Page 19 of The Russian's Bought Bride

The question hangs between us, and as annoying as it is to hear, given everything I just put on the line to get her out of there, I know it’s reasonable.

With a small step closer, but not close enough to crowd her, I try to keep myself as unimposing as possible. But I’m not blind; I know how intimidating I can seem.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

She studies me like she’s trying to decide if that’s a promise or a veiled threat. “You expect me to just believe that?”

“No,” I admit. “But you don’t have much of a choice right now either.”

Danielle hesitates, then grits her teeth. “I want to leave.”

“I know.”

“Then let me.”

“I can’t,” I mutter.

More irritation sparks in her, regardless of her devastation. “Why not?”

Because the people who killed her father would finish the job if they found her, and now she’s tied to something bigger than she could possibly understand. Because I dragged her into my world, and now I don’t know how to let her out of it without ruining her life more.

But all of that feels like too much to say, so instead, I say, “Because it’s not safe for you out there yet. Not this soon.”

She lets out a shaky breath and runs a hand through her hair with a whisper, “This is insane. All of this. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It will. Eventually.”

She looks at me again with that fear still in her eyes, but also with something else underneath it now. Something raw and almost desperate for answers.

“Why did you help me?”

The question catches me off guard, and I don’t have a clean answer for it.

I could say it was strategic or that it served a purpose, but none of that would be true. Not really.

Holding her gaze, something unfamiliar stirs under the surface within me, and the words leave me like an admittance, “I’m not sure.”

That’s the truth. Somewhere between hearing her voice through that wire and knowing she was on that table changed something in me. Something I can’t place a name to yet.

And I don’t like not being able to name things.

Her brows draw together slightly, like she doesn’t know what to do with that answer, but she doesn’t say anything.

Neither do I.

“Get some rest,” I tell her after a long moment before I step back toward the door. “We’ll figure this out.”

Her lips part like she wants to argue, yet nothing comes out.

Good…I don’t have the patience for another fight right now.

With a note of finality, I step into the hallway again and pull the door closed behind me. As I walk away, I know this wasn’t part of the plan.

But somehow, it feels like the start of something I can’t walk away from.

Chapter 6 - Dani

I must be losing my mind.