by Penelope Sky
“Your answer.”
I was afraid to say it out loud. “No…”
He stared at me for a long time, his body as rigid as a pile of rocks, his heartbeats stalled. His eyes were so pretty, but right now, they were sinister, terrifying. “I was hoping you would say that.”
Four
Annabella
I sat in my lonely apartment and watched the sun disappear over the horizon until my living room went dark. The TV wasn’t on to cast an intermediate glow across every corner. Dinner should be in my stomach by now. But I was too distressed to think about everyday life.
What the fuck just happened with Liam?
A knock sounded on my door. It was subtle, like he knew I was sitting right by the door and didn’t need a loud and obnoxious announcement of his presence.
It couldn’t be Liam because he’d never been so gentle. I turned on the lamp beside me then navigated through the living room furniture to the front door. Without checking the peephole, I opened the door.
Damien was dressed in black head to toe, his usual watch gone. He had a large wooden door leaning against the wall, already detailed with my address. He hardly looked at me before he got to work. He pulled a screwdriver from his back pocket and worked on the hinges that held my cracked door in place.
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him work.
As if he’d been a contractor in a previous life, he worked step by step, knowing exactly what to do next without even checking. He got the door off the frame and then leaned it against the wall across the hall.
“Do you need help?”
He pulled the door closer and got to work. “No.” He lined up the door then attached it with screws and tools. It only took him fifteen minutes to change the doors and move my locks, being far more efficient than my super would have been. When he was finished, he tested the swing, making sure it was perfectly level with the floor. “Shut the door and lock it.”
I did as he asked and bolted everything.
He twisted the knob and tested it from the outside. Then he kicked it for good measure.
I jerked back at the loud sound.
He knocked when he was finished.
I unlocked all the locks again and opened it.
“Good.” He left the other door across the hall then entered my apartment.
Watching him take care of me like that was touching, especially since I didn’t ask. I could have asked the manager of the building to do it, but Damien would rather do it himself. He didn’t even pay someone to do it; he did it with his bare hands. “Thank you…”
He stopped in front of me and stared, his green eyes searching my gaze for something. Maybe he saw my sincerity. Maybe he saw how much the simple gesture meant to me. The softness in his eyes quickly disappeared. “What happened with Liam?”
Our nice moment was destroyed. “Nothing good.”
He flicked on the lights because he probably thought it felt like a cave. “Be more specific.” He stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest, not extending any kind of affection. He used to touch me whenever he could, find any excuse to make that happen. But once I went through the heartbreak of Liam’s betrayal, Damien gave me more space than he ever had.
“He’ll only drop his vendetta if I take him back.”
Damien’s eyes immediately narrowed at the request, as if he hadn’t anticipated something so absurd.
“Says he was never given a fair chance. I lied to him about your identity, and if he’d had that information, everything would have been different. He would have made other choices to make this marriage work.”
Damien continued to show the same coldness. “Don’t say yes, especially not on my account.”
“I didn’t.”
“Good.” He dropped his arms and leaned against the back of the couch. He stared at the opposite wall for a while before he turned his head in my direction. “You tried. That gives us one other option—and you know what it is.”
He was asking for permission to kill my ex-husband—again. “And I’m just supposed to say yes?”
Devoid of all emotion, he stared at me with empty eyes.
“I can’t just condone that.”
“Well, if you don’t, he’s gonna kill me.” His voice rose. “You prefer that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then give me your blessing.”
I dropped my chin to my chest and tucked my hair behind my ear, feeling the blood completely drain to my feet. “You don’t understand, Damien. I was married to him—”
“I understand you don’t want him killed. But he’s making you choose—not me.”
I positioned myself directly across from him, my back against the wall. My hands crossed over my chest and gripped each of my arms, feeling defeated by a battle I’d never fought. “He was different today.”
His eyes were steady as he held my gaze.
“He was…malicious, maniacal, crazy…”
“What did he say to you?”
“That regardless of my choice, the outcome would be the same. He would take me.”
His eyes narrowed, emitting a sudden change of energy. Now he was the one who was a little maniacal.
“But in this scenario, he would also kill you…which he prefers.”
“Annabella.” Without raising his voice, he conveyed the seriousness of this situation, the fear that gripped him by the chest. “I’m not afraid of him, but I’m afraid of what he’ll do. That’s a serious threat, and we need to have a serious response.”
“I don’t know… Would he really take me? What does that mean?”
“I don’t want to know.” He pushed off the couch and straightened. “Pack your things. You’re staying with me.”
I looked up to meet his gaze, shocked by what he’d just said. “That will only make it worse—”
“You can’t stay here alone anymore. If he meant what he said, you’re in serious danger.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me—”
“But he might take you away and lock you in a tower somewhere.”
