Chapter 13
Georgi
When Nina has Simi settled on the bed and she remains sitting beside her child, I glance at the food.
She only had one bite.
When I’m sure Simi is asleep, I say in English, “Come sit here so we can talk.”
Nina’s body tenses more than usual, and she moves to sit at the foot of the bed. Her eyes are filled with the incessant terror I’m beginning to hate.
“You’re not going to pay a price if you eat and drink anything.”
She stares at me with an expression that tells me she’s tolerating the conversation so she doesn’t get into trouble.
Getting up, my body protests, and I limp to the cart. I pick up a piece of toast and smear butter on it before walking to Nina.
I hold it in front of her mouth, and using a tone that says, I won’t accept any arguments, I order, “Eat.”
Her eyes flick up to my face. “Nothing is free.”
“Nina.” I lift an eyebrow at her, the healing cut tugging at the hairs. “If you get sick, who’s going to take care of Simi?”
“I’m used to only eating once a day. I won’t get sick.”
“When did you last eat?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
I lean down and take hold of her hand, placing the toast in her palm. Limping back to the armchair, I sit down again and stare at her.
She’s so traumatized and conditioned, it’s probably going to take months before she lets down her guard.
“You won’t be kept from your daughter. I will not use her as a pawn to control you, and you sure as fuck will never be raped again. No one will hurt you or Simi.”
She climbs to her feet and sets the toast down on the cart. “We don’t have passports.” Slowly, she turns around to look at me. “Let us go.”
“No.” Boris and Anton would find them, and the thought of that happening makes my stomach turn. “I don’t need passports to smuggle you out of the country.”
I don’t miss the flash of disappointment on her face. She begins to wring her hands, and I feel the burst of panic and fear coming from her. “What are you going to do with us?”
“Nothing.”
Nina’s eyes flit to mine. “Please, Georgi. I’m sorry for the part I played in your abduction.” Giving me a pleading look, her voice climbs a pitch. “I set you free. Doesn’t that count for something?”
Rising to my feet, I walk until I’m close to her. It forces Nina to tilt her head back, and once again, fear darkens her irises.
I stare at Nina as I try to sort through my emotions and figure out why I’m so hell-bent on taking her.
My time in the chamber flashes through my mind. I remember how things wouldn’t seem quite as brutal whenever she was with me.
I remember how she snuck in one night to give me water, breaking the rules even though being caught would’ve cost her dearly.
But what stays with me most is the night she held me. After all she endured, she still risked severe punishment to comfort me.
In my weakest moment, Nina was there for me.
Then I learned that she sacrificed it all to keep her daughter as safe as she could under dire circumstances.
This beautiful woman has survived horrors no one should endure. The thought of her being hurt again and that sweet little girl of hers falling into those same monsters’ hands makes me want to burn down the fucking world.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpers, taking a step away from me.
I realize the anger I feel from thinking about her fucked-up past must show on my face, and I quickly relax my features.
Somewhere in the chaos of my thoughts, a jarring truth takes hold. I’ve started thinking of Nina as mine to protect. The first time she tended to my wounds, the seed sprouted in my heart, and by the time Anton violated her in front of me, I already cared a hell of a lot about her.
I didn’t lie to her when I said men like me don’t give back what we’ve taken.
Lifting my hand, I move slowly so I don’t startle her. Nina keeps tensing more and more as I get closer to her, and by the time I brush my palm over the bruises Anton left on her cheek and jaw, her eyes are pinched shut. Bursts of air leave her parted lips.
“You’re under my protection now,” I say to give her some peace of mind.
Her eyes pop open again, disbelief rippling over her face. “But…why?”
“Because you went past duty, Nina. You took risks to help me, and after that fucker…” I can’t say the words out loud and skip over them. “After yesterday, I realized how much cruelty you’ve survived, and I’ll be damned if I leave you behind for sick fucks to prey on you ever again.”
Nina moves farther back, and I drop my hand to my side. Shaking her head, she gives me a guarded look. “I don’t believe you. You’re a capo. The enemy.” She glances at Simi, then shakes her head again. This time her voice quivers as she says, “It doesn’t matter what I say. You’ll do what you want.”
“You’ll see with time I’m a man of my word.”
There’s a single knock on the door before it opens, and Dad comes in. He gives me a questioning look. “Ready?”
While Nina and Simi were in the bathroom, I checked in with him and Raya and asked for a couple of hours alone with Nina so I could talk to her. They agreed reluctantly and held off on peppering me with questions, but I know once we’re on the flight, there won’t be any stopping them.
The two hours haven’t helped, though. I don’t think I made any progress with Nina.
“Yeah. We’re ready,” I mutter.
Santino comes in, and not waiting for a command, he picks up the three trash bags containing Nina and Simi’s entire life.
Nina hurries to the bed, and bending down, she carefully picks up Simi. When my shirt hangs down the side, I move closer and place it over the sleeping girl who’s still clutching the silk tightly in her tiny fist.
“Let’s go,” I say, my tone softer as I put my hand between Nina’s shoulder blades.
