"You know you're going to have to trust me sometime."
She still didn't answer him.
Two boots planted themselves right beside their heads. Gino looked up to see Ezekiel staring down at them. "You two going to play in the dirt all night or come on home?"
Gino was going to choose home for them, but he wasn't going to drop the subject Zara wanted so desperately to avoid. And he wasn't going to forget that the soldier had trained a gun to one specific spot on her head.
8
Z
ara looked eagerly out of the car window, desperate to see Bellisia. When Bellisia had failed to come back to the compound, she was terrified that her best friend was dead. Shylah and she had spent hours alternately crying and then trying to convince each other that Bellisia was alive and had managed to escape. Eventually, Whitney's anger and his retaliation--separating Zara and Shylah--had Zara believing Bellisia was still alive. She couldn't wait to see her. She had so much to tell her, and she needed her advice on what to do about the information she had stored and locked in her brain.
Zara recognized their driver, Adam Cox. He'd been a soldier for Whitney and, after Bellisia disappeared, Adam and his partner Gerald Perkins had been sent out, presumably looking for her. They had never returned. Seeing him driving the car made Zara uneasy. If she hadn't been able to read Gino's energy so easily, to merge her own energy with his, she might have become suspicious, but there was no way for Gino to hide the fact that just the mention of Whitney brought that cold demon inside him close to the surface.
Bellisia stood outside the two-story house the vehicle drove up to. She looked beautiful. Radiant. Tears welling up, Zara clutched Gino's hand. "I can't believe she's really alive. Whitney wouldn't tell us for sure. I hoped she was. I hoped she really was the one to kill Violet. When we heard the senator had died from being bitten by a blue-ringed octopus when she was diving, I thought it had to be Bellisia, but there was no way of knowing for certain."
The car came to a halt, and Zara threw the door open. She swung her legs out of the car before Gino could stop her.
"Zara, what the hell do you think you're doing? You can't walk, remember?" He caught her around the waist to keep her from trying to leap out.
She'd forgotten. For just that one moment she was so happy to see her "sister" that she forgot Zhu, the torture, everything but hugging Bellisia. Bellisia looked toward the car and her face lit up. Zara had forgotten how beautiful she was, and how her smile could light up the sky. She was very small with blue eyes and pale blond hair. Already, she was in motion, leaping off the porch and running toward the car. Zara braced herself, her answering smile hurting her sore face.
Bellisia ran around the hood of the car and launched herself into the air. Ezekiel Fortunes caught her, wrapping his arms around her, his mouth on hers. Zara's smile faded. Shocked, she couldn't take her eyes off the couple. Bellisia hadn't even seen her. Her gaze had found Ezekiel and she never looked anywhere else.
"They're married," Gino said. "This mission, you have to understand, princess, it wasn't certain we were coming back. Boss called it a suicide mission, and if you'd seen the jump onto the roof at night with those power paragliders, you'd realize just how close it was with those winds."
She knew he recognized that she was hurt and he was making excuses for Bellisia. He was right too. If she had a husband and that man had gone on a suicide mission, she would be looking for him first. Still, that didn't take away the hurt. All those weeks of thinking Bellisia was dead. Instead she was falling in love and getting married--without her. It embarrassed her that Gino saw her at her absolute worst all the time.
"I'm really tired," she said. "Can you take me inside?"
"Sure, baby."
Of course he would. She didn't look at him. She couldn't. There was no tearing her gaze away from Bellisia and the tears streaming down her face as she looked her husband over so carefully. Bellisia had to have known that if Zara was left with Cheng for three days before the rescue, she would be tortured, but instead of even checking on her ...
"Zara." Gino's voice was low. She was in his arms, her face in his neck. "Don't. You're understandably upset, but Bellisia couldn't possibly have known what Zhu did to you. When we're on an unsanctioned mission, we can't report home. As much as Zeke would have wanted to tell her, he couldn't."
She'd said it out loud where Gino could hear her. What was wrong with her? Now he really knew what a mean, petty person she was. She should be happy for Bellisia, not feeling alone, miserable and betrayed.
"I always show you my worst side." It came out a whisper. She kept her eyes closed as he entered the house and moved through rooms. She knew there were other people around, but she didn't want them to see her puffy face and black eyes. For some reason, she felt embarrassed and guilty as if she could have somehow prevented Zhu from beating her. "It's not like what happened to me was that bad."
"Zara stop talking right now. Keep your mind blank," Gino ordered. "Stop thinking until I can get you into the bedroom." It was a clear command, issued in his gruff, obey me or else voice.
Zara tried to do what he said, pretending her mind was a slate, and every time she thought about Bellisia ignoring her, or self-pity, or the fact that she was making such a fool of herself in front of Gino, she would wipe that slate clean. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop the tears. Those flooded his neck and soaked his T-shirt.
He kicked a door closed. The thump of his boot on the wood was loud as well as the slamming of the door. He took her to a bed and gently laid her onto her back. She attempted to roll onto her side, away from him, but he had anticipated her movement and stopped her with a hand to her belly. Gentle. Always so gentle. He looked scary and tough, but when he touched her, it was almost with reverence. That brought another fresh flood of tears.
