The motherfucker never should’ve put her in that position. He never should’ve taken her off the estate as long as he knew the Bratva was a threat. He’d been careless with her safety. He kept saying how I wasn’t worthy of being her husband, but he’d failed her today.
“What happened next?” I prompted, needing more information about our captor’s condition.
“We were forced off the road, and the SUV wrecked.”
Fear rippled through me, and I pulled away from her so that I could study her again. Just because the visible blood on her shoulder hadn’t spilled from her own body, that didn’t mean she wasn’t injured.
“Take off the vest,” I ordered.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, but she was still trembling.
I fixed her with a stern stare. “Take it off.”
Her hands shook as she complied, but she managed to shrug out of the vest. I didn’t see any blood on the part of her cream-colored blouse that’d been protected by the Kevlar, but that didn’t mean she was all right. She could’ve broken a bone in the crash and not realized because of the adrenaline coursing through her system.
“Take off the blouse. And your jeans. Now,” I added with a bite of command when she hesitated.
She didn’t move with her usual grace as she fumbled at her buttons, but she managed to strip off her clothes after a few awkward attempts.
I held out my hand through the bars when she’d stripped down to her white lace bra and panties. “Come here.”
She stepped toward me without hesitation or shyness at her near nakedness. She trusted me enough to be vulnerable around me. And not only in her nudity. She’d just been attacked by the Bratva, and she’d run to me for comfort. My brave wife felt safe with me, despite all my failings.
Familiar shame singed the edges of my thoughts, but I ignored it. Seeing to her wellbeing was the only thing that mattered now. My desire for her safety and happiness was no longer rooted in selfishness, although I was still a possessive bastard when it came to Nora. But in our terrible days of suffering at Dante’s hands, I’d come to care for her more deeply than I could’ve anticipated when I’d forced her to marry me. She was no longer simply a pretty woman to share my bed with; she was so much more beautiful than I’d ever given her credit for. So strong and loyal.
I’d done nothing to deserve her loyalty, but I was greedy for it, nonetheless.
I touched her with careful reverence as I trailed my fingertips along each of her ribs, checking to make sure none were broken. The hollows around her lower ribs were beginning to fill in, and the sight filled me with regret and jealousy.
Dante had been the one to see that she was harming herself. He’d been the one to ensure she got healthy.
I gritted my teeth and shoved the thought away. I’d neglected Nora in the beginning, but never again. In these dark days, she’d become my lifeline. She mattered more to me than anything else in the world.
The revelation stunned me, and I paused my inspection of her body to simply stare into her stunning eyes. Dark green striations played through rich brown, a hypnotic pattern that I could study for hours.
She caressed my stubble-roughened jaw. “Are you alright?”
My heart ached. She’d been attacked, and she was worried aboutme.
I straightened my shoulders, resolving to be stronger for her. Turning my face, I pressed a kiss to her palm before continuing to check her chest for injuries.
An angry red welt had formed where the seatbelt had saved her life. It would probably develop into a bruise, and she would be sore for a few days, but otherwise, she appeared unharmed.
She touched my face again, capturing my attention. “I’m okay,” she promised.
I responded with a reluctant nod. I’d prefer to have a doctor check her over, even though she didn’t show any signs of serious injury.
But her eyes still shone with unshed tears, and a tremor raced over her body.
“Tell me what happened after the crash,” I prompted, sliding my fingers through her hair in the way she liked to be stroked.
She leaned into my hand with a shuddering sigh, some of the tension unwinding from her muscles.
“There was a firefight with the Russians who’d ambushed us,” she said, voice hitching slightly with residual fear. “Dante shielded me and got me to one of the other SUVs. They brought me back here. I don’t know what happened after that.”
“They can’t get to you here.” The promise was sour on my tongue. Because I couldn’t tell her that she was safe here; she’d never be safe in Dante’s home. But at the very least, the Bratva wouldn’t breach the estate’s defenses. They would’ve launched a full-scale assault rather than an ambush if they had the power to take him on in a direct attack.
She wrapped her arms around me in another fierce embrace. “I was so scared,” she whispered, a strained admission. “I thought they’d kill me like they killed my mother. They raped her before they murdered her. All to send a message to my father, who was pushing into their territory at the time. They brutalized her to get to him. They’ll do the same thing to me if they capture me.”