AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 21 - Roman
I held on tight as Karine was wracked with hysterical tears. The sound of her anguish ripped me into pieces. Seeing the tiny detonator, which I wouldn’t have recognized in a million years, but she had honed right in on, gave me awful heebie-jeebies, like we were being watched by a serial killer.
“Come on,” I said, leading her back to the car.
I wanted to help her calm down, but I needed to get out of there as fast as possible. Blinded by her tears, she stumbled a few times, but I kept a firm arm around her shoulders.
“We don’t know anything,” I said, helping her into the car.
Her chin hit her chest, her whole body shaking as she sobbed. I pulled the seatbelt out and reached across her to lock it in place, then tried to think of something to say or do to make things better. There was nothing. Nothing but to get to safety.
If a place like that even existed.
If that device was really what she seemed so sure it was, the situation was well and truly fucked. I kept my eyes trained on the road, wanting to put the pedal to the metal to get us to my apartment as fast as possible, but the last thing we needed was an accident or to get pulled over.
She had lapsed into silence by the time I pulled into my parking spot, and was close to unresponsive, only blinking at me sorrowfully when I held open her door. I ended up scooping her into my arms and carrying her to the elevator. She buried her face in my neck and started crying again in a less agitated manner, but with such sorrow that it nearly broke my heart.
Inside my place—our place now—I settled her on the couch and opened up a bottle of aged Scotch I’d been saving for if and when that big deal I was trying to put together went through. Had the meeting to ease the investor’s mind only been yesterday morning?
It seemed like half a lifetime ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to care what had become of that. I poured a shot and handed it to Karine. She gulped it down in one swallow, grimacing through her tears. She handed the glass back to me and melted forward, resting her head on her knees.
I helplessly rubbed her back, searching for the right words. Of course, there were no right words. I despised that little prick from the beginning, but he’d been someone important to Karine. As much as it sickened me, I had to shove down my own feelings and focus on hers.
It was something I’d never done before, and the realization hit me with a jolt.
“Listen,” I said, waiting for her to turn her tear-stained face to me.
“What?” she asked in a scratchy voice.
I jumped up to pour her a big glass of ice water, which she gratefully gulped down, then motioned for more Scotch. This time, I shook my head. As much as I recognized her desire to drown her pain, we needed to stay sober for whatever came next.
“At least we know your ex-boyfriend is off the rails. We’ll take care of it. We'll tell your father together as soon as you’re ready.”
Those words were some I never thought I’d say, but the fear of losing her had knocked enough sense into me to know that whether or not I continued on my path to take down her father, Karine was no longer part of it.
I no longer had any desire to crush her heart, even though I also didn’t think I had any hope of winning it now. Everything was much too convoluted for that. The best I could do now was keep her safe.
She shook her head hard enough that her hair tumbled over her shoulders and covered her face. She sat up and looked more distraught than ever. “You don’t understand,” she said, voice trembling as she struggled to hold back more tears. “First of all, Demian was never my boyfriend.”
“Okay,” I said, patting her hand. “That hardly matters now.”
“It matters to me. Truth matters to me, Roman. And anyway, he’s not off the rails.”
“What do you mean? He bombed our house.”
“He’s completely loyal to my father,” she said, breathing raggedly. She pressed her hand over her mouth, eyes wild. “One hundred percent. The only person who might be more loyal to my father than him is me.” The tears she was fighting won, her face crumpling as they fell.
“I still don’t get it,” I told her, reaching to push her hair back since strands were sticking to her wet cheeks.
She recoiled and swiped at her face, suddenly going the dead calm of barely controlled rage. “Demian wouldn’t have set off a bomb at our house unless he was ordered to do it.”
She spoke slowly through clenched teeth, and my whole body went cold. Did they know about me? Impossible. I had been beyond careful, and Evelina’s constant surveillance didn’t show any signs of Feliks being suspicious of me. No, it couldn’t be what Karine thought. There's no way Feliks had ordered that hit because of me.
I had to hold myself still to keep from doubling over with guilt. If she was right, though…
If she was right and had died, then it was on me. My fault. Ultimately, I would have killed her.
“There’s no way,” I said, still unable to believe it. “You’re wrong about Demian acting on orders, and I’ll prove it.”
