Chapter 38—Olivia

My hand feels small in Aiden’s. His large hands swallow mine but give me that reassurance of safety as we walk down the path in the garden.

He’ll never know what that feeling means to me.

Being safe and having someone tell me not to worry are two things I haven’t had in so long it felt like I’d never have them again.

I never expected to, and I never expected that the person who would give me such respite would be Aiden Romanov.

I don’t know where he’s taking me. He just came back after a long day, and it’s nearly dark.

I spent the day trying to figure out what he was going to do and what would happen next.

He came home and just took my hand. Although his eyes were troubled, and I could tell he’d had a rough day, there was something soothing in the way he looked at me.

I glance at him as we approach the little gate I went through the other night. I can’t help but remember the terror I felt from what happened and what could have happened, but Aiden gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“Somewhere we can talk in complete privacy.”

When we get to the gate, he releases my hand and pulls out a key from his pocket.

The lock snaps open when he places the key inside, and he holds the gate open for me to walk through first.

I look over the side of the cliff to where I could have fallen, and my stomach tightens before it plummets.

“I never look over there when I’m down here,” Aiden says, taking my hand again.

“How do you get down to the beach?”

“Not that way. The path looks like it leads down to there, but it doesn’t. That was destroyed in an earthquake long before I bought the place. This is the way to the beach.” He points through the hedge of trees, but I don’t see the path until he moves aside a branch of the evergreen tree, revealing a sandy path.

I look back at him, and his lips curl for a sexy smile.

“You really are a man of secrets.”

“I have to be. Ladies first.”

I walk through the path, and instead of taking my hand again, he places his on the small of my back and runs a light finger over the fabric of my dress.

Like always, my skin instantly responds to his touch.

We walk down the path, and when we turn the corner, I’m greeted with the amazing sight of a yacht floating in the crook of the cave.

It’s white and grand with tall sails billowing in the wind.

The palm trees in the distance and the jagged rock formations make me feel like I just stepped on the set of a film about an island.

“Oh my God,” I gasp. “Where did this come from?”

“A gift from my father when I bought the place. We always lived near water, even in Russia. But it was my mother who loved sailing on the open sea. She’d take every opportunity to go, and I was right beside her. Me, my brother, and Maksim.”

“Wow. I like water too.”

“Yeah, I remember that.” He gives me a cocky smile. “Come on. Time is of the essence.”

“Time?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you do, Aiden.”

“You’ll see.”

My heart speeds up, and I try not to hope, but I go against the grain and wish instead. He told me not to worry about Mom. So he must have done something.

What though?

He takes my hand now and leads me down the rest of the path and onto the boat, where two of his men stand guard and two others nod at him as he approaches.

Once we’re on board, the men leave, and Aiden doesn’t say anything until they’ve started to walk up the path leading back to the house.

It’s then and only then that he ushers me inside the boat and takes out his phone.

All I do is watch him as he dials a number and starts speaking.

He didn’t start the conversation in Russian, though, like he does when he’s talking to one of his men. It was English, so I assume he’s not talking to someone who works for him.

“Is it done?” he asks and waits a second for the person to answer. “Thank you.”

When he holds his phone out for me to take, I narrow my eyes.

“Your phone?”

“Five minutes max.”

“What’s happening?”

“Olivia, focus, five minutes max in case we get tracked. Talk.”

I take the phone and press it to my ear but keep my focus on him.

“Hello,” I say.

“Olivia,” Mom responds, and the sound of her voice, along with the knowledge that I’m speaking to her, sends a bolt of shock through me.

I’m momentarily speechless as I try to process that I’m actually speaking to my mother. My mother I worried so much about, for so long. Not just in these weeks, but for years.

My body stiffens, and when I look at Aiden, tears spring from my eyes.

“Mom…” I choke out, covering my mouth to hold back the tears of joy flowing from my soul.

At that, Aiden dips his head for a curt nod and leaves me in the cabin to speak to my mother.

“Olivia, I can’t believe I’m hearing your voice,” Mom says, snapping me out of my daze. “I was so worried. I was so, so worried I’d lost you.”

I remember Aiden’s warning of five minutes, so I can’t waste it crying.

“Mom, I’m so sorry. Please tell me you’re safe.”

“I am. I think I might be safer than I’ve ever been. I have guards watching over me like sentinels, and for once, they don’t belong to Jude. They’re supposedly mine until it’s safe.”

Until it’s safe. I find myself smiling. That was what Aiden said to me this morning.

“What happened?” I’m eager to find out how Aiden got my mother away from Jude.

“I went to physio with Felicia. Our appointment was scheduled earlier than normal. When I finished, a different car to what Jude normally sends picked me up. I was then taken to a beautiful home, and the hosts here offered to take care of me. I have no idea where I am. I just know I’m safe.”

“Oh my God, Mom. I can’t believe it.”

“Me neither.”

“Please tell me Jude didn’t hurt you.”

“No, but it was getting to that stage. He was getting angrier by the day, but he didn’t hit me or threaten me.”

“Thank God. What about Amy?”

