I sigh, the sting of pain in my side subsiding when I finally land both feet on the floor. I remind myself that I need to go slow. I need this bastard of a wound to heal so I can protect Violet and get us out of here.
“Good, I’m happy for you. As soon as I’m healed up, I’ll be out of your hair, and you can go back to hating me.”
Roman doesn’t like my response and crowds me, his chest pushing against mine. He wants to fight me, he wants to show me every single ounce of anger inside of him, but he won’t, because that’d be showing me emotion. If I know anything about my brother, it’s that he doesn’t want anyone to know what’s going on inside of his fucked-up head.
“Looks like you are well enough to stand, so why don’t you take your bitch and leave now?”
Forgetting the bullet wound that’s throbbing in my side, I shove Roman backward and out of the room until we are in the hallway. Pain shoots through me with every move I make but instead of trying to tolerate it, trying to push it down, I let it fuel me. Fuel the anger vibrating deep inside of me.
“Listen very carefully, Roman, because I’m only going to say this once to you.” I step into his space, snarling, “You can hate me all you want, you can even fight me if it makes you feel better, but you will not talk to her the way you want to, like she’s some piece of garbage. You are not going to scare her or make her feel like shit either. You have no fucking idea what she’s been through. You can’t imagine the shit show I got her out of. You’re going to treat her with fucking respect. Are we clear?”
A smile forms on his thin lips. “I think it’s hilarious you think you can come into my fucking house and tell me what I’m going to do and not going to do.”
He’s pushing me, wanting to see how far I’ll go for her.
“Roman…” I exhale a ragged breath. “Please, just fucking do this for me… for Mira.” Saying her name hurts, it hurts really fucking bad, and I know hearing her name hurts Roman.
“She is not Mira. She’s not our fucking sister and saving her doesn’t bring Mira back. And none of this matters anyway, because I don’t give a fuck about her, or her happiness. I came down here to tell you that I’m not getting involved in your shit. Tell your fucking people to leave me alone. I answer to no one. I’m my own boss, Ivan.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I have no people anymore. It’s just me now.”
“Really? Does Xander Rossi know that?” He cocks a brow.
“Xander? I have nothing to do with him. I worked for his father, not him, and up until a week ago, Xander didn’t even know his father was alive.”
“Well, he’s been asking around for you since yesterday.” Shit. What the hell does he want? Isn’t it enough have one criminal organization looking for me?
“Does anyone know I’m here?”
“Of course not. Do you think I’m stupid? I don’t want a fucking target on my back. I trust everybody who was at the gym yesterday. No one is going to say a fucking word, not unless they want to die.” A darkness cloaks his face.
With Xander and his father both looking for me, and a wound that’s still seeping blood, staying here is our only chance at making it out of this alive. I need to protect Violet above all.
“If you kick us out, we’re as good as dead, and we both know it.” I pause, gauging his facial expression. “If something happens, you’re not only going to have my life on your conscious, but hers too, and she’s done nothing to you. Fuck, she’s done nothing to anybody. They just plucked her off the street for no other reason than her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is innocent in all of this shit.”
I can see Roman’s struggling with this decision. He looks conflicted but I know he’ll make the right choice. Violet might not be Mira, but he, too, sees the connection. Mira was just as innocent. She had done nothing to deserve to die, and neither has Violet. I might have cost us Mira, but I’m not going to fuck Violet over. Not after all I’ve done to save her life.
“Fuck,” Roman finally huffs out. “Stay, if you must, but stay out of my way.” He storms off, a warning hanging in the air. As soon as he’s out of sight, I immediately grip onto the wall to steady myself. I stand there for a moment, catching my breath, when I hear a quiet sob come from the other side of the bedroom door. I walk back into the room and find Violet crying on the bed. She looks up at me, her blues rimmed red with tears.
“It’s all my fault. It’s all because of me,” she whimpers.
“No, Kitten, none of this is your fault,” I assure her.
“If you didn’t help me, no one would be after you right now, and you would not have gotten shot. Now, I’ve put even more people in danger. I’m just going to leave. You’ll be better off without me.”
I sit down on the bed next to her and cradle her cheek against my hand. She has no idea what she is saying. How much saving her saved me.
“Don’t say that, Kitten, I’ll never be better off without you. I needed this. I needed to break free from the hold they all had on me. You stumbling into my life just placed everything together perfectly. Saving you helped me save myself.”
“I mean it, Ivan. You said so yourself, you don’t want this to last… you don’t love me. I can leave now and stop being a burden to you and Roman. I can stop hurting everyone, causing more problems.” Her words sting; they rip me apart from the inside out.
“Kitten, do you really think I would have done all of this if I wasn’t in love with you? If I didn’t fucking love you all long?”
“You love me?” Her eyes light up, and she nuzzles into my hand, but I can still see doubt flicker in those blue depths of hers. A part of her doesn’t believe me, believes it might be too good to be true.
“Yes, I love you. I couldn’t admit it before, not to you… or to myself, but that’s because I wanted to think that I was doing this for you. I didn’t want to return the feelings because I was afraid of what it would mean. You’re going nowhere unless I’m by your side.”
She crawls into my lap and melts into my chest, her tiny hands pressing against my muscles, and strangely, I wish we were naked right now, her pretty pussy swallowing my cock.
“I love you, too, more than you could ever know, but I think your brother hates me,” she admits shamefully, as if she has a reason to be shameful over my brother hating her. It’s not her fault he’s a prick.
“Roman hates everybody, and I mean everybody, so don’t take it personally.”
I barely finish speaking when Roman appears back in the doorway.
“Doc said to take this,” he growls, throwing a pill bottle at me.
“What are these?” I ask, grabbing the pill bottle off the bed. There isn’t a label on it, and I know how my brother is. He’s been known to take some shit, shit that fucks with his head, and his mood. The last thing I want is to take something and put Violet in danger.
“Antibiotics.” He rolls his eyes. “Worried I’d give you something else? Swap out some of the pills? Give you something that would make you lose control?”
Violet gasps in my arms as she buries her face into my chest. Roman’s dark gaze roams over her body for a second longer than acceptable, and I find a growl escaping my lips.