He pulled me to the front door as he headed out, pointing down to a burly man I now recognized, sitting in his car just outside the entrance gate. “That’s Gunther, he’ll be there to make sure you’re safe, though you won’t have to worry about your ex anymore, ever.”
I nodded, not about to ask what he meant by that. Jordie’s fate was the last thing on my mind. Rurik was really about to leave.
“Take all the time you need,” he said, dropping a kiss on top of my head.
With a small smile, he stepped out and walked down the outer corridor. I watched him as he hurried down the steps and through the courtyard, giving a brief wave to the guard before slipping into his own car. He never once looked back.
But I had seen the sorrow in his eyes as he kissed me, right before he quickly turned away. He didn’t want this. The so-called controlling man didn’t want to let me go, and yet he was.
I pressed my hand to my chest, the sudden pain taking me by surprise. Shutting the door, I fell onto my creaky couch, staring blankly at the wall. Was this what I wanted? Would I have preferred he force me to stay in his house, under his thumb? That couldn’t possibly be true, not after I fought so hard for freedom and independence from any man.
So why did it feel like that was where I truly belonged, even after everything?
Chapter 40 - Rurik
Leaving Clem was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. Nothing compared to the pain as I sat in my car a short distance from her apartment, staring into the rearview mirror at the gate. She believed I had gone, and I should have. She wanted space, and I told her she could have it.
But I needed to be near her, so I waited a little while longer. Did she suspect I was there? Would she run out to tell me she changed her mind? Or would she come out only to make sure I left, suspicious that I was still out there, watching her.
With a groan, I started the car. I had been trying to give her everything she wanted without her asking, but the thing she desired was tearing me apart. Nothing could have improved my mood, but a visit to the place where my guys were keeping her foul ex might give me an outlet for it.
The slimeball was in my cousin’s shed at the back of his property. Aleks was only aware that Jordan was probably working with the gangs, and so far, hadn’t even sent anyone out to deal with him. After I told him what little I knew about his history with Clem, and both our imaginations filled in the gaps, he was as eager to get out there as I was.
“We need to get answers first,” he said, cracking his fist into his open palm with barely concealed rage.
He loved Katie every bit as much as I adored Clem, and he had two daughters. There was no space in this world for abusers as far as he was concerned. I felt exactly the same way, and burning anger was a blissful relief from the heartache of leaving Clem.
The gangly, greasy young man was slumped over in the metal chair, his hands tied behind him and his feet bound to thelegs that were bolted to the plank wood floor. The place had no windows and only one bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.
A table of implements was always set up along one wall, and various tools hung from a pegboard, like in any other shed. It was spotless save for the stains on the floor, which Aleks, out of some kind of twisted sense of humor, wouldn’t allow to be cleaned.
It kept the proper ambiance.
Our prisoner hadn’t been too roughed up except for the blow I dealt him with his own gun. He had been neatly dispatched, and the fact that he was still alive made him a bit too cocky. He sneered at me, then at Aleks, then spat on the floor.
“You’re both dead,” he rasped, glancing at the implement table, which also held bottles of water. Not for drinking, though, not for this asshole. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“So why don’t you tell us?” Aleks said, pleasantly enough, keeping up the ruse that Jordan might make it out alive today.
Ignoring him, Jordan turned to me and laughed. “Clementine will never love you the way she loves me,” he said.
“Whoa!” Aleks grabbed my hand, but not before I knocked the little shit into oblivion. “What happened to getting answers first?”
“He’ll come around,” I said. “He doesn’t get to say her name.”
“Fair enough,” Aleks told me, scowling at Jordan’s unconscious form. “You can rest assured he’ll pay for everything he ever did to her, but maybe you’re a little too close to the situation?”
“Are you telling me to get the hell out?” I glared at him, fists clenched.
“I’m suggesting you step back,” he said calmly. “You want him to pay, or do you want to snap his neck in less than two minutes?”
Turning away, I had to concede I had hit him pretty hard. And we did need to learn if he knew anything that could help us get to the top leadership of whatever organization was paying the gangs to bother us.
“I’ll take a breather,” I said.
We both headed back to the house, since Jordan was still out cold, and I was still too riled up to be able to listen to his voice without killing him instantly. He was the source of Clem’s jumpiness, the reason she wasn’t able to trust me. He had hurt her; he had to go, but Aleks was right. Information first, lots and lots of pain second. Jordan didn’t deserve an easy exit.
“What’s going on with Clem?” Aleks asked as we walked through his huge estate. “Is she all right?”