Chapter 59

It was amazing to Claudia how long a split second could feel when a person was castigating themselves for making a very bad decision. She screamed in terror, her arms still locked around Dante's neck, as she fell through the air, hoping desperately that pool tiles didn't hurt too much after a thirty-foot fall. They missed the tiles and hit the pool together, the force of their entry driving them to the bottom. Claudia bent her knees, but the impact was minimal. She let go of Dante's neck and pushing her feet against the concrete bottom, propelling herself back up.
Claudia broke through the water gasping for air and looked around in confusion, water streaming over her head and into her eyes. She immediately turned to where Tyson was frantically calling her name and started swimming weakly toward him. Dante surfaced in front of her and, immediately taking in the disadvantage of his situation, surrounded by an extremely angry Tyson King and his men, grabbed Claudia.
She struggled in his grip, which caused his weight to drive her under the water repeatedly. She hoped Tyson could get to her before Dante managed to drown her. A shot hit the water next to her and Dante's grip loosened. She surfaced and shoved him away causing him to scream out in pain. He was clutching his shoulder, blood pouring through his fingers into the water around them.
"Claudia, baby," Tyson said from next to her. "Hold on to me."
Claudia turned and immediately floated into the safety of Tyson's massive arms. He had jumped into the pool and was coming to her rescue when someone had shot Dante. She guessed the shooter was Daniel, who was in the process of pulling a struggling, shouting Dante from the pool. Daniel looked over at Claudia and her battered face and clamped a cruel hand over Dante's wound. Dante screamed in agony.
"Aw," Claudia said weakly, resting her head on Tyson's big shoulder and letting him swim her to safety, "I think he likes me a tiny bit better now."
Tyson pushed her up by the waist into waiting hands. She was quickly wrapped in a towel, covering her body, which was clad in nothing but now transparent bra and panties. Unable to stand, she sat with her legs curled underneath her on the deck tiles, which were warm from the sun overhead. Tyson hauled himself out of the pool. His white shirt had come open and water poured off of his bared chest and suit pants.
He hunched down in front of Claudia, taking her battered face gently into the massive palm of his hand. Turning it left and right, he examined her with fierce eyes. "You've been hurt," he said, his calm voice belying the fury she knew vibrated through him.
"I'm okay," she mumbled tiredly, touching his fingers and pressing her hand against his where it rested on her face.
He reached out and pulled her towel away. "Tyson!" she gasped looking around to see if anyone was watching her. Tyson's men had wisely occupied their gazes elsewhere while he continued his examination. He touched her stomach and then turned her over and ran his big hands down her back. Claudia gritted her teeth and braced her palms against the deck tiles when his fingers grazed the tender spot over her right kidney.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" Tyson thundered above her. Claudia looked over her shoulder startled. "He used you like a fucking punching bag."
Claudia turned over and looked up into Tyson's face. The anguish reflected there startled her. She knew he would be angry that Dante had touched her, Tyson's woman, his possession. But she hadn't imagined that Tyson would feel the hurt on her behalf. Suddenly she realized he felt helpless in the face of her terror and pain.
She touched the bulge of his muscular forearm where it was braced on the ground next to her bare hip. "Tyson," she whispered, "look at me."
He did. His dark eyes bored into her pained green ones. "Look at me," she repeated, reaching up to touch his hard jaw. "I'm here, I'm alive. He hurt me, but nothing permanent."
Tyson nodded, brushing his stubbled jaw against her small fingers. He turned his head and captured her fingers in his, pressing a kiss into the palm of her hand. Finally he looked down into her eyes and said, "A part of me died when you jumped out of that helicopter, Claudia. I've never been so afraid in my life."
She nodded and snuggled into his chest. He let her draw comfort from him for a minute before setting her away. He reached down and took her heels off one at a time, tenderly, the way he had the first night when he brought her to his penthouse against her will. Then he picked up the white deck towel and tucked it around her shivering body before turning to Mike, who was standing near them. "Take her inside and warm her up. Don't let her come out here."
"But Tyson" Claudia reached for him. He pushed her hand away, picked her up off the deck and handed her to Mike, who took her weight into his arms. "Please Tyson, I don't want you to hurt him."
Tyson didn't say anything. His face was set in deadly lines, his eyes merciless. He backed up a couple of steps and turned away, saying to another of his men, "Go inside with them and help keep an eye on her. She doesn't need to see this and she might try to get past Mike."
The guy nodded and followed her and Mike into the penthouse. Claudia recognized the futility of trying to talk to Tyson. He was angrier than she'd ever seen him, angrier than maybe he'd ever been before. He wasn't about to show Dante mercy. Not that Claudia thought Dante deserved any, but she didn't want Tyson to kill the man. She wanted justice, but she didn't want anyone to die because of her.
Claudia choked back a sob when she heard a crack and a terrified scream before Mike strode into the penthouse with her tucked safely in his arms. She buried her face in his shirt and let him carry her upstairs to the bedroom. There he tried to place her on the bed, but Claudia immediately scrambled off shaking her head. Her legs still wouldn't hold her, so she backed away from the bed on her hands and knees.
