Page 46 of Roaming Holiday

Maia touches her shoulder. “I… There’s no radio.”

She must hear a ringing or buzzing sound—common after strangulation. I suppress the urge to insist she goes to the hospital for a scan. The more I would encourage, the more she would resist.

The ride to the hotel is quiet. Halfway there, I get two messages. Gregory and Silas find no red flags at the hotel, and Jack sends me a single name.

Anton Robert.

Her attacker. It’s a name I don’t recognize. I stop myself from mulling over it and focus on getting Nina to bed. In the hallway, Maia says to her, “I’m going to shower and change. Will you be good for a little bit?”

Nina nods and sinks into her sister’s hug. I notice Maia’s tears. She wasn’t the one attacked, but her love runs so deep that she takes some of the pain, too. It makes me think of Cora—how I haven’t been around to look after her all these years.

Nina jumps when she sees two people from the beauty team in her room. The lead woman, Greta, speaks to me, likely because of the apparent agitation on my face.

“We are here to retrieve the dress and jewelry from Miss Laffley.”

“Not now,” I say. “You’ll?—”

I feel a hand on my arm. “It’s okay.”

Greta has no criminal affiliation and neither does her assistant, Chloe. Still, I watch as Nina steps out of her heels and hands them over to the women who look at her with unease and pity. The redness in her face has calmed, but her neck has splotches and discoloration. I turn from them when she steps out of the dress and wraps in a silk robe. Other than the few shed tears right after the attack, I realize that she hasn’t cried.

Until now.

“No—!” I warn when Greta stupidly reaches to remove the necklace from Nina, who lashes out and shoves the woman with full force to the ground.

Nina gasps, a horrified expression on her face as she covers her mouth. “I’m sorry. I-I-I didn’t mean?—”

“It is all right. I am fine,” Greta says as Chloe helps her up.

Second by second, Nina breaks down. Tears spill over as she brushes her fingers over her neck. “No, I… I didn’t—I’m?—”

All the emotions she suppressed over the last two hours free themselves with a vengeance. I stop her from collapsing with an arm around her waist. I glare at the two women. “Go. Now.”

“The necklace. It’s worth?—”

“Get the fuck out,” I sneer. They flinch at my tone and scramble to gather what they can. Nina falls against me, her sobs uncontrollable as I lower us to the ground. Her anguish carves into me, and I feel sudden resentment toward Jack for not letting me kill Anton Robert.

“It’s all my fault,” she rasps, her head against my shoulder as she fights to catch her breath. “I-I-I just stood there and let him choke me. I froze. I did nothing.”

“Nina,” I say, my voice grating with unexpected emotion. “Nina, look at me.” I shift until she faces me and meets my eyes. With one arm still around her, I hold her cheek with my free hand. She doesn’t flinch away from my touch; she watches me with vulnerability I haven’t seen before. “It doesn’t matter. You can freeze again and again because no one will ever get another chance to lay a finger on you, okay?”

She doesn’t say anything as she nods, her eyes falling shut. My heart doubles in weight when she curls against my chest. I slide my fingers through her hair, forcing away my violent plans for Robert. My voice doesn’t raise above a whisper.

“I promise.”

23

WESLEY

The plan was to turn on the bathtub and leave her alone.

But after seeing her struggle to take off the necklace and pull the pins from her hair, I find myself standing behind Nina and doing both of those things for her. My groin stiffens when I notice her slipping robe in the mirror. I turn my attention to these hairpins as she fixes it, but her nipples poking through the thin material doesn’t help.

She steps to the claw-foot tub and moves to undress. Is she trying to kill me? My subtle attempt to leave results in my shoe scuffing the ground as I stumble. “I, uh—I’ll—I’ll give you some privacy.”

“What?” Nina tightens the robe as she whirls toward me, panic filling her eyes. The look is clear enough: don’t leave me alone. I bite the inside of my cheek and chide myself for getting hard right now. I gesture to the tub before turning my back to her.

Get it together.

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