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I sighed. “There was no listening to reason. I didn’t have to stick around, but I did. And here we are.”
“Here we are,” he agreed, his tone dark. “Tell me what happened to you, Linden. Don’t leave anything out.”
I didn’t.
I talked for so long without interruption that my throat went dry. As I recounted everything that had occurred, everything I remembered, Boxer remained silent and unmoving. A muscle in his jaw began to tick. Only when I got to the part of Dante branding me did Boxer get up and start pacing around the room, clenching his fists. He prowled like the lion on the animal kingdom show, only the lion had had an outlet for his energy.
“There was a doctor,” I said. “He patched me up and kept me alive so Dante could continue his…torture. But he also whispered the name of the town where I was.”
Boxer’s eyes met mine. “Town? You know where you were taken?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me,” he commanded.
“What are you going to do?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. What are you going to do? Run down there and storm the town? Are you going to go on a killing rampage and murder everyone who lives there, including the peasants living in abject poverty and fear because Dante rules over them?”
“I don’t kill innocents,” he said tightly. “And I’m pissed as fuck that you’d even say that. But what if they’re not innocent?”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means, that any one of them could’ve gotten word to—”
“Dante saws people in half with chainsaws when they piss him off. Do you really expect these people to go out on a limb for a stranger?”
“The doctor gave you the name of the town,” he pointed out. “So clearly courage isn’t absent in all of them.”
I clamped my mouth shut.
“I want the name of that town,” he went on. “So the boys and I can go down there and fucking end him.”
“And then what?” I demanded. “What happens after you kill him? Play this forward for me, because I have a pretty good idea of how this goes. Garcia retaliates. And they bring it here. To our streets. Think of the casualties.”
“Are you asking me not to?” His gaze turned dark. “Shit’s been set in motion, and we can’t back down. If we don’t end him, he’ll just do this to someone else. Go after someone else’s woman or kid.”
“I know.” I looked up at the ceiling. “He doesn’t deserve mercy. He may be human, but not all human lives have value. That’s what I’ve learned.”
“Doc,” he began.
“Don’t. Don’t call me that,” I said softly. “I don’t know if I’m a doctor anymore.”
“Fuck, that’s my fault too.”
“I’m not the same person that I was. He took so much from me, Boxer.”
“Are you afraid I won’t love you?”
I flinched.
“I love you. Any and all parts of you. I love who you were, and I love who you are now.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
He came over to the bed and sat down next to me. His gaze scanned my body, as if he was looking for a place where he could touch me that wasn’t injured. His nearness made my heart jump, but not in fear. Boxer’s hand reached out to gently cradle my cheek.
