The men walk in lockstep around Nicole and me as we head for the cars. I sit with Nicole in the back of Cassius’ white SUV, my arm around her shaking body. Her skin feels frozen and her face is sickly and washed out.
As soon as we pull into the garage at the compound and get out of the cars, I turn to Lorenzo. “Can you please check Nicole over to make sure she’s okay? I think she’s been drugged.”
Irritation suffuses his handsome face. He looks ready to interrogate her rather than examine her, but he nods. “Bring her through.”
I take Nicole’s hand and lead her down the concrete hallway. At the door to Lorenzo’s operating-room-slash-doctor’s-office-slash-morgue, she freezes in her tracks, her eyes wide.
“I know it looks scary. I hated this room the first time I saw it, too, but I promise that you’re safe here. Lorenzo is a doctor.”
“I’m not a doctor,” he replies, and I shoot him a look as Nicole turns even paler. Now is not the time to split hairs.
He pats one of the metal tables. “Come on. Up here.” Then he stands back and folds his arms. I can practically hear him counting to ten. If she doesn’t do as he orders, quickly, he’s going to walk out.
“I’m right here, Nicole. I won’t leave you alone. Lorenzo has examined me plenty of times and I promise you’re in good hands.”
Lorenzo darts a sly look at me, as if recalling the “examinations” he’s given me. Bites. Needles. Scalpels. Blood-letting. All kinds of fun.
Nicole seems like she wants to run far, far away, but I slowly convince her to sit on the table. Lorenzo gets to work taking her pulse and blood pressure and listening to her heart. He shines a light in and out of her eyes, just like he did the night Vinicius was beaten over the head with a baseball bat. He examines her nails, and then pushes back her sleeves and checks her forearms.
“What are you looking for?” I ask him.
“Defensive wounds. Broken nails.” To Nicole, he says, “Did anyone hurt you? Attack you?”
She shakes her head.
“Were you given any drugs?”
“Pills.”
“How long ago?”
“Tonight. Earlier. I don’t know.”
“Do you know what kind?”
She shakes her head again.
“Probably tranqs,” he mutters and turns to me. “She’ll sleep off the drugs and she’ll probably feel sick tomorrow, but other than that, she’s fine. She can stay here, and you can talk to her, but I’m locking her in one of the upstairs rooms.”
My mouth falls open. “She was taken prisoner by the Black Orchid Killer. Try and find some compassion.”
Lorenzo’s expression turns glacial. “Was she?”
He steps back and leans against the counter, arms folded.
I stare between the two of them. Wasn’t she? I look at Nicole’s arms and her face. There’s not a mark on her. She hasn’t been retrained or handled roughly. She hasn’t fought for her life. It’s strange, but I’m not going to draw any conclusions until Nicole’s had the chance to speak for herself. “I’m going to take Nicole upstairs, help her change into some of my pajamas and put her to bed.”
Lorenzo shakes his head, mistrust filling his expression. “Not by yourself, you’re not. Not until she’s been strip-searched. Actually, not even then.”
“Nicole’s not going to hurt me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Do you think I’m going to take that risk when it’s your life on the line?”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m going to put Nicole to bed. You can stand outside the door if you feel it’s necessary, but that’s it.”
His eyes flare with anger. I haven’t forgotten his expression as he burst into Strife. He was beyond furious, but he was terrified as well. I go to him and put my hands on his chest, gazing up at him.
“I’m fine,” I whisper. “You’re fine. Everyone’s in one piece.”
Lorenzo’s scowl deepens. He’s furious, but not with me. With himself. “Orchid Protocol was meant to keep you safe, not put you in more fucking danger.”
“It was a good idea, but it would have been nice to know about before it happened. Have you got any more tricks like that up your sleeve?”
He shakes his head.
“Good. I didn’t enjoy that. I’ll listen to whatever plans you have to keep me safe, but you have to tell me about them first.”
I go up on my tiptoes and press my mouth against his. A promise for later.
“You need to destress,” I say softly.
“You’re fucking right about that,” he growls, kissing me back even harder.
I glance over my shoulder at Nicole, whose eyes are blank like she’s retreated into her mind. I whisper furtively, “As soon as we have time, we can go to your room and you can take all your frustrations out on my body. And I’ll say thank you and come all over your dick.”
Lorenzo’s hands clench on my waist and his gaze becomes feral. “I’ll hold you to that, princess.”
“You can. But I’ll take Nicole upstairs now.”
He takes a deep breath and growls, “Fine. But I’m waiting outside that door, and we’re locking her in until I can track down De Luca. He’s got some explaining to do.”
Together, we walk an unresponsive Nicole up to one of the spare bedrooms. I grab some joggers and one of my favorite big T-shirts. It’s not until I pass Lorenzo that I realize it’s one of his T-shirts, and he snatches it out of my hands.
“That’s not for other girls. Get her a different one.”
Instead, I get one of the T-shirts Cassius bought me when I was a prisoner at his penthouse and go into the spare bedroom and close the door. Nicole is sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“You all right in there, princess?” Lorenzo calls through the door almost immediately.
“Just unstrapping all the guns and knives from Nicole’s body.”
“What?”
“I’m kidding.”
“Now is not the time for jokes,” he mutters.
I put the clothes on the bed next to Nicole and sit down next to her. Wordlessly, I put my arm around her shoulders and hold her. “You tried to warn us there was danger. Thank you.”
Nicole stares at her hands in her lap.
“I’m so happy you’re alive. I thought you were dead.”
She looks away, her face creasing. “I never wanted to do it. They made me.”
“Do what? Who is they?”
But Nicole pulls away and lays down, covering her head with the blanket and sobbing harder than ever. “It was a trap for those four men. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I stroke her shoulder for a few minutes, my touch soft but confusion rolling through me. I want to demand she sit up and tell me what’s going on, but she’s been through enough already tonight.
When I leave the bedroom, Lorenzo is gone and Cassius is waiting outside for me. He’s still dressed in a black sweater that’s tight across his muscles and his brown eyes are almost black in the dim light. I reach up and touch his curls, going up on tiptoe so I can be closer to him. My big bear of a man.
Before I can say a word, he sweeps me into his arms and squeezes me tight. There’s a lot of Italian growling in my ear, and I catch the words Strife, Acid, and fucking kill that motherfucker.