After what felt like hours later but was probably only minutes, Claire helped me sit up.
“A good shower will do wonders, I’m sure,” she concluded.
“The baby is okay, though?” Andre asked. Mikhail stood behind him, his serious expression unyielding.
Claire furrowed her brow and glanced at me. “They’re both going to be fine. Superficial wounds won’t be a pleasant experience, but no lasting injuries are evident.”
“Good.” Andre reached for me, and I flinched.
He reared back, frowning at me. “She said?—”
Mikahil set his hand on his shoulder, silently seeming to hint that he should let me stand on my own.
I did, glaring at him. “I heard her. I’d like to shower now, as she suggested.” Nothing would clean this filth from me, this stain of being a Giovanni andthingto be used, not loved. “Then I’ll be ready for you to put me whereveryouwould like to keep me hostage until this baby is born.”
“What the fuck?” he muttered, scowling at me.
“Perhaps you could rest here,” Claire said. “Not in the clinic, but one of the guest rooms and?—”
I glanced at Mikhail’s stern face. Hell no. I was well aware that he didn’t want me in his building.
“No!” Andre replied, like that was bullshit. “She’s coming with me.”
None of them argued, and I had no power to speak up against him either. I had no voice at my uncle’s and as an enemy and a failed spy, I’d have no right to protest here.
Andre led me toward his building. No words were shared between us, and the long walk in the interconnecting corridors felt like a marathon. I was exhausted. I was bewildered. I was in pain from the beating. And I was trying my best not to let this anger consume me as Andre and Oleg talked about the mission and what they’d want to keep an eye on as my uncle returned and found me missing.
I should’ve paid attention. They were talking aboutme, but I knew it was pointless. They’d determine my fate, just like my uncle wanted to.
Oleg headed in another direction in the house, and I slowed in the foyer, expecting Andre’s order to go. I turned to go to my old maid’s room, but he grabbed my hand and growled, “What the hell are you doing?”
I snarled at him and tried to yank my hand free. He didn’t release me, marching me toward his room. “I’m going to clean up in my room.”
He cursed under his breath, shaking his head as he brought me to the master suite. The room where I’d deluded myself into thinking we’d be a couple. Lovers and something more.
“I will handle that. I will…” He glanced at me as he led me to the bathroom and had me sit in the chair. The same chair where he’d sat and I’d tried to help him with his injuries.
I popped right back up, defiant to reject him while he turned the shower on behind him.
He gritted his teeth, as if the sight of me with bruises and swollen marks annoyed him. “Sit down and let me?—”
“No.” I stood again, and when he closed in on me, I sidestepped, nearing the shower.
“Sofia, stop. Why are you?—”
“I’m not anything,” I yelled. “I’m nothing to you, so don’t pretend otherwise.”
He gaped at me as he cornered me near the shower stall door. “You aremine. You aremine, Sofia.”
“Yes. I understand. You came for me to make sure you’d have your child and he wouldn’t. I’m not stupid.”
He gripped my chin, careful not to touch my injuries where my uncle had hit me, but a firm hold, nonetheless. Fire flashed in his eyes as he walked me into the shower. “Maybe you are. Maybe youarestupid if you can’t realize I’m going to war for you. For us.”
“There is no us!” I squinted under the spray of water, dousing my clothes and all.
He didn’t stop, getting soaked as he stayed with me, in my face. “The fuck there isn’t. I don’t care what he told you. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I love you.”
His fingers remained on my chin as he pierced me with his smoldering, incensed stare. “I love you, Sofia, and you aremine.You.”
