Vicious Protector by Maggie Cole

25

Adrian

Every fearI had has come true. My printsessa left me. I'm pacing the penthouse, trying to figure out how to get her back, when Maksim calls. "Sergey and Kora are at the hospital. Kora is unconscious. Boyra is dead. Igor is, too. He was working for him."

Chills course through me. Igor has been a part of our family forever. He's been Sergey's driver and trusted ally. How could we not have seen it?

First Dasha, now Igor. Who else is against us?

When I get to the hospital, Skylar is there. She's sitting on a chair with her hands over her face. I sit next to her and pull her into me.

She sobs hard. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know yet. How did you find out?"

"I'm her emergency contact. The hospital called."

Skylar slowly picks her head out of my chest. "Who hurt them?"

My heart beats faster. If I tell her it's Boyra, she's going to want to know more. I tighten my arms around her and kiss her forehead. "Everything will be okay."

She freezes then pushes away from me. Anger emanates off her. "You're going to keep me in the dark? My best friend is lying in a hospital bed, and you're going to continue this charade of silence?"

I stare at the ceiling, avoiding her eyes.

Her voice turns cold. She quietly says, "Damn you, Adrian."

The next few hours consist of Skylar avoiding me, a mix of hospital workers and Ivanovs coming and going, and lots of private conversations that exclude Skylar and the other women. Kora wakes up. The doctor tells us she will be okay, but it's past visiting hours, and no one is allowed back. We eventually all leave.

I don't even make it through the night. At three a.m., I use the key she gave me to her apartment and sneak into her bedroom. My heart breaks further when I hear her sobbing into her pillow. I slide into bed next to her and draw her into my arms. "Don't throw us away."

She tilts her head up. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

I stroke her cheek with the back of my knuckles. "I love you. You love me. We're meant to be together."

"Then tell me who you are and where you go."

My stomach twists. "You know I can't. We've been through this. Until Kora came over—"

"Jesus, Adrian! Don't you dare blame this on Kora! Have you not been listening to a word I've said? How many times have I asked you to tell me—"

"And how many times have I told you it's dangerous?"

She slides up on her knees. "You make me into a fool, Adrian."

"How? Because I want to protect you and us?"

Her voice shakes. "You think this is protecting us?"

I turn away from her, unable to stare at the pain in her eyes. I won't do to her what I did to Dasha. All I've thought about since seeing Dasha's empty apartment and learning she's farther into Zielinski's web than I ever thought possible is that I did that to her. I made her change because she isn't the woman I married. Looking back, I can't see anything except how I was the catalyst to make Dasha into whatever she is now. I don't excuse what Dasha is doing or whatever she's involved in, but I won't make the same mistake with Skylar. No matter what, I'll protect her from others and all the possible ramifications that comes from knowing my truth.

I grasp her cheeks and choose my words carefully. "I know it's protecting us. You don't know what can happen. I've seen it—"

"With Dasha?" Betrayal weaves into her tear-filled expression. Her lips tremble, and a clawing sensation tears at my gut.

"You know I don't love her anymore. There's nothing Dasha—"

"You don't get it, Adrian!"

"What don't I get? I'm in love with you. I want to spend my life with you, not her."

"She got all of you, Adrian. Every piece of you, she got—the good, the bad, the ugly. But you expect me to sit blindly next to you, only getting what you determine to show me. That isn't a relationship. I don't hide my faults from you, yet you seem to think I can only handle the good in you."

The air in my chest becomes thick and stale, but nothing entering my lungs seems fresh. I quietly admit, "My truth turned Dasha into a monster."

"I'm not her, Adrian. I can handle it. Whatever it is, tell me."

I almost cave, but the image of Dasha not getting out of bed for days when I told her I had killed Natalia's rapists pops into my mind. Lev, lying in my palm, cold from death, reminds me how much destruction my truth causes. "No, you're better than her. Every part of you is beautiful light and goodness. I won't destroy you because that's what it'll do. It'll turn everything we have into sad memories. In the end, you won't remember there's anything else to me, except what I tell you."

She moves her knees to the headboard, so there is no room between us. Her heavenly hands cup my cheeks. "No one is perfect, Adrian. I already know you're capable of bad things. I still love you. There isn't anything you can tell me that will change it."

"If nothing will change it, then it shouldn't matter what you know. Why do you want to take what we have and taint it?"

"I cannot stay in the dark, Adrian."

"You aren't in the dark. You're in the light, and I won't do anything to take you out of it."

Neither of us moves for several moments. Her hot breath merges into mine. I almost think she's going to let it go when she releases me, jumps off the bed, and points to the door. "I need you to leave."