"Zhu tortured you, Zara. He beat you unmercifully with his fists. He caned you. He used a whip on you. The man knows anatomy very well because he inflicted the most pain on you he could without permanently damaging you. He's well versed in torture and, although he was careful not to do permanent damage, he certainly went for maximum pain."
"You can't know that."
"Of course I know that. Aside from the fact that I'm a doctor and I can see what he's done, and of course I know anatomy, I certainly can beat someone with my fists, cane them and whip them. I'm just as well versed in the art of torture as he is--maybe more. I've been dealing with that sort of thing since my family was slaughtered."
Her heart jerked hard. She opened her eyes and looked at his face. God, that face. If a woman could fall for a face, she had. Those unusual, intense eyes. The scruff on his jaw. The hard angles and planes. The scars. His mouth. Slaughter? His family had been slaughtered? She'd been wallowing in her own misery, counting on him. Forcing him to stay with her because of her cowardice, but she hadn't asked him about his past.
"Does that scare you?"
She frowned, uncomprehending.
"I learned to torture people. That I'm capable of torturing someone. That I have." He refused to look away from her, his gaze holding hers.
She could see he was waiting again for condemnation. He had before, when he'd tried to put her off with scare tactics. To be able to have even a slight chance of combating Zhu, Gino had to know what Zhu was capable of, what he would do to her, to anyone in his path. Gino had to be a fierce ice-cold demon, everything that Zhu was and more. The more was his protective nature.
She shook her head. "It's a little at odds with being a doctor, but I imagine you went to school sometime after you learned your other ... um ... skills. No, Gino, you don't scare me. I just am sorry that you lost your family. We're a pair, aren't we? I have no family and you lost yours."
He swept his hand over the tears on her face. "Princess, those tears had better not be for me. Looking at you, I believe I have what I want right in front of me."
Her heart clenched hard and her stomach did a slow somersault. She didn't know if she was will
ing him to want to be with her, to overlook her cowardice and every shortcoming that was right there in his face, or if she was being selfish because she was so afraid without him.
"I think I'm just tired, Gino. And the pain is getting worse. I don't think the pills last nearly as long as when you give me IV painkillers. Am I being wimpy?" Why couldn't she just ask him straight out? But she couldn't, not until she had something to offer him. Right now, she didn't have much, not even her own clothes. All she had was terror, neediness and tears.
"All right, baby, just close your eyes. I'll darken the room and give you some more meds. Just the beating he gave you, bruising your internal organs, would cause pain. Add the whip and cane and of course you hurt like hell. There's no need." He was already setting up an IV.
Zara closed her eyes with some relief. Her eyes burned from tears, and from the light, from keeping them open, all of it. She hated that she looked so awful and that Gino had to see her that way. "It's been nearly a week."
"Five days isn't a lot to heal your body inside, Zara," he said. "Just go to sleep. The more sleep you get, the quicker you'll heal."
"You have the white knight syndrome in spades," she murmured.
"Don't kid yourself, baby, there's nothing white knight about me."
There was a knock on the door, and she panicked. She could feel her heart accelerate and her lungs burn for air. She couldn't face anyone right now, especially Bellisia, and she knew it was her . "I can't ..."
"I'll handle it," Gino said. "Just rest."
He already had the lights out and the curtains pulled while she lay in bed drifting on the pain medication with her eyes closed like the coward she was.
Gino swept his hand down Zara's hair, feeling anything but the white knight she named him. He felt proprietorial. No way was Bellisia coming in and taking Zara from him. No one was going to do that. He'd staked his claim on her and he wasn't backing off. He crossed the room to the door when the knock came again.
Ezekiel stood right behind Bellisia, one hand on her shoulder, his face a mask. Gino could tell by his eyes that he knew exactly what Gino was up to, but it didn't matter.
"She's resting right now. I've just gotten her comfortable and she's almost out," Gino said, blocking the door. "I'll let you know when she's up for visitors."
"I need to see her now, Gino," Bellisia insisted. "I won't disturb her, but Zeke told me Zhu tortured her. I have to know she's all right."
"Physically she will heal, although I'm concerned about her feet." Gino stayed in the doorway, blocking access to the room. "Of course, the feet are bruised, but she has hematomas, bleeding in the spaces inside. There appears to be tendon damage, but I can't tell how severe or how permanent it is. I'll know more when I can take more X-rays, do an MRI and a few other tests just to get a good look. Right now, I'm not letting her put any weight on her feet."
"Zeke said he used a cane on her."
Gino nodded. "On her back, buttocks, the backs of her legs and also on her feet. He did a very thorough job of it, so very painful." He managed to sound impersonal when he no longer felt that way. "On her front, he used a whip and he was thorough about that as well, so she's having trouble moving around too much. The beating was very severe, and he did that before the other. He also used chemicals on her and that was before the physical torture." He raised his gaze to Ezekiel's. "She told me that on the plane. I didn't have a chance to give you that information. She didn't tell him a thing about the GhostWalker program. He didn't suspect her of being a GhostWalker."
"Why would they keep her alive then?" Bellisia asked.
