Francesca
I packed a bag of my things, and Wolfe loaded it into the car.
He told me to wait in the passenger seat while he cleaned up.
He dragged the dead bodies outside and made a pile of the carcasses far away from the building and the fields.
He stacked them on top of each other before he doused them in gasoline and set them on fire.
I looked at the flames in the rearview mirror. Watched him walk up, the white bandage visible on his forearm, until he disappeared from view. He got into the driver’s seat and drove away from the house.
I watched it fade in the rearview mirror…like I would never see it again.
He steered the wheel with one hand while the other moved to my thigh. His fingers cupped the inside of my leg through my jeans, his touch immediately warm and soothing.
My fingers automatically rested on his wrist for comfort.
I knew the road we were about to take together would be bumpy and difficult, but I would rather take the most dangerous road with him than the smoothest with anyone else.
The home that I loved had been destroyed by an invasion, and I was devastated by the loss…
but I also knew home was the man beside me.
He drove a few miles away to the house he’d purchased what felt like a long time ago. He pulled behind his gates and parked the Range Rover in the garage. The property was surrounded by a tall, thick stone wall, and the gate was made of iron, so it would be a hard place to infiltrate.
It made me realize how unsafe my villa had been. Anyone could just drive down a dirt road to get to me.
We entered the house that I’d only visited the day he purchased it, and it felt like a brand-new place I’d never been. Fully furnished and luxurious, it was infinitely bigger than my villa. The windows that faced his gardens were at least twelve feet high.
He carried everything upstairs to the third floor, and we entered the primary suite, which felt like its own private apartment. He set my bags on the couch in his living room and set his stuff on the dresser. “I’m going to shower.”
“Okay.”
He turned to look at me, like he recognized so much distress in a single word.
I crossed my arms over my chest and suddenly felt bumps that weren’t provoked by cold.
He strode across the room to come close to me, his hands sliding up into my hair as he cradled my face. “Take a shower with me. You’ll feel better.”
“I—I feel like I just lost everything.”
“I’ll fix our home. Put it back exactly as it was.”
“I know, but…”
“And I’ll resolve this with your father.”
“I saw his face. I can’t remember the last time he was that angry.”
“I’m not afraid of him. I won’t let anything come between us.”
He had an answer for everything. “And…who came to kill me?”
“Warren.”
“I didn’t see him.”
“No, but it was him. And I’ll take care of that too.” His hands slid from my face. “We’re safe here. Take a shower with me, and let’s get some sleep.”
I nodded.
His arm hooked across the small of my back, and he placed a quick kiss to my hairline before he turned for the bathroom.
The water came on a moment later. We both undressed and got under the warm water, his walk-in shower large and big enough for the two of us to stand together and both be under the water.
He shouldn’t get his sutures wet so soon, but I knew he would disregard that if I tried to tell him. He would have just let himself bleed until he started to get dizzy, and then maaaybbbee he would have done something about it.
Watching him shower would normally be a feast for the eyes, but I was so shaken up by everything that had happened that all I could do was stand there. I didn’t even wash my hair. Just let the warm water run down my body and disappear into the drain.
He grabbed the bar of soap and rubbed it across my skin, cleaned my hands of the gunpowder from the weapons and the drops of blood that freckled my skin from when my bullets had pierced the assholes who had come to kill me.
He even rubbed shampoo into my hair, giving me a scalp massage as he cleaned me and washed away the violence that had seeped into my bones.
“What do you think Warren was going to do with me?”
“Doesn’t matter because I’m going to break all of his bones tomorrow.”
“But what—”
“Francesca, don’t play the what-if game.
We won, he lost, end of story.” He dropped his soapy hands from my body.
“He tried to steal you from your bed, not realizing the monster that sleeps beside you. He knows all his men are dead, and he’s very aware of the grave mistake he just made.
For a brief moment, he felt a high when he outmaneuvered me, but now he’s outnumbered and knows I’m coming for every piece of him.
You should sleep well tonight, knowing he won’t be able to close his eyes without seeing my face. ”
It was sometime past noon when we woke up. I hadn’t slept well last night and spent most of my time watching him sleep. Seeing him calm made me calm, but I stayed awake anyway to avoid the nightmares that waited for me. Whenever I slept too hard, I saw men with guns, and it made me jerk awake.
We headed downstairs and had breakfast. He made us coffee with the espresso machine on the counter, and he raided the fridge, which was stocked because his maid must have delivered groceries that morning. “Bacon and eggs?” he asked.
“Sure.” I sat at the table with my hot cup of coffee.
Shirtless in his sweatpants, he stood over the stove and made everything in two pans before he served it onto two plates. He left the dirty pans behind and sat across from me, serving me two eggs over medium with two pieces of bacon.
I wasn’t that hungry, but it was sweet of him to cook for me, so I ate without complaint.
He relaxed in the chair, a new piece of gauze wrapped over his shoulder and secured in place. He had eight pieces of bacon on his plate when I only had two, and every time he grabbed a piece, he devoured it in one or two bites. “How’d you sleep?”
“Here and there…” I took a sip of my coffee.
He watched me as he took another bite of his bacon.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I just… I don’t bounce back from things as quickly as you do.”
“That’s nothing to be sorry about. This is all I’ve ever known. You’re the normal, healthy one.” He smirked. “I’m the fucked-up one.”
“How can you smile like that after everything that happened last night?”
He shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
“Have a lot of people tried to kill you?”
“Oh, loads.” He grabbed another piece of bacon. “It’s cute.”
I didn’t have tough skin like he did. He was made of dragon scales, and I was made of paper.
“And they’ll keep trying,” he said as he grabbed his fork and sliced into his egg. Some of the yolk started to seep onto the plate. “Just how it goes.”
“I wish I were as tough as you.”
He looked at me across the table, his eyes turning serious. “But you are, baby.”
“No,” I said with a scoff. “I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life. And every time I think about it, I feel like I might start to cry. I don’t know what it is. The fear of dying or just being overwhelmed by violence and chaos and the sound of gunshots…”
“You just aren’t used to it.”
“I don’t know…”
“I know greater men would flee if they faced what you faced. But you always hold your ground and land your shots. The fact that you’re blowing off heads when you’re that scared is a testament to your bravery.
I told you to leave, and you stayed.” He moved his hand across the table toward me then pointed two fingers into the surface.
“You refused to leave my side. You fought beside me until we were both left standing. Don’t sit there and tell me you aren’t tough, because you are. ”
My eyes dropped when his words hit me in a tender place.
“It’s okay to be shaken up. It’s okay to take time to process what just happened. But don’t misinterpret those emotions for cowardice and incompetence. You can’t compare yourself to me because I’m fucked in the head. I live for this kind of shit. Well, I did…”
“What do you mean, you did?”
He finished his egg before he grabbed another piece of bacon. Downed it in two bites as his eyes shifted away and he considered his response. “Things are different now. Different because of you. Instead of being fueled by that adrenaline…I’m just scared.”
“You—you’re scared?” This six-foot-five maniac was scared?
“I’m scared I’ll fail to protect you. I’m even a little afraid to die, because I know you need me to keep you safe. The stakes are a lot higher now. Having nothing to lose gave me an edge that most guys don’t have. But now, that edge is gone.”