Page 28 of Their Domme

“You always come in like a wrecking ball, don’t you?” I murmured, running my fingers through her hair.

“Well, you smacked me the last time I made this big of an entrance. I guess it’s Sacha’s turn.” I knew it was her attempt at a joke, but her voice cracked. It was that little sign of emotion from her that made my heart start to tremble. I buried my face in her hair, unable to process everything that had been thrown at me in the last few minutes. God, I missed her and the whirlwind of chaos that followed in her wake.

“I hate you for leaving, Nic. I get it and hate it all at the same time,” I whispered into her hair.

“If it had been Sacha, you would have done the same thing.” She sniffled, rubbing her face with her restrained hands.

“So it was your brother who was taken?” I asked, and she said it was. “Fuck.”

Nic leaned back and looked up at me. I reached out, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear as I met her stare, noting the sheen of unshed tears as she swallowed hard. “You said you’d burn the world down for me, big guy. Did you really think I wouldn’t do the same for all of you? Walking away almost killed me, but this is about my brother, us… more than us. This time, I’m the one calling the shots. I need to be.”

“As if you haven’t been calling them most of the time already,” Sacha deadpanned, startling both of us. Apparently, he had rejoined us. How I’d missed the car door opening and closing, I wasn’t sure, but I was glad to see some of the anger had faded from his eyes. “But this time, you’re telling us the plan, Nic. No more going around behind our backs and figuring shit out on your own. That’s over with.”

“Does that apply to you as well, boss? Or just me?”

“All of us,” I answered on his behalf. I wasn’t going to let their dick measuring contest get in the way of things moving forward. “But we deserve to hear some answers from you first, Nic, not just bombs dropped on us in front of everyone.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked out the window, probably thinking over everything she had set in motion since she left. Nic let out an unsteady breath then shifted away from me, putting her back to the door so she could face us both.

“What do you want to know first?”

“You’re pregnant?” I asked before Sacha could speak. I needed to hear the words from her for it to be real. Sacha watched Nicholette like a hawk as we both waited for her to answer.

“Yes.” Nic licked her bottom lip, her face scrunching up in disgust, probably because she could still taste the bile from earlier. “And no, I have no idea which one of you did it.”

A bark of laughter fell from my lips at her dry tone as I rubbed my face. Fuck.Pregnant.I had no idea what to do with that or how I felt about it. Over the past month, the thought of it had been an abstract idea, but with her confirming it, I had no idea how I felt.

Sacha broke through my spiraling with his next question. “What have you been doing the past month?”

“Probably the same thing you have, boss.” Nic smirked. “You kept killing people I was trying to track down, and I have a feeling I did, too.”

“Did you kill Karen Ellenburg and Tim Johnson?” I asked.

“Yes,” Nic purred, rage flashing in her eyes. “They died too quickly for my liking, but I got information from them. It’s why I needed to meet with Maeve. She’s going to confirm what they told me.”

“Where have you been this entire time? In Boston with Emmerich?” Sacha asked blandly. Nicholette blinked, and for the first time, she looked nervous. “Don’t you dare fucking lie to us right now. Were you withAnsel?”

“I’ve been here. In Ashview,” she practically whispered, curling up like she expected us to lash out. Sacha froze beside me, and I knew that he had seen her recoil. His deep breaths filled the moment of silence before I spoke.

“You’ve been in Ashview this entire time?”

She looked at me when I asked that, though she kept glancing at Sacha, aware of his every movement. “Yeah. I stayed with a friend for a few days at a time before leaving again. Can’t really question and kill people in a city apartment. People get nosy. And I owe you answers for a lot more, I know I do, but everyone should hear them. You all know how I am with emotions and shit. Can I just tell you all at once? They won’t be watching us at Ansel’s place.”

“How confident are you of that?” I asked her, reaching out for her wrists to rip the duct tape off. She didn’t flinch as I did it, calmly rubbing her wrists once they were freed.

“Very, very fucking sure,” she replied. “Think we can stop and get some shit on the way? I cannot sit here just tasting this crap the entire way up there.”

The hint of a smile on Sacha’s face made Nic grin back at him before it crumbled away. “I can’t say I’m sorry because I’m not. Not about leaving to protect what’s important to me, including all of you jackasses. But I missed you all, every damn second of every damn day.”

I didn’t even have to think about it. I grabbed her, hugging her to me, and she broke down. Every damn ounce of anger I had left. Hot tears splashed on my neck as she fell into me, sobs making her body shake, and wrapped her arms around my neck. She mumbled things I couldn’t understand while I ran a hand through her hair. Sacha watched us with a serious expression until he couldn’t wait anymore.

With a much more gentle touch than I had been expecting from him, he touched Nic’s arm. She pulled back and moved toward Sacha without so much as wiping her face. He pulled her through the small gap between the front seats to sit her in his lap. She held onto him tightly, mumbling incoherent things into his neck as he crushed her to him. Sacha’s stoic expression fell away, and I saw every moment of pain and sadness since Nic had left flicker across his face before he squeezed his eyes shut, letting himself sink into her.

I was glad she was home. And even though this reunion had gone a lot smoother than I thought it would, so far at least, I knew it wouldn’t stay that way. Nic had a lot of secrets, and, to be honest, Sacha and I weren’t the ones she needed to worry about seeing again.

Oliver was going to be something else when he saw her. Not to mention who knew what everyone’s reaction to the baby would be… Hell, I didn’t knowmyreaction to the news. Bodhi… I didn’t think he was going to take it well, and Maksim… The only person who could even begin to guess how that fucker would react was Alexei. I guessed there were just some things that I had to wait to see how they unfolded.

Except Ansel.

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