Chapter Nine
Elena
“I’m here. You’re okay. A chroí. I’ve got you.”
His mouth moves over my face, my hair before brushing over my lips.
A large arm circles my waist, and I am pulled against his broad chest, his hand holding me in place so I don’t see the body lying a few feet away from us.
But I’ve already seen more than I should have.
Yet somehow, seeing Yuri drop dead didn’t bring half the same fear as the bone-chilling feeling I experienced when I saw a gun pointed at my bodyguard. My husband.
He could have died.
Yuri could have killed Roarke when his only mistake was protecting me—marrying me to protect me.
I lean into the embrace, closing my eyes and trying not to relive that moment, but I know I’ll play it in my head over and over again for a very long time. “I’m sorry,” I sniffle into his shoulder. “This is all my fault. I put your life in danger by being so reckless.”
Roarke pulls back and stares at me. “It’s my job as your bodyguard and your husband to protect you, Elena.” His eyes cross to the man lying behind him before turning back to me. “Let’s get you out of here. I’ll need to come back down here when the cops arrive.”
I nod and don’t argue when he lifts me into his arms, carrying me bridal-style out of the storage room and up to our room. I’m surprised to find our door open and even more shocked by the people inside.
“Roarke, oh my God!” Fiona, dressed in sweats and a tank top with a fuzzy coat draped over her shoulders, runs to us. “You got to her. I was so scared. You have no idea how terrified I was when I saw that second man walk into that room after you.”
“Alexei Balshov,” Roarke responds, his eyes turning to his brother and an older-looking man. I assume he’s Patrick O’Shea, the father, as the man looks like a much older version of the brothers. “He shot his father dead.”
“Are you certain?” Conor asks.
“He’s dead,” Roarke confirms.
Patrick O’Shea, raises a single brow, taps his younger son and nods toward the door. “We’ll go have a look and clean up any evidence that you and the girl were in there before the cops arrive.”
“I’ll join you,” Roarke says. He sets me gently on the couch, then turns to Fiona.
His hands are shaking—I can see it even though he’s trying to hide it.
“Fiona, can you please help my wife clean up? That fucking psychopath drew blood, and if he weren’t already dead, I’s empty my gun into his evil heart. ”
Fiona’s eyes widen when she sees my face, and she nods immediately. “Of course. Come on, Elena.”
I start to protest—I don’t want him to leave—but I see the tension in his shoulders, the way his jaw is clenched so tight it must hurt. He needs this moment. So I let Fiona lead me to the bathroom.
The men walk out, shutting the door behind them. I stare at it for a long time after they’ve left, lost in my thoughts and only surface when Fiona taps my shoulder to get my attention. “Let’s get you cleaned up, Elena.”
I nod and follow her to the bathroom. I don’t say a word as she wets a washcloth and dabs at my cheek. I wince.
“Sorry,” she murmurs. “It’s not too bad. Won’t even scar. But it’s going to bruise.”
I watch her work in the mirror, this woman I barely know who’s treating me with such gentleness. “Thank you,” I whisper. “For helping me.”
“Are you kidding? You’re family now.” She meets my eyes in the mirror. “That means we protect you. Always.”
Tears blur my vision. I never expected this—people who fight for me, who show up in the middle of the night without question. I’ve not had that, except for my sisters and cousins.
“Hey,” Fiona says softly, squeezing my hand. “You’re safe now. Roarke won’t let anything happen to you. None of us will.”
I nod, but I can’t stop the tears from falling.
The truth is, I’m terrified.
More than anything, I’m scared that this could mean the end of Roarke and me.
Now that Yuri is no longer a threat, he has no reason to stay married to me.
It’s clear that Alexei is nothing like his father, and something tells me he won’t try to hold my father to the agreement with Yuri, at least not in the same way his father did.
Besides, Matteo and Sofia will be back from their honeymoon in a few days, and I know Matteo will make my father pay for planning something like this behind his back.
Fiona seems to sense my thoughts. She sets down the washcloth and turns me to face her. ”You’re worried about Roarke, aren’t you? About what happens now?”
I bite my lip, then nod. “Yuri is dead. There’s no reason for us to stay married anymore.”
I consider opening up to Roarke’s sister.
She’d be inclined to be more loyal to her brother than to me, but I still need to tell someone, so I find myself spilling and telling her everything.
All my fears and uncertainties. All my feelings.
“I didn’t even believe in love until a few days ago—that’s my sisters’ thing.
They’re the hopeless romantics,” I say, brushing my hair from my face.
Fiona is quiet as I spill, her expression selling nothing. “Do you know why my brother has the nightmares he does?” she says, surprising me by the sudden shift.
“No, he’s never told me.” In truth, I’ve been scared to ask.
“Before he started working for Da, Roarke was in the military—special operations. He saw combat, lost men under his command. He came back different. Darker.” Her voice softens. There’s this darkness around him now that worries everyone in my family.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“This morning, my brother—the same one who hasn’t slept through the night in two years—called me in a panic and told me that his wife was missing. She’d left while he was sleeping.”
“Oh!”
“And I saw his eyes when he married you, Elena. For the record, no one can force my brother to do anything he doesn’t want to.
My dad didn’t want him to join the military, but he did it anyway without telling anyone.
Hell, my parents were convinced he had run away when he did.
So if he married you, it’s because he wanted to.
Regardless of the reason.” Her mouth stretches into a mischievous smile as she speaks.
“If my big brother isn’t as insanely in love with you as you are with him, then I will eat all of my computer chips. ”
I laugh at that, feeling all the tension leave my body. Just then, I hear voices coming from the living room. “Your family is back.”
“Let’s go see what’s going on.” Fiona grabs my hand and pulls me out before I can point out that we’re probably not supposed to listen to them talk about committing a crime by hiding evidence. The men don’t stop talking even when we join them.
