Page 84 of Rami

“How’s that head?” He smoothed his thumb over her scalp but kept his hand away from the injury.

She closed her eyes for a beat. “Pounding. I don’t suppose you have any ibuprofen?”

He grunted. “I wish.”

“I have some in my first aid kit back at the truck,” August said.

Ivy’s hand tightened on Rami’s wrist as if the idea of trekking was too great. Swooping one arm beneath her bent knees and cradling her back, he eased her weight into his hold.

“You can’t carry me,” she protested.

He snorted. “No offense, babe, but you weigh nothing. And the sooner we get back to the truck, the sooner we can get home.”

That stopped her refusal. Her body sank against his chest and she rested her head on his shoulder, curling her hand around his neck. “Rami?”

“Mmm?”

“I knew you’d come.”

Love swelled inside him. “Nothing but God himself could keep me away.” He brushed his lips over her forehead as everything he’d said sunk into his heart.

He’d meant every word.

CHAPTER 23

Reclined in the back of the moving ambulance, Ivy squeezed the large hand holding hers. August had driven Rami’s truck and Toth had followed. Having spent forty-five minutes giving a statement to police, she was now thankful for the stiff, plasticky bed because at least she didn’t have to sit up.

After the paramedics had checked Ivy over, Rami had urged her out of her soaked sweatshirt and the bulletproof vest then helped her into one of his warm, dry hoodies. Her pants were still wet, but she didn’t want Rami to leave her side to get the dry clothes from the bag she’d packed at Gigi’s hours ago.

The constant whir of the tires and sway of the vehicle made her head pound even more. She didn’t tell Rami that everything around her spun like a carousel. That’d only make him worry. She was light-years from where she’d been—practically sightless and deaf stumbling through the woods.

Knowing that Wayne would kill her for gouging his eye. Knowing Gabriel and Luis would relish causing her pain.

That Fernando would also make her pay.

The moments before Rami’s arrival on the scene hadn’t been good ones. She’d anticipated Wayne’s torture. His slimy touch and more drugs. The fact that she’d walked away without enduring more than bruises and emotional abuse—well, it was nothing short of a miracle.

A paramedic moved close to Rami and cleaned up a cut on his head then added a butterfly bandage. Rami’s free hand rubbed her wrist. “Close your eyes.”

She obeyed the low rumble.

She’d missed his voice. Craved it. He’d been her anchor for the last week, the only steady beacon in a wild sea. She’d known in her heart that he would find her. She wanted to believe she was safe now, but that was a fairytale considering Fernando was still at large. And if he’d been pissed at Rami for killing a few men from the compound, he’d be even more pissed now.

Everything that happened next was a blur. The paramedics rolled her from the ambulance into the ER. Rami walked briskly alongside her moving bed, his hand firmly in hers, so strong and unrelenting. His demeanor suggested he was daring someone to tell him to let go.

Before she could orient herself, she was in a room with bright lights and a doctor was asking her dozens of questions while closing up the wound on the back of her head.

Rami stood at her side on the balls of his feet. When the doctor peeled off her gloves, he cleared his throat and his hand reached for hers again. “Ivy was kidnapped by human traffickers several weeks ago,” he began. “We’re certain she has a tracking device inside her—she needs it removed.”

What?

Ivy’s heart pounded in her chest. She shook her head as if doing so would make the truth go away.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Ivy softly. He brushed his hand over her hair. “I didn’t want to tell you like this. But that’s how they found us—that’s how we found you, too.”

Tears rushed to her eyes and emotion tickled her sinuses.

“Do you remember anything like that happening?” the doctor asked softly.

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