Protected by a Hero

by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne

  Roman nodded. “One shot, then we’re playing a game of darts. I don’t think getting wasted is the answer you’re looking for.”

  She started to protest, then nodded. Yeah, the only thing that would do was give her a freaking hangover in the morning. “Sounds good.”

  “For what it’s worth, we’re fucking stupid sometimes,” he said as he waved at their server again.

  “We?”

  “Men. I’m speaking for all of us, including V. He likes you, a lot. I’m guessing he did something stupid. Probably really stupid knowing him. But I guarantee it wasn’t intended to hurt you.”

  She didn’t get a chance to respond as he turned to their incoming server, who Angel was certain wanted to give Roman her phone number, but she mulled over his words. It was pretty clear that Vadim hadn’t wanted to hurt her, he’d wanted to protect her. She didn’t mind him wanting to protect her, but he’d just taken over and made a huge decision without asking her first. She didn’t like that he’d lied to her, gone behind her back and let her cry about her place flooding when all along he’d known it wasn’t true. Maybe she didn’t have a leg to stand on considering she’d been lying about her identity. Sort of. She scrubbed a hand over her face, not wanting to think about it now.

  When she heard her phone buzz again, she continued to ignore it.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  After a couple hours of playing darts and drinking beers with Roman, Angel was starting to feel a little better. She was still angry at Vadim, but not in the total emotional rage she’d been in earlier. “I’m done for now. Seriously, my arm is going to fall off.”

  “So you concede?”

  “What? That you’re better? Hell no. I’m just tired and since my drill instructor has been training me like a crazy person the past few days I deserve a break,” she said, referring to him and his self-defense training regimen.

  “That’s weak. But I’m tired too,” he said with a laugh. As they headed for their round top table, Roman’s eyes slightly widened at something over her shoulder.

  “What?” She turned around but couldn’t see over most of the people. In the last couple hours the place had started to fill up with a steady crowd.

  He shrugged when she swiveled back to him. “Ah, my brother’s here with some of the guys from work.”

  “So? He’s a flirt, but I don’t care. Or does he actually mind that I cancelled that date?” Angel was ninety-nine percent sure he’d asked her out in some weird way to bait Vadim.

  Roman shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s just uh, Vadim’s with them.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, resisting the urge to turn around and look at Vadim. “Did you tell him I was here?” He shrugged again and she wanted to punch him. “You were right, you guys really are dumbasses.”

  “I said we were stupid. And I didn’t tell him, but I did tell Logan.” Roman gave what she was sure he thought was an apologetic look, but she could tell he wasn’t sorry at all.

  Which just infuriated her. “Well I’m saying you’re all dumbasses. You couldn’t have given me a heads up? And if you shrug again I’ll punch you.”

  “I’ve felt your punches, they’re not impressive.” He was clearly fighting a grin.

  “And now you’re insulting me?” She gritted her teeth, fighting her own smile until she saw Vadim out of the corner of her eye arriving with Logan and two of the men from the security team. Her amusement fled, knowing they needed to talk.

  Logan and his brother immediately started joking with each other, their camaraderie clear and kind of adorable while the other two guys headed for the bar to order drinks. Taking a deep breath, she turned in her swivel chair to face Vadim. He was wearing dark slacks and the button-down shirt she’d buttoned up for him this morning after they’d made love in the shower. And Lord help her, she couldn’t help but think about what it would feel like to run her fingers over all his bare skin right now.

  The expression on his face was remote. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” She bit her bottom lip, unsure what to say. She hated the feeling that there was a giant chasm between them. But she didn’t know how to bridge the gap of mistrust he’d created with his lie.

  “Are you angry with me about something?” He shoved his hands in his pockets, seeming almost lost and some of her icy anger melted.

  “I stopped by my old place today and ran into Mr. Botkin,” she said loud enough for only him to hear. The brothers were laughing and talking with each other on the other side of the table, but she didn’t want anyone else to be able to listen in.