“She’s fine, sweet girl. He still doesn’t know about Eric. I think he might suspect something, though. The other day he was dropping comments about your sudden change of heart. I don’t know what’s happening, but I pray everything will be okay.” She starts crying, and my heart breaks.

“Please don’t cry, Mom.”

“I just want to see your face again. I want to have you back here with me, safe.”

“You will,” I promise, even if it’s a promise I’m not sure I can deliver. Not while Jude is alive.

I glance at the phone to check the time and see we’re nearly at the limit.

“Mom, I have to go. But we’ll speak again soon.”

“Please be safe, my dear girl. Be safe.”

“You too.”

“I love you with all my heart. Please know that you have always been loved by your father and me.”

It means the world to hear her say that to me.

“I know, and I love you too.”

“We’ll speak soon.”

“Yes. Bye, Mom.”

“Goodbye, my love.”

When she hangs up, I stand there for a few seconds with the phone pressed to my ear.

This almost feels like a dream. When I glance out the door, though, and remember the man who made this possible for me, I know it’s not a dream, and if it is, it’s one that came true.

I walk out to the deck and see Aiden standing by the barrier gazing out to the sea.

His dark hair ruffles in the wind, and when he looks over at me, his eyes sparkle in the sun. The darkness and light in him remind me of a dark angel, and I realize that’s what he became to me.

The thought moves me to him. I wrap my arms around him and break down, crying tears from everything inside me, both good and bad.

He holds me to him, enveloping me with big, strong arms I want to get lost in forever. It’s a gesture that’s quite unlike him. Unbecoming of him for the tenderness, but it flows from him freely along with the feeling that caresses my soul when we look at each other.

“You got my mother away from Jude?” I breathe.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, Aiden, saying thanks doesn’t feel like it’s enough. It just doesn’t, but it’s all I can say. Thank you so much.”

“It’s okay. Sorry, you couldn’t talk longer. I couldn’t risk the phones being tracked on their end. We came out here because nothing can be tracked out here by those who might be listening in.”

I want to ask him who might be listening in if we were in his house, but something stops me.

If we’re out here and people like Maksim and Ilya aren’t, that could only mean he doesn’t trust them.

“I was so worried about her.”

“I know. You don’t have to worry about her anymore. She’s staying at a safe house just outside San Francisco. The best Syndicate enforcers are guarding her. Nothing gets past them, and if it does, they have protocols to get her to safety.”

I stare back at him in disbelief. For so many years, it was just Mom and me with no one to call on for help against Jude. Now we have people.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that for us.”

A sensuous light passes between us, and the glint of emotion filling his gaze tells me why he did what he did. The look of adoration awakens everything inside me, unlocking me.

I’ve never had anyone look at me like that before, but the look fades moments later, and I know he’ll never voice what he felt. He’d never tell me. I’m not sure if that’s because of the pain lurking in the corners of his eyes or if it’s because he is who he is.

“You’ll see your mother tomorrow,” he states.

A soft gasp escapes my lips. “Tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve arranged for you to be taken to her. Eric’s in Brazil, and so is my son.”

“What?”

Brazil? My God, there’s no way I would have guessed that.

“They’re in the same country?”

“Yes. It was Jude who kidnapped my son and killed my wife. He had my name because he was supposed to kill me. The plan just went wrong.”

“Oh my God.”

“I’m heading there as soon as I have a location, so it’s best if I get you to safety.”

I look over his face and realize if I leave tomorrow, that will be it.

It will be goodbye, and I won’t see him again.

I already know he’ll be heading into danger.

Everything is already dangerous as it is. Jude will raise hell when he discovers Mom is gone, and he already knows Aiden took me.

It will be war. It will be Armageddon.

It could mean death.

I don’t know what scares me more, though. Death, or never seeing Aiden again.

“I want to go with you.”

He raises his brow. “Olivia, I just gave you a way out.”

“I know, but I started this quest to find my brother, and I want to see it through. I want to be there every step of the way. I can’t just go back to San Francisco and sit down and wait.” That’s one reason, and it’s true. I want to see this through, and it would be agony to sit and wait it out, not knowing what was happening until the end.

The other reason is him.

The next few hours we spend with each other can’t be goodbye.

“Olivia, going to Brazil will be dangerous. Even I don’t know what to expect. I can’t take you somewhere like that. It won’t be safe.”

“But you said I was safe with you.”

“You are, but this is different.”

“No, it’s not. It’s the same danger. You said I was safest with you, and I believe you, so don’t let me go. Not yet. I can’t say goodbye to you yet.”

He reaches out to cup my face, his large hand warm, the touch inviting. My pulse quickens in response, and my breathing becomes uneven.

I gaze back in anticipation, and for the first time since we met and fell into this unmistakable whirlwind romance, I don’t want him to let me go.

As he bends down and places a soft kiss on my lips, it feels like a whisper of dreams between two people who want more than what they’ve been given.

“Okay,” he whispers.

I push up on my toes and kiss him back the way I always wanted to, knowing I did the thing I wasn’t supposed to.

I fell for him.