As we walk into the hallway, I hear men talking up ahead in the foyer, and my hand moves up to wrap around the back of Nina’s neck. Aware I’m being overly possessive of her, I lightly pull her closer to me.
Something happened between us while I was held captive. It’s a connection I’ve never shared with another person. Whether it’s obsession or trauma bonding, only time will tell.
It is what it is at this point.
Stepping into the large open space, my eyes lock on Raya, who is standing in the middle of the room. Atanas is staring at her while she’s oblivious, too busy reading something on her phone.
“Raya,” I say, my tone brisk.
My sister’s head snaps up, and she quickly walks to me, falling in on my left side. “How do you feel?”
“Better,” I answer, even though I feel worse than yesterday. My muscles are fucking stiff, and every raw wound burns.
I stop by Atanas and reluctantly let go of Nina so I can shake his hand.
Giving me an apologetic look, he says, “I’m sorry your visit to Bulgaria was so unpleasant. Hopefully, our next meeting turns out better.”
“Thank you for taking in my people while I was…detained.”
“Of course.”
My hand returns to the back of Nina’s neck, and a weird sense of comfort trickles into my chest. I didn’t even notice my heart rate had kicked up a gear until I touched her and it returned to normal.
When we walk toward the row of vehicles, Adriano and Augusto give me chin lifts.
“You good?” Augusto asks, a worried frown on his forehead.
“Yeah.” I smile to set them at ease. “You can interrogate me on the flight home.”
“You bet your ass we will,” Adriano says, his eyes flicking between Nina and me.
We all get into the cars, and I reach over Nina to adjust my shirt so it covers Simi.
“There will be blankets on the plane,” I murmur to Nina as I pull back.
She’s so fucking tiny beside me, the top of her head barely reaches my bicep.
How the fuck could those assholes hurt her?
I’m struggling to wrap my mind around it because I’ve been raised in a family that loves their women and treats them like gold.
Men who prey on women are filth, and filth gets scrubbed from the earth. Boris and Anton might have escaped, but I’ll hunt them down and drag them out of whatever hole they’re hiding in.
My body protests as my muscles tense.
Once I get my hands on those fuckers, I’ll make them suffer before I feed them to the rats.
Nina shoots me a cautious glance, then lowers her head, her expression filled with apprehensiveness and uncertainty.
“You’re safe, mishle.”
Calling her little mouse in Bulgarian has her eyes snapping back to my face. Her fearful gaze searches mine.
“You’ll both be okay,” I whisper as I lift my left arm.
When I brush some of her hair behind her ear, her eyes lock on the white bandage peeking out from beneath the cuff.
“I’ll look at your wounds on the plane,” she says before lowering her head again and pressing a kiss to Simi’s forehead.
During the drive to the airfield, I’m constantly conscious of the woman and child beside me. Nothing draws my attention away from them until the convoy of cars stops near the private jet and I get out.
Seeing Raya climb out of another SUV with Adriano and Augusto, shock shudders through me.
Raya has always ridden in the same car as me. She’s always been at my side.
I fucking slipped up and didn’t even notice she wasn’t with me.
My head turns sharply to Nina, and I don’t know what she sees on my face, but it makes her step away from me, only to bump into the side of the open car door, the top sharp corner hitting her head.
I react without thinking. Grabbing hold of Nina’s bicep, it feels as if I’m holding something breakable as I pull her and Simi toward me. I quickly lean over her and gently check her head, while asking, “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
Before my brain can catch up to what I’m doing, I bend at the waist and press a kiss to the spot.
I’m naturally a very affectionate person, and my love languages are touch and taking care of people. Still, the instant I feel her soft hair against my lips, I’m knocked back on my ass by the intense feeling of possessiveness shuddering through me.
I jerk away from Nina, and rubbing a palm over my chest, I try to ignore how my heart is thundering.
Never before has a woman drawn such a powerful emotion out of me.
“Are you okay?” Raya asks as she comes up beside me.
“Yeah.” Needing to ground myself for a second, I place my arm around my sister’s shoulder, and I draw her into a hug. She’s taller than Nina, so I’m able to rest my chin on top of her head.
Raya doesn’t hesitate and quickly wraps her arms around me.
When her hand brushes over my lower back, there’s a note of panic in Nina’s voice as she says, “Careful. He’s injured there.”
Raya pulls her arms back and rests her hands gently on my sides, then turns her face up to me. “I was so worried. I think I died a million times this week.”
I press a kiss to her forehead. “I’m really okay.” When my eyes drift over her features, I see the strain she’s taken and the suffering my disappearance caused her. I pull her back into another hug and near her ear, I whisper, “I’m here, and I love you.”
“Love you too,” she whispers, and when we pull apart, Dad’s there to place his arm around her shoulders.
Adriano pats me lightly on my shoulder, and I notice Nina tense up. It looks like she wants to say something, but she bites the words back.
She’s worried about me, and everytime someone touches me, she wants to stop them.
The realization makes a grin spread over my face.