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When he woke up. If he woke up.
No. He would wake up. She wouldn’t accept anything else.
“I want to go see him. Can I do that before I have to go home?”
“Go home?” Regent asked.
“Yes. Go home. I can go home whenever I like, right?” Because she wouldn’t handle any other answer. She wasn’t going to be a prisoner. Not ever again.
“Once I’m sure it’s safe.”
She sucked in a breath.
“Maxim would be upset if he woke up and found out we’d let you leave, especially when we don’t know if you’re safe,” Regent told her. “You’re not a prisoner.”
She wasn’t so sure. But she decided to take him at his word. And did she really want to leave him, anyway?
No.
“I want to go back to him.”
“I’ll take you,” Victor told her.
She nodded. But she hesitated for a moment, thinking things through. “Actually, here have been a few strange things I’ve noticed at work. Invoices that don’t add up. A huge order for concrete that we overpaid for.”
“Did you tell Dayton about what you found?” Regent asked.
“The first time I did,” she admitted.
“And how did he react?” Regent asked.
“Strangely,” she admitted. “So I didn’t bring it up again.”
“Could be how he’s doing it,” Victor said. “Smuggling the drugs in with his legitimate supplies.”
Regent nodded. Then he looked at her with a tired smile. “Thanks, sweetheart. Go to him now. He needs you.”
Did he? She wasn’t so sure. But she knew that she needed him.
24
Fuck.
It felt like he’d been hit by a car. Everything damn well hurt.
Opening his eyes, Maxim stared around the room. Well, he tried to open his eyes. Only one of them co-operated.
Where the fuck was he?
Shit. This was his bedroom at the mansion. What was he doing here? And why was his side aching like a bitch?
Then, there were all the other aches and pains he was suffering from. Not to mention the fact that his right arm was numb. He glanced down that way and saw it was numb because someone had their head on it.
And something clicked inside his head. Memories rushed back.
He’d been coming home from the club, gotten out of his car, and that was when they’d attacked. They’d caught him by surprise.
Idiot.
He should have been paying closer attention. But he’d been thinking about his girl and how he was going to have to pull back from her to keep her safe for a while.
And how much that was going to fucking suck.
Then he’d been pulled into an alleyway. He’d fought back, but three against one weren’t great odds. Especially when one of those bastards had a knife.
“No!”
He stiffened as his girl cried out.
“Baby?”
“No! Maxim! Oh God! Maxim!”
Shit. Was she having a nightmare?
“Baby, wake up! Aston, wake up! You’re safe.” He tried to reach across his body with his other arm, but pain shot through his side.
“Fuck! Motherfucker!” he swore.
Suddenly, she sat straight up, staring down at him like she had no clue who he was.
“Baby, you’re all right. You’re safe.”
“What . . . what are you trying to do?” she asked as he attempted to reach for her.
“I was trying to hug you.”
“Don’t do that.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Excuse me?”
“You’ll hurt yourself. You shouldn’t be moving like that or you could rip your stitches. You needed fifteen stitches, Maxim.”
“That’s not so many.” Fuck. One of those assholes had stabbed him.
“It’s fifteen too many.” Her voice was rising with a tinge of hysteria.
He watched her closely, taking in the large dark rings under her eyes and the messy mass of hair around her shoulders.
His girl wasn’t doing so good. And it was up to him to take care of her. Had she gotten hurt when she’d jumped in with those assholes? Someone better have seen to her, and before they’d seen to him if they knew what was good for them.
“Come here, Rainbow.” He held out his good arm, the one she’d been lying on.
Her eyes widened. “Didn’t you just hear what I said? You need to lie still and not do anything that might pull at your stitches. That includes hugging me.”
“I heard what you said, baby, and it’s bullshit. You need a hug and I’m going to give you one. Now, either you make that easier on me by coming here, or you make me chase after you and force-hug you.”
“Force-hug me?”
“Force-hug you.”
“You know that could be considered assault, right?” she asked, that tinge of hysteria in her voice again.
“You planning on calling the cops on me for forcing you to hug me, Rainbow?”
“You know I’m not.”
“Come here, baby. Even if you don’t need a hug, I could sure use one.”
Just as he’d thought, that did it. She ended up plastered against his chest. She came at him faster than he’d expected, so there was some pain as she landed heavily against him. But there was no way he’d ever say anything to her.
