“Yes, she died in my arms.”
He tightened his hold on her hand. “There’s nothing I can say right now that will help you.”
“I don’t want to be here,” she said.
Russ didn’t even pretend not to understand her. “I’m not going to let you kill yourself.”
“I’ve got nothing.”
“No family?” he asked.
“No. Do you know what it’s like to have no one?”
“I’ve got my club.”
“Your club?”
“The men who were there tonight. They’re part of a club I ride with. We’re an MC.”
“A motorcycle club.”
“You know what one is.”
“I’ve watched television. It’s not hard to guess.” She pulled her hand away and wiped her tears. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry for crying.” He grabbed her water, and held the straw close to her lips. She thanked him again, and he’d never known a woman to thank him for so much.
Taking a seat, he stared at her.
“You need to rest.”
“I can’t sleep. I don’t want to sleep.”
“You’re afraid,” he said.
She nodded. “I don’t want to wake up in those blasted dog cages. I can’t do it. I don’t want to look over to that carpet and know Karen is underneath it, dead.”
Her tears fell harder, and Russ got to his feet and cupped her cheek. “I will stay here, and you can sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You’ll stay while I go to sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you have something more important to do?”
“No. Sleep, Anna.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him. He sat back down, and watched as her eyes grew heavy until they finally lowered. When the nurse came to check on her, he stayed in his seat. The hospital was aware of who he was, and he’d been the one to call ahead for Anna to make sure she had a good room. He was paying for all of her medical bills, so she didn’t have to worry about a thing. Russ had to take care of her.
Lewis entered the room later that night.
Russ was known for being able to stay awake three days straight with no sleep. It was how he’d succeeded in the business world.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Lions is relieved, and is visiting her tomorrow. No one else recognizes any of the other girls, and Jamie found something on one of the hard drives.”
“What was it?”
“An order. Each of the girls that had been taken matched an order that had been placed. All of them apart from Anna.” Lewis handed Russ his cell phone, and he read the descriptions out.
“Blonde, blue eyes, beautiful, and submissive. That matches Karen, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Anna wasn’t supposed to be taken. They were probably going to kill her.”
“She was lucky they didn’t just kill her,” Lewis said. “That Jake guy mentioned that she was going to be used as payment, that one of the men wanted her.”
“I don’t want to talk about this right now. Is that asshole in custody?”
“Yes, and they will get him to talk.”
Russ didn’t have anything to say. He wanted to be back in that ranch, and instead of leaving that fucker to live, he wanted to kill him.
“We did the right thing,” Lewis said.
“Tell that to Anna.”
“You’re not leaving?”
“No. I promised her I would look over her, and that is what I’m going to do.” He folded his arms and stared at the sleeping woman. She looked so small and fragile lying on the bed. The bruises stood out in stark contrast to the paleness of her skin.
“I’m out for the night.”
Saying goodbye, he watched his friend leave, and went back to looking over Anna. Russ had a feeling this was going to be the first night of many to come.
****
The following day she was allowed to wash every part of her body that wasn’t covered by a bandage, and Anna loved it. Once she was dried and dressed, she was wheeled back to her room where she finished brushing her hair. There was no horrid odor to her body anymore. She smelled fresh, or at least to her she smelled fresh.
Anna had woken up that morning to find Russell had kept his word. He had stayed awake all night, and watched over her. When the sun had come up, he had left her in the hospital so that he could go and freshen up. She had never slept so soundly before in all of her life, and she knew it was because of Russell.
Brushing her hair, she was lost to her thoughts about everything that had happened. She dried her hair as she brushed it, running the brush through the length.