“I want you to understand what I’m telling you. When we get home, I’ll be close. You get scared for any reason, you look to me. I’ll be there and you’ll know you don’t have to worry.”
He was offering her the very thing she had dreamt of her entire life. She had just wanted to feel safe—even if it was for just a few minutes. She hadn’t felt safe as a child. She’d known at any moment Whitney would come to subject her to pain and call her worthless and selfish. It wouldn’t matter how hard she tried, she would fail and he would be disgusted with her. During her teenage years, the pattern had worsened, especially when she was attending schools. It seemed the more she succeeded on the outside, the uglier Whitney was to her when she returned. The more he demanded. There had never been a place of safety.
“Zara.” He said her name softly. “I realize you don’t know me very well, but I’m a man of my word. I’ve offered you my protection. All you have to do is say yes, and believe. It really is that simple. Actions will bear out what I’m saying to you.”
She didn’t wait, didn’t dare take any chances he would rescind his offer. She was so terrified of Zhu, and she knew he would come for her. She had to make that clear to Gino before she accepted his protection—and she wanted to accept immediately.
“Zhu isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met, Gino,” she whispered, glancing toward the front seat and the driver. She didn’t want anyone to overhear her. “I think he’s a true sociopath, and he’s capable of extreme violence without feeling any emotion. He’ll come after me and if you’re standing in his way, he’ll hurt you.”
Gino was silent so long she was afraid he wasn’t going to answer her, that he’d finally decided she wasn’t worth all the effort he’d gone to. He didn’t look away and she couldn’t. She had to sit there on his lap, his arms tight around her, just staring into his eyes, her heart beating so hard it felt as if someone was taking a hammer to her chest.
“Do you think I’m a sociopath?”
It was the last thing she expected and she actually gasped, already shaking her head in denial. “No, of course not. Clearly, you have the ability to feel. Maybe too much.”
“How do you know?”
“Your energy merges with mine and I can feel your emotions, or at least catch glimpses of them. Can’t you feel mine?”
He didn’t answer her. He stared into her eyes for another long minute. “I can do the things he can without feeling a thing, Zara, although not to a woman. I don’t know why there is a distinction for me, but it doesn’t mean I’m not capable of beating the shit out of someone. Or torturing them. I have. I will again. I’ve put bullets in men’s heads. I’m not the good man you think I am.”
She recognized a warning when she heard it. She’d already known he was a demon, rising from the depths of hell to save her. Maybe she’d end up going down with him into those fiery flames, but at least she’d be safe on Earth and not shivering in a little ball all night alone in her bed if she stayed with him.
Her hand slid out of the sheet to reach for his hair. The dark, wavy mass was wild and unruly and the only thing on him, other than perhaps his long lashes, that brought any relief to his rough, hardened features. “You’re a better man than you think you are, Gino. I would choose you every time.”
“Mean it, Zara. Don’t say it to me because you’re afraid I won’t see this through for you. I will. I’ll stash you somewhere safe and …”
“No!” The protest burst out of her, an explosion of breath, of heart, of her wildly churning stomach. “No, Gino. I’m going to stay with you.”
She didn’t trust anyone else, not even Bellisia, to keep her safe. No, it was more than that. Maybe Gino wouldn’t succeed against Zhu, although she believed he had the best chance, but that feeling of safety he generated empowered her. She knew, once she wasn’t hurting with every breath she drew, she could live what little life she had left enjoying herself, rather than being terrified.
She wanted to see how Bellisia lived. She’d like to take a walk and taste freedom without worrying she might be late and one of her friends would be punished.
“Okay, baby, just remember I gave you every chance to bail on me.”
She nodded and snuggled deeper into him, burying her face in his neck. He didn’t shove her off him, but let her. She needed the reassurance. She liked him holding her. She knew Shylah didn’t like to be touched, and Bellisia hadn’t either. Zara had felt that way after the years with Whitney. No one had ever touched her in a kind way. There was always pain associated with touching. Not with Gino.
“Level of pain?” Gino asked.
“About a four right now, very tolerable,” she said, because she didn’t want him to think she was a big baby. She could handle a little pain if she needed to. “I don’t want to move. The drugs are working, Gino. Any more and I wouldn’t be able to think straight.”
“You don’t need to think straight. I don’t want you in any pain at all. There’s no need for it.”
The vehicle was slowing and she craned her neck to see out the window, suddenly scared all over again. “Why are we stopping?”
“No worries, we’re at the airport. The driver will take us to the plane. A customs official will be waiting to get us on the plane and out of here as fast as possible. The government doesn’t want you here. They really don’t want an incident any more than we do. We have fully loaded weapons and an escort. If we’re attacked anywhere, it would have to be explained.”
“Cheng has a lot of clout.”
“Yes, he does, but you’re an international treasure. You give talks all over the world. This wasn’t your first, and most of the officials think it’s ludicrous to think you’re a spy. You are very open, giving away important research to businesses in foreign countries that are interested. We took photographs as proof of what Zhu did to you. Can you imagine the outcry if that was made public?”
She would be utterly humiliated. She didn’t make a sound, but stared at him with what she knew could only be a horrified look.
He bent his head and pressed a kiss to her temple, right over the spot Cheng had slashed at her with his gun. “There will never be a need for anyone to see those pictures, Zara. Cheng is known to be a paranoid man. If you were already gone, they don’t lose face with anyone. The matter is out of their hands and therefore resolved.”
She hoped he was right, although she knew they had to have shown those photographs to government officials otherwise the Chinese wouldn’t have acted quickly to get her out of their country. Still, she knew what clout Cheng had. She couldn’t imagine customs looking the other way as she was raced up to the plane, covered in a sheet that even now was spotted with blood. She forced herself to breathe, matching the rhythm of his lungs. Slow and even. Steady. She couldn’t hyperventilate. “My passport was with my briefcase. Cheng took it from me.” Panic hit hard.
“You’re fine. I’m telling you, baby, we’re getting you out. Your passport will hold up.”
Zara felt as if she was holding her breath the entire time they waited for the plane to take off. First, they had to go through customs. It was unlike any customs she’d ever gone through. The man all but waved them through with the briefest of glances at documents. He carefully averted his eyes from Zara’s sheet-covered body. Gino still hadn’t put regular clothes on her, afraid they would rub, but she knew he had some. She was so used to the sheets that she hadn’t asked to put them on and now she wished she had.
Gino carried her onto the plane and took her straight back to where they’d set up an area designated for medical aid. He set her in the wide chair very gently. The pressure on her back and buttocks and the backs of her thighs made her gasp. She hadn’t tried to sit on anything but the soft mattress at the embassy.