Page 48 of Buying Angel

I quickly shook my head to stop any further altercation. Before anyone else could say a word, the office door opened and Gino walked in. I had spent a little time with him and knew that he was Nico’s second in command. He walked over to where Nico and I were currently standing.

“Boss, I came as soon as I could.”

“Thank you, Gino. Could you please take Rosa to my room while I speak to Viktor?”

I started to panic. I didn’t want to leave either Nico or Hudson’s side, and especially not while he was talking to Viktor. I wasn’t sure what he and his guys would do to my men. I quickly turned and went to speak to Nico, but he just placed his finger on my lips to stop me and pressed his lips to my cheek as he quietly spoke.

“It’s fine, Rosa. Viktor won’t do anything. We are just going to talk. Go with Gino. He will look after you, and I promise I will be with you as soon as possible.”

“But Nico—”

“I promise I will be fine.”

He passed me over to Gino, who carefully put his arm around me and spoke to Nico.

“I will take good care of Gabriella.”

Nico gave him a slight smile and a nod, and I was led away from the office and into Nico’s private room out back with thoughts of what was about to happen swirling around in my head.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

NICO

I COULDN'T BELIEVE what Hudson and I had just walked into. Seeing Rosa being manhandled by one of Viktor’s goons nearly made me completely lose it. It was just lucky that I never carried my gun when I walked into the office. I had plenty at hand around the place, but I would have had to walk out to my room to get one.

The only saving grace I had was that Viktor and I had a reasonable relationship and had never crossed each other before, although he was currently pushing the boundaries of our relationship.

I didn’t want to leave Rosa alone, but I knew I had to be there with Hudson when he spoke to Viktor. There was only one other person I trusted with her, and that was Gino. I had sent him a message as soon as I walked into the office and found Viktor and his men standing there. If he hadn’t arrived when he did, there was a strong chance that all hell was going to break loose toward the guy who had manhandled my Rosa.

I knew that she wouldn’t be happy with being taken to a room by Gino, but I had to convince her it was for the best. I could feel her resistance as Gino went to lead her away, but I tried to give her a reassuring smile as they walked off together. I turned to look at the man who had held Rosa, and he instantly lowered his head as a mark of respect. It was then that Viktor spoke.

“Do not blame him, Nico. He was only carrying out my orders, the same as one of your men would. He would never have physically hurt her. You should know me well enough by now to know that I do not hurt women or children. Unfortunately, I cannot always say the same for some of my men.”

He spoke to his men in Russian, and they all proceeded to walk out of the office. But I suspected that they wouldn’t be that far away, just in case something went down.

It was Hudson who spoke next. “Shall we go into my office? I can offer you a drink while we talk.”

I knew Hudson was trying to keep things as civil as possible, always the peacemaker. But right now, I could have murdered him for his politeness to Viktor when I was so angry that he had invaded our personal space and tried to take the one thing we both loved from us.

Hudson gestured for Viktor to follow him into his office and he duly obliged, followed by me. Hudson walked over to his drink cabinet and poured himself and Viktor a drink. He knew I wouldn’t have one as I would be driving later. He passed Viktor the drink and they both sat down. I walked behind the desk and stood next to Hudson as he started to speak.

“Viktor, as I said, I am guessing there are quite a few things that you haven’t been told about Vincent, and what he has done to Gabriella. All of which, I hope, will make you reassess your decision to take her back to him.”

I stood there and listened again as Hudson went through everything he had already told me about Gaby’s relationship with Vincent, and what he had put her through. He also explained about the fact that Gaby had decided to come to New York with us of her own accord to get away from Vincent and that she was now in a relationship with us both. I guessed Hudson felt that Viktor of all people would understand that, and that he wanted to be completely honest with him about the whole situation. I could feel my anger increasing again as I listened and could see that Viktor was also affected by what he was hearing by the way he was clenching his fist. However, none of that compared to my anger when I heard Hudson continue.

“There is one other thing, and this is something that I haven’t even told Nico, so I apologize now if he flies off the handle.”

I looked over at Hudson, perplexed at what he was about to say. He just gave me an apologetic smile before he spoke.

“I really think you should sit down for this, Nico.”

I was still confused about what he could tell me that would upset me so much, but at his request, I grabbed a chair and sat down next to him.

“As I have already explained, Vincent was quite free with his hands when it came to Gabriella. Unfortunately, there was more than one occasion where he did this while she was pregnant, causing her to have multiple miscarriages.”

Before I could even react, Viktor brought both his fists down on Hudson’s desk, and I thought for a moment he would break it in two. He leaped up from his chair and started to pace the room, muttering to himself in Russian, though it was quite loud and I was surprised that his men didn’t come running into Hudson’s office to establish what was going on. All the while, I could feel the anger further growing inside me. If I ever got hold of Vincent again, I wouldn’t be so nice this time, and from the looks of it, I wouldn’t be the only one. It would just be a race to see who got him first: me or Viktor.

I felt a hand come over mine and I looked over to see Hudson looking at me with sadness in his eyes. I could understand why he hadn’t told me this before now, but why it was so important that the truth came out to Viktor. We both sat there in silence for a moment, watching as Viktor calmed himself down and then returned to his seat.

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