Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
~CARMINE~
I ’m in the middle of my second set of pull-ups when my phone rings.
I ignore it.
I’ve been pissed for days. Does Nadia think she can just waltz into my home, taunt me, and then breeze out again? That she can smirk at me and act as if I haven’t had her in every position imaginable? That I don’t affect her at all?
I won’t admit to anyone that she got under my skin.
But goddamn it, she did.
My phone rings again. When I drop to the floor, I accept the call.
“What?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, sir. You need to come to the penthouse.”
I narrow my eyes. “What happened?”
“Nadia’s here, sir. And she’s going to need you.”
“I’ll be there in thirty.”
I end the call and, without another thought, hurry to grab my keys and wallet, then get into my car and peel out of the driveway, headed toward the freeway.
I like living away from the areas where we conduct business. I like keeping things separate. My grandmother taught me the importance of that.
But in times like these, it’s a royal pain in the ass.
Thanks to traffic on the freeway, I make it to the building in twenty-six minutes, park in my reserved space, and take the private elevator up to the penthouse.
What in the hell is Nadia doing back here? Gathering the things she left behind when we went to Denver? That made sense.
But when I step off the elevator, I instinctively know that something is very wrong.
The space is still. The blinds are still closed, so it’s mostly dark inside.
I flip on a hallway light to illuminate the area and see Nadia’s blond head on the couch.
She’s lying down.
And when I approach her, every drop of blood in my veins boils.
“Don’t hurt me,” she moans. “Can’t.”
“Nadia.” I squat next to her and take in her bruised and bloodied face. “It’s Carmine. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Carmine?” She lets out a small gasp through cut and bloody lips. “Didn’t know where to go.”
“You came to the right place. No one will think to search for you here. I have to call my people to come in and take care of you.”
“No.”
“Yes.” I kiss her bloody hand. “I’ll take care of this.”
I pull out my phone and call our medical team. After they assure me that they’re only minutes away, I hang up and hurry into the bathroom where I wet a washcloth and return to start cleaning her face as best I can so I can see the extent of her injuries.
“Hurts.”
“I know.” My voice is clipped, even to my ears. It takes everything in me to be gentle.
All I want to do is get my hands on the piece of shit who did this and make them pay. Painfully. Slowly.
Horrifically.
The elevator slides open, and the three men we employ to handle our medical needs come marching in.
“Christ,” Malloy says with a hiss. “What did you do to her?”
“If you want to keep your job, you’ll never ask that again,” I bark as I step back and let them take over. At first, Nadia recoils from their touch, but with some soothing murmurs, she finally relaxes and lets the men examine her.
“I can’t tell if her vision’s been affected in this eye,” Malloy says grimly. “It’s swollen shut. I’ll need to take another look in a few days.”
He stands and pulls me aside as the other two continue working their magic with gauze and antiseptic.
“I’ve never suggested this before, and I know it’s not how we do things…” Malloy begins and then props his hands on his hips. “But she needs to be in the hospital, Carmine.”
I shake my head, but Malloy continues.
“She’s been beaten so severely; I don’t know if she has internal bleeding or a punctured lung. Her shoulder may be dislocated, and we might have to reset it. I recommend leaving the room for that one.”
“I won’t go.”
He swallows and shakes his head. “Whoever did this was obviously given an order to fuck her up and leave her just this side of dead. And that’s what they did. I have no idea how she even got herself up here.”
“Because she’s stubborn and damn smart. I’m not taking her to the hospital.”
“Sir—”
“No. We’ll take care of her here. Do your damn job, Malloy.”
His mouth flattens into a line, and then he nods once. “I’m going to give you a list of things to watch for. If even one of them shows up, you need to call an ambulance right away. I mean it.”
It’s brutal standing back and watching them care for her. I feel helpless. She screams when they move her shoulder, but it’s not dislocated—just wrenched badly. She whimpers when they poke and prod to see if anything is broken.
They hook her up to an IV and start pumping her full of antibiotics and morphine to help with the pain. Before long, she’s settled back on the big couch with fresh dressings, a blanket, and orders to stay and rest for at least a week.
I’ll personally see to it that she fucking obeys that order.
After my men leave, I return to her and gently brush her hair off her face.