My heart sinks. "My printsessa—"

A fresh wave of tears fall. "Don't come back until you're ready to tell me everything. I won't continue to be blind."

I step in front of her. "You told me you understood my work was confidential—"

"For crying out loud, Adrian," she blares out. "You have men following me. Your work is part of who you are. I should have never agreed to it."

"Then why did you?" I angrily ask.

She yells, "Because I was stupid, okay? I thought we could separate it, but we can't. And no matter how much time we spend together, you don't trust me."

"I do trust you. I keep telling you this, but you don't believe me."

The expression on her face changes, and it crushes me. It's pain, as if I've somehow betrayed her. "If you trusted me, you would know I could handle your truth. You would tell me everything and have faith that I would still be here. When you got done telling me, I would still be in love with you. All of you, Adrian, even the pieces you think aren't lovable."

In a last ditch move to convince her to drop this, I tug her close to me. Reality and perception are two different things, and I know it too well. She can't ever know, but I don't want to lose her. She's my life. I blink hard, try to stop the quivering in my gut, and put all my cards on the table. It's not how I wanted her to find out, but it's the truth. "Come home. I bought you a ring. I've been planning out how to ask you to marry me. We belong together."

Her mouth opens and then shuts. Glistening streams of tears fall down her porcelain cheeks. She swallows hard then whispers, "Tell me everything, Adrian, then ask me. My answer will be the same, no matter what. But I cannot marry you if I don't know who I'm marrying."

"You know me. The man I have shown you is who you deserve. I will not give you anything but him," I insist.

Her face crumples. She puts her hand over her eyes. "You don't get it."

"My printsessa—"

"You need to leave, Adrian."

"Don't do—"

Her voice shakes, and she straightens her shoulders. "Now. Until you can let me in, there is no us."

Blood pounds between my ears. I stare at her, willing her to change her mind so we can go back to us, but she doesn't. "When you realize you're making a mistake, I'll be waiting for you."

She closes her eyes and turns away from me.

A knife slices through my heart. I leave and use the key to lock the door behind me. When I get in my car, numbness replaces the pain.

We have it all, together. Why can't she get past this issue?

She promised she would keep my work separate.

I go home, alone, wondering how we got to this point. I know she loves me, but why can't she keep her end of our agreement? She thinks she needs to know everything, but she doesn't know what she'd be allowing into her life.

For weeks, I can barely eat. I text her the same thing every morning and night, except when I have to go to the garage.

Me: I love you. Please come home.

I never hear anything back. Sometimes I see the dots appear on the screen, as if she's about to send me a message, but they always disappear. I keep Hagen on her. There's no way I'm taking any chances and leaving her unprotected. As much as I try to figure out where Dasha went and what she has up her sleeve, her disappearance makes me anxious.

Several weeks pass. I spend a few days at the garage with Obrecht, Maksim, and Dmitri, torturing two Polish men and three of Rossi's guys. No matter who we pick up, no one knows where Dasha is. We don't find out anything else about her possible motives.

"Maybe she's gone and is never coming back," Dmitri states when we finish with the men and Obrecht turns the incinerator on.

"No. She'll be back. I feel it in my gut," I insist and turn on my phone. When I see I have a voice message from my printsessa, false hope fills me, along with a twisting of my gut. She left it two days ago.

The sound of her voice alone tears at my heart. Her message only serves to break it further. "Adrian, um..." She takes a deep breath. "It's me. I..." She clears her throat. "Bogden can't continue to drive me everywhere. Please don't have him waiting for me anymore. I-I hope you're doing okay." The line goes dead. I relisten to it several times, rotating between anger and devastation. I'm pissed she's doing this to us. I stare at the garage walls, full of rage over who I am and that it even needs to be an issue in our relationship. The feeling I'm losing her for good, and she's never going to change her mind and come home, rips through me. I listen to her message again and pound on the wall. "Fuck."

"Whoa! What's wrong?" Obrecht asks, stepping out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, fresh from a shower.

"Skylar wants me to remove Bogden as her driver."

He raises his eyebrows. "Did you think she'd allow you to keep tabs on her forever?"

"It's not about that. It's about her safety, and you know this," I claim. "Just because she needs time to come to her senses doesn't mean I'm going to put her in danger."

Obrecht huffs. "She isn't going to change her mind. You don't listen, Adrian. Tell her or move on. She isn't going to cave on this."

"Why aren't you telling her, Adrian? If you love her, you need to tell her," Maksim insists.

Dmitri nods. "I thought Anna would leave me, but she didn't. If she loves you—"

"Jesus. When is everyone going to understand this? I've been down this road before. I turned Dasha into a—"

"Dasha's made her own bed. That isn't on you," Obrecht seethes.