  Realization dawned on Vadim’s face, quickly followed by distress. He was like that panicked tiger again. Which would make her want to laugh if she wasn’t so annoyed.

  “I wanted to tell you,” he finally said. “I should have and I’m sorry.”

  “You should have told me, or you shouldn’t have done it at all? Why’d you lie? Why not just come out and tell me your concerns and ask me to stay?” Because she would have stayed with him.

  “I’m sorry I did it. I was going to tell you the truth, then you got angry when I called Sierra for you. That was small and I figured something like…”

  “Like having my landlord freaking lie about the state of my apartment at your request would be worse,” she filled in, more of her anger dying at his expression. He was worse than Charlie, looking so adorable and apologetic.

  Damn it, she needed to hang on to some anger because this couldn’t happen again. She loved Vadim and—whoa. Loved? Yeah, she loved him. Stunned by her internal realization, she sat back against the chair.

  “Yeah, that,” he said quietly.

  Even though she was still hurt she slid off the chair and wrapped her arms around him. Though he was clearly surprised by the move, he wrapped his arms around her too, pulling her close. She looked up at him, keeping her voice low. “I can’t be with someone who lies to me. I understand why you did it and I’m incredibly grateful for everything you’ve done for me, but we have to be equals. You’ve got to fill me in on stuff and let me make decisions that affect my life.”

  “I know. I just…I’m sorry.” The sincerity in his voice was so real and she was smart enough to realize that Vadim had never been in a serious relationship before now. She wasn’t even sure that’s what they were, but she knew that’s where they were heading. Hell, they’d been heading that way from the moment they’d met. She just hadn’t known it at the time. Their building friendship had been working toward something more all this time.

  “Vadim…I’m probably an idiot but I’m letting this go. I know your heart was in the right place but if you do something like this in the future…” She trailed off, not needing to finish. It would be a different story if he did this again, but after being on the run for so long and not being able to enjoy herself for the past two years, she couldn’t hold on to any anger. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him, brushing her lips across his.

  His grip on her hips tightened as he pulled her tight, deepening their kiss until their surroundings fell away. She loved the feel of his tongue stroking against hers, of his strong arms holding her close.

  “Get a room,” Logan said loudly from behind them, breaking the intimate spell.

  Flushing, Angel pulled back and stepped out of Vadim’s embrace. “You want to get out of here?”

  When his gaze darkened with hunger, she grinned. Turning from him, she grabbed her purse off the table. Ignoring Logan, she looked at Roman and smiled. “Thanks for hanging out with me. I think we’re gonna head out now.”

  He nodded and gave Vadim a half-smile. “Anytime. You two coming to watch the fight tomorrow night?”

  Vadim had already told her about Roman’s invitation and they both wanted to go so she nodded. “We’ll be there.”

  Turning back to Vadim she said, “I’ve had one too many beers to drive. Can we leave the SUV here?” When he nodded she continued. “Good, give me a couple minutes and we’ll head out. I need to use the restroom.”
She was finally starting to feel the effects of those beers. She dropped another kiss on his lips, glad they’d made up. As she slowly made her way through the throng of bodies she saw Iris, Ellie, Jay and surprisingly Wyatt Christiansen heading for their table. She’d never seen the billionaire outside of work. It was a little weird that he was hanging out with all of them. Or maybe it wasn’t. For all she knew, he did it all the time. Just not when she’d been around.

  She breathed a sigh of relief to discover the women’s restroom was empty. After she was done, she washed her hands and stepped out into the small hallway—only to have the barrel of a gun shoved into her stomach.

  The background noise from the bar faded away as panic slammed into her, the icy tendrils of fear sliding over her skin. Stunned, she looked up into the angry eyes of Emile’s father as he shoved her against the wall, his gun never wavering. Fighting nausea and confusion she stared at him. This couldn’t be happening.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded, her voice sounding a lot stronger than she felt. She was a quivering mass of nerves, her legs threatening to turn to jelly as he shoved the gun tighter into her stomach. She instinctively sucked her stomach in, her flesh cringing away from the weapon.

