56. Nikola
NIKOLA
A fter my physiotherapy, I noted a text waiting for me from Skye.
Skye: I’m at Dr. MaryAnn’s office. Can you pick me up here, please?
I instructed my driver to break every fucking law while all the different scenarios ran through my head during that five-minute drive.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I would find when I entered Dr. MaryAnn’s office.
Skye seated on the couch with her pink pumps on the coffee table.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, wheeling into the office as I glanced around the space, noting splashes of crimson.
It didn’t take long to find the cause of it.
My therapist, MaryAnn, was sprawled on the floor, dead as a doorknob.
A Swiss knife pierced her neck, blood gushing out of it and staining the carpet.
My eyebrows rose. “What happened here?”
“ You don’t need her ,” Skye signed slowly.
“I know that. That doesn’t answer my question, zayka .”
She waved her hand nonchalantly. “ She pissed me off .”
“Meaning?”
When she didn’t elaborate, I closed the door behind me and sent a quick text to my uncle Alexei and Dad with a request for a cleanup.
Then I maneuvered the wheelchair over to her, my eyes traveling over her. She didn’t seem harmed, and there wasn’t a speck of blood on her.
I leaned over, took her face between my hands, and asked, “Care to tell me how she pissed you off?”
“ She called you a gimp and a cripple and said the world would be better without people like us. Oh, and she threatened to kill you. So… yeah. She got what was coming her way. ”
I wiped my mouth with my free hand, hiding my smile. “Obviously you disagreed with her evaluation.”
She shrugged. “ Nobody gets to speak about you that way .”
“Ditto. If you hadn’t killed her, I would have once I learned she dared talk to my future wife like that.”
“ I’m about to go to jail ,” she huffed, her blue eyes flickering to mine. “ I’m fucked. ”
“I’ll die before I let that happen.”
She shot me a dry look. “ I’ll still end up in jail. ”
“If it comes to that, I’ll go to jail in your stead.”
“ I don’t want to be separated again, Nikola. ”
As if I’d ever let that happen. My girl deserved to be free as a bird, the only one that could cage her was me. “I guess we’ll have to go to jail together. Now tell me, why did you come here?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose before she signed, “ I noticed your change in moods every time you talked to this woman. I always feel better after talking to Dr. Freud, and you seemed to be doing worse, so I wanted to check what the fuck was going on. I knew something was wrong, and I was right. This woman… She’s the mother of that guy who you attacked in Revelation. ”
Surprise washed over me. “The prick who your great-grandmother hired?”
“ Yes, and she was fucking with your mind because you blinded him. ”
I’d known Skye to be a fighter, but I’d never realized she was as stubborn as a mule. She seemed so meek and eager to please. Until you pissed her off, then the gloves were off.
Her shoulders slumped, her gaze flicking to the dead woman. “ I’m not sorry, but… the wedding. The dress is so beautiful, and now I’ll be jailed. I certainly can’t wear it there. ”
She was really distraught, so I stifled a smile.
“Nobody is allowed to jail my zayka .” I was fucking lucky that she was mine. That she wanted to be mine and refused to give me up no matter how hard I’d pushed her away. “Come over here.”
She rolled her eyes but stood up and came to stand between my knees, unbothered by the wheelchair. She straddled me with her pink pumps while I brushed away some strands of wild hair on her forehead.
“You really want to be stuck with a cripple?” I asked her softly.
“ You’re not a cripple, and with physical therapy, you’ll be walking in no time. ”
“But I’ll never run.”
She shrugged. “ Good, because I hate running .”
“People will peg you to be married to a disabled man. Make fun of you.” Although I knew better.
Skye knew firsthand what it meant to be made fun of, and while I ensured to teach a lesson to any man or woman who dared to do that, I was fairly certain there were more.
Skye was a survivor and a much better—and stronger—person than most men were, including me.
She cupped my face. “ I’ll kill them for you. Or you can shoot them. I don’t give a shit. ”
“You deserve better than a disabled man, zayka . Not that I could ever give you up now. I’m not strong enough to be so selfless.”
She looked up at me, the fire in her eyes burning wildly. “ Do you think you deserve better than a disabled woman ?”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“ Nikola, I’ve been disabled my whole life, but did it stop you from being my protector? From loving me ?”
“Fuck no. I love you, and you’re mine. I protect what’s mine. I think I have loved you since we were children.”
She opened her mouth and then reeled back, shock filling her expression. “ What? All those years ?”
I took her chin between my fingers and pulled her back to me. “Yes, for all those years. It was childish love, but then it grew with us. I love you, Skye Leone. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. Fuck, I think I might be addicted to you.”
Life without her, not having her next to me, touching me and loving me, would feel like a slow death. I’d experienced it firsthand during those first months after the accident.
We stared at each other, the silence packed with emotions and promises of a future that wouldn’t be possible without my Skye. A future where I knew without a shred of doubt that I’d always have her back and she’d have mine.
“ You and me, Nikola. Forever. No matter what. ” She pressed her mouth against mine and my chest tightened, making it hard to breathe, but with every kiss, it felt like she was breathing oxygen back into my lungs.
Her arms circled my neck.
“Come rain or shine, it will be you and me, Skye. Forever.”
She rewarded me with a wide grin.
“ I like the sound of that. God, I can’t wait to marry you, ” she signed excitedly, stars in her beautiful blue eyes shining only for me. She slowly took my hand, then lightly traced my ring finger with her name tattooed on it.
“ I like my name on you. The whole world knows you’re mine .”
“Yours,” I vowed, then took her left hand in mine, pressing a kiss on her ring finger. The door swung open, Alexei and Dad standing in the doorway with a few men behind them.
“Jesus Christ, why did you massacre your therapist?” Dad grumbled, glaring at me. “It seems your mental state is deteriorating, Nikola.”
“It runs in the family,” Alexei stated in a cold tone but was completely unbothered by the sight.
Skye straightened and glared at them. “ She threatened to kill Nikola. Couldn’t have that, now could we ?”
That shut them right up.