Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sasha
I grab the dress and bring it to the bathroom to change as Ryker leaves the room, mostly because I need to freshen up before I face Ryker’s brother.
One look in the mirror confirms that I’ve made the right choice. My hair is mussed, my eyes shining super bright.
My skin is flushed pink, and I can smell my own arousal.
I run a brush over my hair, twisting it back and clipping it up.
Stripping off my clothes, I step into the shower, giving myself a two-minute wash off. Then I pull on the dress.
Ryker’s right, it’s a great dress. It’s got a cute print, the color is great for me, and the length, at mid-thigh, highlights my legs, while the empire waist shows my figure to its best advantage.
I take a breath, slap on some gloss, and head out to the kitchen.
I’m completely intimidated by Killian. The rumors about him are dark and the name, the Shadow, is perfect for a guy who’s been accused of being a stalker.
I enter the kitchen, to find Killian dressed in black, leaning on the kitchen island.
I stop, wondering if I should leave again because Ryker is nowhere in sight. “Hello, Sasha,” Killian says, turning to me with the kind of smile that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“I can come back,” I whisper, my hands clasping together.
He shakes his head. “No need. I’ve just got Ryker practicing how to be invisible.”
My brow furrows as my gaze sweeps over the room. That’s when I see Ryker in the dark corner by the stairwell door. I gasp.
His eyes lift, “Didn’t mean to frighten you, Princess. I’m just going to work on a few skills as we prepare.”
“Right,” I say weakly, my fingers skimming down the dress. Killian makes me nervous and I’m desperate to retreat back to the bedroom. “I can leave you—”
“Nonsense,” Killian waves me forward. “Much of this you should learn too. And while I’m teaching you, I want you to tell me everything you know about Sver.”
Funny thing, just now, Killian didn’t sound scary at all. He sounds…practical. Protective even. “I’ve known him most of my life so, in theory, I know a lot.” My guess is that they can hear the but that I didn’t say.
His brow furrows even as he gives me another smile of encouragement. Is it my imagination or is he softer than I thought? His look now is almost comforting. “The more information I have the better.”
“Well,” I find myself inching toward Ryker. “He is like completely devoid of emotion.”
Killian’s head cocks to the side. “How so?”
“He never smiles. Never looks frightened. He hardly speaks.”
“Interesting,” Killian shifts to more fully face me. “Tell me more.”
“There’s the fact that the guards speak openly about how many people he’s killed.” Sver has been in my life as long as I can remember. And yet, I know so little about him. It’s strange when I consider it.
“What about you. What have you seen?”
“He’s never said a mean word to me, but he’s never said a nice one to me either. The only time I remember him even speaking to me was when…” I cringe at the memory.
“It’s all right,” Ryker steps out of the shadows, coming to my side. “You can tell us.”
I frown. I’m not sure I can. I barely even know my husband, let alone his brother. I draw in a fortifying gulp of air. This is important.
“One of the guards got handsy with me when I was fourteen. Sver beat him until…” I think he might have killed the man, but I can’t bring myself to say the words. “And then he yelled at me to be smarter, smacked the wall next to my face.”
But after that, the guards who’d played poker with me, and other games, some of the only fun I was allowed to have, stopped even speaking to me.
I’m not sure what happened, but I know that Sver was the reason everyone began avoiding me.
Ryker rumbles, a dark and dangerous sound as he pulls me closer.
“What else?” Killian asks, ignoring Ryker.
I lean into Ryker, his arms around me making it easier to talk. “Sver runs my father’s personal guard. But he’d also leave for a week at a time, taking care of specialty jobs for my father.”
“He’s the hitman.” Killian looks back at Ryker, who is staring at me.
“Yes,” I nod.
“How did the guard touch you?” Ryker asks, sounding…dangerous.
I shrug. “It doesn’t matter.” The conversation has moved on, and I’m honestly relieved. That memory feels like one of the turning points that leaves me hollow.
“It matters to me. How did he touch you?”
Killian looks back at me with his brows up. Like this, he doesn’t look dangerous at all. He looks like he thinks Ryker is the crazy one.
“Ryker,” I put my hands up. “It was years ago.”
“How? Did he hit you?”
“No. He grabbed my…” To be exact, the guard had pinned me to the wall and then cupped one of my breasts.
But I don’t have to say it. Ryker makes a noise in his throat that sounds like a growl.
“Interesting,” Killian mumbles before the chiming of Ryker’s phone once again interrupts. “That’s probably Chloe. I had dinner delivered. She’ll be bringing it up.”
“Thank you,” Ryker answers as he pushes a button on his phone. He drops the phone on the counter and then sweeps me back in his arms. “Tell me what that man did?”
“Ryker, it wasn’t worse than my father holding a gun to my head.”
But Ryker rumbles back, “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“And it’s already been taken care of.” At the time, I’d assumed that Sver had been angry over the insubordination of the guard.
Or that he killed guards often. Why not? They were ruthless men who did a job where everyone understood life expectancy was short.
But Ryker’s fixation has me wondering. I wrap my arms around his neck, my fingers twining in my husband’s hair.
My husband. It’s so weird.
“When he killed the man, did you watch?”
I shake my head. “He made me turn around and face the wall while I covered my ears.”
I’d seen the blood after, though. The way it had streaked the floor from the body being dragged away.
“And Sver never spoke to you about it?”
“Never. Other than telling me to smarten up, he hardly even looked at me,” I answer. “But I know that his body count was epic. Everyone talked about it.”
“Hmm,” Ryker squeezes my waist even as the elevator opens, a bubbly blonde entering the apartment as she pushes a cart loaded with food. I recognize her from the wedding.
“Dinner,” she sings out, with a pretty smile.
“Thank you, my love,” Killian rumbles. “As always, you bring all the best things with you.”
She laughs as Killian pulls her close, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.
I’m not the best with emotions, but there is no question that Chloe is enjoying herself. She lets out an intimate giggle, wrapping her arms around her husband’s neck leaning her head to the side to give him more access. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Never,” he answers, pulling her even closer, his hands skimming down her spine.
I look up at Ryker, my own brows puckered in confusion. This is not how I pictured Killian and his wife.
They seem like they are completely in love…
And if I’m being honest, the possessive way Ryker’s hand is spread out over my back is confusing me too.
I know what this is, who he is, and what he wants.
Why does he seem like he cares?
The phone chimes again, and Ryker picks me up in his arms and carries me the two steps to the island to hit the button on his phone that will open the elevator.
But he doesn’t set me down. And I find myself curling around him, my nose sliding over his cheek.
Because I like being held in his arms, and I really liked what he did to me in the closet.
And for the first time I wonder what it might be like to be wrapped in the arms of a man who might actually protect me, care for me.
It touches something deep inside, and I place a kiss on the stubble of his jaw.
On my finger, my new ring sparkles in the evening light and the elevator opens again.
My brother and his wife step into the kitchen, Dimitri stopping when he sees me in Ryker’s arms.
“Well, this is…unexpected,” Dimitri says in Russian, his brows up high on his forehead.
Ryker gives me a squeeze as he slowly sets me down on the floor.
Was it only yesterday that Ryker and I married? He’s already shifting my feelings, making me forget the danger, and making me wish to trust.
Is that foolish?
Or, if I give myself over to the Smiths will they keep me safe? Help me find the future I’ve always wanted?