Page 27 of Savage Heart

“Yeah,” she croaked. “It’s probably best she not see me quite yet.” Liz squeezed her eyes shut against the burn of tears, opening them when the door opened again, admitting a harried-looking nurse, and a scowling Trouble.

“Let’s just check those vitals, then we can administer some pain meds,” the nurse said, not even bothering to introduce herself. Trouble must’ve really flustered her.

Liz waited while the nurse did her thing, then added pain meds to the IV before scurrying out of the room with a, “The doctor will be here in a few,” tossed over her shoulder. Liz glared at Trouble, knowing he was the reason the nurse was doing a half-assed job. Liz wasn’t surprised by the woman’s reactions, though. At first sight, Trouble was a mountain of rugged, tattooed ferocity. He was sex walking, menace talking, and danger stalking. But underneath all that, she’d seen the man. She’d fallen in love with that man, and the only good thing to come out of that experience was her daughter.

“She tell you anythin’ yet?” Trouble asked Odin without taking his gaze off Liz.

“We were getting to it,” Odin replied, a snap of authority in his tone. He was telling Trouble to back the fuck off without actually saying the words, which almost made Liz smirk. Almost.

Wanting to get the conversation over with so she could wallow in the euphoria of painlessness, she lilted her head toward Odin, meeting his gaze.

“When should I expect a visit from the LVPD?” she asked, knowing she’d probably have to lie to them. She hated the idea that she couldn’t trust the police, but she also knew the Bratva weren’t everyday criminals. They needed someone like the Savage Raiders to deal with them.

Odin huffed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Detective Benson called to say he’d be by later this afternoon to check on you. He was giving me a heads up…he knows the Raiders are involved and he wants to keep things as smooth as possible between us.”

“He also knows that you and Erika are club, so if he steps out of line, I’ll rip out his throat,” Trouble interjected, making Liz’s heart screech to a halt.

She and Erika were club? What the hell did that mean, and why had he sounded so…possessive?

Liz shook off the question beating at her mind and glanced at Odin.

“I remember everything that happened, and I’ll tell you everything.”

Liz swallowed down the sudden lump of fear in her throat. God, this was getting more and more complicated. But what else could she do but trust Odin…and Trouble? Running and hiding wasn’t safe nor sustainable. She had a life in Vegas, and Erika deserved to live and thrive in security with the things she knew and loved. She deserved a childhood like Liz had…before her parents died, one where she was cherished and adored. Living in motels or shelters, always looking over her shoulder, never knowing who she could trust, where her next meal would come from, or if she’d have to watch her mother be violated again…that wasn’t a life for anyone let alone Erika.

No, they’d stay in Vegas, and Liz would hope that Odin and his brothers would save her and Erika from Danil Oblek.

Trouble was a shit boyfriend, but from what she’d seen and heard over the last two years, she knew he took his job as club VP seriously. He’d been there when Skathi was threatened, Tessa was kidnapped by cartel psychos, when Fae was kidnapped by a deranged stalker, and when Tessa was kidnapped, again, by her pervert step-dad and his child-rapist sycophants. When it came down to it, Trouble could be depended on when things got bloody. It was just a shame he was a cheating asshole as well.

Liz came out of her thoughts when Odin spoke.

“Do you know who it was and what they wanted?” Odin asked, patience in his tone—which she appreciated.

She tried to nod, but her head suddenly felt like a bowling ball…made of clouds.

Damn fucking good drugs!

“It was a man named Danil Oblek, and his two goons. From their tats and mannerisms, I’d say they were Bratva.”

Trouble growled, but she fought the urge to turn toward him. “What do you know about the Bratva? There a lot of organized crime in Stanford?”

“How the hell should I know?” she snapped, still facing Odin, the pain meds having made their way into her brain so the energy to move was depleted. “Look, you asked me who it was, and I told you. They were there looking for my business partner. Dr. Lyle Pace. Apparently, the asshole stole their money.”

“The doc is tied up with the Bratva?” he asked, his voice sharpening. He’d moved over to stand next to Odin, so she couldn’t continue ignoring his stupid, pretty face.

Liz watched as the ugliness of suspicion darkened his features.

“No,” she growled before he could open his mouth and say something she’d have to kill him for. “I have no idea what Lylewas doing with the Bratva. I had no clue—no goddamn clue, that Lyle was involved in something so dangerous.”

“How could you not? You two work together, how could you miss something as big as him working with the Bratva?”

“Fuck you, Trouble. You think I willingly involved myself with Russian crime lords? You think I’m such a shitty mom, that I’d put my daughter into the hands of dangerous criminals? I had nothing to do with Lyle’s bullshit. The man was a brilliant doctor, a man I respected—I wouldn’t have taken on the partnership otherwise.” There went her pain meds buzz.

Odin cleared his throat, drawing all gazes to him.

“You had no suspicions that something was wrong? Was he acting differently? Doing anything that seemed shady?” he inquired, looking every inch the MC president. Authority, strength, “get shit done,” written into every molecule of his presence.

“Well…over the last few months he’s been a bit…occupied with money matters, which was strange considering what a mess the clinic’s financials are,” she slurred, the morphine buzz returning with a vengeance. “You’d think…a man who was worried about running a for-profit medical clinic…would be a little more focused on making sure the invoicing, p-payroll, and expend-expenditures were…fl-flawless.”

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