Page 77 of Bedazzled
“We’re overdue for averylong conversation with him,” Maksim looked as furious as I felt. He offered his gun. “If you want to kill the old man, I will give you the pleasure.”
My gaze moved to the old man, bleeding from bullet holes in his chest and leg, still shouting like a wounded bull.
I felt nothing. The memories did not rise up to swamp me, he was just another vicious bastard and the world would be better without him. “I killed Colm. If I had had more time, I would have drawn it out, he deserved it for putting a gun to my wife’s head. I do not need to off the old man.”
“Can I do it, then?” Dario Toscano asked. I was secretly grateful that his brother Giovanni was the Don for theirfamigliaand the man our sister would be marrying, not Dario. Gio, at least, was capable of self-control.
“Get in line,” Maksim said coldly.
“I need to be with Tania,” I told him quietly, and he gripped my shoulder.
“Go take care of your wife. This is finished.”
“Oh, my sweet girl…”
Tania was huddled in the warehouse’s small office, curled up in a chair, making herself as small as possible. Her red wig was halfway off and dark tracks of mascara ran down her face.
“I tried to help her clean up,” Gavrill stammered, looking genuinely distressed, “she didn’t want me to touch her. But the doc examined her and said there were no serious injuries, just some scrapes and bruises.”
“Thank you, Gavrill, I have her now.”
He nodded, looking worriedly at Tania before leaving, shutting the door gently behind him.
Scooping her up, I sat with her on my lap, rocking her gently.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, “I saw you coming for me! You could have been shot!”
“My darling,youcould have been killed. It was a miracle that you didn’t catch a stray bullet up there on the stage.” I kissed her forehead, squeezing her tighter. I was furious. Furious with her for putting herself in harm’s way, for not telling me that O’Rourke called in his debt. I was enraged with that selfish, heartless prick for using Tania and risking her life.
When she stopped weeping, giving out the occasional gulp or hiccup, I lifted her chin with my finger. “I’ll take you back to the safe house and clean you up, you will feel better.”
“The doctor tried to give me medication, for shock or something but I wouldn’t take it,” her lovely gold eyes were filling with tears again, “I wouldn’t, I had to see you first.”
Cupping her face gently, I stroked my thumbs over her cheekbones. “I will take care of you, sweet girl. I will not leave again, all right? I am here.” She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands, an oddly childlike gesture that broke my heart.
At the cottage…
When Tania needed soothing, a shower would not do. She wanted a bath, a hot bath with some kind of relaxing scent. My only experience with elaborate bath accessories was with the jar of bath bombs in her bathroom back in Manhattan. I would randomly pick one out and throw it in a tub full of warm water. It never failed to comfort her.
Seating her gently on the counter, I rolled up my sleeves and started the water in the bathtub, which fortunately was large and elaborately outfitted. There was an elegant little tray of bath salts and I lifted the stopper on the first bottle, holding it under her nose. “Do you like this one?” She shook her head silently, her gaze following me as if I might disappear.
“How about this one?” She nodded with a small smile, so I tapped out a bit into the bathtub and found body wash, a sponge, and a pitcher to wash and rinse her hair.
After I lifted her off the counter, Tania stood still, letting me take off her crooked wig and remove the hairpins. Her thick brown hair fell loose as she let out a groan of relief. Then, the serious, dowdy suit and shoes and her underwear came off. She was still strangely passive, simply letting me move her arms and legs as I undressed her and helped her into the hot water.
Kneeling next to the tub, I ran my knuckles across her cheek. “Hot enough?” She nodded, drawing her knees up and resting her head on them. “My sweet wife…” It was too much, it was all too much. I had grown up seeing this kind of violence, enduring it, committing it. But Tania was not ready for something like this. She should never have witnessed this kind of atrocity. I gently smoothed the body wash over her skin, washing away the blood and sweat, I could feel her muscles relax slowly.
“What happened to Bryne,” she asked, “is he okay?”
I ran the sponge over her shoulders. “Yes, two of Turgenev’s men were tasked with getting him out safely.”
“Was that- tonight, was that always the plan?” She was watching me now and I set the sponge down.
“Yes.”
Her head dropped to her knees again. “I see why you didn’t tell me. Ella tried to…prepare me, I guess by telling me you and Maksim would take out the top players in their clan. But that was… that was so many people.” Her chest hitched with another sob.
“You never should have been there,” I said bitterly. “I’m going to kill O’Rourke for playing his sick game with you.”