Oh my god…would Liam really do that? He wasn’t himself at lunch. He was delirious with rage, his eyes so cold they were frozen.
“And there’s nowhere safer in this world than with me.”
“If Liam knows I’m staying with you, he’ll assume—”
“I don’t give a shit what he assumes. He already wants to kill me, so what difference does it make?”
I didn’t have an argument against any of that, but I was still afraid to stay with Damien. We’d never had that kind of proximity, constantly being together, living under the same roof. Our time together had been so brief. This was more intimate than it ever had been before. “Then he really will kill you.”
“He can try.”
All of this was my fault. If I’d left my job and removed myself from Damien’s life, none of this would have happened. Now, Damien’s life was in danger, and his opponent was the strongest man I’d ever known. “Maybe I should just say yes—”
“No.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you—”
“Then let me kill him.” He stepped closer to me, his eyes watching mine closely. “If you want to keep me safe, let me get rid of the problem.” He pleaded as he looked into my gaze, wanting my blessing to end the life of someone I’d once loved.
The blood would be on my hands if I said yes.
“Annabella.”
I closed my eyes. “Let me try to talk to him again—”
“No.” He pressed me into the wall, cornering me like I was fleeing prey. “If you think I’m letting you anywhere near him again…”
I couldn’t give Damien my blessing. I just couldn’t do it. How could I live with myself if I allowed that to happen? I could call Liam. I could plead with him. There had to be a better solution.
Damien’s expression filled with disappointment as he stepped away from me. But no, it was more than just disappointment; it was deepe
r than that. It was chronic resentment, subtle rage. His demeanor was packed with betrayal, as if I’d stabbed him in the back with a dirty knife. “Get your things.” With his gaze on the floor, he slid his hands into his pockets.
“Damien—”
“I told you to get your things.” He refused to look at me.
“Please look at me…”
He couldn’t resist the plea in my voice and raised his head. “My not wanting you to kill him has nothing to do with my feelings for you.”
“Those are just words, Annabella. Actions are what matter to people like me.”
“Liam was unfaithful. That doesn’t mean he deserves to die.”
“But he’s threatening to kill the man you love. So, he does.”
After taking a painful breath, I returned my gaze to the floor. The brilliance of his eyes was too much to watch.
He dropped the conversation. “Pack your things. Or I’ll do it for you.”
Five
Damien
It was a long and silent drive to my place. She was quiet in the passenger seat, her suitcase in my trunk, along with a couple extra bags of the essentials she needed. Everything that had been left behind were things she could live without…because who knew when she would return.
When we arrived at the house, I carried all of her things up the stairs to the top floor. She tried to carry her own shit, but I didn’t let her touch anything. I still hadn’t forgotten her scent on my sheets, and I wanted to carry everything into my bedroom so I could inhale that smell once again, to feel her presence all over the place.
But I carried her things into the bedroom next door. She had plenty of space in the suite. A king bed, a large fireplace, a small living room where she could watch TV, and a private bathroom. I could have put her farther down the hall, but I wanted her close enough to reach at a moment’s notice.
I placed her stuff inside the empty closet.
She looked around at the bedroom, her shoulders visibly relaxed once she knew she had her own quarters. Her eyes lingered on the white bedspread before she looked at the matching furniture in the living room. A fire was already in the hearth because I’d asked Patricia to prepare it before I returned.
“If you need anything, I’m right next door. And you already know Patricia.” It’d been a long time since we were together, but it felt strange to be alone in a bedroom with her without gliding my hands through her hair. Without making her mine. When she was married, I didn’t cross the line after my mishap on the balcony, but now that she was available again, it was hard to respect that invisible barrier.
I wanted her to have her space to move on from her marriage. I didn’t want to share her heart with anyone else. Liam had agreed to that condition, but I certainly wouldn’t. But now that we would be sleeping just a few feet apart, it was hard not to rush. There were times when I forgot about the dilemma we faced. They were quick moments, more like instances, when I looked at her and just forgot…like now.
“Thanks…it’s beautiful.” She turned back to me, her arms across her chest.
I wanted to linger, but I knew I should give her some privacy. “I need to work on a few things.” I dismissed myself and headed to the door. “Knock on my door if you need me.” With my hand on the knob, I turned back to look at her, hoping she would say something.
Her eyes were locked with mine and she was rigid, like she wanted to say something but didn’t have the words.
Neither did I.
Hades sat across from me at the table in my bedroom. He’d recovered from the moment when I’d tossed out his scotch and denied him the kick he needed, bouncing back as if that never happened. “You don’t have to not drink because of me.”
“Yes, I do.” Now we drank water…like fucking pussies. “It’s fine.”
