29. Sasha
Sasha
I didn’t give a shit what Cassio, Alexei, or anyone said.
I wouldn’t break my promise to Wynter. Even after all these years, I remembered failing another woman. It resulted in her death. I’d stay with Wynter through it all, and if war with Brennan was needed to keep my promise, fuck it, I’d do it.
I had nothing better to do anyhow. I refused to fail this woman too.
The doctor examined her body and the sickness sat in the pit of my stomach with bruises and cuts all over her. She fought back whoever attacked her, there was no doubt of that. Her fists and knuckles proved it.
I refused to leave the room when the doctor went over her wounds and the nurse cleaned the blood from her body. There was so much of it. On her face, her hands, her thighs, her legs. She had been out for hours. Way too long. He couldn’t speculate concussion, at least not until she woke up.
I just wished she would wake up now.
I’d take her to my place afterwards and she could stay there until she was ready to go. Whenever and wherever that might be. The lights of the city glowed through the windows and reflected against her hair.
Even in her battered state, the girl looked vulnerable and angelic.
I reached out and touched her forehead. No fever.
“I think she’s just resting,” the nurse said, trying to comfort me. Fuck, I should have continued tailing her. She and her friends were a recipe for disaster, especially among ruthless men like us.
What was Brennan thinking when he sheltered the girls so much that they couldn’t distinguish reckless and dangerous from an adventure?
Tatiana, my sister, and Isabella, Vasili’s wife, did some adventurous and crazy stuff but never reckless. Never dangerous.
“Should we do a brain scan?” I asked the nurse. Wynter hadn’t woken up once.
The door opened behind me and I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Alexei was just as disturbed with this as I was. For a different reason. He lived through it.
“Anything?” I shook my head in answer. I wasn’t much for emotions, but fuck if they weren’t choking me right now. Certain ghosts were hard to forget.
Alexei’s hand came to my shoulder and rested there. He never fucking touched anyone except his wife, so I knew it shook him up to see Wynter like this.
“She’s strong,” he said in his monotone way.
I disagreed. She was weak. Too happy. Too careless. Too innocent.
I pulled up different footage of her and fuck, the girl indeed was a figure skater. A fucking good one. But she was too goddamn soft. She even hugged girls that got disqualified in her competitions to comfort them.
Who fucking did that? You crushed your opponents, not hugged them.
“If you want to keep her,” Alexei continued in his way, “I’ll help you.”
God, he sounded like I wanted to kidnap her and keep her as my pet.
“You two sound like idiots.” Aurora’s voice scolded us softly. She glanced at the nurse who got up and left the room. I guess the nurse wanted to ensure the girl was never alone with a man. “You can’t keep her. She’s a human being. I mean what in the hell runs in the Nikolaev veins.”
She shifted the baby on her hip. “She belongs with her family, Sasha. And you know that.”
“Aurora,” I gritted. I liked my sister-in-law, but God, I’d kill myself if she was my wife. So fucking opinionated. “Wynter will be with her family when she is ready to be with her family. Not a moment sooner.”
“Have you met her before?” she asked curiously. When I shook my head, she continued curiously, “What is your obsession with her? She’s a bit too young for you.”
I clenched my hands. Why did everyone assume I wanted to fuck her, for Pete’s sake.
“Aren’t you a bit young for Alexei?” I retorted back dryly.
“The girl’s not even twenty-one,” she objected. “That doesn’t compare to Alexei and I.”
My jaw tightened and I gritted my teeth or risked snapping at my sister-in-law and then Alexei would go on one of his growl sessions or even worse, try to fight while Wynter laid there immobile.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” I asked again.
“I don’t know,” she answered as she walked over to Wynter’s sleeping form.
Little Kostya’s eyes studied Wynter, and for the first time since he was born, he stayed focused for longer than a second.
It had to be those golden curls. “The doctor said he’s not certain whether she was assaulted.
He’ll have to do a rape kit, but he needs her consent. ”
She won’t give it , I thought immediately. I’d bet my life on it.
