Chapter 55
Iwas wrong. Absolutely, one hundred percent wrong.
Jake walks us down the hall, turning left at the end before he continues on.
The ceilings are high, light-colored wood, with doors every few feet, and while it’s not what I expected from a hospital, it’s not terribly different.
I’d imagine they need room for lots of patients.
So the doors make sense even if I expected more, like what I saw on TV: boring white walls and bright lights.
It’s not until we reach the end of the hall that I realize I’m way off.
It opens into a sitting area with an elevator at the end.
Stairs wrap around it with glass banisters.
Large marble columns run from the ceiling to the floor, and an all-white piano sits in the open area, bathed in early morning light from the floor-to-ceiling windows to our right.
Either everything on TV was very wrong, or this isn’t a hospital.
Jake presses the button, calling the elevator and stepping in a moment later as I look around in wonder.
Whenever I think I’ve seen the most extravagant thing money can buy, I’m proven wrong.
A point that’s only further proven true as I peer out the glass windows of the elevator and see the floor below.
Everything is open and, well, beautiful.
The ride down only takes a couple of seconds, and when the door opens, I have to work hard to keep my mouth from dropping open.
The main floor is beyond huge. There are not one but two sitting areas set up, one with a TV and one without.
The room continues into a large dining table, then morphs into a beautiful modern kitchen with another, smaller table.
The only things that break up the rooms are the marble pillars, the same ones I saw upstairs.
I’d thought Elio’s house was extravagant, but this is on a whole other level.
The floor-to-ceiling windows continue down the entire back side of the house.
Out the window, I can see a garden and another building not far from this one.
What else could they possibly need that would require a whole other building?
“Pretty crazy, huh?” Jake asks with a chuckle, and all I can do is nod.
Crazy is definitely one way to describe it.
I really wish my legs were working so I could look around properly.
There's so much to see, and I can only look so much from Jake's arms as he heads out the doors toward the gardens. He pushes the door open, and for a moment, I’m sad to have left such a beautiful place before I could properly appreciate it.
My disappointment melts away the second the fresh air hits me, and I pull in a deep breath, nestling further into Jake's arms.
“Killer!”
“Demon.”
“Why the hell would you bring her out here, Jake?!”
The guys jump up, rushing toward us from where they’d been seated at a beautiful outdoor patio set a moment ago. Zander damn near tramples us in his haste to reach me, but Rick grabs him at the last moment, flinging him back behind him and blocking his way.
“Watch it!” Rick shouts, his voice a low rumble that promises violence. To his credit, Zander stops, though the look on his face tells me it won’t last for long. The others stop as well, even Kratos.
Strange.
“I understand you missed her. We all did,” Rick says, turning to face Zander. “But she almost died, Zan. You have to be careful.”
Zander’s face falls as he looks down at his shoes before giving a stiff nod of understanding.
“I’m fine, Rick,” I tell him, trying to pull his attention back to me as he continues to stare Zander down. Seeing him sad hurts me. He’s usually so happy and ready for anything. I don’t like it.
Rick turns back to me, and I have to fight the urge to look away myself. He doesn't look mad, not really, but there's something off in his eyes, something that makes me feel as if I did something wrong.
Unfortunately for him, I’m stubborn, if nothing else. I push back my urge to cower and lift my chin as I meet his gaze. The briefest flash of happiness sparks in his eyes as he watches me before he turns his gaze to Jake once again.
“Why would you bring her down here? She needs to be resting,” Rick says, his words harsh and demanding.
“I didn’t really have much choice—”
“You could have called for us,” Kratos says, cutting Jake off as he attempts to explain.
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. She’s recovering from being shot, and she lost way too much blood. You know that.”
Rick shouts, speaking right over him.
“Yes, I'm aware, thank you!” Jake snaps, and it’s almost adorable.
Jake isn’t easy to push over the edge. He’s more than used to the line of command.
In Vengeance, both Kratos and Rick outrank him, which usually means he bends to whatever they say.
Even more so than before, now that he’s determined to prove himself.
It’s a nasty habit I wish he would break.
“I’m right here, you know!” I shout when both Rick and Kratos look like they’re about to continue arguing.
They both look at me, and I can see the worry mix with their anger. This isn’t about Jake, not really. This is just their alpha-asshole way of looking out for me.
Adorable, but unnecessary.
“Honestly, you should thank him,” I say, making both of them scrunch their faces up in confusion. “Had he not come up when he did, I might not still be here.”
Jake glances down at me but says nothing. He doesn’t have to, though. I know what he’s thinking.
I wouldn’t have made it far, but they don’t need to know that.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Spencer asks, stepping up by my feet as the others slowly close in around us as well.
“Huh, I don’t know. Maybe I woke up alone in an unknown place with no memory of how I got here,” I tell him, unable to keep the annoyance from my words.