She didn't realize she was crying until she felt the tears splash over her chest. She swiped at them with a hand and huddled on the floor crying in misery and shock. Mike took the room in at a glance, saw the tattered clothes she had been wearing earlier and, with a swear, knelt swiftly at her side.
"Okay, chica," he said softly, pulling her into his strong arms. "You don't have to go on the bed right now. Why don't we get you into the shower and warm you up?"
Claudia, who was shivering violently, nodded her head and allowed him to lift her again and carry her into the bathroom. He set her gently on the vanity while he turned the shower on and tested the heat. He turned back to her, scrubbing a hand over his head and looking both shy and awkward at the same time. The look on the big, tough bodyguard-driver nearly brought a smile to Claudia's lips. He had no idea what to do with a battered woman that had suffered several traumas in the course of an hour.
"I can manage," she said softly, pushing herself off the vanity and forcing herself to stand on wobbly legs.
Mike looked skeptical, but he turned toward the bathroom door in relief. "Okay. You go ahead and get in the water and warm up. I'll be right here in the bedroom with the door open. Call if you need me."
"Mike," she said, stopping him. "Are they going to kill him?" she asked bleakly.
He looked back at her, clearly weighing his words. After a moment he said, "They're doing to him what any one of us would do to a man that hurt someone we love."
Claudia nodded, "So, that's a yes?"
Mike left without answering. Claudia sighed and decided now wasn't the time to examine her ethics too closely. If someone had threatened Tyson in the same way, she knew exactly how she would retaliate. Claudia dropped the towel, stripped out of her bra and panties with clumsy fingers and walked shakily into the shower. Unable to continue standing, she allowed her body to collapse gently against the stone tiles until her bare butt was on the floor of the shower. She pulled her knees up, wrapped her arms around her legs and dropped her head. She sat that way for a long time, letting the feel of the water soothe away the chill both inside and outside of her body.
Tyson found her like that. Mike had told him about the scene in the bedroom. He had listened and stared down at the remnants of the clothes that had been torn from his woman's body. He wanted to kill Dante all over again. Then he wanted to kill anyone that associated with Dante. And he would. One at a time, until the Miami underworld knew exactly who Tyson King was and why his woman was untouchable.
"Claudia," he said softly, bending down in front of her.
She brought her head up fast, startled. Fear flashed across her face and she tensed as though readying herself for another battle. "Shhh," Tyson said soothingly. He reached up and shut the shower off. "It's just me."
The fear receded, replaced with wariness as she asked, "Is it over, is he"
Tyson just looked at her, answering her without words. She nodded and started to get up. He reached for her and pulled her out of the shower stall and into his arms. Reaching behind him, he pulled a fresh, fluffy towel off the rack and wrapped it around her. She sighed and relaxed into him. Tyson held her tightly, absorbing her entire weight against himself.
"I have to ask you something," he rumbled against the top of her head.
"Mmmhmm" she answered, swaying against him. Her eyes closed with fatigue.
"Did he rape you?"
Claudia stiffened against him. She brought her head up slowly and examined his eyes. She didn't see disgust, only the same anguish she had seen outside when he was examining her injuries.
Shaking her head she said, "He didn't have time."
"But he was going to?" Tyson asked, his face rigid.
With a sigh she answered him truthfully. "Yes, he intended to sodomize me. He wanted to hurt me bad and probably would have done it if the helicopter hadn't arrived."
Tyson's entire body was now rigid against her. She ran her hands over his huge arms soothingly and said, "I'm okay now, Tyson. He didn't get the chance to do any irreparable damage."
Tyson shook his head, his eyes filled with rage and sorrow. "He did," he said, tapping gentle fingers against her forehead. "This is something you should have been protected from. You'll never forget how you felt today."
Claudia chewed on her lip for a second wondering what she could say. "He was always going to get to me Tyson. He was determined and he was patient. He's been tracking me for over a year. If you hadn't come along when you did, he would have found me alone and unprotected. Maybe I'll remember this day, and maybe I'll have a few nightmares. But I'll also remember that you saved my life. Not just from Dante, but from my life on the run."
Tyson looked at her intently, absorbing her words. Finally he reached down and picked her up off the floor as gently as he could, mindful of the bruising on her back and stomach. He carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. With Tyson there she didn't feel the same overwhelming fear she had earlier. The ragged clothes had been removed and their bedroom looked normal. She snuggled into the bedding as he stripped his clothes off and joined her on the bed.
He pulled her into his embrace, treating her with such delicacy that she wanted to weep. He pushed the wet strands of hair off her forehead and kissed her gently. "Claudia, I'm in love with you. I have been from the first moment I saw your smile and wished it were mine. Please, be my wife. I want to share everything with you in this life. I want to give you every gift you can imagine, take you on trips and show you the world. I want you at my side, always."
Claudia smiled widely and reached out to touch his lips as though capturing the words forever. "Yes," she whispered. "I'll marry you, Tyson King. I want to be your bride. I love you too. I wanted to tell you when I thought I would die today. That's why I jumped out of the helicopter. Because I couldn't stand the thought of flying away from you without knowing if I would see you again."
"Never," he said fiercely. "You will never leave me again. We're forever, Claudia King."