Page 93 of Savage Heart

“Why didn’t anyone help you?” Liz demanded, fire lighting in her eyes.

“What could they do? Small town. Antiquated values—no one could come between the head of the household and his family; he could do whatever the hell he wanted, long as he called itrighteous. Believe me, there were a few concerned looks when I went to school with a new black eye or plaster cast, but no one said nothin’ sideways ‘bout it, because it wasn’tproper.”

Liz growled, her nostrils flaring wide. “That is some motherfucking bullshit!”

Chuckling, he took her hand in his and squeezed it, silently thanking her.

“You’re right, it was bullshit, but there was nothin’ we could do outside of leavin’—so that’s what we planned to do, Ma and I.”

Her gaze pinned to his face, she saw his expression. “I’m guessing it didn’t go the way you planned.”

“No, baby, it didn’t. Pa always went out drinkin’ with his buddies every Thursday night, and when he got home after the bars closed ‘round 2AM, he usually slept off the booze all day, typically rollin’ outta bed right before supper. So, we planned to leave while he was sleepin’ off his bender. But…that day…somethin’ happened.” Swallowing down the rising bile, he continued, “I don’t know what happened; I was upstairs waitin’ just like Ma told me to. She was supposed to make sure he was in bed, dead to the world, then she’d come up and get me, and we’d get in his truck and leave it all behind. But…right ‘round the time we were supposed to go…he-he must’ve woken up, because all I hear is him yellin’, stuff breakin’, her screamin’—”

“Oh, God, Erik—” Liz pressed her lips against his cheek, the warmth of her kiss mingled with a wetness that could only be his tears.

“Then it went silent. I was so fuckin’ terrified…I didn’t know what to do. I knew she was dead, I could feel it, and then I heard him comin’ up the stairs. I knew that he was gonna kill me, too, and all I could think about was staying alive. I was sixteen! I was desperate, terrified. So I grabbed the rifle I’d taken from the downstairs closet. Ma wanted to take it with us as protection, for just in case…. I grabbed the gun and waited, not more thana second later, he was bustin’ through the door, eyes wild, blood all over his clothes—”

“Holy shit!” Liz cried.

“And I didn’t even think about it, I pulled the trigger, blasting a hole through that motherfucker’s chest. I ran after that. Never looked back. I lived on the streets in Dallas for a while, until I got a job as a busboy at a diner in Austin. After that, I slept at the homeless shelter, lied about who I was and where I was from, and bided my time until I could enlist at seventeen. From there, you know the story.”

By the time Liz and Trouble went to bed, the night had bled into the morning, and the sun was rising into the sky, casting glorious, fiery reds and oranges over the desert.

Rolling over, Liz checked the time on the bedside clock.

10:00

She closed her eyes, groaning; she was not ready for the day. She knew there was a shitload of stuff to do, including contact the police about a “break in” at the clinic. Odin, Trouble, and Grimm had all explained that the Russians would clean up after their men, but that the broken alarm system, the bullet hole in the wall behind where Danil Oblek’s head was, and the local reports of “suspicious looking men” outside the clinic couldn’t be explained away easily. So, she’d call the police, report a break in, get the insurance payout for it, and eventually reopen the clinic.

If dealing with the headache of explaining a missing partner, and then handling the whole of the business on her own was what she wanted.

Moaning, she threw herself from the bed, ignoring the twinge of pain on her jaw where Danil Oblek had a vice grip on herchin the day before. She heard the TV on in the living room, and knew Trouble had gotten up to feed and occupy their daughter so Liz could sleep. The man really was remarkably thoughtful for a former asshole cheater.

Rolling her eyes at her internal snark, she hurried through her shower, got dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and socks, and headed out to greet a new day.

As she walked into the living room, two identical heads turned in her direction, two sets of identical eyes brightened, and two identical grins melted her heart.

“Mama!” Erika shouted, jumping to her feet to run and plaster herself to Liz. “You’re awake! Can we go to SeaQuest now?”

Her gaze flying to a chuckling Trouble, Liz couldn’t help but laugh, too. Leave it up to the innocent to think nothing of a family field trip the day after her mother was held hostage and her father killed a Russian psycho.

I guess the cops’ll have to wait….

Kissing the top of Erika’s head, Liz murmured, “Of course, baby. Let me get some breakfast first, then we’ll go. Get ready.”

She didn’t have to tell Erika twice, as the girl squealed, then rushed down the hallway like she had wings on her feet.

Rising to all six foot plus of sexy manliness, Trouble flashed a dimple at Liz, and winked.

“Looks like she’s no worse for wear,” he remarked, sidling up to her in the loose hipped way that made her insides jitterbug. Damn, how had she not fucked him to death last night. Oh, that’s right, she’d fallen asleep after bawling her eyes out, her heart breaking for a scared little boy who’d had to do the unthinkable to survive.

Just as she had.

And…now it made sense…why he’d confessed all that to her last night. He knew she’d been torn up about what she’d done toOblek, that she was having a crisis of conscience about breaking her oath to heal and not harm. And he’d shared something with her, something so similar and yet so different, that she couldn’t help but fall even deeper in love with him.

Slinking up to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed herself against his body, and peered up into eyes that shone with so much love, it filled her to overflowing.

“I know that putting that scalpel into Oblek was necessary; it was him or me and Erika. I had no choice. Does it stop me from feeling bad about it? No. But it does help me realize that the wrong I’d committed was also right. If I hadn’t done it, he’d have killed me before you even got there, and then he would have made good on his threat to take Erika and abuse her in ways I cannot even fathom.”

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