Chapter 59 I Promise – Briar
I PROMISE
brIAR
Now
Koen dropped me off at my apartment a couple of hours ago. He didn’t follow me upstairs, and I didn’t invite him up. Neither of us said much on the ride over, both of us still reeling from what happened in the dance studio.
What we did.
It shouldn’t have happened, and I could kick myself for being so stupid. Hooking up with Koen complicates everything.
It’s late, close to two a.m., but I can’t sleep. So here I am, pacing my empty apartment, feeling unsettled. My head’s a mess, and I can’t focus. I attempted to read a couple of books that are now overdue from the library, only to lose interest a few pages in.
I’ve resorted to curling up on the couch, watching trailers of shows and movies without committing to any. Not finding anything to match this mood I’m in.
He said he’d be back tomorrow to pick me up for the Delacroix Conservatory’s charity gala, like it’s no big deal. Like he didn’t just rearrange my insides and send me to both heaven and hell before dropping me back on Earth.
Gio texted earlier wanting an update on any new information on Koen.
I’ve been feeding him as much insignificant information as I can.
I just can’t bring myself to give him anything that might hurt Koen or his family, and I can tell I’m starting to piss Gio off, but I just keep playing dumb, claiming Koen’s still keeping me at arm’s length.
What am I doing?
What. Am. I. DOING?
Koen gave me an out, he begged for it actually, all I had to do was tell him to stop. Why didn’t I say stop? Why didn’t I want him to stop? There’s no future with him. There’s no universe in which he and I live happily ever after together.
This isn’t a fairy tale.
I’m pissed off and angry, and I don’t even know who I’m mad at. Koen? Myself? I had made peace with it. I had all but convinced myself that Koen O’Rourke was nothing but bad news. Violent, unhinged, and far too much of a risk for me—for Remi.
But that little box I’d shoved him into? It’s getting harder to keep him inside. Is Koen violent and unhinged? Yes. Absolutely. But he’s also gentle, considerate, and protective.
And don’t get me started on how the dark Irish King takes time out of his day to make sure his brothers have home cooked meals.
It might be time to rethink my play here…
But where do I even start? Hey Koen, so real quick… I’ve been secretly hiding your daughter from you for four years and oh, yeah, since we reconnected, I’ve also been leaking information to Giovanni Moretti and his cronies about you and your brothers.
Yeah, I’m sure that conversation will go over just fine.
A pounding at the door has me looking up, instantly tense. It’s the middle of the night, and Koen already told me he wouldn’t be back until morning, not that he would use the door anyway…
Whoever it is pounds again, and slowly, I switch off the television, carefully placing the remote on the coffee table before walking slowly over to the door. It’s probably Gio, or one of his men, checking in. I did let that last text go unanswered.
“Open up. I know you’re home,” a gruff voice barks out, accompanied by more pounding, harder this time. The voice sounds vaguely familiar.
Standing on my tiptoes, I peek through the peephole, feeling myself pale when I recognize who’s on the other side. I make sure the door’s chain is secured, then I take a deep breath and crack open the door.
A smile creeps across Daniel’s face at the sight of me. “Good evening, sweetheart. You wanna invite me in?” His eyes flick to the chain above my head and then back to me.
I do a quick scan of the hallway. He’s alone. “What can I help you with?” I ask, leaving the chain in place, keeping the barrier between us.
He frowns, and a look of annoyance flashes across his face before he replaces it with a fake smile. He’s not in uniform, or a suit like I normally see him in at Wonderland; instead, he’s wearing workout clothes, dark sweats with a ball cap pulled low over his face.
“I have a couple of questions I want to ask you.” His smile, while meant to be reassuring, just sends waves of nausea and a chill down my spine.
I narrow my eyes. “Are you here on official police business?” I ask, since there’s no sign of a badge in sight. “Do you have a warrant?”
He frowns, and that’s all the answer I need. I try to slam the door, but I’m too slow. Daniel lunges forward, shoving his shoulder hard into the door, pushing both me and the door back, and snapping the pathetic little chain.
