locked in a cell.” Peter seemedto accept that and focus his attention back on Ryan.
“We all thought you wereboth dead when we saw the car. You saved her again.”
“Yes.”
“Who were they? Did you seethem?”
He nodded. “A few won’t bebothering us anymore.”
“What exactly does thatmean?”
“They threatened my client,so I took care of them.”
Peter and Ivan exchanged aglance. “You killed them?”
Was he hard of hearing? “Asmany as I could. Others had left the house before I got free.”Peter looked quite pleased. Ivan was a different story.
“And just how many men didyou kill?” Ivan asked not believing him.
Ryan shifted his gaze toIvan and the corners of his mouth quirked upward saying a lot. Theman’s jealousy was like a billboard and Ryan basically called himon it.
“You son of a—”
“Shut the fuck up Ivan. Atleast he did something none of you imbeciles could. My daughter ishome unharmed. When you were supposed to be looking after them,Anna got murdered.”
Ivan did as he was told,but continued to glare at him.
“Where is thishouse?”
He told them. He didn’tsay that they’d find nothing but ashes though. Let them go for a drive.
Peter looked over hisshoulder, “Ivan, get a crew out there. Everyone.”
“Yes Mr. Nickolov.” With afinal glare at Ryan, he turned and waved his arm. The men followedhim.
“Your shoulder.” Peternoticed that blood started seeping through the shirt.
“Ah, yeah, I was shot. Ineed to go get mended. Do you have a first aid kit?”
“You are a machine!” Peterslapped him on the back, causing him to grunt. That shoulder. Helaughed. “Sorry.”
***
“This is crazy. I can’t sewwell with fabric.” Katya hovered beside him with a suture andthread. She’d had a shower while he was still speaking with herfather, and only put on a robe. Then he showed up with a first aidkit telling her to sew him up after he washed up a little. He wascovered in dirt and blood. She watched as he removed his shirtshowing some difficulty for the first time as he walked into thebathroom.
When he came back out tohis room, he had on draw string pajama bottoms, and sat in a chairfor her to suture him. She felt awful. He was hurt because of her,yet didn’t complain. Not once. Her heart swelled. This was thefirst person to ever risk anything for her and he had no reason todo it, if even for the money. He could have left her at the house,but he didn’t. Was there such a thing as loyalty like this, or washe getting a lot of money? “Is it the money?”
He turned his head andlooked at her trying to figure out what she meant.
“That my father paysyou.”
“You think that hassomething to do with what I did—for you?”
“Forget it…it’s a stupidquestion.”
She was vulnerable andlooking for reasons on why he would sacrifice so much for her.Well, if she only believed what she saw in the mirror, she wouldunderstand. And it wasn’t just what was on the outside, but itcertainly didn’t hurt any. “Money has nothing to do with it. I toldyou what you mean to me. I would have done it, with my training, oreven without because of how I feel.”
She was relieved. “I’msorry. I’m doubting everything. I don’t even know where that camefrom. You did tell me, and I believed you. I don’t know why I’mrevisiting it.”
“You had a nightmare happentwice. You’re vulnerable. It’s understandable. Besides, I don’tneed money Kat. I have enough to last me comfortably for the restof my life. Trust me. This isn’t even about my brother anymore.” Hesqueezed her hand. “Now before I bleed out, we should get started.Just loop it three times, front and back. It will be fine. I won’tfeel it—much.” He chuckled.
“You are crazy.” Shereleased a laugh. He certainly wasn’t boring. She felt brave afterthose words though, and with surprisingly steady hands, did as heasked. He didn’t even flinch. Then she covered the area with gauzeand tape. “You have an incredible pain tolerance.”
“Oh, it hurts like hell. Ihave just learned not to react to it.” He stood up and went intothe bathroom to look in the mirror and admire her work. Shefollowed him in. “Not bad.” He bent and kissed her on the mouth.“Good job,” he said against her lips before he lifted his head andlooked down at her.
“You’re still batteredlooking.” She moved her eyes over the marks on his face.
“What? This?” he traced hisfingers down his jaw where he was punched. There was swelling and atelltale bruise. There was also a cut above his eye and morebruising on his torso from the accident. “I guess I’ll have to giveup my modelling career.”
She looked sympathetic.“You joke about this? What did they do to you?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. Itwill disappear in a few days.”
“You have to be the bravestman I know.” Her fingers touched his brow and down the line of hisjaw.
His eyes darkened. He bent,cupped her bottom, lifted her up against him and kissed her whilewalking out of the bathroom toward the bed. She wrapped her armsaround his neck and her legs around his hips kissing himback.
He stopped at the foot ofthe
