Fairly seething with all of the new information I had gleaned about Raychel, I carefully locked the door behind me as I left her apartment. I spent the drive back to the hospital trying to piece together what I’d seen and heard, and come to grips with how unbelievably jealous I’d gotten as soon as I heard whoever it was on her answering machine.
I knew that my relationship with Raychel had progressed nicely into the wonderful intimacy we had experienced before she was in the accident. We were taking it slow, she wasn’t balking too badly at anything… but still, I remembered how I felt when the cop had asked me if I’d known a Raychel Polov, and I’d reached over to feel the cold sheets.
She’d gotten up and left me instead of sleeping all night with me. Was it that she was having a hard time dealing with what had happened between us? Did she not like the bed, or me, or was being in the house that wasn’t her tiny little apartment too much? She had visited my house many times with her father growing up. Could it be that being in it in a different capacity was just too much? I wished I knew what had been running through her mind when she had walked out the door. But more than that, I wished she had dropped something loudly enough to wake me up, so that I could have convinced her—one way or the other, I frowned at the thought—not to leave at all.
With a start, I realized that she was important enough to me that if it was the house that bothered her, I would be perfectly fine with selling it and moving. I’d even move out of the city and start fresh with her.
Fuck the money. Fuck it all. God knows I had enough of it. And if it risked her life… If the accident had anything to do with me, I would fucking lose my mind. But I also knew that Dasha had a lot of enemies as did I. Poor Raychel didn’t have a chance with her father and me in her life. We both had tried our best to protect her. I thought we had. I did everything I could to keep the monsters away. She was safe. Safe. But clearly I had failed.
Nothing would keep her safe.
I could lose her just as fast as I lost Dasha. Maybe not by a gunshot, but by the fates of life punishing me for being an overall dick. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy, and everyone I loved would pay the price. Karma was a bitch, but it wasn’t me who would suffer. It was the people around me.
Regardless, one way or the other, at the very least, I was going to get her the hell out of that apartment.
And away from that damned Christopher, whoever the hell he was.
I also had one more stop.
Black Secrets.
I needed to be sure that Raychel’s accident truly was an accident.
Chapter Fifteen
Anthony
“Thank you all for meeting me on such short notice,” I began as I looked at my business partners seated around the mahogany conference table. “I hope you have good news for me.”
I knew that if anyone could find out if the Bratva or any other mafia connection was responsible for Raychel’s car wreck, it would be my business partners in Black Secrets. These men were connected in some way with every bad man and woman in the world. A collection of killers, thieves, rich powerful fucks, and men who could get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, my partners were my go-to in a situation like this.
“I did some digging,” Marty Bianci, the most deadly of our bunch, began, “and I couldn’t find a hit ordered on Raychel. After her father was murdered, it seems no one is really caring what she’s up to. Dasha did a good job keeping her removed from that life.”
Louie Mariano nodded. “I have some Russian connections in the art world and they hadn’t heard Raychel’s name mentioned in years. She’s just a civilian innocent in their eyes. No interest to them or their enemies.”
“I think it truly was just an accident,” Marty agreed. “I think we all came up with nothing.”
All the men nodded around the table, which made my entire body relax and the breath I had been holding release.
“I appreciate you all taking the time, gentlemen,” I said, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“I would still keep her close for a while, just to be sure,” Louie added. “You have a lot of enemies yourself.”
I nodded. “I plan to. After this last scare, I don’t plan on letting her leave my side.”
* * *
Raychel
When Anthony got back to my room, I was awake, but just barely. I came to full alertness, however, when I saw what he had in his hand.