Roman had no idea who the woman was talking about, but the way she spoke about them, without using last names, told him that Vadim must know the men. Or know of them.
“That motherfucker,” Vadim growled. He took a deep breath. “You can’t just run from the cops. You’ve been shot and you need to document it. You were shot at work?”
“Yeah.”
“Where in the building were you shot?”
“Hugh’s private elevator.” She wrapped her arms tighter around her small frame and Roman found himself wanting to pull her into his arms.
After hearing her story it was clear someone needed to protect her. She sniffled once, looking even more lost.
“Okay. Go to the hospital now.”
“I can’t.”
“You can and you will. Roman is going to take you and he’s going to call a detective friend of ours.”
Roman nodded. If Vadim trusted her and wanted to help her, he was going to trust her. He’d be doing some investigation of his own, but Vadim trusted almost no one. “Hurley?” he asked Vadim.
“Yes.”
Taylor shook her head. “Vadim—”
“No. Listen to me. You need to get ahead of this now. Without knowing any more details, I know that running from the police makes you look guilty as shit. You have got to get in front of this. This all happened this morning?”
“Yeah.” Her voice sounded small, broken.
Hell, if she’d just seen someone close to her get killed this morning Roman was impressed she was keeping it together.
“You can explain away your running through shock and fear, especially since you were shot and saw your boss killed. You’ve got to trust me on this. Roman will call Detective Hurley and have him meet you guys at the hospital. Roman?”
“I’m on it, man. Anything you need.” He wasn’t positive he trusted this woman, but he trusted Vadim. “Vadim, give me a second.” He looked at Taylor and pointed to the door. “I’ll be right outside.” Without waiting for a response, he left the room and closed the door behind him
Taking it off speaker, he spoke quietly to his friend. “You sure you trust this woman?”
“Yes. Hugh Powers owns, or owned, Powers Group. He was like a father to Taylor. She never would have killed him. I’d stake everything I own on it. Neal Lynch is a sleazy bastard. I only met him once and it was enough for me. I believe in Taylor.”
“Good enough for me.”
“Thank you. I…owe you for this.” Vadim had loosened up a little since he’d been with Angel, but that stiff, almost formalness crept back into his voice.
“You owe me for a shitload of stuff, including watching Charlie, and you know I’m going to collect.” He kept his voice light.
Vadim just snorted and asked him to return to the bathroom so he could talk to Taylor. Vadim and Taylor talked for a few minutes until finally Vadim convinced her to listen to reason. He also read her the riot act for breaking into his place but Roman was pretty certain his friend was impressed she’d broken in. Roman certainly was. Once they were done talking, Roman promised to call Vadim with any updates before disconnecting.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked as Roman slid the phone back in his pocket.
“Because you’re friends with Vadim and you clearly need it.” He needed more information on her story, but if she was willing to meet with a detective, that went a long way in proving her innocence. Not to mention Vadim trusted her.
Her eyes welled with unexpected tears and to his surprise and horror, she started crying. Big, ugly tears. Shit, shit, shit. “Don’t cry,” he commanded, as if the order would somehow make her stop.
She sobbed out something that sounded a lot like, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me’ before she cupped her face in her hands.
Her shoulders shook as she tried to hold back her tears but he couldn’t stand it anymore. Covering the short distance between them, he pulled her into his arms, rubbing a comforting hand down her spine. She buried her face against his chest and, taking him by surprise again, wrapped her arms around his waist and held on for dear life.
She might not know what was wrong with her, but he did. She’d seen someone close to her killed, she’d been shot and she was trying to deal with a shitty situation alone. On top of all that she was probably dealing with a healthy dose of shock and grief.
Even though Roman prided himself on staying away from any drama—unlike his twin—there was no way in hell he was walking away from a woman in need. After his father died, his mom had been left raising two, demanding boys. Looking back he knew how hard it had been on her. Maybe that was why something about women in need always called to him.