“Damn it! See, I told you we should have been up there.” Spencer hisses, turning to Rick, who has the decency to look guilty.
“You know that wasn’t my call,” Rick says, and now I’m lost.
“Can I see you, Doll?” Zander's voice pulls my attention to him, where he stands in front of me with his arms out toward me. Of course, I want to say yes. The word sits heavy on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t make it come out.
Last time I tried to stand, my legs couldn’t hold me, and while I don’t think the guys will care about my weakness the way I do, I don’t want to worry them more than I already have.
Turning, I look up at Jake, silently begging him to help me. His lips turn down in a hint of a frown, and for a second, I’m sure he’s going to tell them.
“I didn’t want her to pull her stitches,” Jake says, holding me out like a baby for Zander. He doesn’t even hesitate to reach out and scoop me into his arms, crushing me to his chest before pressing a kiss on the top of my head.
“Fuck Jade, you’ve got to stop doing this shit. I can’t handle it,” he whispers, his lips still pressed to my head. The others are still arguing, and while I’m sure I should pay attention to get more info, I can’t make myself turn away from him.
Zander’s always been the most emotional of them. Teetering on the edge between light and dark, the smallest push could send him spiraling. I hear how much this affected him in the strain of his words, feel it in the way his fingers dig into my flesh as he holds me close.
My stubborn nature wants me to tell him I can handle myself, to remind him it will take a lot more than that to kill me, but that’s not what he needs right now.
“Maybe it’s time to revisit that tracker idea, huh?”
He’d said it before, and I’d jokingly agreed, but who knows, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea. In our line of work, having our location at all times would probably help with this kind of shit. Ivan might be dealt with, but that doesn’t mean we're safe, not with how we live.
Safety isn’t something we will ever really get the chance to enjoy.
Zander barks a laugh, causing the others to stop and turn our way, but he just keeps laughing, bordering on the edge of hysteria.
The guys watch him as he continues to laugh, loud and full, before he gets a hold of himself.
Rick looks at him, then at me, skeptically. "Why don’t we head in? We have a lot to talk about," he says, nodding back toward the building we just left.
The others file in, but Kratos lags behind, watching Zander and me as if he has something to say. Zander doesn’t say a word as he walks over to him, holding me out for him like an offering. Kratos doesn’t hesitate to reach out and grab me. A sigh of relief leaves him as he pulls me into him.
I want to complain. Whine about them passing me around like a baby, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
We’ve been through a lot lately, and most of it ties back to me.
As much as I would love to walk around and reassure each of them, I’m not physically able to right now, and trying would only make them worry more.
For them, I’ll eat my pride if it will make them feel better.
Relying on others isn’t a weakness, I remind myself as I lean into Kratos’s chest, breathing in his cinnamon scent and letting it settle over me.
Love isn’t weakness.
The guys sit around, the picture of ease, mostly.
Rick looks on edge still, but I’m not sure if that’s because of the argument, me being out of bed, being…
wherever we are, or just his usual annoyance with a lack of control.
Three couches just inside the door all face toward one another.
Making it a pretty good spot for us to talk about all of this, but I can’t fight the creeping feeling I have with our backs to so much open space.
Kratos folds his large frame, sitting before he arranges me on his lap so that my back is pressed to his chest. It gives me a little comfort, but still, I find myself looking around every few minutes.
Every little sound puts me on edge, and in a house this size, there seem to be a lot of them.
The tick of a clock, water running in the distance, and the air as it clicks on and off every few minutes.
It probably wouldn’t be so bad if I knew I could get up and fight. Or even where here is.
Damn it.
“We’re safe here, Jade,” Trent says from beside me, reaching out to rest his hand on my thigh. I feel the warmth of his hand through the damn gown I wear, and at least that’s a good sign, right?
“I’m going to need more than that if you expect me to believe you,” I tell him, keeping my words soft. I’m on edge and annoyed, but it’s not their fault. I don’t want to push that on them, but I need some answers.
“Where are we? How did we get here? What happened in the tunnels?” I fire off my questions in rapid succession, unable to decide which is most important.
Nobody answers; shooting looks around at each other in a silent conversation that I don’t appreciate.
Don’t snap. Don’t snap.
I repeat the words repeatedly in my mind, silently willing myself to have patience with them.
Easier said than done right now.
“Moscow,” Jake finally says, just as I’m about to say the hell with it and go off.
Rick shoots him a glare, but Jake doesn’t so much as blink as he meets his gaze. With a sigh, Rick turns to me, giving a small nod of confirmation.
“As in Russia?” I ask, unable to think of another Moscow. The only reason I know anything about Moscow is from Leo and Dom. It’s where we were born and raised, they say.
The second that thought pops into my head, I understand what that means. I turn in Kratos’s arms so fast that my side cramps, but I grit my teeth and push it away. Fuck my stitches. This is more important.
“Welcome home, Killer.”