“Are you boys surprised that the body was gone and that the place had been swept clean?” Patrick asks with the same mischievous grin I’d spotted on Fiona earlier. “Mob families move fast Bratva cleaners are the best in the business.”
“We weren’t gone for more than twenty minutes,” Roarke points out. “How did they do it that fast?”
“The Balshov cleaners were in there the second you stepped out,” his father tells him, clapping his shoulder.
“The bratva are intelligent and lethal, as are most mob families. And you just married the sister-in-law to one of the most powerful families in New York City—you need to understand how their world operates, Roarke. You’re in it now, whether you like it or not. ”
I freeze when he mentions our marriage. Patrick O’Shea knows? How does he know? Did they tell him already?
I turn to Roarke, panicked, but he doesn’t seem one bit worried that his father already knows.
“I knew I would be dealing with the Rossis when I married Elena,” Roarke says instead, looking at me.
“I intend to stay by her side, protecting her from that world until death do us part. Elena is mine. I don’t care who or what she’s connected to. ”
I gape at the man. Sure, I had his sister’s assurance, but a part of me needed to hear it from Roarke himself. I get yet another dose of surprise when the father pats his son on the shoulder before turning to me.
Patrick O’Shea pulls me into a warm hug before pushing back to smile at me.
“Welcome to the family, Elena.” He laughs heartily at the shocked look on my face before turning to walk out, calling over his shoulder.
“And call your mother, Roarke. For the record, I was not here and know nothing about this marriage thing. You’re alone on this one, son. ”
Roarke’s groan is followed by his siblings’ laughter as they follow their father out, leaving us alone in the hotel room.
I turn to Roarke, confused by his family’s reaction. “Why did everyone react like that? Will your mother…hate me?”
“Of course not, a chroí,” he rasps, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me flush against him, burying his face in my neck.
“My mother will love you. She’s been riding my ass about settling down and giving her grandchildren.
She’s not going to like that I kept her in the dark and robbed her of the chance of having a big wedding. ”
I swallow, “And do you want that? Children?”
Roarke pulls back, and those ocean blues light up with so much affection that I feel my heart clench with love. “With you, Elena, I want everything,” he says, brushing his lips over mine. “A home, a life with you and our children, as many as you want.”
“I want that too,” I whisper, giggling when I’m suddenly lifted in the air and he carries me to the bedroom.
I moan and wrap my arms around his shoulders as he lowers me to the bed, his mouth finding mine in a kiss so hot my toes curl in pleasure.
For the first time in days, I feel all the tension melt from my body and ease sets in, that and affection for a man I had no business falling for but did anyway.
“I love you, Elena,” Roarke rasps when he pulls back to look at me. “That’s why you couldn’t sleep, wasn’t it? Worrying about things when I’m the one who’s supposed to be worrying about you.”
“You love me?” I whisper, breathlessly.
“I fell in love with you before I even met you,” he says, tugging my robe open, I whimper when he traces his hand over my breasts, plucking my nipples between his fingers.
“I wasn’t going to take this job, but the second I saw your face in that file, I knew you were mine to protect.
I couldn’t make sense of it at the time, but it was love at first sight. ”
I push up and slam my mouth against his, tightening my hold against his shoulder as I pour everything into the kiss. “I love you,” I say, emotions choking my throat. “Make love to me, Roarke. I want to feel you inside of me. All of you.”
There are no words traded between us as he strips, then his hands are on me, touching me everywhere.
I can’t get enough of him. All those rugged muscles, firm and inked.
Strong. Perfect. I’m panting and trembling for him when he slides his thickness into me, moving slowly and gently, holding me tightly against him as he rocks his length into me.
A chroí.
He murmurs the words against my skin as he moves inside me, and this time I need to know. “What does it mean?” I whisper breathlessly.
He pulls back to look at me, eyes blazing with emotion. "My heart," he says, his voice rough. “A chroí means my heart. My beloved. That's what you are to me, Elena.”
The words break something open inside me. Tears blur my vision as he kisses me deeply, still moving inside me with slow, deliberate strokes.A chroí.
My climax tears through me, shooting through every nerve ending in my body. I bury my face into his neck as pleasure shudders through me, causing me to clench greedily around his cock. Moments later, he follows, painting my womb with his cum.
We fall into a comfortable silence, wrapped together as we stare at the park below and the bright city that surrounds it. His phone vibrates from the pants he just stripped off, so he reaches down to grab it, not bothering to hide the screen from me as he opens the message.
It’s from Matteo.
Why the fuck did I just get a message from Alexei Balshov telling me that he is the new pakhan and that I owe him a favor for saving both you and Elena’s lives? Call me right fucking now.
Roarke chuckles as he shoots back a message that he’ll call tomorrow to explain everything before tossing the phone on the nightstand, seemingly unbothered by my brother-in-law’s threats. My heart twinges a bit from the trouble I have no doubt I brought the man.
“Are you sure you’re happy with me?” I ask, rubbing a hand over his pec and circling his nipple. “I’m not sure I’m worth all this trouble. I’m just a boring PhD student who spends most of her days buried in some book. I don’t do anything exciting, and I’m the least interesting of my sisters—”
His mouth crashes onto mine, cutting off my words and kissing me until I lose my train of thought.
“You’re exactly what I want, Elena,” he rasps against my panting lips.
“I love you for who you are, and I know for certain that life with you will never be boring. Not as long as we’re together.
You’re mine, a chroí. You’re exactly what I need. Who I want.”
I nod, dropping my head back to his chest as my eyes move back to the window and the beauty of the night before closing them. And tonight, I finally allow myself to dream of a future I could have never imagined before him.