"What's going to happen to all of the girls that were down there? The police are going to help them, aren't they?"

"Yes, they will," Adrian said as he put his arms around me. "I can't believe how many he had down there."

"I know, Adrian. It was horrible."

I climbed into Adrian's lap and curled up in his arms. He was still covered in blood and didn't want to get it all over me, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to feel his body pressed up against mine, his arms surrounding me and keeping me safe from the whole world. I kissed his lips, then nestled my head in the crook of his neck and kept it there.

"And Grady is going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. He always knows what to do."

"So do you, Adrian. You found me. If it hadn't been for you, no one would have come for me. No one would have cared. You saved me, Adrian."

I could see tears forming in his eyes as he looked down at me.

"I would've died before I let him have you."

I reached my hand up and touched his cheek and let a small trickle of tears cover my fingers as I wiped it away.

"I love you so much, Adrian. I don't ever want to be away from you again."

"You never will be if I can help it," I said, leaning down and touching his lips to mine.

We'd had passionate kisses before, and early morning kisses that were slow and lazy. And there had been many kisses that were comfortable and familiar and loving. This kiss felt like it was coming from an entirely different place than any kiss we had ever had. It blended us together into a space where there was only the two of us. It consumed my senses and blocked everything else out, every sound and every thought of anything but Adrian and me. Not with passion or lust, but with the knowledge that we were one and always would be.

* * *

Immediately after we landed on the roof of the hospital, the EMTs pulled Lucas out and rushed him down to surgery. They wrapped me in a blanket and put me in a wheelchair, then made Adrian put a blanket around himself as well. He didn't want one, but he didn't have a shirt on. It was cold on the roof and the EMTs insisted that he stay warm while we were taken down to the emergency room.

I didn't want to be examined, but the doctors in the hospital insisted. Adrian wouldn't allow them to take me anywhere without him even for a second, and insisted that we be taken to the same exam room.

I sat next to him in the wheelchair while he went through a variety of tests, then when it was my turn I got up on the exam table and he sat next to me in the wheelchair.

Because I was pretty cut up and a little bit dehydrated and Adrian had some minor injuries, they decided to keep us overnight. We were able to find an English-speaking doctor to make sure that we were put in our own private room, and within an hour we were side by side in two hospital beds.

Even though I was hooked up to an IV, as soon as we were alone, I hopped down off of my bed and wheeled my IV stand over to Adrian's bed. We squeezed into one of the teeny hospital beds together.

I couldn't imagine anything better than the way it felt to be in Adrian's arms in that bed. I was exhausted and still in shock over everything that had happened over the last week. But the sound of Adrian's breath, the feel of his arms around me, and the smell of his skin all formed a cocoon around me and I drifted off into a more peaceful sleep than I had ever experienced in my life.

As I drifted I didn't think about any of the horrible things that happened. I didn't think about my father or that Russian man or all of those girls in the cavern. I just thought about Adrian and me and how we were truly free now. We were going to be able to live our lives like regular people, without being chased and shot at, and without constantly fearing for our lives.

* * *

I woke the next morning to a gruff Russian voice. I panicked for a moment, thinking I was still back with that Syrnyk man. When I opened my eyes I realized I was still in the hospital room and a nurse was standing over me, gesturing for me to go back into my own bed.

"I guess we've been found out," I said as I turned my head and kissed Adrian's lips.

"Yeah, it sounds like she means business. Better get back over there."

Adrian smiled as he helped me sit up, then gave my bare butt a little squeeze through the back of the hospital gown as I hopped off the bed. I giggled a little as I crossed the room under the scowling eyes of the nurse and got into the other hospital bed.

The nurse grumbled in Russian under her breath as she covered me up and checked my IV, then turned to leave. Just then our doctor walked in and the nurse had some stern words with him as she pointed at our beds, then stormed out of the room.

"Your nurse tells me you didn't sleep in your own bed last night."

"Yes, we slept together in that bed, but we both survived."

The doctor laughed and checked through the chart in his hands. "We'll be releasing both of you today so you won't have to worry about any of that."

"How's my brother? Lucas Bellini. He was brought in with us last night," Adrian asked.

"Yes, I have your brother's chart right here. He made it through the surgery just fine and he's in recovery right now. He should be okay to leave in a few days."

