17. Maxim
17
MAXIM
N adia, where the hell did you go?
Over the last forty-nine hours, I'd wondered that countless times.
She ran, taking all the cash from my wallet. It added up to a significant sum, but it wasn’t enough to get her that far.
“You did what now?” Ivan asked.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead as I held my phone to my ear. He’d called me, and before I could stop myself, I admitted that I’d lost her. Making that confession was hard enough. Hearing his incredulous tone irked me.
“She ran. I was on the phone with Nik a couple of days ago?—”
“A couple of days ago?” He swore. “She’s been on the run for two days?”
“She’s been on the run for six years,” I spat back. That was the truth. Ever since Lev Avilov tried to make her his child bride, she had the mentality of being on the run and hiding. I couldn’t blame her, despite the old, trained idea that arranged marriages were the status quo.
“But right now. You last saw her two whole days ago?”
I winced at his incredulous tone. It implied his utter shock that I’d fucked up this badly. “Yeah. What a great impression I’m making, huh?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up with that bullshit. You’re just as qualified as the rest of us. More so, with all your techy shit.”
“Techy shit that I don’t have access to here.” I scowled as I walked down the sidewalk. It seemed like that was all I did now, searching for her. “And it wouldn’t have mattered. She had no credit cards. No phone. She took my cash and ran.”
“What about her tracker?”
I groaned, hating the deep regret that I hadn’t put one on her. “I never got around to using one on her.”
“Why not?”
Because I was too busy fucking her when I wasn’t keeping her safe.
Because I started to be an idiot and think that she could be trusted not to run from me.
I dismissed that thought. I refused to look at it that way. She wasn’t running from me, personally. She’d made it clear that she would continue to escape Lev’s reach. Until her last breath, that sexy woman would run as far and as fast as she could.
I was an extension of Lev, though, told to bring her home. So, in essence, she was running from me.
“Never mind,” Ivan said, grunting as though he questioned my flaw in decision making there. “Did you check all the car rentals?”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see. “Yes. She wouldn’t have gotten far, though. She didn’t have her ID or passport.”
“Hotels?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve searched all of them.” The grainy photo of her on my phone wasn’t the best picture, but it was clearly her. “I’m starting to worry that someone else got to her.”
“Like who?”
“I fucked up in London,” I explained. “I thought the other man rushing after her could’ve been an enemy of the Avilovs. I didn’t realize it was Lev’s nephew sent to get her. But that’s a valid thought. Lev hasn’t made a secret of how he intends to marry her. Lots of rivals and enemies could know that and want to take her as leverage against him.”
“Yeah. That’s true,” he agreed.
“Or the locals. I found her getting mugged when I arrived here. And those thieves didn’t quit easily.” I glanced around, frowning and wishing she’d just show up. “We’re in the city, but this shit happens.”
“Of course it does.”
“I should’ve put that goddamn tracker on her,” I groused. I was kicking myself for making that mistake with her. I only had myself to blame. I was stupid to want to trust her.
I’d begun to see her in a different light. That maybe she was feeling the same, mutual affection that I felt growing for her. We had chemistry. There was no point in denying it. Something pulled me to her, and just the same, she seemed inclined to gravitate toward me.
Stop. This is stupid. The mere thought of her having feelings for me pissed me off to no end. She wasn’t supposed to matter. Her opinions of me weren’t supposed to count as valid conditions in these circumstances.
Feeling her wrapped around me was a glorious sensation. I yearned to feel her so deep like that again. That was only the physical problem. Wanting her just because she seemed to complete me, to sync with me, was the trickiest thing to resist.
She’s not yours.
Nadia wasn’t mine. I’d fucked her. I’d taken her virginity, but that didn’t mean anything permanent.
“I’ll check the hospitals again.”
“Keep me posted. I’m here to help if I can,” Ivan replied.
“No, you need to focus on finding Dmitri,” I argued.
He huffed. “You’re my brother too. We all help each other. You know that. And if this woman is starting to matter to you as much as it sounds like she is… Then fuck. I’ll support you. I never expected to fall for Becca, and look at me now, engaged and a daddy.”
We ended the call, but I didn’t put my phone away. I called the hospitals again, grateful that I’d taken so many courses to learn other languages. My Spanish was rusty, but decent.
“Yes, we do have a woman matching that description,” the receptionist said.
I’d called and asked for my “wife”, and this was the first time someone had a different answer for me.
“All the tattoos? Flowers over her left shoulder but skulls on the other?”
“Yes,” the woman replied. “She was transported here from another facility. A patient with a head injury.”
After getting directions, I hurried to the hospital. The whole drive over, I worried that I was getting my hopes up high. That it wasn’t her. Or if it was, she was badly wounded.
A head injury?
The worst-case scenarios filed through my mind.
