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“What bruises?” I ask, and for the first time since walking in, a trickle of fear crosses Adam’s face.
“I saw them last night. She has bruises all over her arms. It looks like someone grabbed her, and she was moving around like she was sore, like it hurt her to sit or something.”
He’s no longer yelling at me, and now I’m the one who’s using all my restraint to not shake him like a doll, demanding answers about what in the hell is going on.
Adam looks around at the wall of muscle standing in front of him and wisely takes a step back. “I asked her about it, and she blew it off like it was nothing, but I knew she was lying. I just assumed she was covering for you.”
I lean in closer and lower myself so I’m only inches from his face. “If you were anyone else, I would kick your ass for even thinking that I would hurt her. Where is she?”
“She’s at work. I told her to call in sick, but she said she’d taken off days last week and couldn’t afford to take another.”
He’s barely finished speaking before I’m running toward the door. I’m working on autopilot as nothing but pure rage consumes me. Nikolai appears next to me, yanking my car keys from my hand.
When I turn to him, he holds up his hands and says, “Relax, Dima. I’m not stopping you, just driving so you don’t get yourself killed.”
I give him a tight nod. The logical side of my brain that’s still working on some level understands that this is a good idea. Once we’re on the road, I tell him directions while I still have enough working brain cells to do it. I can feel myself becoming consumed with pure, absolute rage, but underneath all that is a fear that I won’t even let myself acknowledge right now, because if I do, it will be the end of me.
“I’m going to kill whoever did this.” I stare out the window, not seeing anything that’s going by, my fists clenched so tightly that my hands ache.
“And I’m going to help you,” Nikolai says in his calm, controlled voice, “but first we’re going to find out what’s going on.”
When he pulls the car into the parking lot for the dental clinic Gina works at, he turns to me and grabs onto my forearm, stopping me from opening the door.
“Let me get her and bring her out. You’ll just scare the hell out of everyone if you go in there looking like you do now.”
“And how the fuck do I look?” I can’t help but growl at him.
He studies me for a second before answering, and I have to force myself to not look away from that penetrating gaze that I know so well.
“Like a man at the very edge of his rope, Dima.”
He doesn’t wait for a response, just opens the door and steps out, leaving me to fume in the car by myself. I know he’s right. The last thing I want to do is scare Gina, but I’m so goddamn angry that I can barely sit still. I knew there was something off about her tone yesterday when she called. Whoever the hell it was must have already hurt her by then, but who the hell was it? Some old boyfriend who saw her with me and got jealous? Hell, it might even have been another woman, some jealous, crazy fan or something.
A thousand scenarios race through my head, and as soon as I see Nikolai walk out with Gina, I’m out the door and racing toward her. She looks up at me and starts to smile, but it freezes on her face when she sees how upset I am.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, reaching a hand out to me.
I’m so relieved to see her in one piece that I instantly grab onto her and pull her in for a tight hug. It feels so good to have her in my arms again. Pressing my face against the top of her head, I tighten my arms around her. When I hear the sharp intake of breath and feel her body stiffen, I drop my arms and take a step back, horrified that I’ve caused her pain.
“Show me.” My jaws are clenched so tightly I can barely get the words out.
“Dima,” she says, trying to smile and make it look genuine, but I can see right through her bullshit.
“Show me.”
She lets out a small sigh. “It’s nothing.”
I curse in Russian and say it again. “Show me.”
Nikolai has stepped aside, giving us a bit of privacy, and when Gina rolls up the sleeve of one arm, and I get a glimpse of the dark ring of bruises, the string of profanities has him quickly stepping closer again. Gina, oblivious to what I’ve just said, looks up at me with those big, grey eyes of hers.
“I’m fine, Dima. Really, I am.”
“What else? Is the other arm bruised, too?”
She hesitates long enough for me to know the answer is yes. I make her show me anyway, determined to be witness to every bruise that mars her perfect flesh. When I see the ring of matching bruises on her other arm, a pained groan escapes me before I can stop it. She quickly pulls her shirt back down and tries her best to give me a smile.
“It’s fine. They barely hurt at all.”