"Really? You're going to release him so soon?"

"Yes, the bullet went straight through the muscle below his shoulder and didn't hit any vital organs," he said as he flipped through the pages of the chart. "No major damage. He was sewed up and given a round of antibiotics. He'll need to take it easy for at least a week after he leaves the hospital. And he'll probably have a hard time using his left arm for a while until the muscle that was damaged heals. But he'll be fine."

"Thank you so much, doctor. I'd like to see him."

"You're both going to be released as soon as the paperwork goes through, and after that you can go up to recovery and see him. I believe he's awake, but he'll be groggy for the rest of the day most likely."

The nurse came back into the room and said something in Russian to the doctor.

"A Mr. Grady Arbuckle would like to come in and see both of you. Would you like him to come in?"

"Yes, he can definitely come in."

Grady walked in the room with two large shopping bags just as the doctor left.

"It's so good to see both of you."

"Grady! I'm so glad you're here!" He came over to my bed and gave me a kiss on the cheek, then went over to Adrian and shook his hand, holding it in both of his for a long moment.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that we all made it out of there. It got pretty hairy there for a while."

"Yeah, what happened? We had like forty guys with us down there."

"Well, after you went up in the elevator he must have sent some more guys down. There must have been a camera in the elevator, or an alarm."

"He had to have known we were there even before that. He knew that Lucas had killed our father out in the woods. He must have had someone out there that our guys missed. And once we were in the tunnel they ran back and told him we were there."

"Either way I was lucky enough to have grabbed a set of keys off of one of the guards. Alek and I were checking out one of the caverns and as soon as we heard gunshots being fired, we slipped into one of the unoccupied cells. That place was insane. It just went on forever and ever. I don't know when those cells were built, but they looked really old. Like they had been there for a hundred years. From what I could tell he only had girls in half of the cells down there."

"Yeah, but that still had to be what, at least thirty, maybe even fifty girls down there."

"Yeah, it was unbelievable. The cavern we walked down … it just went on and on. At one point they might have had hundreds of people down there. Maybe during one of the wars."

"So what happened after we left? What happened to the girls?" I asked.

"Well, Alek and I waited for the police, and apparently they've been wanting to catch this guy for a long time. He was involved in all kinds of nasty stuff. Weapons trafficking, drugs, you name it. But the worst was the human trafficking.

"Apparently he was one of the most notorious suppliers in Europe. They suspected he was involved in a lot more, but he kept his location secret and they were never able to implicate him in anything.

"The Russian police didn't even know that he owned that house. Apparently they'd been looking for him for the last ten years in the Ukraine. They had no idea he was in Russia. And they had no idea about the underground caverns and the whole trafficking ring he had going at that location. They questioned me for quite a while, and I know they're going to want to come and question you two. The doctors have kept them away, but they're out in the hall waiting."

"What about Alek? Was he arrested?" Adrian asked.

"They took him down to the station, but it didn't sound like they were going to arrest him. At least I hope not. He really helped us out a lot. And he's totally cooperating with the police. He has a lot of information that they want, and other than him there's no one else left. No one worked directly with Syrnyk on his property or in the caverns, anyway. So how's Lucas? Have you seen him? Did he pull through okay?"

"Yeah, the doctor said he's going to be fine. I haven't seen him yet, but we're going to be released in a little while and I'll go see him then. I'm planning on sticking around until he gets released from the hospital. So we're going to need to get a hotel room nearby."

"That's already been taken care of. I got the two of you a room and I'll be right next-door. And I stopped by a store on the way over here and picked up some clothes for both of you. I hope the sizes are all right. At least they'll get you out of the hospital and around until you can find some that you like better."

Grady brought my bag of clothes over to my bed and I gave him a hug.

"Thank you so much, Grady. You've been amazing. I feel so incredibly lucky that we've had you on our side."

"Oh, come on. It was nothing."

"You gotta be kidding, Grady," Adrian said. "I don't know what I would have done without you. You've saved my life more times than I can count now."

I was so grateful to have these two guys looking out for me. Actually, three guys including Lucas, and I was surprised to be including him in this group. He still made me uneasy. The way he touched me as he was untying me from the bed still haunts me and I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell Adrian. Especially after what happened in the caverns. But in the end he did risk his life to save me, and that's something I never would have expected from him.