“You’re marrying her?” Ilya asks, looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind. Maybe I have. Fuck, I don’t know.
“Yeah, it looks like I am.” I sigh and pour myself a very large vodka. “I couldn’t leave her in that fucking place. She begged me to help her. I couldn’t walk away, and marrying her was the only thing I could think of to keep her safe. The woman who runs that place is an absolute bitch. I saw the way she looked at Nina. She was never going to let her go. She would’ve had people out scouring the whole damn city looking for her. If I had let her go, Nina wouldn’t have made it a fucking block before they would’ve grabbed her and hauled her ass back.”
“So all the women there are being held against their will?”
Neither one of us is a stranger to sex trafficking, and I know he hates it as much as I do. It’s rampant in Eastern Europe, and many young Russian women get forced or tricked into it.
“I didn’t see any of the other women, but I’m guessing that none of them are there because they want to be. As we were leaving, Nina begged me to help another girl, said she was seventeen and that as soon as she turns eighteen Ruby’s going to make her start working upstairs.”
“Fuck,” Ilya mutters, pouring himself a drink and refilling mine. “Can’t we go get them and torch the fucking place?”
“It’s neutral territory,” I remind him. “What I did pushed things far enough. I pissed off a lot of people tonight, but fuck them.”
“Fuck them,” Ilya agrees with a grin.
We both turn when Andrei walks in followed by a man who looks like he’s still half asleep and got dressed in the dark. I grab another glass and pour two more drinks, handing one to the ruffled officiant and the other to Andrei.
“I appreciate you coming out here on such short notice. I’m willing to give you a very large tip to make up for the inconvenience and to help out with any paperwork that we haven’t had a chance to fill out yet.”
His eyes light up at the mention of a bonus, and when he takes the drink, he nods his head and says, “Thank you.”
Andrei hands me the ring boxes. “It was a pain in the ass to get a store to open up this late, but I managed to convince a very nice gentleman that it was in his best interest to sell me two wedding bands at one o’clock in the morning.”
Ruslan gives a soft bark and goes barreling towards the staircase a second before I see Nina. She yelps when she sees Ruslan’s large form and freezes in place. I run over to her, not wanting her to be scared of anything else tonight. When I reach her, Ruslan is licking her hand and giving excited little grunts. I pet his head and give her a smile.
“His name is Ruslan. He looks scary, but he won’t hurt you.”
She smiles down at Ruslan and then winces when her split lip starts to bleed again. Holding her hand to her mouth, she looks up at me. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t get any blood on the carpet, and I tried very hard to not stain your towels.”
“Nina, I don’t give a shit about the towels or carpet. Come here, let’s get some ice on it.”
She seems surprised when I grab her hand and lead her back into the kitchen. Her dark hair is wet from the shower, and she’s not wearing any makeup, making her look even more beautiful to me. I put some ice in a bag for her and wrap it in a dish towel so it won’t be too cold. Her eyes widen in surprise when I lean closer and gently move her hand so I can press the ice to her lip.
“This will help,” I tell her. “But it’s going to be sore for several days. Did Ruby do this to you?”
Her eyes dart to the other men in the room before she whispers a soft “No.”
I don’t ask her any more questions, even though I’m dying to know who hit her so I can go kill the bastard. Forcing myself to calm down so she doesn’t see how angry I am and think it’s directed at her, I use my free hand to point at Andrei.
“This is Andrei, another one of my men.” Andrei nods as I point to the older man beside him. “And that’s the gentleman who was kind enough to come out in the middle of the night to marry us.”
“Congratulations,” he says, holding up his empty glass and proving that he’s the world’s worst room reader. When no one says anything, his smile falters and he drops his hand.
“Wow,” Ilya mutters into the awkward silence. The man blushes and helps himself to another drink in what appears to be an attempt to keep his hands busy more than his desire for more alcohol
I look down at Nina when I feel her fingers brush mine. She grabs the ice pack I made her and says, “I can hold it. Thank you.”
I drop my hand reluctantly and then keep an eye on her to make sure the ice stays pressed to her lips. It’s been a long time since anyone’s managed to get in close enough to surprise me with a punch to the mouth, but I remember how badly it stings and what a pain in the ass it is as it heals.
“So are we waiting for anyone else?” the officiant asks, looking around. “If not, I can go ahead and perform the ceremony.”
Knowing there’s no point in putting this off, Nina drops the ice and runs a hand down the pink sweater and black skirt she’s wearing. Her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
“I wasn’t sure what to wear. I’m sorry if this is wrong.”
“It’s perfect, Nina. Please don’t worry about that.” I hook a finger under her chin and slowly lift her face. She’s so much shorter than me, and her slight frame seems even smaller than usual when she wraps her arms around herself and brings her dark eyes to mine.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as the others walk into the living room, apparently deciding that’s where the impromptu wedding should take place. “I know you don’t want this, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time.”
