Page 24 of Thorns of Blood

GIOVANNI

Iwrapped an arm around the young woman’s back and the other under her legs and lifted her, her head rolling back and her long blonde ponytail hanging limp.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The monitors tracked heartbeats of the two patients on the surgical tables, yet somehow the only heart that mattered to me was that of the woman who’d fought me like I was her born enemy.

God must be laughing, because the only woman who’d ever fascinated me was back in my life.

I hated that I had to hurt her. Kian’s words in my mind were a constant reminder of what she’d gone through. The last thing I wanted was to be another person causing her pain. Yet, I didn’t have a choice. If I’d left her, Killian Cullen and his cavalry would have surely killed her. If I’d taken the child, Emory would have come hunting her the moment she’d woken up from surgery. It was an impossible situation.

My gaze fell to the unconscious woman in my arms, wearing a dress with a slit that allowed her to move easier and fight me. The top part of the dress had wildflowers printed all over it.

She even smelled like wildflowers, just like she did eight years ago.

My arm throbbed where she sliced me. The little spitfire almost kicked me in the balls too. Jesus, when Kian warned me of her temper, I didn’t expect her to be so stab-happy. After all, it wasn’t as if I’d come to attack her.

I came to fucking help her on behalf of her twin. Circumstances blew up my planned approach, and now I’d have to deal with the consequences. Lucky me.

As I stared at Liana’s face, her confident mask had transformed into a broken, vulnerable expression, and I considered whether I’d made the wrong call.

Of course, I could still take Liana to her twin in Portugal. It would have been the smart thing to do, yet for reasons unknown, I decided right there and then that I wouldn’t.

For her own good and her twin’s.

My guilty conscience called me out on it, but I firmly shut it down.

The strange pull inside my chest, the kind I had felt eight years ago in her presence as well, was back, and I owed it to myself to see it through this time. And who better than me to ensure her protection.

So I’d finish this job, but it would be my way.

Liana Volkov was forced into a shitty situation, first by her mother and then by Santiago. She didn’t choose any of this. She was a victim as much as anyone, and I’d keep her protected at all costs. Now, I’d just have to convince her of my good intentions.

I looked down at the woman, her breaths slow and even, as I swept my gaze over her face. Her long blonde eyelashes restedon pale cheeks, untouched by makeup. Smooth cheekbones. Her full, parted lips made her look innocent and so fucking beautiful.

But then so did my mother, who knew exactly how to use her wiles to manipulate men.

I let out a breath. This mental back and forth was going to get me killed.

The rumble of an explosion forced me into action, and I lifted my gaze to meet the doctor who was in the midst of surgery. He was placed between two bodies, a woman’s and child’s.

I didn’t have to be Einstein to figure it was probably Liana’s adoptive daughter, Amara, and Emory DiLustro.

Which meant Killian Brennan Cullen was here.

“Should I stop?” the doctor demanded, his hands trembling slightly.

“No, carry on, and get the surgeries done.”

Then I turned on my heel and sped out of the house, down the secret staircase that led down into the cliffs where my boat awaited. Thank God Kian had given me the schematics of this place.

The moment my feet touched the deck of my yacht, Romeo rushed over to me.

“Holy fuck,” he muttered, his eyes lowering to the unconscious woman in my arms, and he let out a whistle. “She’s fucking gorgeous.” Irritation crawled up my neck, and I clenched my teeth. “Want me to take her to her cabin?”

“Over my dead body.”

The words escaped me and his gaze met mine in surprise. Annoyance flared in my chest. The fact that he wanted to take her from my arms… Well, for some reason, it pissed me off. She was in my care, so it was on me to take her to her cabin. Nobody else’s.