Claire: The Forced Virgin Of The Billionaire
Chapter 73

After what seemed like forever I heard footsteps. I looked and they weren’t Azriel’s bare feet. They were a pair of black boots. My heart thudded wildly in my throat. I silently reached up for the knife strapped to the bottom of the box spring and slid it out from the strap that held it up.

“Claire,” I heard a deep voice. I didn’t recognize it. I had the knife in my grip.

“Azriel asked me to escort you somewhere safe. Please come out,” the voice said.

I didn’t believe anything I was hearing. Where was Azriel? Was he shot dead in the hallway? Was this someone else wanting to kidnap me? If they wanted me dead they would just shoot though, right?

I heard more footsteps, then saw a pair of men’s black leather dress shoes, “What’s going on?”

Was that Dario’s voice? I wasn’t sure.

“She won’t come out,” the first guy said.

I saw some suit pant-clad knees, then Dario’s face. I was lying under the bed with the knife pointed toward him. He looked at my face, the knife, then my face. He smiled, “You okay?”

I was frozen, I couldn’t move. I just laid there pointing the knife at him.

“C’mon,” he said and he looked amused.

I slid out from under the bed and he helped me up. The knife fell. I was shaking. Dario threw a robe at me and I put it on, glad he was thinking straight because I sure wasn’t. I was still in those tiny lacy sleeping clothes and they were more than revealing.

Nino, that biker-looking guy was standing there with Dario, his eyes politely fixed on the floor.

“Quickly, come,” Dario and Nino ushered me out of the room.

Two men were on the carpet in the hall and one was face down, one wasn’t. The one who wasn’t I recognized as one of the burly guys from day one, the unibrow guy. I felt bad for thinking that thought. I wondered what his name was, if he had any family. It was not only bloody but there were holes in the walls. Azriel was nowhere to be seen.

I breathed out a large breath and Dario ushered me forward but leaned back, “Get her shoes and get Azriel some pants, fast,” he told Nino.

“Where’s Azriel. He okay?” I breathed.

“Yep, no worries. Settle down.” Dario gave my shoulder a squeeze.

We got to the bottom of the stairs and I heard Azriel’s voice booming like thunder, “You tell me right f*****g now or I cut off your balls first!” he sounded utterly murderous. I froze for a second.

“Dare!” Azriel shouted, “Bring her.”

Dario motioned toward the slightly ajar office door.

I opened it, seeing a very bloody redheaded guy slumped in a chair and Azriel standing over him, two other men, one of them I recognized as sometimes being outside on guard, standing behind him. Azriel was still just in his underwear. Nino came up behind me and passed Azriel a pair of jeans. Azriel threw them on the desk and took me into his arms and inhaled my hair, “You okay, baby?”

I sank into him, nodding but still trembling. Then I looked up at him, “You?”

“No. Not even a little bit,” Azriel said and glared toward the guy in the chair and then yelled at the man, “See her? She’s mine. You and your f*****g buddies put her in danger. See this frightened look on her face? No one makes her face look like that but me, you f*****g understand? You come into my house and shoot up my bedroom door while I’m f*****g my girl? You kill one of my men in my f*****g house? Motherfucker!” Azriel let go of me and punched the guy right in the face.

Oh. My. Lord. I wanted to collapse. He was fricking scary. I stumbled backward and Nino prevented my fall by catching me by the elbows and holding me up.

Azriel’s eyes shot to my face, “It’s okay, baby. Dario’s taking you to my Uncle’s house. I’ll pick you up there later. Claire…”

“Yeah?”

The guy in the chair coughed into his hands and had b***d on his hands. I shivered.

Azriel reached onto his desk and then caught me by the hand and pulled me to him, slipped my engagement ring on my finger, and then traced a fingertip from the hand without b***d on it, across my lips, “This doesn’t leave your finger again. Ever. Say nothing to the girls.”

I think I nodded. He kissed my hand and squeezed it, kissed me on the mouth quickly, then passed me back to Dario. He actually took me by the shoulders and moved me toward his brother who then took my shoulders and led me out. Azriel’s mouth was set in a grim line and his nostrils flared when he looked back at the bloody redheaded guy in the chair.

As Dario led me out into the hallway, Nino put some flip flops on the floor in front of me.

“I’m going to your uncle’s house in my pajamas?” I asked Dario while stepping into them.

“Tell Nino what you need; he’ll bring it to the car.”

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry; I’ll get you something,” Nino trotted up the stairs without waiting for me to answer. I was glad I didn’t have to go back up there and walk past dead bodies.

Dario and I went out to a waiting red SUV.

“What on earth?” I asked when we got into the back seat.

Dario shook his head, “Don’t ask me questions. Talk to your fiancé later. He’ll decide what you need to know.”