  His dark eyes looked glassy and she could smell whiskey on his breath. The few times she’d talked to the older lawyer, he’d been drunk. She’d guessed he was an alcoholic, but didn’t really care right now. All she cared about was getting away from this maniac. The fear burning inside her easily negated the awful scent.

  “I had to kill my son because of you, you stupid bitch.” Shock reverberated through her. She couldn’t believe what he’d just said. His words were slightly slurred as he grabbed onto her upper arm with a force that made her cry out. His fingers dug into her flesh, his nails biting into her bare skin. “Don’t make a fucking sound,” he commanded as he dragged her down the hall toward a door with an EXIT sign above it.

  She dug her heels in, her fear of being taken outside worse than her fear of the gun. She’d rather get shot in this bar than be taken only God knew where with this clearly deranged man. For all she knew he planned to do more than kill her. “You killed Emile?” she asked as he tried to drag her down the rest of the hallway. She was shaking all over, struggling to contain the terror spreading inside her.

  “I had to, he shamed our family one too many times. He was such a soft boy, always letting women take advantage of him. If he’d just let you go I could have ignored his last transgression. But he’s been looking for you for two fucking years. Thought I didn’t know about it. That investigator told me everything I needed to know and if you weren’t such a whore it would have been impossible to find you. Luckily your boyfriend led me right to you tonight.” He dug his fingers in again and shoved her along the hallway wall.

  She stumbled and almost fell but he grabbed her upper arm again in a painful hold and dragged her to her feet, not caring that he was almost ripping her arm from its socket. She howled in pain, unable to stop her cry.

  “It’s your fault he’s dead,” he growled, starting to drag her backward to the exit door.

  Angel tried to grab onto the wall but there was no traction. She opened her mouth to scream, but the man—Quinton Glass, she remembered his name—he yanked her back against his stomach. That was when she saw Vadim and Mr. Christiansen standing at the other end of the hallway.

  There wasn’t much distance between her and them, maybe fifteen feet. But it felt like the Grand freaking Canyon separated them. Her heart pounded a staccato beat against her chest even as her lungs seemed to shrink. It was impossible to drag in a full breath as she stared at Vadim. His expression was dark, deadlier than she’d ever seen as his eyes promised death for Quinton. His hands were at his side, but his right hand was slightly pulled back, hidden by his body with his defensive stance. She couldn’t see it, but she’d bet everything she had that he was holding a gun.

  His pale eyes weren’t on her, they were daggers of ice pinned on the man behind her. Angel had no doubt that given the chance he’d kill the man holding her in a heartbeat. Quinton was saying something, his breath hot against her face as he pulled her tighter to him. He was so angry, his shouting not making any sense, his entire body vibrating with rage. That was when she realized the gun wasn’t digging into her. He was holding her close, his meaty arms crossed over her chest as he kept her in place. He was holding the weapon in one of his hands, and with the way he was securing her arms, the gun was pointed at the wall as he continued to rage nonsensical words.

  Roman’s training moves clicked into place and she knew she’d only get one chance to do this right. If she didn’t, she was dead for sure, but this bastard could also hurt Vadim. Something she refused to let happen.

  She could hear Roman’s frustrated voice in her head. Shove your elbows out hard, loosening your attacker’s grip. At the same time let your legs go lax, your body becoming a dead weight. It will take them off guard long enough for you to duck out of their embrace. From there he’d given her different options of how to either attack or attack then flee. She wasn’t going to do either of those right now.

  No, she was just going to fall to the floor and get out of the line of fire she knew was coming. Without thinking about it a second longer, she grunted, shoving her elbows out to the side.

  Quinton stumbled behind her, clearly taken off guard as she dropped to the floor like a stone.

