Ryker pulled the trigger, turned andfinished off the other two without a shred of guilt in hisheart.
****
Sky wove in and out of unconsciousness.Nightmares plagued her.Leering faces.Painful hands that cut likeknives.Sky cut those pieces from her mind away and put them in abox.She didn’t want to look at them again.
During her lucid moments, she could make outthe blurry figure of a man with black hair and blazing blue eyesthe color of an angry storm.Unlike the demons in her nightmares,she remembered feeling safe with this man.She tried to open hermouth, to thank him, but her throat felt parched.He cursed and amoment later, gently pressed a glass of cool water to lips.Shedrank greedily, not realizing how thirsty she was.
“Shh.You should rest,” he said, setting theglass down.He began to stand, but somehow, she found the strengthto grip his arm.The man looked startled, but didn’t push heraway.
“Will you be here, when I wake?”sherasped.
“I’ll be here,” he said with a nod.“I won’tlet anyone hurt you again, Skylar.Ever.”
Satisfied by his answer, she loosened herhold on his hand.How did he know her name?
She didn’t realize she asked that questionout loud until he answered her.
“I went to your apartment for some of yourclothes.”
Clothes?She looked down, finding herself insomeone’s unfamiliar bed, wearing a giant shirt and covered inbandages.Parts of her ached, and she had a feeling it hadsomething to do with her nightmares.Sky couldn’t recall whathappened before she met him.
When she tried to remember, her stomachturned queasy, her insides twisting.Panic seized her.Trembles ranup and down her arms, and she could see faint, red lines peekingfrom some of the bandages.
“What happened to me?”she whispered.“Whoare you?”
“My name is Ryker.All you need to now isthat the problem’s been taken care of,” he said in a firm, butgentle voice.
God help her, but she believed him.Sky hadfelt so alone her entire life.Her parents had been both methaddicts.She’d practically raised herself, so she didn’t know whatit felt like, having someone who cared, until Ryker.
She didn’t know why, but she felt safe withRyker, even though he was a practically a stranger to her.Somepart of her knew it was wrong that she should trust a man she justmet.Sky couldn’t quite explain it, but she knew that he’d hurthimself first before laying a finger on her.He leaned over,brushed the strands of her hair away, and kissed her forehead.
“Sleep, sweetheart.I’ll be here when youwake.No one’s going to touch or fuck with you again.They have togo through me first.”
Chapter One
Present
Ryker got out of the shower when he heardthe ping from his cellphone.He plucked it from the sink counter.Amessage from Raul, telling him they’d clean up the dishes.Code forfinishing the clean-up job.He set the phone down and dried hishair.It was hard to believe five years had gone by.Since then,Ryker had taken over Gino’s position.Now,hewas the onegiving orders and had someone else digging at graveyards.
Some of the guys he’d worked with would sayhe had everything he ever wanted, worked hard for it, too.ExceptRyker didn’t have the one thing he truly needed.He put on hisfavorite pair of jeans and shirt and wandered out of thebathroom.
Ryker lingered on the corridor, staring atthe room that used to be hers.Skylar’s.He approached the door,touching the pink sign hanging outside with her name painted overit.Heart heavy, he turned the knob.He didn’t think Sky wouldmind.
Memories tugged at him.How they went to thefurniture store to pick out her bed, vanity table, cabinet, andstudy desk.The whole set.She’d been delighted.He could neverforget the way her entire face lit up, or the way she huggedhim.
She’d felt so warm and tiny against him.He’d remembered thinking that back then—this was the same womanhe’d found shoved in a garbage bag, half-dead, but herdetermination to live, to survive could put any self-made man inthe Familia to shame.
Ryker left her room the way it was and hadno plans to clean her things out, although from their last phoneconversation, she said to leave them in boxes.If Ryker did that,then he’d erase any trace of evidence that she’d lived in thishouse.
His gaze lingered on the framed photographson the shelf next to her bed.Fuck, but he missed having heraround.Ryker had practically encouraged her to move out, knowingif she continued being with a monster like him, she’d end up on thesame road to hell.
Since she moved in with him, she’d alsogotten to know the other Severin Familia members.Even Giovannitook a liking to her, but Ryker never wanted to expose her furtherto his world.She belonged to the light, to everything good andnormal.Sky deserved a life different from the one he’d chosen.
His phone rang, and he frowned.Ryker madeit explicitly clear to his men not to contact him at night unlessit was an emergency.He pulled his phone out.Seeing Sky’s nameflash across the screen, he forgot to breathe for a second.
“Sky?What’s wrong?”he asked, voice comingout a little harsh.Ryker hadn’t heard from her in two years, notsurprising considering how their last conversation went.
Ryker practically shoved her out of hislife, thinking it had been for the best.He’d regretted making thatdecision since the day she packed her bags and left.
