“Can we see him?” I ask.
“Come back tomorrow and you can for a little bit, but he needs to rest as much as possible. He survived, and he’s damn lucky to have done that, but his recovery isn’t going to be a quick one. He’s going to have to take it easy.”
“He’ll love hearing that,” Vasily says, laughing with the rest of us. I can hear the relief in his voice. He grips my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. I know he was just as scared as I was. We all were. We thank the doctor, and as he walks away it’s like we can all breathe again.
“When he’s better, I’m going to kick his ass for scaring us like this,” I say with a smile.
“I’ll hold him down for you,” Vasily says.
“I need a fucking drink,” Nikolai mutters. “A big one.”
Maddie looks at her bloody shirt. “I really need a shower.”
I kiss her head and turn to the others. “I’m going to take her home.” Vasily ruffles my hair like he used to do when we were little and the look he gives me makes words completely unnecessary. We both know how close we came to losing one of us. Family is everything, and we almost lost a big part of ours tonight.
Giving Nina and Svetlana a quick hug goodbye, I nod to the others and gently lead Maddie to the car. A wave of exhaustion hits me, threatening to completely overwhelm me, but I push it aside and get behind the wheel. The drive back is quiet. I hold her hand when I’m not shifting, and when I pull up to the gate, Boris quickly runs up to the car.
“Any news?” he asks. Word’s spread through the Bratva, and everyone is waiting to hear about Valeri.
“He’s going to be okay.”
Boris lets out a heavy sigh and pats my arm. “He’s going to have to answer for all the grey hairs he just gave me.” Bending down, he gives Maddie a wave. Noticing her bruises, he looks at me and asks, “Everything okay?”
“It is now,” I assure him.
He grins and takes a step back. “I’ll spread the word that Valeri’s okay.”
“Thanks, Boris.”
I give him a wave and drive up to the house. The dogs whine when they see us and smell blood. Maddie bends down and gives them each some love, letting them know she’s okay. Standing up, she grabs my hand and leads me inside, taking me up to our bathroom. She starts to fill the tub and then grabs onto my T-shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking care of you.” She smiles and pulls my shirt up, waiting for me to bend down enough for her to remove it.
When she starts to unbutton my jeans, I cup her face, running my thumb lightly over her bruised cheek. “I’m so fucking sorry,kiska.”
“You saved me tonight. That’s what I remember.”
“I remember walking into that room and seeing a man about to rape you after he’d already beaten you,” I tell her, the image permanently seared into my brain.
She keeps working on my pants and shakes her head softly. “You got there in time, Volodya. That’s all that matters. When I look back on this night, all I’m going to think about is how you stormed into that room and saved me.”
When we’re in the tub, she makes sure my bandage isn’t in danger of getting wet and then leans back against my chest. I wrap my uninjured arm around her, lightly stroking her upper chest with my thumb.
“I need you to tell me everything that happened tonight,” I tell her. “Every single detail. I need to know what happened to you.”
She thinks for a second and turns her head so she can see me. “I will if you will.”
I smile and kiss her forehead. “Deal,kiska, but this is a one-time thing.”
Settling back, she starts from the moment I left this evening, telling me about the text from her mom and everything that happened after she showed up there. I don’t interrupt her or say anything, but inside I’m seething at the things he did to her, and if I could bring him back to life, I would, just so I could kill the fucker again.
When I’ve got control of my anger, I say, “I didn’t rape Kaylee. I’ve never raped a woman in my life, and I sure as hell didn’t beat her.”
“I never thought for one second that you had,” she says, and I can hear the truth in her words, and it means the world to me. She knows what I’m capable of, seen my demons come out to play, but even after all that, she knew I wouldn’t rape someone.
“She made it clear I could have her if I wanted, and I made it clear that wasn’t going to happen. I hurt her pride, and then I told my men they weren’t allowed to touch her, even if she begged for it. I guess that really pissed her off.”
