Page 95 of Born into Blood

“Lara, look at me, kisa.”

He cups my face as I force my eyes to open and meet his. I’m so happy to see the familiar green that I start crying again.

“They hit you,” he says, and the hard edge to his tone isn’t one I’ve heard before. He didn’t even sound like this when we were questioning Lou.

“I’m fine,” I tell him. “It’s nothing that won’t heal in a few days.”

“What else did they do to you?” he asks, and even though his tone is razor sharp, his hands are gentle as they cup my face, holding me like I’m the most precious thing in the world to him. “Did anyone rape you?” He spits the words out like he can’t stand to have them in his mouth.

“No,” I quickly say, not wanting him to have to carry that burden for even a second. “He would have, but he was called away for something.”

“So he terrorized you, stripped you, touched you, and would have raped you,” he says like he’s making a mental list of wrongs that have been done to me. “Do you know his name?”

“Radek.”

Luka gives a tight nod, and when I start to cry again, he shoves his rage aside and lets out a pained groan at the sight of me, pulling me against him for a hug.

“I didn’t think you’d ever be able to find me,” I whisper against his neck. “They were going to sell me, Luka. That’s what my dad used to do to women.” I nearly choke on a sob, my words cut off as I fist his shirt and cry harder than I ever have in my life.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmurs, gently rubbing my back and letting me cry as much as I need to. “I promise you will never be in this position again, but I need you to know something, Lara.” He cups my face, pulling me back so I can meet his eyes again. The intensity in his is impossible to miss, and it matches his tone when he says, “I will always find you. Even if they’d taken you out of the country, even if it took me my whole goddamn life, I would find you, kisa, and I wouldn’t rest until I did.”

I nod, unable to speak, but I believe him, and it means everything to me. When he’s sure I can stand on my own, he lets me go just long enough to pull his shirt off and slip it over my head. I’m so glad he wore a long-sleeved shirt today, and I relax a bit more when the sleeves cover the scars that he’s never shown any disgust for, the ones Radek made such a show of being appalled by.

He runs the back of his knuckles over my cheek, being careful to keep it whisper-soft. “We need to go back out there, but you’ll be close to me and my family the whole time.”

“Okay,” I whisper, not crazy about facing the men who took me, but also knowing I don’t want to stay in this fucking room a second longer.

Luka looks around, growling something in Russian when he sees my cut-up clothes. My jeans are still okay, so he helps me put them on and then holds my sneakers for me while I step into them. Feeling a little better now that I have the familiar armor of clothes wrapped around me, I take a breath and clutch his arm. I may be feeling brave enough to leave this room, but that doesn’t mean I’m doing it without a tight grip on the man next to me. Luka’s trained for shit like this. I’d be an idiot to let him out of my sight.

“I’m not leaving you alone for a second,” he reminds me, reading the fear that’s written all over my shaking body.

I squeeze his arm tighter and nod as he leads me out of the room. Max and Val are in the hall, standing with their backs turned towards us. When they hear us, Val asks something in Russian, and when Luka says in English, “It’s okay. You can turn around now,” both men turn to look at me.

“Thank fuck,” Max says, running his eyes over me in a quick sweep to make sure I’m not seriously injured.

“Good to have you back, Lara,” Val tells me, reaching out to pat the top of my head in an affectionate move that surprises me. I’ve just met Luka’s cousins, and they’re already treating me like I’m a part of their family.

“Thanks,” I tell them both, noticing the way they position themselves, one in front and one behind me, as we make our way down the hall and into the main room. I grip Luka tighter when I see the man with long hair from earlier. He’s standing next to an older man who looks anything but pleased as his eyes run over us. The rest of the men in the room I recognize as Luka’s dad and uncles. I even see Dominic and his cousins in the corner, and I can’t believe that they all came out here to help me. I’ve never had anyone fight for me like this, and if I’m not careful I’m going to start crying again. For the first time in my life, I feel like part of a family.

“I told you she was fine,” the older man says, waving the glass he’s holding in my direction. “Perfectly fine and safe as promised.”

“She’s not fine, though,” Luka says. His voice cuts through the room, and I feel the tension rise as the men around me wait for whatever is about to happen. “Radek hit her. He tormented her, hung her from a fucking hook in the ceiling, and tried to rape her, not to mention scaring the fuck out of her when they kidnapped her.”

“So not perfectly fine as promised,” Roman says, coming to stand closer to us. He briefly meets my eyes, and I know he’s willing me to hold it together for just a bit longer. When I give a soft nod, he gives me a ghost of a smile before turning back to the man.

“Radek is mine,” Luka says. “It’s my right to kill him.”

The older man smiles and looks to the others for help, but no one is helping this bastard. “Come on, so he got a little overzealous. He’s one of my best men, and he didn’t rape her. You said so yourself.”

“Only because it was interrupted,” Luka says. “He touched my girl, and he’s going to fucking die for it.”

“The choice is yours,” Lev says. “Give Radek to my nephew, or we go to war.”

My fingers dig into Luka’s forearm, wanting to argue, to say that what Radek did to me isn’t worth putting his entire family at risk, but when I see the look in his eyes, I know there’s no point. The side of Luka that I never thought I’d see is now the one that’s staring down at me. I’ve had a hard time believing that he’s capable of violence, but I’ve been wrong. The man I fell in love with is the same one who’s now standing next to me, looking like he’s ready to burn the whole goddamn world down. Two different sides of the same man, and I love them both. The devil and the angel, they’re both a part of him, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. The angel is the side of him that loves me so goddamn sweetly, and the devil is the side that’s going to get revenge for the pain that Radek’s caused me.

“Fine,” the older man says, pulling my attention from Luka’s piercing green eyes. “But I want your word that this goes no further.”

“I’ll remind you, Vladimir, that you came into our territory uninvited and started this shit,” Roman says.

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