Page 10 of All the Dangerous Things

“So she was fucked right up, yeah?”

Henry’s eyes widened, but he gave a quick nod.

“But she’ll heal?”

He nodded again. “Yes. She’ll heal fully. Physically, at least. I’m not a therapist, so I can’t speak on how she’ll fare psychologically.”

I knew all about trauma lasting in a person. Hell, I had dark baggage of my own, enough that I could dismember an entire gang and store each member’s limbs, head, and torso separately, before buryingthem all six feet under. Yet I didn't sit in a room and let a stranger analyze my words to help me heal.

No.

My form of therapy was getting in a ring and channeling all that aggression into my opponent until they were lifeless at my feet.

“So if you plan on keeping—” He snapped his mouth shut at the look I gave him. He was smart enough not to go on with that sentence.

I couldn’t keep her here. I wouldn’t. She wasn’t my responsibility.

Then maybe you shouldn’t have fucking taken her and laid her in your bed, I told myself.

If I hadn’t known Tatiana Petrov—her fucking brother was married to my sister—and saw it was anyone else who was cornered and being assaulted, I would have kept on walking, right out of that illegal cage fight and then out the fucking doors.

I wasn’t the white knight. I was a fucking demon.

D’yavol.

I was a fucking bastard in every sense of the word. There was no other way for me to be at the top of my corrupted empire without having a bloody pile of rubble and bones as the red carpet leading to my throne.

But in this case, it wasn’t just anyone. And Ididn’t even hesitate before removing the nasty fuck’s hands from around her throat.

When I didn’t respond, Henry took the hint once more and handed me a bottle of pills.

“These are for the pain.”

I smirked. “You get these from your personal stash?” I shook the bottle in his face.

He looked away and said, “If you need help disconnecting the IV fluids, call me. I gave her some pain meds through the port, so she’ll be out for a while. But if she has any other issues, again, just call me.”

I didn't respond, just stepped aside so he could leave my house.

I stood there and finished the apple and, after a few moments, finally forced myself to walk over to the bed.

I’d taken off her black wig and stared at the fucking thing now laying by my feet. Henry had to remove her oversized jacket, and when he examined her abdomen, I felt something hot and violent burn through me as I watched him palpating her belly.

I kept my mouth shut as he did his job. I knew he wasn’t just some perv putting his hands all over her, and it shouldn’t have bothered me one way or another if he were. But I couldn’t deny that seeinghim touch her made me want to grab the sides of his head and twist hard enough his neck snapped.

It would have been one of the quickest, cleanest kills I ever delivered to a man. I would have been kind in that regard, and I couldn't say I’d been much of that at any point in my life.

I stared at Tatiana for so long it bordered on creepy. But fuck if I could pull my focus from the marks on her neck. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her throat was gonna be fucked up with black and blue marks from that bastard's hands on her.

I reached out and ran a finger lightly over her throat, careful to not add any pressure. She was sedated, but that didn’t mean I wanted to risk hurting her more.

I pulled my hand away and curled my fingers into my palm hard enough my blunt nails dug into my flesh, threatening to break the skin.

Truth be told, I never thought much of anything regarding the Petrovs. The only thing I concerned myself with when it came to the Russians was the fact that I had an alliance with them.

With Nikolai married to my sister Amara, it was imperative that the bonds that tied us and our organizations together were stronger than anything else.

That was as far as my thought process about them went. And when it came to Tatiana, his baby sister? Yeah, I’d never given her much thought. Why would I?

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