I breathed as the voices got closer and she did as I asked, taking shelter in my shadow just as the door was thrown open and everything went to shit.
Ramon stepped into the restroom with six guys at his back and a deadly expression on his face, all of their masks now removed. Nicoli took my hand in an act of solidarity, squeezing in a promise that said we were walking out of here together no matter what. With him by my side, my voice was free, my spirit was wild and I felt like the girl I was supposed to be. But my heart still pounded with a fearful energy.
Ramon's gaze moved from my reddened mouth to my ruffled hair with a sneer that made my spine prickle.
“How did you find us?” Nicoli snarled.
“We followed your decoy for half a mile before I checked Sasha’s tracker,” Ramon said with a smug expression.
“Tracker?” Nicoli hissed as my throat constricted.
“Dr Eckhart gave it to you,” he said to me and I shuddered with rage as I recalled the so-called vitamin shot that asshole had given me. “I’m never going to lose track of you again, my love.”
"Winter is coming home with me," Nicoli growled in a warning. "Step. Aside."
Ramon's eyes flashed and he jerked his head in some signal. In half a second, all six men had rushed at Nicoli and I lunged in front of him with a yell of fear before they could get near him. Nicoli dragged me back, trying to push me behind him, but I wouldn't go easy.
"Let go of her, Mr Romero," Ramon hissed. "Or she will be punished.”
A low growl rumbled through Nicoli's chest, his hand still firmly around mine, his eyes aflame with fury. The six men made a wall in front of us, flexing their muscles as they waited on their boss’s orders.
"Nicoli," I whispered in warning, catching his gaze and his brows pinched in agony before he let go of my hand.
Ramon caught my wrist, dragging me away from him and the second he had me, his six men swarmed past him.
"Get him on his knees!" Ramon barked as I clawed at his arm, shoving and pushing him.
Nicoli roared a challenge as they came at him, throwing one guy's face into a sink before the other five fell on top of him. He fought with the fury of a titan, throwing punches, but he couldn’t land as many as he took. The four of them forced him down to the floor and held him in place while the meatiest one of them all pulled off his tie and wrapped it around Nicoli’s throat until he started choking.
"No please - no!" I screamed as panic overwhelmed me and Ramon twisted toward me, smacking me so hard that my head wheeled sideways and my lip split open. He didn't stop there, throwing me against the wall and locking his hand around my chin, his fingers digging hard into my cheeks.
"I smell him on you, little whore," he spat, spittle peppering my cheeks. "Is this how you treat your husband? You spread your legs for Romero scum?"
Nicoli managed to get an arm free and yanked on the tie to loosen it from his neck.
"Get your hands off of her!" he bellowed, trying to get up, but several of the bastards forced him down again and the knot was tightened around his throat once more.
"You try to get up one more time and I’ll have Antonio finish you," Ramon warned and fear made my body numb, my head spinning as I tried to work out what to do.
"Why are you doing this?" I begged of Ramon, drawing his gaze from Nicoli back to me, needing to keep his rage directed away from him.
“You know why!” Ramon gripped my face tighter, cracking my head against the wall as his upper lip peeled back. Memories shot through my brain like fireworks. The night Duke and his men had come for me in our home. Of being taken forcibly from our bed. Of Ramon crying out for help. But no guards had come. Why had no one come?
My life with Ramon came back in a flood. I’d met him at a party on the east side of town. He'd seemed charming, kind, protective. I'd been swept away by him in a whirlwind romance, but after we were married things changed. The last time I'd seen my mother, she'd cried saying Ramon wouldn't let her visit the house. I'd