“You’ve subjected your presence on Zira for the last time, you hear me? She never deserved to live a life with your foul shadow haunting her. That woman is completely selfless and gave up her life for a brother who only cared about trying to kill her and making off with diamonds. That wasn’t family. That wasn’t care or love, but don’t worry, I’m going to show her what love is. I’m going to show her how she deserves to be treated, with love and respect, and never again will she even think about the times you hurt or tricked her.”
Harris spasms beneath me as the twine cuts into his throat, choking the life out of him. His face turns purple, his eye bulges, and he jerks repeatedly to try and shake me off, but he can’t do it. Spit flies past his lips as he chokes and gurgles the tighter I pull the twine.
“And you know what? She’s going to be richer than you could ever dream, she’s going to be loved more than you ever were, and I’m going to make sure that not one single person remembers your pathetic existence.”
A slick, gurgling sound rises from Harris and his eye rolls back in his head.
“You never should have touched the woman I love.”
38
ZIRA
“Swing again!” Valentina bobs in front of me with her fists raised. “Come on, with all your might!”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I protest, blowing some stray hair out of my face.
Both Cassian and Raven, seated nearby, chuckle.
“You won’t,” Valentina promises. “Come on.”
As instructed, I bob back onto one foot and tense my shoulder, then swing forward and try to punch Valentina in the face as hard as I can. My worry, as always, is for nothing as she catches my wrist while turning her body and quickly dragging me off balance while lifting her opposite elbow to lightly catch me on the chin.
“You see? You don’t need to be stronger or taller. It’s all about balance, and people with larger muscles are much heavier. Sure, it makes them stronger, but if you’re fast, it also makes them easier to dislodge.” She releases me with a smile. “Don’t lookso glum. You’ve improved a lot over the weeks, but these things take time.”
“No chance of me besting Bradley, then?” I ask while accepting the bottle of water she offers me.
“No chance,” pipes up Cassian. “Not until you can beat me.”
“I could take you,” I smirk. “Easy, peasy.”
“Oh, really?” He rises from his stool and ruffles Raven’s hair on the way past, then approaches me with his fists raised and lightly boxes the air around me. “Come on, then.”
“If I weren’t so tired, you’d be on your ass.” I smirk, then I uncap my water and drink deeply.
“Tired?” Valentina shoots me a sharp look. “You’re lucky I have to go or you’d be learning the meaning of tired.”
“You’re leaving?” I ask with a gasp, lips wet from drinking.
“Ruslan and I are going shopping.”
“Shopping?” Raven’s head darts up. “With Ruslan?” Her look of disbelief is mirrored on Cassian’s face.
“Yup. He requires my help for something sparkly for Ivy, and I am the best person to ask,” Valentina replies. She tosses her hair over her shoulder and moves past me with a smile. “Keep focusing on your core work. we’ll pick this up later.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
With that, she’s gone. Raven eventually vacates the room and leaves me with Cassian who spends twenty minutes helping me with my crunches before he’s also called away on work. I drainmy water and head for the shower, washing away the tingles of sweat and soothing the ache in my muscles.
Asking Valentina to help me fight better was terrifying but over the past few weeks, it’s been amazing to learn simple ways to disarm people and protect myself. Bradley insists that I won’t ever be in a position again where I need to learn those things, but I’m doing it for him as much as I’m doing it for me. I know he feels something for me, and I feel it too. We’ve danced around the topic several times during my recovery, and being with him means a life full of danger, and I refuse to be a liability.
I’m not going to charge headlong into anything, but if it finds me, I’ll protect myself. And him.
I shower under hot water that doesn’t flicker between hot and cold, lather my hair with pomegranate and raspberry shampoo, and cover my body with peach and mango body lotion. Then I step onto heated floors and pad through to a bedroom that’s all mine. Soft carpets, floral bedding, and a small shelf containing three books and a couple of really old CDs that I’ve dragged from home to home because they’re the only memory I have of my parents. It’s small and mostly empty, but it’s my shelf.
My bed.
My closet filled withtailoredclothes for every occasion imaginable. Bradley went all out in making me feel at home here but didn’t hesitate to give me several pamphlets for housing blocks and apartments that they own with a soft instruction to choose which one will be my home. It’s a backup, he claims, in case I change my mind and no longer want to stay here.