“Sorry,” she murmurs drunkenly.
“For what?”
“You’re mad.”
I sigh and lean over to press my lips to her forehead. “Not at you. When I find out who did this, I’ll kill them.”
“Get in line.”
“Do you know who it was?”
She licks her swollen lips. “No. Couldn’t see. Water?”
“Of course.”
I hurry to the kitchen and fill a glass with crushed ice, and then bring it back to her.
“Here, suck on this.”
“Mm.” She sucks greedily on a chunk. “Nice.”
“I’ll be right here, Nadia. I’m not going anywhere. You sleep now and get healed up so you can kick some ass.”
“Yeah.” She sighs but reaches for my hand. “Stay.”
“I told you, I’m here. I promise, I won’t go.”
“’Kay.”
She slips into sleep, and I pull my hand down my face.
What the fuck? An hour ago, I wanted to spank her ass. Now, I want to protect her, fight for her. Keep her safe.
Because the truth is, she has gotten under my skin. That doesn’t mean I trust her, but she didn’t deserve this.
“King me.”
Nadia scowls down at the checkerboard. “You’re cheating.”
“Negative.” I stand and walk into the kitchen to get more chips.
We’ve been in the penthouse for five days. She slept the first three away, allowing her body to heal.
And now she’s up and showered, her arm in a sling, scowling at me over a checkerboard.
“Is there any queso left?”
“No, you ate it all last night. At least your appetite is back.”
“Yeah, well, I like food. You know that.”
I grin, thinking back on all of the fun meals we’d had together. “I do. Watching you eat isn’t a hardship. Where have you been staying? I’ll have someone go and gather your things. Bring them here.”
“I can go get my stuff soon enough.”
“Why won’t you tell me?”
“You probably already know.”
I do. But she doesn’t need to know that.
“Nadia, I think we’re in the truce zone here. Think of this like a wedding or a funeral.”
“Yeah, well, it almost was my funeral. And I don’t know that it wasn’t you who ordered this to be done to me,” she blurts and stands to walk to the window. “You got here awfully fast after it happened.”
I have to shove my hands into my pockets. Just six months ago, I would have said that nothing this woman could say or do could hurt me.
But things have changed.
And it seems she can hurt me.
That’s unsettling and something to think about later.
She turns at my silence. The bruises on her face are beginning to fade from black to a sickly purple.
“You won’t deny it?” she demands.
“I don’t know how your family does things,” I begin slowly, “but in my family, I’ve been taught to never hurt women. Physical punishment is not tolerated when it comes to women. Ever, under any circumstances.”
I remember the day my cousin Elena first showed me the scars on her body she’d sustained at the hands of her father, my uncle. More anger seethes through me.
“Maybe not everyone in your family feels that way.”
“They do.” Agitated, I pace the floor. “I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that my family is not responsible for this.”
“Maybe one of your brothers?—”
“IT WASN’T US!” I shout at her and then swear under my breath. “For fuck’s sake, Nadia, no. I may not know what to feel when I’m around you, but I know that I wouldn’t hurt you. No one in my family would hurt you. You haven’t done anything to my family or me.”
“Except make you think I’d fallen in love with you. Fucked your brains out. Moved in with you.”
“Good sex isn’t worth maiming over.”
She shakes her head.
“I’m not convinced that your family isn’t responsible for my aunt’s and uncle’s murders. And if they are, they will pay. I guarantee you that.”
“If my father gave that order, he would cop to it,” she says with a sigh. “I admit, I don’t know every single order he’s given, but he’s not one to kill and then deny or deflect. He takes ownership of his decisions without regret. If he was behind those murders, he’d say so.”
I can tell she believes what she’s telling me.
“But, at the end of the day, we don’t trust each other,” she continues.
“Do you remember what happened when I found you here?”
“You were so pissed at me,” she says.
“No.” I cross to her, needing to touch her. “I told you then, and I meant it. I wasn’t angry with you. I was livid that someone— any one—had put their hands on you this way. The fury was, and still is, a breathing thing inside me. I would have been upset to see any woman hurt like this, but the fact that it was you made it so much worse. So, no, we may not fully trust each other, but damn it, I care about what happens to you. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. And we’ve been given orders to work together. To figure this mess out and get it resolved. I don’t know what’s happening now, with the murder at the wedding and your attack. I don’t know if it has anything to do with my aunt and uncle, but I need to find out. I have connections that you don’t and vice versa. We’re stronger in this together. So, until we resolve this, you’re stuck with me.”