I fall on my ass from the force of it, scrambling to my feet just as Daniel steps into my apartment, shutting the door behind him. I notice then that he’s wearing gloves when he slides the deadbolt into place.
“What do you want?” My eyes dart around the apartment, careful to keep the distance between us even as he comes closer.
“Gio told me what he did.” He shakes his head. “How he gave you to Koen O’Rourke as collateral. He said you and him have a deal and that he’ll let you go on your merry fucking way once you’ve held up your end of the bargain.”
I don’t say anything, though it’s reassuring to hear that Gio might actually plan to keep his word after everything is said and done.
Daniel keeps coming closer, while I keep backing up. He’s between me and the exit, and my eyes shift to the island, where my phone is charging. I can’t get there either, so I start edging toward the hallway, remembering the gun I keep locked in my nightstand.
“I’m up for a promotion next month, you know?” He puffs out his chest, and my lip curls slightly in disgust. “To Corporal.”
“Good for you,” I offer, though my words fall flat of any actual meaning.
“It is good,” Daniel snaps.
“I don’t understand what that has to do with me?” I ask, though my voice shakes because I’m pretty sure I know.
Daniel frowns, giving me an apologetic look.
“You can blame Gio for this. I handed you to him on a silver platter and what did he fucking do? He botched it all up!” I wince when his voice rises in volume, the rage in it setting off my fight or flight.
“You should be on a plane, one bound for Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Russia even! But now I have to worry about you running that mouth.”
“I won’t say anything. Giovanni’s made sure of it,” I tell him, but he just scoffs.
“Bella, Bella, Bella,” he laments, releasing a rueful laugh.
“I’ve been around a long time, and there’s one thing I’ve learned; whores can’t help but run their mouths.
I’ve been waiting a long time for this promotion, and I’m not about to let some bitch fuck it all up. ”
There’s no mistaking the dark intent in his eyes, I bolt for my bedroom, hoping to get past him, but he’s too fast, catching hold of my arm and hauling me backward. He throws me so hard against the wall, it knocks the breath out of me.
He lunges toward me and I scream, the sound raw and desperate.
Daniel struggles to shut me up, but I’m fighting hard.
He’s got me pinned to the wall, while his hands grapple for my throat.
I reach blindly to the left, feeling nothing but air, until the back of my hand knocks into the lamp and I grab hold of it, ripping the cord out of the wall, and pitching us into darkness when I smash the ceramic base over Daniel’s head.
The lamp shatters and he yells, cursing at me as he stumbles, falling to the floor.
I run for the door. But I didn’t knock him out, and his hand wraps around my ankle before I can get clear of him.
I fall forward, my momentum taking me down hard.
He drags me backwards and my fingers claw at the floor, trying to get away.
“Oh no, no—you’re not getting away this time you little bitch. Gio should have taken care of you a long time ago. Did you really think he was just going to let you walk away from this?” He laughs, which freaks me out even more, because he’s laughing while trying to kill me. The sociopath.
I kick and twist but despite my struggles… he’s winning.
“Take your fucking hands off of her.”
Koen.
We both freeze. My gaze snaps up at the sound of his voice, my eyes connecting with his for all but a second before he turns his attention to Daniel. His gun trained on his head.
“Hey now, you don’t want to do this,” Daniel sneers, his hand tightening around my ankle. “I’m a cop—”
Bang.
Silence.
My ankle falls to the floor and I push myself away from him, eyes wide, staring—staring at Daniel’s dead body. Dead. He’s dead. Koen killed him. Holy shit. Everything happened so fast.
“You shot him.”
“Aye.”
Keeping his gun on Daniel, Koen comes closer, crouching down to check his pulse, confirming that Daniel is, in fact, very dead.
“You killed him!”
Koen looks up at me.
“You just shot him, just like that. He—He’s a cop!” I say frantically, pointing down at the dead body in my kitchen. Fuck, he’s a cop.
