AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She let out an exasperated sigh but she understood his fears. Sevastyan stood, pulling her from Roman’s arms as if he decided it was his turn to hold her. Held against his chest, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
She felt an overwhelming sadness settle over her. “At the end of the day, you all did something good. You saved countless women from being sold, used, abused. Their lives will not be the same after this but you saved them from fates far worse.”
“Until the next mother fucker show up.”
For the first time, she saw the weight of the world make Sevastyan look tired.
“He promised he wasn’t the only one. There are more, cariña.”
“Then you’ll keep Haven open? Keep the enemies close, protect those who can’t protect themselves?”
“We’re not those kinds of heroes, Rhia. Just because we killed for you, fought for you doesn’t mean we will do it for others.” Matteo dragged a hand through his hair. He looked tired and worried. While she’d been strapped to a hospital bed, he’d been going through a million scenarios of what if his friends and lover died.
She took a deep breath.
“You fought for justice. Yes. You fought for me, but you fought for all those men and women who needed you. I think you are all those kinds of heroes. I can’t imagine you can just walk away.”
Before he could answer, a woman in a black leather jacket stepped into her room wearing a smirk, a gun, and a badge like she commanded respect from anyone just by breathing.
Rhia liked that.
“Hi.”
“Hiyourself. You have a pair of balls bigger than your men.”
“Excuse me?” Rhia didn’t know if she should laugh or keep a straight face.
“Detective Vicente.” Sevastyan canted his head once acknowledging their guest.
“Mr. Volkov.” Her hard gaze turned to Rhia. “You’re the one that went snooping through police cases. You created quite the mess that led us here tonight. You have a very happy police chief looking forward to meeting you. He sends his regards and a thank-you for saving his daughter. I’d say all that took balls.”
“I know. Sorry about the snooping through cases.”
“Don’t be. We’ll talk later. Glad to know you survived. The Russian here would have been impossible to deal with otherwise, as would your friends.” She drew out that last word and looked pointedly at Roman and Matteo.
“We’ll be in touch.”
Rhia looked at Sevastyan and the back of the retreating detective as she squeezed by a brooding Maddox who held the hospital door wide.
She groaned. It was going to be a very long night.
He hulked inside and let the door close behind him. Her men turned to their next guest. “They’ll let just about anyone in here won’t they.”
Sevastyan released her, approached Maddox, and pulled him in for a real hug. Not one of those sideways man hugs, but a real one that was chest to chest. Roman and Matteo repeated the gesture and she saw unspoken gratitude pass between them.
Maddox turned to her. “You’ll have to come to me if you want a hug,” Rhia teased softly, her strength fading.
He chuckled and put a newspaper on her lap instead. The headline read: HUMAN TRAFFICKING RING TAKEN DOWN BY LOCAL MAFIA
“Your father would be happy to know you live.”
“Yeah, I’m happy about that too. Mind telling me why you had my back so many times?”
“Not complaining, mind you,” Sevastyan added.
“Your father saved me when he could have left me for dead when Dimitris tried to kill me one night. He succeeded with a few others when we refused to do his sadistic bidding. Your father, Rhia, took pity or sought redemption in any way he could. Either way, I owed him. Since I could not save your father, my debt to him passed to you.” Maddox turned to Sevastyan. “I worked for your brother who left me in the care of Dimitris before he was killed. He liked to hire help under the guise of working for Haven but it was really to funnel us into Dimitris’ sick world of trafficking. He was a good man until he wasn’t. I’m glad he has a brother like you.”
Sevastyan side-stepped her and clasped hands with the man.