Her blue eyes slide to mine. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll be staying with me. I can’t protect you the way we’ve been doing things, obviously.”
“I don’t need?—”
“Just stop talking.” In exasperation, I march away from her. “Yes, you’re strong and badass, and you can take care of yourself. But right now, people want to hurt you, and I’m partly responsible for that. There’s a team of people here to help keep us safe. And goddamn it, that’s what you’re going to let me do.”
“So, I’m being held hostage?”
I grunt but can’t help but start laughing. “Yes. Clearly, this luxury penthouse is a horrible situation. I feel for you, Nadia. But keep a stiff upper lip. Suck it up and deal with it.”
She snorts. “No sex. I mean it.”
“I’m not in the habit of forcing unwilling women to fuck me.”
Her face sobers at the steel in my voice. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you’d rape me.”
“I need some fresh air.”
She nods and glances at her phone when it rings.
“Not gonna answer?”
“I have no intention of speaking to my father. At least for a few more days.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why haven’t you told him about this?”
“Because. And the reasons are none of your business.”
“If you confide in him, you could live wherever the fuck you want. He’d send protection, and he’d start his own hunt for the bastards who touched you. Nadia?—”
“You have the luxury of trusting your family,” she interrupts. “It’s not something we share.”
I step back, surprised. “You don’t trust your family? When it comes to the business we’re in, trusting them is of the utmost importance.”
“My father, yes. I know he loves me and would do anything to protect me.” She swallows hard. “But I don’t trust my brother at all.”
That’s something we can agree on. Alexander Tarenkov is a slimy piece of shit, and it would make my black heart happy to tear him limb from limb with my bare hands.
“Why?”
“Alex is a selfish man,” she says simply. “Only concerned with himself and how to manipulate every situation to his advantage. He’d make a horrible boss. The family, the organization , would collapse within a year. I don’t know what shady deals he has going on the down-low, but I’d guess there are a few of them. No. I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.”
With a sigh, she lowers herself to the couch.
“I hate your brother with every fiber of my being.” My voice is flat as I sit across from her. “There’s nothing honorable about him.”
“I know.”
“Do you think he’s behind everything that’s going on?”
“No.” She smirks. “He’s a pussy. He doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone. Alex is self-serving, yes, but he’s also content to ride just under the radar. I do think he’s laundering money that he’s hiding from Papa. And when he’s found out? Well, let’s just say it won’t go over well.
“But killing another family’s boss? Possibly starting a war? No. He’s not smart enough for that.”
Unfortunately, I agree with her. He’s slimy to the core but also as weak as they come.
And not especially intelligent.
“So, in the meantime, you’ve been attacked twice, and your father has no idea.”
“He’ll be angry,” she admits. “But until I figure out who’s behind it and everything else, I’ll keep it to myself. Besides, what’s done is done. He can’t undo it.”
“If I kept something like this from my father, he’d be livid. ”
“You’re lucky,” she says. “That your family is so close. That it’s your safe haven.”
“You need that, too. Our business is too lonely to be alone, Nadia.”
“I’m not alone. I’m being held hostage, remember? So, what now? What’s our next move?”
“We’re staying here for another week.”
She scowls, but I hold up my hand to stop her from saying anything more.
“You’re healing, but you’re still fragile. When we get out of here, I need to make sure that you’re well and capable of having my back. We’re likely going to get into a couple of sticky situations. As long as you’re feeling up to it, we’ll go to New York next week.”
“Have you called the Sergis?”
“I’ll call Billy when I have a solid date.” No mob family travels to another family’s territory without alerting them and asking for permission. It’s a code we all live by and respect.
So, the fact that someone was in Seattle to hurt Nadia only intensifies my anger.
No one should have been here.
“They hate me there.”
“ Hate is a strong word,” I remind her.
“And accurate.”
“You’ll be with me.”
“What if they hate you, too?”
I smile thinly. “They don’t.”