Koen’s head tilts slightly, assessing my reaction. “Would you have preferred I left him alive?” He frowns, looking down at Daniel’s body. “I don’t think he had the best of intentions.”
He rises, but it only draws my attention to the gun he’s still holding in his hand. He hasn’t put it away. Panic takes over and I stumble to my feet, feeling his dark eyes burning into me. He’s standing there, gun in hand, a dead body at his feet and he’s looking at me.
He killed a cop. He killed a cop, and I just watched it happen.
“Briar—” Koen starts, his voice cautious, reading the look of utter panic on my face.
“No. No.” I back up quickly. “Stay away from me!” I glance around for anything else I can use as a weapon, but coming up short.
He takes a step toward me, his brow furrowed. “Briar.” He reaches for me, but I flinch away. “No! Don’t touch me.” His hand falls, but he doesn’t stop following me, and I move faster, backing my way down the hallway, too afraid to turn my back on him.
He stalks after me like a predator would its prey.
“Don’t. Please don’t, Koen.” My hands come up protectively in front of me, and he freezes, staring at me with a blank expression on his face.
I seize the opportunity, turning and bolting the rest of the way down the hallway.
“Briar, stop!”
I don’t wait. I run, nearly sliding past the door, my socks sliding on the slick hardwood. Koen must have come through my window, because it’s cracked open.
I rush around my bed, my fingers close around the handle of the window, pulling it wider, the cool air hits my face, and it feels like a wave of relief right before it’s slammed shut. A tattooed hand is pressed up against the glass, holding it closed.
I scream, terror pumping through my veins, while his arm circles around my waist. He rips me away from the window, tossing me onto the bed. “No!” I yell, thrashing wildly, hitting him. “Let me go! Let me go! Please—”
“Stop, Briar, just stop—” Before I can scramble away, he’s on top of me, pressing a palm over my mouth while he works to get the rest of me under control. “Stop bloody screaming!”
His palm muffles my sob and I twist, attempting to throw him off of me, but he’s too heavy, tears run down my cheeks, and I really start to lose it.
“Briar! Briar, hey!” He lets go of my mouth, trying to get my attention, but I don’t want to look at him.
“You shot him, you shot him, you shot him, you’re going to shoot me.”
Koen freezes. “I’m not going to shoot you.”
I start hyperventilating, and he grabs hold of my face with both hands, forcing me to look at him. “Briar, breathe. Just breathe. Okay?” There’s concern in his dark eyes. “Listen to me. I’m not going to hurt you. I am not going to hurt you.”
I close my eyes, shaking my head.
“Look at me. Briar, look at me.” He keeps his grip on my face until my eyes finally lift to his. “You’re safe, okay? That was really scary, what just happened, what he tried to do… But he can’t hurt you.” He shakes his head slowly. “And I promise you, I promise you, baby, I will never hurt you.”
He shifts off of me and pulls me up and into his chest, wrapping his arms around me—not to cage, but to comfort me as I’m crying. “I’ve got you, okay? You’re safe.”
“But you killed a cop, and I—I witnessed it. Aren’t you worried about me telling someone?”
“No.” He shakes his head, and there’s not a trace of hesitation in his voice.
“You’re not?” I sniff, looking up at him.
“No.” Koen says, looking down into my eyes. “Because I trust you.” He gives me a light squeeze and then a little wink. “You’re my girl,” he murmurs, like he’s letting me in on a secret.
His words cleave me in two, remembering that night at the bar all those years ago when he protected me from Ben—called me his girl—and the tears fall freely now.
“You’re shaking,” he tells me, and it’s true. I’m trembling; he saved me. He’s been saving me. Koen’s just been protecting me from the beginning.
I can’t find my voice, guilt overwhelms me, threatening to consume me. I should tell him now before it’s too late. But what if it already is?
Koen wraps his arms around me, and I cry harder. The safety of his arms feels like a double-edged sword. I don’t deserve it. I have to tell him the truth.
But when I do… will he keep his promise?