“He killed Giselle.”
“I know.”
I pulled back my head, looking in his face. “He said you’re a Russian police officer.”
Axel didn’t blink. He just stared at me with something that looked like resignation. “I am. Or at least I used to be.”
My lips trembled. I had so many questions, but I could only stare at his beautiful face and take in the fact that he held me in his arms.
“I thought you got arrested,” my voice was muffled against his neck.
“I know.” He pulled back to stare into my eyes.
“And then Giselle came to get me, and I thought you said she could be trusted.”
He looked sad. “I’m sorry.”
My whole body was shaking, and I felt slightly lightheaded, but I couldn’t seem to stop talking. “He made me leave Bandit outside in the rain.”
“Bandit’s safe. I brought him to stay with someone trustworthy who loves dogs.”
Those words made me weak, and I felt the last of the adrenaline drain out of me. “Oh my god.”
“We need to get out of here. Are you able to walk?”
I nodded, and he helped me stiffly stand up.
Where were we going? Home? Had we even shared a real home together? Between us, I didn’t know what was real or fake. If he was a cop from Russia, did this mean he was going back there? Was our marriage fake? Was he here because he loved me, or because it was his duty?
My mind raced with a hundred questions, but I stayed silent. I was too afraid to ask him in case he told me the truth. I wasn’t sure I could handle anything else today.
“I want you to walk out of this motel room without touching anything and without looking around. Can you do that for me?” His voice was gentle, and his hand warmed the small of my back. I thought I saw real concern in his eyes, but I wasn’t sure anymore. I no longer knew what any of his looks meant, if they were real or just pretend.
I nodded.
“Okay, let’s do this nice and easy.”
He turned and guided me out of the bathroom. The main room was a disaster. The mattress was off the bed, pictures had come off the walls, and not a single piece of furniture remained upright. Anything that was breakable had been smashed, and glass littered the worn carpet.
I staggered when I saw Sergei’s boots, attached to lifeless legs, sticking out beside the bed. Most of his body was covered with a mattress.
“Steady,” Axel advised, his hand on my shoulder.
I stumbled across the room, and he reached forward and opened the door to pouring rain. “Come on, we have to go.”
He carefully locked the door behind us and then led me to a vehicle that I’d never seen before and ushered me to the passenger seat.
He started the vehicle and turned on the heat. “Ready?”
I stared through the pouring rain at the dark motel room. “Are we just going to leave him there?”
Axel put the vehicle in gear. “He’ll be found soon enough.”
Axel drovein silence along the dark highway. He looked like he knew where we were going. I was mesmerized by the pouring rain and the thump of the windshield wipers.
Axel came and saved me from Sergei.
I couldn’t quite come to terms with the fact that he was a police officer. There was nothing different about him. He was still intense, focused, decisive and protective. He still didn’t speak much, and he seemed intent on taking us somewhere.
