Page 107 of Sinner's Secret

She opened the door, wearing only a towel.

She looked like a goddess, and the only thing between him and her silky, smooth skin was one measly towel.

Then his gaze got to her collarbones.

Bruises ringed her neck from her collarbones to just under her chin. The impressions of large fingers were disgustingly clear in the mottled colors.

His hands clenched on the clothing, wishing he could punch Antonio a few more dozen times.

“Baz?” Nika tugged on the clothes. When had she grabbed them?

He let go. “Sorry.”

She sighed. “Yeah, it looks a lot worse than it is.”

It looked as bad as it actually was, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. At least not directly.

“Yvgeny is sending up a paramedic he keeps on staff to check your neck.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want—”

“The paramedic is female.”

She paused. “Okay.” Then backed up and closed the bathroom door again.

Shit, shit, shit. He was as much an asshole as Antonio and Hernesto, thinking about sex with her when she was hurt.

It would take weeks for those bruises to go away, and every time she looked in the mirror, she’d be reminded of what happened in that penthouse. She’d be reminded of the brutality and insanity that consumed people like him.

That consumed him.

The Ruiz brothers had intended to take her, infect her with the Sweating Sickness, and hope that she was one of the few who made the transition to vampire. Then they intended to brutalize her until she accepted her place as their forever wife. They would have tortured her. Broken her.

He stood there, staring at his hands as they shook with the need to kill something or someone. If she came out and saw him in a rage, would she be afraid of him?

A knock on the room door had him going over to check through the peep hole. The person on the other side of the door was female, in a paramedic’s uniform, and wore an expression of professional curtesy on her face.

He opened the door and allowed the woman in. She looked like she was in her early thirties, with long blonde hair in an unattractive bun, glasses, and was pleasantly plump.

“I’ll get Nika for you,” he said to her after he closed the door. He went to the bathroom and knocked. “The paramedic is here.”

The door opened and Nika came out, dressed in a clean, pale blue sleep shirt and pajama pants. She walked over to the paramedic, who introduced herself as Sam.

“Would you mind stepping out of the room for a few moments, sir?” the paramedic asked him. Only it wasn’t a question, it was an order. And her face didn’t look all that professional anymore.

“He didn’t do this to me,” Nika said, her voice still too raspy, gesturing at her neck. “He stopped the man who did.”

The woman’s gaze warmed a little. “Good. I’ll let you know when you can come back.”

Baz found himself leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Yvgeny waited in the hallway. “How is she?” he asked.

“She took a shower and now the bruises look even worse.”

“Samantha is very good,” Yvgeny assured him. “She’ll know what to do.”

That was a high compliment for Yvgeny to give anyone.

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