Page 105 of Savage Warrior

I take a breath and venture on. “You’re right about the guilt. I was wallowing in it. Drowning in it. I needed to sort my head out, and you were the way to do it. Your problems weren’t mine, but I convinced myself I could help you and that would make up for not helping Moses.”

“But, you—”

“Yes, I know, I know. I tried to help him. But I’m telling you where my head was at back then. I believed I had something to atone for, and you fitted the bill. The plan was to help you to return home. I could throw some money at the problem, get you a passport and a flight ticket. Simple. Until… it wasn’t.”

“Those men who were after us?” she prompts.

“No. Not them. You.”

“Me? How did I complicate it?”

“By being there, being you.”

“I do not understand. I did as you told me, most of the time. I tried not to be a trouble to you.”

“A trouble? Fuck.” I can’t prevent the hollow laugh. “You’ve been nothing but trouble since I found you in my bed.”

“I—”

“I love you, Arina. That’s the trouble. Somewhere along the way you stopped being a duty, a way to appease my conscience. You became… something I need. Someone I can’t live without, don’t want to live without. My goals changed. I stopped wanting to send you back to Belarus. I wanted you to stay here. With me.”

“Oh.” Her eyes are wide, her brow furrowed with confusion. “But you never said. I thought…”

“It all got a bit hectic,” I remind her. “We were ambushed, fighting for our lives. I had other priorities, but it doesn’t change how I felt about you. Then, you were injured and crying out for your family. I had to do something about that. Finding them and bringing them here was the obvious solution, and good for me, too. Your last ties with Belarus would be gone. Your life could be here, with me.”

“I never imagined… I mean, I hoped, but…”

“Hoped?”

“When we were in that hotel, I thought, maybe we could… We got on well. I enjoyed being with you, and you seemed to be getting to like me.”

“Like you?” Is she serious?

“Yes. Like me. You definitely didn’t at first.”

“I was in denial,” I confess. “My head was a mess.”

“Mine wasn’t. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn’t have it. Or that’s what I thought. I had to go home. They needed me there. I had no choice.”

“I know. I could see that.”

“You gave me a choice, ?tefan.” She meets my gaze, hers steady and strong and sure.

“What are you choosing, Arina?”

“You. I choose you, ?tefan Romanescu.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. “Welcome to my world, little warrior.”

CHAPTER 24

Rome

Beth bursts into the families’ room a couple of hours later, having made the journey from Scotland by road. “How is he?” she demands on seeing me and Arina. “What’s happening? I need to see someone who can—”

“Aaron’s going to be all right,” I tell her. “He regained consciousness about an hour ago and he’s been talking.”

“Oh, thank God.” Tears are in her eyes as she takes in the news. “What about the others?”

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