Page 58 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
I carried her into the hotel through the garage entrance, heading straight toward the elevators. No one was around at that time of night, or rather, very early morning. Paisley yawned against my neck, cuddling in closer against my chest. I breathed another sigh of relief. Another minute and I would have been too late. If I hadn’t listened to my gut, that never stopped believing Paisley’s innocence, I would still be at the lodge, waiting until morning to do anything about finding her.
Once in the modern, opulent room, she gave me a real smile as I settled her in a plush armchair and opened the minibar to offer her a restorative drink.
“Whiskey or vodka?” I asked.
She groaned and shook her head. “Just water. All that stress has my stomach in knots.”
“That was a little more than stress,” I said, noticing the red welts around her wrist for the first time. I hissed, gently rubbing the marks.
“I was cuffed to a chair,” she said. “I tried to escape with it, and was going to use it as a weapon, but then I got hit by a car.”
I swore, but was glad to see the color returning to her cheeks as she recounted more of the ordeal. “Yeah, I’d say that warrants a little stomach ache,” I said. “You were brave as hell.”
Fresh tears welled. “It didn’t matter in the end. I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for you. Thank you and… I’m sorry.” Her voice almost disappeared on the last words and her head dropped to her chin.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said.
“I opened your family up to those monsters,” she said.
Since I was almost one hundred percent certain her old company was linked to our greatest enemy, that wasn’t exactly true. We’d already been fighting the Collective for a while, but I couldn’t explain that to her without scaring further. She viewed me as a hero, and I liked that better than suddenly being just another big, bad criminal.
“I don’t understand about the nanny agency,” I said after a long moment. It was the only thing that still didn’t sit right with me.
“So you know I’m not registered with them?” she asked, keeping her head down.
I nodded, and she immediately explained everything. It matched with what the owner of the agency said, how they’d been friends forever and it was an emergency situation. Paisley jumped at the opportunity to get out of town while she figured out what was going on at Axon, and never dreamed things would end up like they did.
I handed her my phone. “While we’re talking about your friend,” I said, wrinkling my brow. “I might have given her cause to worry about you. Give her a quick call to let her know you’re all right because I don’t think she’s sleeping.”
Paisley gave me a long look but called Marlowe, letting her know everything was fine in a falsely chipper voice. “I’ll tell you everything soon,” she said before ending the call and turning to me. “I might have put her in danger, too. Just like you and your family. I never would have brought them down on you if I knew.”
I took her hand and squeezed it. “How could you know?” I said.
It was crystal clear that she was unaware of certain parts of the world. My part. As much as I wanted to open up the same way she was, I couldn’t bear the risk of seeing fear in her eyes that was now directed at me. As I pulled her close, she moaned, shoving away and clapping her hand over her mouth.
Jumping up, she ran for the next room in the suite. I heard the bathroom door slam and when I went to investigate after she’d been in there for several minutes, I heard the water running and the sound of soft sobs.
“Are you okay?” I asked, tapping on the door. When she didn’t answer, I turned the handle. It was unlocked and I found her sitting on the marble floor, a towel wrapped around her shivering shoulders, her face the color of sour milk. “No, you’re not.”
Fear rushed in and I knelt beside her. Were her injuries more severe that she let on?
She shook her head weakly, forcing a wan smile. “I think it’s just all that adrenaline working its way out of my system. I’m not used to all this excitement.”
I wanted to call bullshit. I had seen her fly through the air on her snowboard. She was no stranger to adrenaline. “You got hit by a damn car,” I reminded her.
“Barely a tap,” she told me, then a green tint rose up from her chest to suffuse her face. “Oh God, get out.” She shoved me toward the door as she flung herself at the toilet bowl.
Outside I heard the sounds of retching, but no matter how bossy and imperious I got, she refused to let me take her to the hospital. After a half an hour or so of pacing anxiously, I wasabout to carry her down to the car and to the nearest emergency room, but she finally came out.
Still pale, but without the sickly tint, she moved past me and collapsed on the bed. She was asleep by the time I was at her side. Still worried, I pulled a blanket over her and got in beside her, pulling her close. With the sound of her gentle breathing near my ear, everything else receded and I fell asleep beside her.
Chapter 38 - Paisley
I couldn’t have been asleep for more than a couple of hours before I woke with a rolling wave of nausea sending me flying back to the bathroom. When my stomach hit pause on turning itself inside out, I leaned back against the tub. I couldn’t believe how sick I was. This wasn’t just adrenaline. I had been feeling drained the last few days but chalked it up to stress and running around after all those little kids. Now I suspected I had a virus on top of all my other bad luck.
It sucked that I was in such a dreamy, luxurious hotel with Dan and couldn’t enjoy it due to catching a bug. I took a hot shower, letting the rainfall spout soothe away all my aches and pains, half wishing Dan wouldn’t be such a gentleman all of a sudden and burst in and join me. Okay, I completely wished for that, but by the time I was done washing away all the filth from the warehouse, I found myself leaning over the toilet again, heaving up my guts. Great. This probably wasn’t going to turn out to be a romantic interlude.
I dragged myself back to bed, where Dan sat, looking both incredibly handsome and totally worried at the same time. He patted the space beside him, and I let myself flop onto the cool sheets and soft blankets.
