That night, they returned to Italy, heading straight to Adolph’s castle. The big black bed in the room gave it a cold, harsh atmosphere.
Echo rested her chin on her hand as she watched Ryan sleeping on the bed. She couldn’t believe he was actually hurt.
After everything she’d seen him do over the past few days, she had already written him off as something other than human. If there were really superheroes in the world, she was sure Ryan would be one of them. And now this “superhero” was injured. Even if it was just a gunshot wound to the thigh, it still seemed unbelievable to her.
Stretching her stiff neck, she thought about how she had been awake ever since they flew back to Italy. She had watched as Bill carefully opened up Ryan’s leg to remove the bullet and then gave him the No. 101 antidote. Ryan hadn’t made a sound or even furrowed his brow, which only made Echo respect his toughness even more.
She glanced down at Ryan’s hand holding hers and touched her nose, a bit embarrassed. She remembered that she had been the one to grab his hand in the first place, having seen it with her own eyes when she woke up.
Now it seemed Ryan had turned the tables on her, holding onto her just as tightly.
Their hands-one large, one small-were locked together, making it hard to tell who was holding onto whom. But she was exhausted. Being stuck like this, unable to move or walk, was making her body go stiff.
“Here’s the medicine for this hour. You feed it to the Boss.” Bill’s voice suddenly broke the silence.
Without turning around, Echo felt the meds being handed to her.
“Why does he need more?” Echo glanced at the liquid medicine in her hand and frowned slightly. He’d already taken it every hour for six hours straight. Why more?
As Bill checked Ryan’s wound, he replied, “Because the Boss inhaled a lot of the nerve toxin, we have to give him a dose every hour. It’ll take eight hours to neutralize the effects fully.”
Echo raised an eyebrow and glanced at the still-sleeping Ryan. Taking the meds, she suddenly asked, “What about the weapons?” After nearly sacrificing her life to retrieve them, she needed to know.
Bill chuckled and said, “Mr. Adolph personally escorted them to the Middle East. If there’s another issue, don’t worry-Boss will probably kill him before you even have to.” He finished packing the leftover meds and left the room.
Echo nodded.
“Makes sense,” she muttered.
No wonder Adolph wasn’t around-he was already on his way to the Middle East. There better not be any more problems. If there were, and Ryan dragged her into another deadly mission, she’d make sure to take out Adolph before they even set off.
Looking at the peacefully sleeping Ryan, Echo shrugged.
It was up to her to feed him the meds again. What was the point of having Bill, the doctor, around if she was doing all the work?
She grabbed a plastic straw, inserted it into Ryan’s mouth, took a sip of the medicine herself, and then bent down to feed it to him through the straw.
The No. 101 nerve toxin was known for damaging nerves. While it wasn’t lethal for someone as tough as Ryan, it still knocked him out cold. No matter how much Echo pried at his lips, they stayed sealed shut.
Left with no other option, she used the straw to feed him, much to Bill’s amusement. He had even joked, “I thought you’d go for mouth-to-mouth to feed him.”
Echo gave Bill a withering look. “This is the 21st century, Bill. We’ve evolved past the point of relying on caveman methods. Humans are better because we use tools. If I had to rely on doing everything manually, we might as well go back to being apes.”
Just as she was about to roll her eyes at Bill again, she suddenly locked eyes with Ryan, who had snapped awake, his cold gaze sharp as ever. Echo nearly choked on the medicine still in her mouth, unsure whether to swallow or spit it out.
Ryan took in the scene, frowned, and, without hesitation, yanked the straw out from between them. Then, in one swift motion, he grabbed the back of Echo’s head and pressed his lips to hers, forcefully taking the medicine from her mouth without any hint of romantic intention.
Echo blinked, stunned. Before she could even react, Ryan had already swallowed the medicine and released her, as if the whole thing was nothing. There wasn’t an ounce of lewdness in his actions.
Raising an eyebrow, Echo thought to herself, Well, that was my first kiss-wait, no, the first one was already lost on the plane. Either way, she figured Ryan wouldn’t care. If she had tried something indecent, he’d probably slap her halfway across the room. She knew better than anyone that Ryan wasn’t that type of guy.
“Let me go,” Echo grumbled, glaring at him as she hung awkwardly from his grip. “I just saved you.”
Ryan’s face didn’t show any emotion. With one smooth motion, he pulled Echo closer, pressing her against his chest and holding her tight.
“Let go! I’m not sleepy anymore,” Echo protested.
She had slept for more than a day, and now she was wide awake, wriggling in Ryan’s tight embrace, her voice rising as she tried to get free.
“I didn’t ask you,” Ryan’s cold voice whispered in her ear.
Echo went silent, staring up at his sharp jawline, his hard features making him look even more unyielding. She mentally cursed herself, wondering how she could’ve forgotten Ryan’s nature-he never considered what she wanted.
Lying on Ryan’s chest, she felt his hand gently stroking her head, in a steady and soothing rhythm.
Well, soothing for Ryan, considering his usual strength. It was still a surprisingly tender touch for him. She listened to his strong, steady heartbeat and ran her fingers over the firm muscles of his bare chest. She couldn’t help but be a little impressed.
What kind of training built a body like this? If she had muscles like his, she wouldn’t be afraid of him at all. She’d just punch him right back. Who’d be scared of who then?
“What reward do you want?” Ryan’s calm voice cut through her thoughts.
Echo froze for a second.
This was Ryan offering her something?
She immediately grinned and, looking up at his chin, teased, “You know what I want. This time, you better be sincere.”
The last time she tried to claim credit for saving them, Ryan had brushed it off as pure luck, saying she didn’t deserve any recognition.
But this time, even though Bill had thrown her into the situation, she had genuinely tried to save Ryan. Plus, it was in such a dangerous moment, so surely her efforts counted.
“Pick something else,” Ryan replied, his voice still cool.
Echo’s grin quickly faded into disappointment, and she glared at him. He knew all she wanted was Skye’s whereabouts, so why did he always make her bargain for it?
Frustrated, she snapped, “Why? Is your life not worth trading for Skye’s location?”
Ryan’s voice dropped, icy and serious. “Did you risk your life just to find her?”
Echo hesitated, rubbing her nose. “Not exactly. I mean, in that situation, if I could save you, I’d do it. I didn’t overthink it. Mr. Ryan, you’re such a big-hearted guy-can’t you just let Skye go?”
She tried her best to sound playful, even adding a little pout, though she wasn’t sure if it would work.
Ryan, sensing Echo’s honesty, softened slightly. He gently patted her head and said in a much calmer tone, “I can promise not to take her life.”
Hearing this, Echo’s eyes lit up with joy. She tried to lift herself up to speak directly to Ryan’s face, but he pushed her back down firmly onto his chest.
She rolled her eyes and added, “And no torture, right? Just sparing her life isn’t enough. I need her to be safe.”