Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
FIONA
The first thing I notice is the smell.
Clean linen. Faint cologne.
I’m not in my bed. Everything feels off.
My eyes crack open against the splitting pain behind them, and the second thing I register is the sunlight, blinding me until I want to hide behind sleep again.
But fragments start surfacing.
His voice whispering beside me. Arms wrapped tight around my body. The steady weight of him pressed against me, like he wasn’t going to let go.
I remember the parking lot. The way he pulled me into his chest. The way I let him. And…I think he held me last night.
No. That can’t be right. He wouldn’t.
Would he?
Sitting up, I look around the room. The space feels just like him. Dark wood with modern touches. Expensive. Masculine.
My head pounds harder. Did he really find me? Did I really get that drunk and almost get myself into real shit?
I pinch the bridge of my nose and push the blanket off, and that’s when I freeze.
My clothes are gone. In their place is an oversized white T-shirt I don’t recognize. I stare at it, nausea spiking.
I’m wearing his shirt.
Panic crawls up my spine. I bolt upright, and the world tilts, the sudden motion sending a wave of dizziness crashing through me. My stomach churns, and I press a shaking hand to my forehead, trying not to throw up.
When did he take my clothes off?
Did I let him? Did I even know? Would he really have done that to me while I was in such a state? That would be a new low, even for him.
My mind claws for answers, but I don’t remember anything more.
I stagger for the edge of the bed and spot my phone on the nightstand. My fingers shake as I grab it and hit the screen.
Eight missed calls. Twelve texts.
Dana
Fiona? Please tell me you’re okay.
I swear to God, if you don’t text me back, I’m calling the cops.
I’m going to lose my damn mind. Are you DEAD?
That one makes me laugh.
Fiona
I’m okay. I’m safe. I’m so sorry I didn’t respond sooner. I think I was drugged.
She replies instantly.
Dana
WHAT?! Where are you now?
I pause. How do I answer that? Because I have no idea where I am. I can guess I’m in Aleksei’s home, but there’s no confirmation. No details except the scent of his cologne.
Before I can reply, the door opens. And he’s there.
The air shifts the moment our eyes meet, some unseen current crackling between us and lighting something in my chest.
He steps in, gray sweatpants slung indecently low with no shirt on. My eyes catch on the tattoo stretched over his chest: a lion ripping apart a wolf, flames curling in every direction.
It’s brutal. Violent. Unapologetic. Just like him.
He’s carved from danger, every inch of him a warning. The kind of man who doesn’t just break rules, but builds his power from the ruins.
And yet, despite everything, I can’t imagine him crossing that line and taking advantage of me. Not even if he despises me.
“You’re awake.”
I close my messages and toss my phone on the bed.
“I—” My voice cracks. I try again. “Where am I?”
His brow furrows. “You’re at my house.”
Just as I assumed.
“Why am I in your shirt? What happened to my clothes? Did you…”
“No,” he says sharply, cutting me off. He strides to the edge of the bed and hands me a bottle of water and two white pills. “You threw up in my car. Your clothes were ruined. I took them off. In the dark. I didn’t look. I’m not that kind of man.”
Relief washes over me.
I take the pills with a shaky sip, hoping he’s telling the truth. He lowers himself onto the bed beside me with a kind of care that unsettles me. It’s like I’m something fragile he’s not sure how to hold without breaking. And I hate it.
Or maybe I don’t.
Because I don’t know what to do with this version of him. This quieter, almost nurturing presence. I’m used to the crazy, impossibly domineering Aleksei.
But this? This tender version? It throws me off-balance. And as much as I want to reject it, question it, pretend it’s not what I need, I can’t lie to myself.
I do like it. Maybe too much.
His hand finds mine, fingers wrapping around it before he lifts it to his mouth and presses a kiss to my knuckles.
“How do you feel?” he asks, low and gentle.
“I…like I got hit by a truck,” I whisper. “I don’t really remember much. Just…the parking lot. I think. And you?”
Something sharp flickers in his expression. “You were drugged.”
I suck in a breath.
Oh God…
“But don’t worry,” he adds, a mischievous glint in his irises. “He won’t ever touch anyone again.”
My stomach drops. “What does that mean?”
“It means…” His mouth curves. “Exactly what you think it means.”
I can’t be listening to this. It might as well be an admission of a crime.
My heart thuds. “You weren’t with me…last night, were you? I could’ve sworn you—”
He shakes his head too hard, like he’s trying to rid himself of the thought. “No. You were alone.”
How can that be? I swear I heard him. Felt his arms. Was it a dream?
A part of me aches at the confirmation. Not because I wanted him here, but because…well, maybe I did.
God, what’s wrong with me?
“If you want to shower…” He rises to his feet. “Your things are in the bathroom. Same products you use at home.”
I jerk back. “You went to my house?”
“No.” He scoffs. “I was preparing for the inevitable.”
My body goes rigid. Does he mean he bought them in advance and kept them for when I was here? For when I married him? He really was planning this…
“If you’re hungry, my chef has made lunch. I can have it brought up to you.”
“Lunch?” I glance at the clock on the nightstand. “What time is it?”
“Noon. You’ve been out for a while.” He looks me over slowly. “You look better. I was worried.”
That last sentence is so quiet, I almost miss it.
Almost.
He turns to go.
“Aleksei,” I call out, surprising both of us.
He pauses.
I swallow past the knot building there. “Thank you. For…whatever you did. For not leaving me.”
He doesn’t smirk or throw one of his sharp, condescending replies. He just nods, but there’s something raw in his face that takes me aback.
Then he’s gone, the door clicking shut behind him. While I sit here, tangled in his sheets, drowning in his scent, wondering how the man who threatened to ruin my life could be the same one who made sure I lived through the night.