For the first time Gino had to struggle to keep his features impassive. Bellisia had all but implied that Zara had given in to Zhu and told him what he wanted to know. He knew Zara was awake, or at least drifting in and out. She was already hurt and he didn't want her to think Bellisia didn't trust her.
When he continued to stare at her, Bellisia opened her mouth and shook her head, reaching back for Ezekiel's hand. "That came out wrong, Gino. I know Zara. She would never give up information, not under any circumstance. She would find a way to suicide before she'd do that. I meant, Cheng had to have had a reason. He never does anything without a reason. Did he plan to sell her?"
That first night in the embassy, when Gino had slept in a chair beside her bed, she'd woken in terror several times. She'd told him Cheng wanted to sell her to a man named Moffat who ran a human trafficking ring and owned some club he used his victims in. She'd admitted she didn't know which was worse, having Zhu keep her or being sold into trafficking.
"Cheng apparently wanted to sell her," Gino said, "but it was Zhu insisting on keeping her. He believed her almost from the beginning, but he wanted to keep her. For himself." Gino disliked saying it aloud. He was too much like the man, mirroring his words, his dark, ugly character. Gino wanted to keep Zara for himself and he planned to do so. He was good at carrying out a battle plan. The more he was in her company, the more he was certain Zara Hightower was the woman for him.
"My poor Zara," Bellisia whispered. "What a terrible thing for her to have to go through. You said you were worried about her feet. Is she going to be able to walk on her own?"
Gino stepped toward her, forcing the couple to move back so he could step outside the room and close the door, just in case Zara hadn't yet succumbed to the drug.
"She'll walk. I'm just afraid she'll always experience some pain when she does. Zhu was careful not to leave any permanent marks on her skin, but he didn't mind messing up her feet. Probably so she couldn't run from him."
Bellisia frowned and looked back at Ezekiel. "Do you remember I told you how fast she is? No one could keep up with her when she ran. I hope her feet aren't permanently damaged. Have you talked to her about it?"
Gino shrugged. "She's been pretty out of it. She's just getting to the point where she can go longer periods with lower doses of painkillers. The travel did her in. When she wakes up, I'll bring her out of the room so you can talk to her. She was very anxious to see you."
"She didn't know Zeke and I are married, did she?" Bellisia asked.
Gino shook his head. "There wasn't much chance to talk about anything, Bellisia. She was in bad shape when we got to her. All I cared about was getting her out of there and letting her body heal without pain. The first couple of days, she could barely stand a sheet on her body and even lying down hurt her. I kept her out of it for long periods of time to give her a break. There isn't really a comfortable position for her. She's doing better though."
"Ezekiel and I can look after her now, Gino," Bellisia said. "It must be difficult to take her to the bathroom, and she'll be needing showers and baths soon. I can do that and Zeke can see to her medical needs."
Gino stared down at her for a long time, letting her see the devil in him. Very slowly, he shook his head. "Not happening, Bellisia. I'm taking care of her. She's my responsibility now."
Bellisia scowled. Ezekiel tightened his fingers around her hand, but Gino could see she wasn't going to take the warning. "She's my sister. My responsibility."
"Yeah, I could see that when we pulled up and she sat in the car waiting while you were all over your husband. Zara's mine. She wants to be with me, in my care, and I'm not going to relinquish that just because someone says so--or I have something better to do."
Color crept into Bellisia's face. "I can't believe you just said that. I had to make certain Zeke was all right."
"I got that. So did she. She wasn't all right though. She'd been tortured, unlike Zeke."
"Gino." Ezekiel's warning was just that one word. His name.
Gino didn't give a damn. "She's mine, Zeke. No one's taking her from me."
Bellisia tossed her hair, eyes flashing. "She isn't a doll, Gino. She's a living, breathing woman with feelings. And she's fragile. Vulnerable, especially now. You're not taking advantage of her."
He gave her his most chilling smile. White teeth. No humor. Eyes dead. She had recognized the demon
in him when they'd first met. He saw the knowledge in her eyes, but she never said anything to him and was unfailingly polite, but she avoided him if she could. Now he gave a reminder.
He let Zeke see him, although seeing the cold, dark side of Gino wouldn't be news to him. They'd known each other too long. It was just that Gino had never chosen to set that demon in him loose on his fellow GhostWalkers--but then he'd never had anything of his own worth fighting for.
Ezekiel got it immediately and put a warning hand on Bellisia. "Baby, let Zara sleep. When she wakes up, you can ask her where she'd like to be and who she wants looking after her. Gino is an excellent surgeon and he's been taking care of her from the moment we broke into Cheng's lair."
Bellisia stood looking up at Gino for a long time. "She's not like me, Gino. She's sweet and kind and good."
"I'm very aware of what she's like," Gino said, his voice gentling, when he didn't feel gentle. Bellisia was going to fight him, and she was Zara's best friend.
Bellisia nodded and turned away, allowing Ezekiel to sweep his arm around her. In Gino's assessment, Bellisia was all the things she had said Zara was, just in a different way. She made Ezekiel happy, and that alone made Gino like her, but she saw into him and she didn't like what she saw. He didn't blame her. Because he could have been Bolan Zhu.
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