If the local criminals targeted her as a lone tourist out on her own… I’d track them down and make them regret it.
If Avilov’s enemies sought her out… I’d chase after them and slaughter them all.
And if Erik Avilov had gotten a bead on her and located her…
No. He wouldn’t hurt her. Not if he’s supposed to bring her in to his nasty uncle.
I wanted to assume that no one else would have found her. She had no phone or cards to be tracked. She’d made a call at that scenic area, where I first reunited with her, so maybe someone could have pinpointed her to being near Cozumel. But since then, she hadn’t offered any opportunity of being followed.
Or they could be finding her through me.
I’d kept her close, and the Valkovs had enemies. I could have been followed, making it easier for someone to get to her.
Entertaining all these worries made me more anxious, but I tamped it all down as I hurried toward her room.
A nurse accompanied me, explaining the protocol they had in place for visitors and the hours they could come, but I tuned her out. Operating with tunnel vision, I concentrated on simply reaching her.
There she was.
I stopped short as I entered the small room, and as soon as I took in the sight of her lying in a hospital bed, my heart calmed. My head cleared. My heart sung higher with the elation of not only seeing her again, but knowing for a fact that she was alive and well.
“Maxim,” she whispered. Her eyes opened wide with surprise, but she sniffled immediately, tearing up.
“Nadia.” I plowed past the nurse, rushing closer to the bed. “You brat. You ran,” I whispered as I took her hand.
“She’s been suffering from amnesia,” the nurse prattled on, furrowing her brow as she watched Nadia grip my hand.
I ignored the woman, leaning in closer to cup Nadia’s face and kiss her hard. It was a punishing, demanding order. I beckoned her to kiss me back, to open up and let me taste her sweetness again.
She moaned, taken aback by my hunger and impatience, and when the nurse retreated, her shoes squeaking on the floor, I waited until the door closed. Now with a semblance of privacy, I turned my elation and relief into annoyance and anger.
Nipping her lip earned me a sharp hiss. I broke the kiss completely and glared down at her.
This wasn’t the time for Mr. Nice Guy. I was livid, but happy. I was frustrated, but full of relief.
“Amnesia?” I demanded.
She licked her lips, as though she wanted more of my taste. Her gaze lowered, but as she looked me in the eye again, I growled at the desire in her expression.
“I’m so happy to see you.”
I grunted. “Are you?”
She winced.
“You ran from me.”
She shook her head slightly, grimacing as though it pained her to move like that. Sliding my hand through her long hair, I checked her over for a visible wound.
“I ran from Lev. And so long as you commit to bringing me home so he can get me, I am still running from him .”
Dammit. That was exactly what I’d told myself. How I’d rationalized it. But knowing she had the same thought process as me was dangerous. If I told her that I wanted her to be with me, it wouldn’t be difficult to convince her.
“I was scared. You told me that we’d fly out that day. And I just couldn’t.” Again, her eyes welled with unshed tears. One slipped free, and I furrowed my brow as I wiped it away with my thumb.
“I’m too scared. Scared that you’ll make me go home and I’d have to marry him.” Closing her eyes, she exhaled a long, heavy breath. “I can’t, Maxim. I just can’t.”
“What happened?” I asked instead of continuing this conversation. Not here. The door was closed, but I didn’t trust that we were truly private in this public hospital. “After you ran, what happened?”
“I was worried you’d realize I was gone and run after me. Or that someone else would be chasing me. That’s all I’ve done lately. Run, run, and run. That and hope to hide.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “It was raining, and I was so panicked that I ran out into the street. It sounds like the car was running a red light. I don’t know. Maybe it was my fault, hurrying and not paying attention or looking where I was going. But he hit me, and I knocked my head on the ground.”
I leaned closer, checking her over. “That’s all? No other wounds?”
“No. No breaks. They said I didn’t really have much of a concussion.”
“Then what’s this bullshit about amnesia?”
She licked her lips, seeming worried to explain. I gripped her chin and narrowed my eyes. “Nadia?”
“I lied. I played the doctors and nurses and let them think that I had amnesia. I pretended to not know my name, to not know where I was and all. I thought it would help to hide me. In case you were looking for me.”
I huffed a dark laugh. “I feel like I’m always going to be looking for you.”
I feel like I’ve been waiting for someone like you to crash into my life forever.
She almost smiled, but the expression faded.
“I wanted to stay out of your way. Out of Lev’s way.” She looked me dead in the eye and sighed. “But it only showed me how wrong I was.” Threading her fingers with mine, she ducked her head, almost sheepish. “Wrong to run from you. Because I’m really, really glad to see you, Maxim.”
When she lifted her face, piercing me with her vulnerable, gorgeous blue eyes, it felt like she was connecting with my soul. “I missed you the moment I left.”