Page 279 of Wicked Brutal

Finally I touch her face. “Then I come get you.”

Her expression crumples slightly. “What if you don’t know where I am?”

“I find out.”

“What if Bella’s right and Victor moves me?”

“I find you.”

“Ryan—“

“Ally.” I take her face between my hands. “There isn’t a version of this where I decide you’re too far away.” Her eyes fill. “I don’t care if you’re in Switzerland or France or some fucking island he owns in the middle of nowhere. I don’t care how many planes I have to get on or laws I have to break.”

“International laws?”

“Especially those.” That gets the tiniest smile. Good. I press my forehead to hers. “I will find you.”

“What about Tobias?”

“We get him too.”

“And the baby?”

My hand moves to her stomach. “Our baby isn’t going anywhere without me coming after them.”

Her hand covers mine. For a second we’re both quiet. Then she whispers it. “I’m scared.”

That hurts more than anything else tonight. “Me too.” Her eyes lift, like she wasn’t expecting it. Neither was I. But it’s true. “I’m fucking terrified.” She climbs closer. I pull her into me. “Saturday keeps playing in my head. Every time I look at a clock, I’m counting.”

“I’ve been doing it too.”

Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Five days.

I look down at my hand over her stomach. “Our baby currently looks a little like a plum.”

“Beautiful plum.” She laughs. Actually laughs. My chest loosens. Just a little. Then she shifts and winces.

I straighten immediately. “What?”

“My arm.”

I look at the sleeve. “Can I?”

She nods. I carefully push it up. The bruises are changing color now — still shaped like fingers, still unmistakably hands. My stomach turns. I touch the clear skin beneath them. Never the bruises.

“I wanted to kill him when I saw these.”

“I know.”

“I still do.”

“I know.” Her fingers slide into my hair. “But you didn’t.”

“Arthur’s very proud.”

She smiles. “I am too.”

“That matters more.”