“Are you doing okay? Need anything?”

She ducks her chin, her long dark hair falling forward to hide the bruises still healing on her face. “No, I’m good, thank you. Let me know if you need me to do anything. With everything going on right now, I feel kind of useless.”

I reach out to touch her arm, but she flinches away before I can make contact.

“Fuck, sorry,” she mumbles and then rushes off down the hall before I can even say anything.

Kai will have to help her get a therapist in here in addition to the doctor. I can’t lose Andrea, not this way.

I march toward the kitchen, gather breakfast, then join my wife in bed.

For one fleeting second, I imagine us to be a normal couple enjoying a lazy morning in bed making love, appreciating each other.

Tomorrow is early enough to break the spell and figure out how to keep us all alive.

23

Valentina

It takes about a week, but slowly, I stop tiptoeing around the penthouse. It’s not that Adrian has come out and said he forgives me, and really I don’t think he’ll ever be able to. Even if he says the words and plays the part.

Strangely, I don’t feel like I need that forgiveness. It's mostly because Adrian won’t say a single word about it, unlike the man who raised me. My father used to rub every slight back in my face.

I quickly learn the others are slower to forgive, especially once they learned about my condition. Michail, with his quiet intensity, refuses to speak to me. Kai, when he does speak, uses a chilled tone I don’t recognize from the perpetual flirt of a man I’d come to know. Not that he’s ever risked flirting with me. But I saw it all too well the last time Adrian dared to take me out of the house.

That’s become my problem now. Adrian refuses to take me anywhere or allow me to leave his sight longer than a few minutes. As much as I love his attention, it’s hard being his sole focus because having Adrian’s concentration is like being choked to death with the softest silk on the planet. You’re not sure if you want to run or ask for more.

I sit in Adrian’s office today while he works quietly at his desk. They’d moved an oversized chair that swallows me whole into the corner, and I have to admit it’s the most comfortable piece of furniture I’ve ever sat on.

This is how I spend most of my time now. If not in the command room, I’m always only a few feet from him and no more. Some days, it’s thrilling—like when he lifts me up on his desk and orders everyone out—and other times, it’s boring.

Today, I’d rather be bored.

Kai came in moments ago and set a DVD and a summons on Adrian’s desk, and now we all stand around staring at them as if they will bite.

My first thought is…this is the beginning of the end. The council always wins. My father said that so many times, and at some point, I started to believe it. But this time, if the council wins…it means I lose.

I lose everything.

I won’t let someone else, another man, take everything away from me again.

I grab the DVD off the desk, drawing everyone’s attention, then stalk to the command room to start it up.

Kai and Adrian follow a few seconds later and do nothing but stand silently seething at my back.

I snag the remote from the table and hit play. The video begins immediately, and it takes seconds to figure out what we are looking at: Andrea’s attack.

Bile rises in my throat, and I cover my mouth as the scene progresses. She’s beaten and still fighting. Fighting so hard.

Kai makes a noise and turns his back to the screen. Adrian does the same, but I don’t. I watch. Not because I want to see it, but because someone needs to witness her bravery. Someone needs to acknowledge she fought as hard as she could, and it hadn’t been enough.

Something in my chest hardens. Someone needs to be able to identify these bastards so they can be ripped to shreds when the time is right.

It takes two hours. Two fucking hours of white-knuckle gripping the table beside me and imagining all the ways these men should pay for their crimes. The final screen is a close-up shot of Andrea’s face. I turn around with still clenched muscles long grown sore to look at Kai and Adrian. They are vibrating with rage, and I can see the need to release it in their eyes.

“You see a victim,” I say, shaking my head, “but I see a fighter. You might be angry but imagine how angry she is. This is her revenge. You won’t take it from her.”

Tags: J.L. Beck Vow To Protect Crime
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