Page 45 of Bound By Revenge

He raises a hand. “Save your energy for a battle you can win. You’re seeing a doctor. End of discussion.” He sinks back onto the couch next to me.

I glare at him, furious, but he just keeps applying the ice pack to my head. I snatch it away, ready to throw it across the room. He sighs, grabbing my hand to stop me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Get this wet thing out of my hair. Right now. And hand me the remote while you're at it.”

“Just a little longer,” he says, pulling the remote from his back pocket and handing it over. I snatch it away before he changes his mind.

I hit play. “Do you know any of these guys?” I ask, glancing at him. He isn’t even watching the video anymore. He’s staring at me instead—it’s unnerving.

He glances at the screen before shifting his attention back to me. “Most. The one next to McGuire is his enforcer, Connor Daniels.”

“What makes you think McGuire killed Maxim?”

Nik goes silent. Finally, he sighs. “It’s a long story. McGuire hated Maxim.”

I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t.

“That’s it? Come on, you have to tell me more than that,” I prod.

“All you need to know is I have no doubts McGuire is behind Maxim’s murder.”

This time, I’m the one who pauses the video. I slap away his hand, still annoyingly holding the ice pack, and I turn to face him. “Okay, that’s not going to work for me. At all.”

He raises his eyebrows before dropping the ice pack on the coffee table. He sighs. “Kat?—”

“Nope, you listen now. I'm not walking into this without knowing what I'm getting myself into. If you want my help, I need the full story.”

“It’s not that simple. There are things you're better off not knowing.”

“I’m not asking you to tell me all thebratva’s dirty secrets.But you need to give me the full story about Maxim and Patrick McGuire.”

He glares at me, his displeasure with my requests obvious. I return his glare, showing him that two can play this game. Thesilence stretches on, thick with tension, until his sigh confirms my victory.

“Fine. If you really need to know,” he says through clenched teeth, "McGuire loathed Maxim because Maxim was in love with his daughter.”

“That’s it? That doesn't seem so bad. How’s that a reason to kill someone?”

“It’s complicated. She was already engaged to someone else. Her affair with Maxim embarrassed McGuire and endangered the alliance he had worked so hard to create. Let's just say no one hated Maxim more than McGuire.”

His fingers touch my temple before I get a word out. “Does that feel better?”

I'm tempted to brush him off, but his concern is so… genuine. “I’m fine, Nik. Don’t worry about me. The doctor will say I'm in tip-top shape.”

He doesn't seem entirely convinced, but thankfully, he leaves the ice pack alone. I'm glad he's willing to let go of the topic until his fingers brush against my neck. They stop there, and my breath hitches in my throat. A moment of pause, then his fingertips gently graze my shoulders.

“What are you doing?” I murmur.

“You’re so tense. That can’t be healthy for you.”

To my utter dismay, he starts rubbing his knuckles down the column of my neck.

“Well, getting kidnapped does that to a person,” I say, clearing my throat. Maybe my tone will turn him off. God knows I'm too weak to stop him.

He sighs, and I'm both glad and sad it worked. Then, he lowers his hands to my waist, lifts me up, and sets me down in front of him, between his parted legs. His hands find their way back to my shoulders, working out the knots in my tense muscles.

“I’m sorry it came to this. Abducting you, I mean,” he murmurs, his voice too close. “I wish there’d been another way to bring you to me. For what it’s worth, Boris and Ivan will pay for what they did to you. I’ll punish them myself.”

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