Page 55 of Sunrise Malice

He comes back a few seconds later.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asks, sitting beside me. The bed creaks under his weight.

“I’m good, I think. I mean, aside from my head. That feels like it exploded.” I give him a weak smile.

He doesn’t return it. “That shouldn’t have happened,” he says, and I can tell he’s struggling to hold back anger. “My men should’ve checked the package.”

“What happened?” I ask and reach out to take his hand. Right now, I’m way beyond caring about anything. All I need is a little comfort.

Which he’s happy to provide. He squeezes back and leans closer to me.

“It was a bomb,” he explains. “We’re still trying to figure out what kind. From what I can tell, a man dressed in a UPS uniform came into the building, walked past the front desk, and took the box straight up to our door. He knocked, and by the time he was in the stairwell, the bomb went off. I’m guessing he was watching for us to open the door and activated it on a timer.”

I nod to myself, squeezing my eyes closed. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“You protected me. You knocked me over and covered me.”

“Did more harm than good, I think.”

“Julien—”

“I’m fine,” he says again, sharper this time. “Cuts and bruises, nothing major.” He leans down and touches my face gently with one big palm. “That was too close, Brianne. That was way too close.”

“I know.” I lean into his hand. I crave his touch so badly right now. Maybe the explosion knocked a few things loose, or maybe it made it clear how fragile I really am.

How this can all be taken away so quickly.

“You’ll be safe here, baby. I promise. We’re going to find the bastard that planted the bomb, and we’re going to make Dusan pay.”

I shiver and smile to myself. He hasn’t called mebabybefore, but I kind of like it, especially with his slight French accent.

“I know you are. But, for right now, can you just—” I look up at him and blink a few times. “Can you just sit with me?”

He adjusts himself and gets into bed. I lean against his chest as he wraps his arms around me. “That’s good?”

“That’s good,” I say, closing my eyes before jerking them open again.Can’t risk falling asleep. “We’re at the mansion, right?”

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” he jokes.

“You probably shouldn’t talk about fires right now.”

“Good point.”

“How bad is the apartment?”

“Ruined,” he says with a sigh. “For a while, anyway.”

“Did anyone else get hurt?”

“No, thankfully. It was a targeted explosion. Not big enough to do serious damage, but enough that it would’ve killed us if we hadn’t reacted fast enough.”

“Ifyouhadn’t reacted. I was going to start looking for a label.”

“You would’ve heard the beeping.”

“And been blown to pieces.” I tilt my head so I can look at his face. My brain throbs, but it’s manageable, all things considered. “Thank you.”

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