18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Killian
I look at the masterful woman sitting in front of me. We’re sitting criss-cross on the floor of the study, facing each other.
Naomi’s tear-stained eyes break my heart, but that cunning mind of hers is more brilliant than I even realized. “So, you orchestrated all of this?”
“Pretty much.” She gives me a small smile. “Just made you think you wanted me.”
“How did you know I’d take the bait?” I ask her, now questioning if what I feel for her is real. If you’d asked me an hour ago if this was the girl of my dreams, I would’ve screamed it from the rooftops. And while that feeling’s still there, I’m unsure if it’s genuine or forced upon me.
“I did my research on you.” She looks up at me like the confident girl I remember at the coffee shop. “Just like you stalked me, Quinnly and I stalked you.”
“I know you’ve told me all of this, but I still can’t believe it.”
She purses her lips. “Yeah, it’s a bit insane, honestly.”
“You can say that again. I feel a bit insulted you were able to pull all this off and I’m the tech genius.”
“Let’s just say we know a gal who’s much better. Women often are,” she half-heartedly jokes, but I can see the hesitation in her eyes as she also tries to process everything that was just revealed. There seems to be more of an acceptance from her part.
Who knew one kiss could tear my whole concept of life apart?
“And you’ve been a killer who’s part of the Mortes Ostium this whole time?” I ask in disbelief, even though we’ve been sitting here talking for an hour while she spills the truth.
“For the most part, I’m a quiet killer . . . usually I do it in the OR ‘cause it’s easier to hide.”
“That’s why you hesitated that day I watched you in the OR; you’re used to making that call in the room.”
“Yup, but usually I hesitate while deciding how I want to do it, not whether I’ll do it or not. I made sure he’d slowly bleed out so it wouldn’t count as an OR death. I have to keep my stats up so no one gets suspicious and I don’t get fired. I also have my moments outside of there where I let all my rage out.”
“Wow. Okay. I had a feeling, but wasn’t sure.” Nodding my head I ask, “Why wasn’t Quinnly part of your plans? I mean during the actual kidnapping part—once you were here.”
She purses her lips. “Quinn planned this entire thing with me. But we knew she needed to be away for this to work. You guys would feel safer since she’s the type to get . . . creative without caution.”
“Well, that’s true. And she’s a killer too? Like you?”
Laughing, she says, “Oh she’s a scary little thing. But it’s a pretty well-kept secret.”
“And we had you covered with work. So it was all set.”
“It was do or die.” She shrugs. “I didn’t expect a third option: Be completely wrong.”
I scoff. “Yeah. I didn’t expect any of this either. I guess in a way I did, but not like this.”
“Ha. Yeah . . . what do you—what should we—what . . . ?” Naomi trails off.
“Should we do now?” I try to fill in for her as I wipe my clammy hands on my pants. “I honestly don’t know. Other than maybe take a moment to process all of this.”
“Can I . . . leave?” she asks. Is she hesitating because she doesn’t want to go? Or because she does, and is nervous I won’t let her?
“Do you want to leave?” I ask.
“Uh . . . why wouldn’t I?” She looks at me with her piercing blue eyes. “Who would want to stay kidnapped?”
“I thought you . . .” I barely whisper out. She was the perfect extension of me, and I thought this was what she loved. The enticing darkness. The evil we love to fall for because my woman truly wants a man who would burn the world down for her, not feeling any remorse if it saved her.
“What?” she asks.
“Nothing.” I look away from her, not wanting to see her. “You can go if you want.”
“Oh-okay,” she says.
“I can have Axel take you back into the city.”
“Thanks, it’ll be nice to say bye to him too,” she says.
“It was nice seeing your friendship blossom. I knew you’d both hit it off. If only w — ” I stop myself.
“Um, yeah.” She mercifully lets my thoughts go without a response.
As she stands up, her legs wobble. I quickly get up to stabilize her, and our eyes connect, making my heart feel like there’s a million splinters inside. We stare at each other as a world of emotions and unspoken words passes between us. Ones that we’re not ready to confront.
“Take care, Naomi,” I say.
“Y-you too, Killian,” she mumbles as she quickly runs out of the room.
I pick up my phone and call Axel.
“Hello?” he answers.
“Take her home.”
“Wait, what? What happ — ?”