I shake my head and point at my brother then Maksim and Dmitri. "We aren't like them."

"Meaning?" Maksim growls.

"Your story isn't ours. Zamir didn't turn us into torturous murderers. We voluntarily went into this."

"Because he kidnapped and raped your sister," Dmitri barks. "He is to blame."

"It's not the same," I insist.

Maksim strips so he can shower. "Skylar's mad at Aspen and Kora."

"Here we go," Obrecht mutters under his breath.

Maksim scowls at him. "Have something you want to say?"

Obrecht releases his towel and steps into fresh clothes. "I warned Adrian it was a bad idea to get involved with Aspen's friend. Now we're going to hear about it forever."

"Shut up, Obrecht," I growl. "Why is she mad at them?"

Maksim sighs. "They know about us and aren't in the dark. She wants them to tell her, but they won't. You need to."

I groan. This conversation is getting old. "Not happening. Get in the shower, or I am."

Maksim pierces me with his icy-blue eyes and tosses his shirt in the burn barrel. "Sometimes you're a fool, Adrian. This is one of them."

"Everyone mind your own business," I grumble.

Maksim grunts and steps into the bathroom. I go outside and call Skylar, but it goes to her voicemail. I text her.

Me: I just got your voicemail. Please call me.

Skylar: Let me guess. You can't tell me why it's taken you two days to respond?

I attempt to call her again, but she doesn't answer.

Me: Can you please answer? This is childish.

Skylar: No, I can't. I'm at work.I'll be taking a taxi or Uber home tonight. I've not decided which, but it isn't your business anymore. You made your choice, Adrian. Let me move on.

The hairs on my neck rise. Panic sets in. Move on.

Me: Why are you doing this to us?

Skylar: I have to go. I can't afford to get fired. Take care, Adrian.

"Shit," I call out and slam my hand on the building as Obrecht walks out and his driver pulls up.

"I gotta go. Stop being stupid and talk to Skylar, or move on."

Move on is quickly becoming one of my most dreaded phrases. I open my mouth to say something nasty to Obrecht when the phone rings. My stomach twists, and I hold my fingers in the air to Obrecht. I growl out, "Dasha, where the fuck are you?"

"Adrian, I need you to sign the trucking company over to me."

"Are you out of your mind?" I bark and put it on speaker.

Her voice is firm with a hint of fear. "This isn't a request, Adrian. You have to sign it over to me, or-or there will be consequences."

I put my hand over Obrecht's mouth. "Like what, Dasha? Are those fucks you're in bed with going to hurt you?"

Her next statement sends chills down my spine. I've never heard her voice so cold. "No, Adrian. I won't be the one receiving the consequences. You will."

Obrecht moves away from my hand. "Dasha, whatever you're—"

"You've been spending a lot of time with unit two A, haven't you?" Her voice is sweet and friendly. To a passerby it would sound like an innocent question.

The color drains from Obrecht's face.

"She's pretty. A bit naive, though, don't you think? Although I have to hand it to you, she's a lot younger than you. Then again, she likes them older, doesn't she?"

Obrecht's face turns red with anger. I'm not sure who Dasha is referring to, but Obrecht loses his normal calm composure. "If you come near her, or anyone I care about, I will—"

"You'll what? Don't make empty threats. You're an Ivanov. Women and children are off-limits," she taunts.

"Snakes aren't," he hisses.

I sternly say, "Dasha—"

"I'll give you a week to get the paperwork in order. All cash in the bank accounts is to transfer into my name as well. Add another five million in it before you re-register the account. Don't piss me off." She hangs up.

"That fucking—"

I don't hear the rest of Obrecht's rant. I call Bogden.

"Adrian—"

"Where's Skylar?"

"In her office. She hasn't left the building."

"She goes nowhere without you or one of our other guys. I'm doubling up her security. If you see Dasha anywhere, call me immediately."

"Got it."

I hang up and turn to Obrecht. "Who was Dasha talking about?"

"A woman in my building named Selena."

"How does she know about her?"

"How the hell do I know?" He sneers as he walks to his car. "I have to make sure Selena is okay. Shower and get your ass to my place. We need to figure this mess out. Tell Maksim and Dmitri what your ex-wife is doing. Have them call Boris and Sergey." He puts his phone to his ear and gets in the car.

I send a message to Skylar.

Me: Something just happened. I can't pull Bogden off you. Do NOT go anywhere without him. This isn't a request.

I slam my hand against the building again and walk in. Dmitri steps out of the bathroom. I shake my head, full of rage. "We've got a problem."