I let myself believe, maybe, I really am safe as I drift off again. This time, it’s not nightmares clawing their way through my mind; it’s a voice, a strong, authoritative voice, telling me to rest and come back to him.
6
ADRIAN
I stare down at the little man who has served my men and me for years, and it’s the first time I want to crush his little skull. It’s not his fault I’m on edge, nor is it his fault Valentina hasn’t woken completely despite the week of round-the-clock care he’s provided.
“Doctor, if you tell me some gibberish about the body and healing one more time, then I’m going to rethink my no-guns-in-the-bedroom rule. Tell me what to do in order to help her heal enough to be conscious. She’s been in and out of it for a week, and I’m concerned about her memory. She doesn’t seem to remember much of what happened to her, me saving her, or even the fact we’ve met before.”
To his credit, the doctor doesn’t quake under his wire-rimmed glasses, despite my tone eliciting that reaction in greater men than him. “Mr. Doubeck, as I explained before, Ms. Novak was dehydrated, malnourished, and fighting off infections from her various injuries. These things take time and antibiotics to heal. Once she is stronger, I’ll add in a steroid, which will assist in her healing process. You must be patient.”
“And her memory?” I prompt. “What do you say about that?”
“We can get her a CT scan when she can move around on her own. For now, she has no injury to the head that I can tell. What she is going through is likely a reaction to her trauma. I suggest consistency and being gentle with her as she recovers. Can you do that?”
I swallow the biting reply I queued up. I don’t like his challenge to me, but I appreciate the ferocity for which he defends her. “Don’t let her die, Doctor, or others will follow immediately afterward.”
He turns back toward my bedroom, where she’d been recovering since I brought her here, and marches straight to her bedside. It grates on my nerves as he adjusts her IV, checks her vital signs, and then inspects her injuries. When I found her, most of her body was covered in bruises and blood. He’d beat her and then bound her naked to her own bed. I feared blinking or else I’d see her like that again. When I’d walked into the room, I saw the dead woman on the floor, her friend, Rose, I guessed, and assumed the worst had happened. But when I’d checked her pulse and felt the faint flutter of her heartbeat, I knew she was so much stronger than she looked.
If anyone decides to test her strength again, they’ll find me answering the challenge instead of her. I only pray we find Sal before I have to go out there and hunt him down myself.
When the doctor completes his exam, he turns to face me again. “She’s mending, Mr. Doubeck. Be patient and be gentle with her. That’s what she needs right now.”
Not trusting myself not to say something cutting, I give him a curt nod and jerk my head toward the door. He doesn’t need time to get the hint. The doctor flees, and I approach the bedside to look her over.
The bruises I can see above the covers are changing shade, something I knew to be a good thing from my fighting days. The IVs are helping ensure she receives enough nutrition, but I need her to wake up so I can stuff her full of her favorite foods and put some curves on her too lean frame.
The door opens as I am about to get some water to give her another sponge bath. Kai enters, his frustration evident by the fact he’d taken his jacket off, and his tie hangs loose around his neck. “What is it?”
He scowls as he glances over my shoulder at Valentina. I move into his line of sight so he can’t look at her. I don’t want anyone looking at her while she is weak and unable to defend herself properly. Until then, I’ll be here to protect her.
“The fucker has gone to ground. He hasn’t been back to his apartment, hasn’t been to the Novak house, and he hasn’t been to his usual sleazeball haunts. I don’t know where he is, and I’m about to start razing each of the disgusting establishments he manages to the ground to root him out.”
I shrug. “Did you come here for my permission? I said find him, and I don’t care how you do it.”
It’s not just the hunt that has him frustrated then. “What else?”
“Her father is still in New York, and he hasn’t even made a move to come home. It’s like he has no idea his daughter almost died or that his niece is dead.”