“Just take her home,” I grind out. I feel like there’s no oxygen circulating through my body.
“Yes, sir,” he says as he hangs up.
I fall to my knees and shove my face in my palms.
What the fuck just happened?
While I don’t have the answer to that question for myself, I do know I feel like the very reason for my existence just walked out of my life, and I’ll never be able to breathe or function again. I feel like a shell of a human.
“Killian?” Axel says to me several hours later from my doorway.
I’m sitting in my recliner reading a book—Naomi’s favorite one. “Mmmm?” I mumble out, pretending like I’m reading. I couldn’t tell anyone a damn thing about what’s going on. I’ve been stuck in the same damn spot on page twenty since I opened the book an hour ago.
“You okay, man?” he asks as he sits across from me on the couch.
“Did you drop her off?” I ask, even though I know the answer to that. I stopped myself from watching her through the cameras I planted in her home. But I did check to see if the GPS on the car left her at the house. Not that I don’t trust Axel, I just needed to see for myself.
“Yes, she seemed off . . . a lot like you,” he admits. “I’m worried about you both.”
“Naomi is strong and — ”
“And apparently a manipulative and crazy-smart woman!” Axel chimes in.
“That she is. I take it she told you everything?” I put the bookmark in the book, finally giving up. I wasn’t reading shit.
“Yeah, it was a long car ride, and I refused to let silence fill it.” That’s my best friend, ever the chatty Cathy. At least their friendship was real. Maybe?
“How did it end?” I ask curiously.
He gives me a half-smile. “I asked her if we’d ever see her again. She said she’d love to have lunch with me sometime, and introduce me to Quinnly.”
“Oh,” I say, feeling my heart sink. Real, I guess.
“But she said she’ll need some time.” He leans in so his arms are resting on his knees. “How about you? What do you need?”
“A brain transplant, honestly. It’s a lot to process that I was manipulated into falling for a woman I thought was my soulmate when in reality, she was trying to get revenge for her dead mother, who she thought I killed, but didn’t,” I gasp out.
“Wow. Now that is a mouthful and insane.” He gives me a small smile. “But a great story to tell the grandkids one day! How Meemaw and Pop-pop met?”
I raise my eyebrow at him.
“Fine! You can be Grandma and Grandpa.” He laughs.
“Axel . . .” I groan.
“Ugh. Don’t tell me you’ll be one of those couples that makes their grandkids call you by your first name, or worse—Aunt and Uncle.” He dramatically gasps, while holding his hand to his chest.
I sigh deeply. “I don’t think kids, let alone grandkids, will be in my future. At least not with Naomi.”
“You’re only thirty-nine! You have plenty of time,” he jokes again.
I glare at him.
He takes a deep breath and wipes the smile off his face. “Stop. It. I was trying to lighten the mood. But broody Killian doesn’t work. The man Naomi fell for—’cause yes she fell for you—is her Killer. Not this pile-of-pathetic pretending to read her book but actually sulking around like a dumbass.”
My mouth drops open. Harsh.
“She needs time to process all of this insanity, and so do you! And it’s only been a few fucking hours. My lord, stop acting like a teenager. You’ll have your forever with her soon enough.”
“None of it was real!”
“It may have started because she manipulated the circumstances, but I think fate works in mysterious ways. It somehow made her get it wrong, so both of you could find each other and make it right.”
“I don’t know, Axe.”
“Well, I do. While you two weren’t paying attention to good ol’ Axel here, I was watching it all. Every little glance, tone, and inch toward each other. You guys fell, and it was fucking real .”
“It was only a few days.”
“I don’t care! It was real! I know it. You both know it, you just need some goddamn time. It could be a few days, or maybe weeks . . . or maybe even longer. But you will find your way back. I know if it was your parents you’d be ruthless too. Hell, you were.”
I flinch.
“Sorry for being harsh.”
“Okay . . . maybe you’re right,” I say as I feel some hope coming back to my body.
A loud beeping alerts on my phone. I take it out of my pocket and look down to see a black Toyota Celica at the perimeter, approaching at top speed.
I look up to see Axel grinning from ear to ear. “Maybe just hours to process? Man, you kids move fast.”
The excitement and relief are now flooding my senses in waves as I run toward the front door, Axel hot on my tail. My heart is racing faster with each step forward.
It’s Naomi’s car approaching.
She came back to me.