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The five security guards stood outside the vehicle until Theo joined me a short time later. Once he was seated in the back with me, the others got in. Everyone remained quiet as we rode toward the airport. I kept my gaze trained on the window, unable to see anything but the passing lights, feeling as if my heart were breaking all over again with each mile that took me farther away from the family that had claimed me for so short a time.
Chapter 18
Theo
It was midafternoon before we made it back to New York. By then, I felt like I was in an all-new kind of hell.
Tavia had cried all the way to the airport, never once speaking to me, not even when I tried to talk to her. She wouldn’t even look at me. Not that I could blame her. Somewhere over the Midwest, she fell asleep after fighting it for a few hours. But she stayed on the couch as far away from me as she could possibly be on the jet, sleeping curled into a little ball, as if trying to make herself as tiny as physically possible.
She was sound asleep when we touched down. Knowing I was risking making her even angrier with me, I carried her off the jet and to the waiting limo where Pops and my uncle Cristiano were waiting. Thankfully, she didn’t stir and was still out cold by the time we reached my parents’ house.
With Petrov now dead—something I was equal parts appreciative of and pissed over, because I’d wanted to be the one to put a bullet in the bastard’s skull just as I’d done his brother—there was no reason for Mom and Sofia to stay at Anya’s any longer.
Pops watched Tavia with concerned eyes as we rode toward the compound where I’d grown up. “She looks fragile,” he murmured quietly.
“I know.” Pushing a few locks of hair back from her face, I ached to kiss her but didn’t want to chance waking her before I got her home to Mom.
I didn’t need her to tell me she wasn’t going to let me take care of her, but I was hoping Mom could get her to at least let her take over the care Raven had been giving her. Anything was better than her going back to her dorm, where no one would be able to make sure she was okay. Maybe Mom and Sofia could help her heal in more than just the physical sense.
My fuckups with her seemed unending, and I honestly didn’t know how to make it all right, but I was going to try my damnedest.
When the limo rolled to a stop in front of my childhood home, I got out and carefully reached back in to lift Tavia into my arms. With a sigh, she wrapped her arms trustingly around my neck.
At least in her sleep she knew she could trust me. Too bad I hadn’t proved it to her to make her understand that when she was conscious.
But she would.
Mom was already standing at the door when I walked up the front steps. As I entered the house with Dad and Uncle Cristiano behind us, Sofia came running down the stairs. A look from Dad had her clamping her mouth closed before she could say anything that might wake up the precious cargo in my arms.
Taking one look at Tavia’s paleness, Mom led the way up to one of the guest rooms she’d already prepared for Tavia’s arrival. Once I placed her in the middle of the bed, I stepped back, but I didn’t exit the room as I was sure Sofia expected me to since she was standing guard at the foot of the bed.
Mom tucked the covers up over Tavia, who didn’t even move once her head was on one of the plush pillows. “I’ve already spoken to Raven Reid. She told me all about Tavia’s diet.” Her brown eyes turned on me. “Among other things.”
I clenched my jaw, making the muscles tick. “I honestly thought I was doing the right thing leaving her there while I tried to draw out Petrov. She was supposed to be safe in California.”
“I’m not the one you need to explain yourself to, Theo,” she said with a pained exhale. “Right now, I think you should go and let Tavia get some rest. You look like you could use some sleep yourself. Go on. I’ll tend to her. She will be completely fine in my care.”
My gaze lingered on Tavia’s sleeping face. There were circles under her eyes so dark, they looked like bruises marring her delicate skin. The woman I loved was inches away from breaking, and it was my fault.
“Get out, Theo,” Sofia hissed.
“I’ve about had it with your shit, Sof,” I gritted out, but after one more lingering look down at Tavia, I forced myself to walk to the door.
When I opened the door, it was to find Pops standing there with not only my uncle, but my cousin Ryan as well. The young teen stood there looking bored, his arms crossed over his chest.
“What?” I said with a grunt, only wanting to get to bed for a few hours of sleep before going back to Tavia.
“There isn’t a rat in the MC,” Pops announced.
“How do you know?”
Cristiano nodded his head toward the stairs. “Let’s take this conversation downstairs.”
I followed the three of them to Pops’s office at the back of the house on the first floor. As soon as the door closed behind me, I was demanding answers.
“Mom told me about what happened last night when I got home from school,” Ryan informed me. “When she said that the guy set up a trap and lured Tavia to Nova’s Uncle Spider’s house, I realized someone must have been listening in to our conversations. Two days ag
o, I asked Nova what she would do if someone ever attacked her at her house and she was alone. I was worried about her with Tavia there and all the heat I’ve been hearing Pop and Mom talking about lately.”