  Before her palms had hit the ground two loud booms echoed through the small hallway. She screamed, covering her head as she waited for the ripping pain. When nothing happened she started to get up, but found herself being hauled to her feet by two strong hands instead.

  For a moment the instinct to fight kicked in until she saw Vadim’s face. His expression was terrified as he dragged her away a few feet. He ran his hands over her face, then her arms and hips.

  “You’re okay?” he rasped out, his voice shaking as she nodded.

  “I’m good.” Unable to stop the tremble snaking through her, she glanced over her shoulder.

  Wyatt was crouched down next to Quinton’s body. He looked up at both of them, his expression grim as he shook his head. So Quinton was dead. Angel didn’t know what to feel other than confusion and relief that none of them had been injured. She turned back to Vadim and clutched at his waist, needing support. “He killed his son. He told me that it was my fault he’d done it. He didn’t say the words, but he was obviously going to kill me.”

  Vadim pulled her close as Wyatt came to stand next to them. That was when she heard the panicked voices of the patrons from the bar and grill area. It was as if her surroundings suddenly rushed back all at once. Iris appeared in the entry at the end of the hallway with a weapon in her hand. Hayden and Jay were right behind her. They all put their weapons away at once when they took in the scene.

  To Angel’s surprise, Wyatt waved everyone back before focusing on her and Vadim. “The cops will be here soon. Just tell the truth about what happened here, but don’t give them any more information than they ask. And whatever you do, don’t say a word about using a fake social. They don’t need to know any of that. It’s not their damn concern. I’m putting in a call to one of my attorneys now. They’re going to separate the three of us for individual questioning. Angel, do not answer any questions without my attorney present. He is your official representation.” His low voice held a commanding edge to it.

  Blinking in surprise, Angel looked at Vadim then back at the billionaire she’d never said more than two sentences to. “Why?”

  “Because you’re part of the Serafina family and because you’re with Vadim.”

  At that she promptly burst into tears. She didn’t care how weak she appeared, she couldn’t seem to hold the tears at bay as she buried her face against Vadim’s chest. It was strange to have people actually give a shit about her after so long. She’d felt so alone for so many years that all this support was beyond overwhelming.

  Vadim stroked a gentle hand down her back,
murmuring nonsensical words, the sweet tone of his voice and the feel of his arms around her taking away most of her frayed nerves. By the time the cops showed up her tears had dried, but she had a new set of fears. What if Vadim went to jail for the shooting? What if he got in trouble because of all her baggage? It was self-defense so she wasn’t sure why that would happen, but the fear lodged its talons deep inside her, refusing to let go. If he was taken from her now, then she would lose everything that mattered.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “She’s going to be fine,” Wyatt murmured, casually sitting in one of the chairs next to Cody Hurley’s desk.

  Instead of making them wait in the lobby, the detective had told them to sit tight in the bullpen of Vegas PD. Vadim stood instead of sitting, his arms crossed over his chest as tension hummed through him with the intensity of a thousand buzzing bees. He couldn’t stand still, much less think straight. He and Wyatt had both finished with their questioning and filled out their reports before being let go. Angel was still in with Wyatt’s lawyer and Hurley. While Vadim was glad the detective was the one talking to her, since he was a good man, every second that passed made him itch to storm in there and find out what was going on. “Easy for you to say. That’s not your wife in there,” Vadim snapped.

  To his surprise and annoyance, Wyatt grinned. “You really like this girl.”

  “I fucking love her.” The words were out before he could stop himself. He hadn’t told her, but it was true. No sense denying it even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. Angel was his.

  Wyatt straightened from his casual position, his dark eyebrows raised. “Seriously?”

  Jaw tight, Vadim nodded.

  His friend didn’t say anything, just leaned back again in his chair. Vadim turned away from him, ready to start pacing when he spotted Angel walking out with Wyatt’s high-priced attorney standing between her and Hurley. The older man with sprinkles of gray peppered throughout his otherwise dark hair was speaking in clipped tones, but Vadim ignored the men. All his focus was on Angel.