Ivan 2 (Her Russian Protector #9) - Roxie Rivera Page 0,8

around her and held tight. “What happened?”

“They came out of nowhere!” She clung to his jacket and burrowed into him. “I saw the first two guys behind Zoya and then there was another guy behind me. I tried to fight them off. I remembered what you taught me and got away from him, but then we started fighting and the other one threw me on the ground. They stole my rings and burned my car,” she babbled between sobs.

Ivan’s mind reeled as Erin unloaded her panicked thoughts on him. He glanced at her hands and noticed the raw skin where her rings had been forcefully yanked off her fingers. The idea that some asshole had stolen her engagement and wedding rings angered him. The thought that they would be fenced and melted down sickened him.

“He said that if Ruby doesn’t keep her mouth they’ll be back.” She sobbed harshly. “And then he touched me,” she wept, pressing her face into his chest. “He put his hand between my legs, and he...he...” She sobbed loudly, unable to continue her description of the assault. “I told him you would kill him for touching me like that.”

I will. Slowly. Painfully.

Fucking Ruby. That girl was a goddamn menace. He didn’t even want to imagine what kind of bullshit she had gotten tangled up in while doing her time. Couldn’t she go one single fucking year without putting Erin in danger?

He shoved down the fury that threatened to erupt and focused only on Erin. She didn’t need the mean, savage side of him right now. She needed comfort and love and the protection and security of his arms around her. Drawing her in closer, he nuzzled her ear and neck. He would do anything to make her stop crying. It was tearing out his fucking heart to hear it and to know she had been so scared and so hurt.

He shifted onto the uncomfortable hospital bed and dragged her onto his lap, draping her legs sideways across his thighs. He cradled her closely, tugging the hoodie she had borrowed from his closet over her legs to keep her warm. As he gently stroked her back, she nestled in, sliding her arms around his neck and crying softly.

He couldn’t stop the painful thoughts racing through his mind. Having been abandoned as a child, he had always been plagued with the very real belief that he wasn’t good enough for anyone to love. He had always believed something inside him was rotten and unlovable. He had considered himself unworthy of a wife and family.

Until Erin.

She loved him unconditionally. From the first moment she stepped into his life, she had accepted him and his faults and his murky past. She had soothed that raw, festering wound deep inside him and helped him believe that he was worthy of all the things he had always wanted.

Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had ruined her life. He had dragged her into the seedy underbelly he could never escape, and now she was suffering the consequences of associating with him.

As if the universe wanted to kick him square in the balls and make him feel even worse, the curtain closing off her emergency room cubicle shifted aside and none other than Detective Eric Santos stepped into the space. Ivan silently cursed the arrival of the nosy detective. The last thing Erin needed was to be questioned relentlessly by someone who hated him and the crime family he had once served.

“Erin,” Detective Santos greeted with a nod. He glanced briefly in Ivan’s direction. “Ivan.”

Ivan had never wanted to be on a first name basis with a cop, but here they were. “Detective,” he said with a grunt of annoyance.

“I know you’re about to be discharged, but I wanted to ask you a few questions before you leave,” Detective Santos explained. “Is that okay?”

Erin nodded. “Sure.”

Eric’s gaze shifted to Ivan who still held his wife across his lap. “I want to speak with her alone.”

Ivan started to protest, but Erin touched his jaw. She held his gaze, silently communicating with him in the way that husbands and wives often did. He understood and nodded stiffly before moving her off his lap and onto the bed. He tenderly kissed her. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

On his way out of the room, he fixed the detective with a warning glare. He closed the curtain behind him and leaned against the wall, arms crossed as he listened to whatever Santos had