áine, Cassio’s wife, offered to help if Wynter wanted someone to talk to when she woke up. It was bad timing to bring her here. Cassio and Alexei planned on having a double date. Of course, that went out the fucking window and everybody hovered in the penthouse.
Another set of footsteps. Fuck, this was like a whole fucking gathering in the sick room.
“Brennan called Nico,” Cassio hissed under his voice. “He’s been trying to call Wynter and getting no answer. She told him earlier today that she was staying with a friend.”
“I thought the four girls were inseparable,” Aurora said thoughtfully.
“Brennan said they always stuck together,” Alexei confirmed.
“Davina is with Brennan. Juliette and Ivy are at the house, trying to figure out how to plan another heist without getting caught.” She rolled her eyes to emphasize how reckless they were. “That means Wynter was probably with a boy.”
“And you came up with that before or after she was assaulted?” They were all getting on my nerves. “Considering the state she’s in, we can all come to the conclusion she wasn’t with a girlfriend.”
“Sasha-” Alexei growled.
Wynter’s body stirred and all our heads snapped to her. Light green eyes cracked open and met mine. I jerked forward, leaning over her.
“Wyn?”
Dark bruises around her eyes and on the side of her face were stark against her pale skin.
Someone must have called the nurse and doctor back in because suddenly the two pushed us all away from her bed.
“Hello, dear,” the doctor cooed to her like she was an infant. I fucking wanted to punch him. “Do you remember your name?” Wynter blinked slowly, then nodded. “Do you know how you got here?”
She stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to remember and then she slowly nodded.
“We cleaned up your cuts and bruises. We need to check for your concussion and do a rape kit.” She instantly stiffened and I could have just smacked the stupid doctor upside his head. Cassio should really find a brighter doctor than this moron.
Her tongue swept over her dry lips. “I wasn’t raped.”
The doctor took her hand and gently patted it. “Let us just do a test and-”
Wynter jerked her hand back. “I just told you,” she croaked. “I wasn’t raped. I got away.”
I watched her for any signs that she might be lying or in denial. I didn’t think so. Her eyes came to me, ignoring everyone else.
“How long until the bruises and cuts go away?” she muttered, turning her head to look out the window.
“A few weeks.” The doctor didn’t look pleased to be shut down. He obviously didn’t believe her. Not that it fucking mattered.
“Wynter, we have to call your uncle.” Fucking Cassio, always wanted to do the right thing. Goddamn him!
Wynter’s head turned back to us, her bruised eyes looking somehow defeated. “No. It’d bring war.”
“Did the DiLustros do this to you?” Cassio asked sharply.
“It’s none of your business,” Wynter rasped, narrowing her eyes, though by the expression on her face, that little movement pained her.
“Wynter, I’m áine. We can help you. Whatever you need. Someone to talk to, anything.”
Wynter slid her legs from under the sheet off the bed and slowly sat up, all the while the nurse and the doctor protested. Ignoring them, her head tilted back and she stared at all of us unblinking.
“If you say anything to my uncle, I’ll deny it.” She let the words sink. “I’ll blame you if I have to. I’m not going back to Uncle and Mom until I’m healed.”
Cassio growled at her and I took a step closer to Wynter, in case the idiot tried something.
“Try something, Cassio, and you're a dead man,” I warned.
Silence and tension was thick in the room. Nothing new. It followed me everywhere.
“Please, I don’t want anyone dying on my account,” Wynter begged, realizing her words were taken as a threat. “I just want to stay away from my family for now.”
Cassio let out a soft groan, clearly disagreeing with that request.
“You’ll stay at my place until you’re ready to go back,” I told her firmly, glaring at my friends and daring them to say anything.
Wynter’s bruised and swollen lips curved into a smile and I saw the resemblance of that girl that hugged fellow skaters offering comfort. This woman would never be tough.
“Thank you, Sasha.”
She had the kind of smile that’d break hearts. Just like someone broke hers.