He cocked his head slightly. “Give me more credit than that.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You were gonna drink that whole bottle of scotch by yourself.”
“I wasn’t, asshole. Just wanted a glass. Goddamn.” His fingers interlocked behind his head. “Sometimes, I wonder if you’re more loyal to Sofia than you are to me.”
“Definitely her.”
He smiled slightly. “So, you shot him?”
I nodded.
“And got blood on my car?”
“Sorry about that.”
“You could have at least cleaned it up.”
“After you told me to never fucking touch your car?” I countered.
He smiled again. “Fine…you win.”
This was what I missed most about our relationship, how easy it was to talk back and forth, to know each other so well we could talk shit like it was nothing.
“And she won’t let you kill him?”
I shook my head. “He gave her an ultimatum. He’ll drop the feud if she takes him back.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s romantic…forcing your woman to stay with you when you constantly cheat on her.”
“She said no.”
“I’d judge her if she didn’t.”
“But she won’t let me kill him…”
“Okay, I judge her for that.” He took a drink of his water and cringed slightly, as if he’d subconsciously been expecting scotch. The heated liquor would normally burn his throat, but once that heat was gone, it made him cringe.
“She’s in the bedroom next door.”
That made him do a double take, both of his eyebrows rising in surprise.
“She couldn’t stay alone anymore. I suspect Liam will try to take her.”
“Take her how?”
“Abduct her. Literally.”
He pulled his fingers off the cold glass.
“Take her to another country, keep her as a prisoner until she’s successful brainwashed or gives in out of exhaustion.”
“You really think he’d do something like that?”
“He basically told her he would.”
“Fuck, this guy is a nutcase.”
It’d always been obvious to me. The way he was so easily baited into violence, the way his emotions would rise and fall without warning, the way he would love Annabella fiercely but then cheat on her a moment later. Now that he knew I’d fucked his wife, he’d flipped again…and this time, he wasn’t going to un-flip. “Yeah.”
“So, you have no plan right now?”
“Not really. I would just hunt him down and kill him, but she still won’t allow it. What else am I supposed to do?”
“Seems unfair since you’re the one protecting her right now.”
“Yeah…” It made me angry if I thought about it too long.
“I get why it’s a difficult decision to make, but since she loves you, I don’t see why the decision is that difficult.”
I shrugged. “Maybe she’ll change her mind…eventually.”
“Not eventually. Soon.”
I wasn’t gonna let Liam take my life, so I’d kill him if I absolutely had no choice…even if that meant losing her forever.
“How long has she been here?”
“Couple days.”
“Anything happen? You know what I mean…”
“No.” I took a drink from my glass and automatically cringed too, unable to believe I was drinking something so bland.
The corner of his mouth rose in a smile. “I said you can just drink the scotch.”
“It’s fine.”
“Fine. Enjoy your horse piss.” He clinked his glass against mine.
“She’s stayed in her room most of the time. I think she wants space.”
“So, you just sleep in here…alone?”
“There’s no one else, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s rough. If I had to sleep next door to Sofia and do nothing…” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t last long.”
“If Liam would just go away, it would speed up the process…”
“And that’s not gonna happen.”
“Unfortunately
.”
He finished his water then pushed it away. “We need to think of something. We can’t just let you be a sitting duck.”
That was exactly how I felt.
“Maybe I could entice him into a death match…”
“He wants nothing to do with you, Hades.” Liam felt betrayed by Hades as much as me.
“Yeah…but I could ask someone else to do it.”
“And then what?”
“Hope one of his opponents beats him.”
“He’s undefeated.”
“Yeah, but I could slip him something before a fight.”
I lifted my gaze from the glass and stared at him. “We can’t do that.”
“But I could do it.”
“No. Because I’d have to carry that secret, and I refuse.”
He sighed in annoyance.
“Would you wanna keep a secret like that from Sofia?”
“No. But she’d get over it. Come on, that woman is obsessed with me.”
“Well, Annabella wouldn’t get over this.”
He stared at me blankly. “Then I can roll the dice and hope for the best.”
“Yeah, but I still have a feeling it won’t go anywhere. He’s got rage on his side right now.”
“Yeah.” He interlocked his fingers behind his head again and stared out the window. “How’s work?”
“You mean the drug empire?”
“Yeah. You don’t talk about it much.”
“Not much going on. I’ve replaced Maddox pretty easily.”
“And Heath?” he asked.
“Still want to kill him, but I’ve gotta take care of this first.”
“You didn’t want to be with Anna because of that business. Now you’ve changed your mind?”
It was more complicated than that. “No. I just fell in love with her.”
“Does that mean you’ll walk away from the business?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
He continued to watch me, reading all my subtle expressions.
