The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) by Violette Dubrinsky Page A

her away too? Well, your new girlfriend then. She wouldn’t like having two unknown females in her space, I’m sure.”
    While he could address the “girlfriends” comment, he chose not to. It didn’t matter. “It’s temporary.”
    As soon as Kim, currently knocked out by a heavy dosage of horse tranquilizer, told him what he needed to know, he’d take her to the safest place he knew.
    Her eyes seemed to mist, but she closed them, turned her face away from his and hugged her sister closer. With her eyes off of him, Ramsey allowed his to drop. Her jacket was black and fluffy, two things that would conceal weight or a belly.
    Ramsey gripped his chair tightly and forced himself to breath.
    He hadn’t known she was pregnant. His men hadn’t known either, and looking at her, nothing seemed different but for the slight fullness of her cheeks. But somehow, Kim had known, had assumed the baby was Ramsey’s. It wasn’t such a leap considering they’d been together for many months. But before Ramsey could even process that, could even allow himself to feel anything at the thought of having a child, he’d heard her say it was Brandon’s.
    Just for that, he’d been tempted to let the bastard bleed out. He’d always thought “Eric” had been too close to Jezebel. His eyes were always on her, as if he couldn’t stop himself. He’d probably taken advantage of her sadness and depression over Ramsey, their close proximity, and– fuck! He blinked to get that image out of his head. He should have let him die, but Jezebel had refused to leave unless someone wrapped his wounds. So just to get her out of there, Ramsey told one of his men to do it. She’d wanted them to take him to the hospital as well, but he’d drawn the line there. Brandon’s team would arrive soon enough to patch him up and cover up what had happened. That’s what they were good at: cover-ups.
    “I want my life back,” Jezebel muttered, keeping her eyes closed and shaking her head slowly. “I’m not this person. I’m boring, and by-the-book, and I want my company back. I wish I hadn’t killed that man—”
    “You did what you had to do to protect yourself.”
    Her eyelids opened a fraction and he saw the glimmer of tears. “But you know what I wish most of all?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I wish I’d never met you. I wish you’d never seen me, wish you’d never taken over for Bryan, and I wish…I wish I could go back and do everything differently.” She closed her eyes again. “You ruined my life, Ramsey.”
    He nodded. Yes, yes, he had.
    ***
    Jezebel awoke to the smell of eggs, bacon, and sausage. Her stomach rumbled and she opened her eyes and looked around. Where was she? The events from last night came rushing back to her and she quickly scrambled up, hugging the bedhead as she frantically searched for the gun. Where was her gun?
    “Hello…?”
    She looked in the direction of the voice and found a woman standing there, holding a tray between her hands and smiling.  Confused, Jezebel looked around again and slowly calmed. She was in Ramsey’s apartment. They’d arrived here early this morning. Her sister was in the bedroom next door. She was safe. Unconsciously, her hands went to her belly. The rounded pouch was still there. As if knowing he was being worried over, he suddenly shifted. Jezebel relaxed more. Her baby was fine.
    “I brought you breakfast,” the woman spoke again. Although her English was very good, she had a slight accent.
    She moved closer and set the tray down on the end table.
    “I’m Hannah.” This close Jezebel guessed she was about forty or fifty, definitely too old to be Ramsey’s new girlfriend, though she was still a beautiful woman, even without barely any makeup on.  “May I?” She indicated the edge of the bed, and watching her warily Jezebel nodded. “I know you had a difficult morning, so you must be starving, especially with the little one in there.” Hannah smiled softly.