Chapter 16
RAPH
My will wasn’t strong enough to resist her, not when I knew she’d been touching herself behind that door.
I didn’t expect for her to strip for me, but fuck, I’ll never get that image out of my head for as long as I’m alive. She’s even more beautiful than I imagined.
Seeing her like that, all turned on, fingers dipping inside her, I admit I was weak. Weaker than I’ve ever been around her. I told myself it was okay to get a little taste. No harm. She’s still a virgin. She can still give that to someone else.
A sinner like me doesn’t deserve an angel like her. I’d swallow her light with my darkness and extinguish it for good.
She’s better off without me. It’s the way it has to be. Once we’re free, I’ll set her up with a house of her own, with her personal armed guard. That way I know she’s always watched out for. And if her fucking boyfriend or husband doesn’t like it, he’ll have to deal with me.
I bury a fist into my temple at the very thought of her with someone else.
My chest tightens. I may not like it, but it’s the way it has to be. But Nicolette is mine to protect. She’ll always be mine. No matter whose ring she wears.
She pulls on the hem of her oversized sweatshirt and flips the comforter over, getting ready for bed. We haven’t said much to each other since the shower. It’s the unease between us that I hate the most. I hated it then when I kept my distance, and I hate it even more now.
“Are you coming to bed?” she asks, settling on the pillow.
“Yeah…” I stare silently at her while she stares back.
I know I belong right beside her, holding her as she falls asleep. But instead, I shut off the lights and lower to the floor. Just as I’m ready to shut my eyes, a knock pounds on the door. Instantly, I jump to my feet.
“Who is that?” Her sharp intake of breath fills the room.
“I don’t know,” I whisper. “Stay here.”
My pulse knocks inside my ears. No one knows where we are. There’s not a house for miles. Whoever that is can’t be here for a friendly visit. Quietly, I reach for the nightstand drawer and pick up my semi-auto, slipping it into the waistband of my sweats.
“Please be careful,” she breathes.
“I will. Hide if you hear someone coming.”
She nods, her shoulders quivering as she sits up.
I hate leaving her alone, but I have to know who’s here before they try to get inside. I exit the bedroom and head for the main door until I’m beside the window.
When I flip the corner of the curtain, I find a black sedan parked right in front with a man, not much older than me, staring at his cell. He paces back and forth right before the door, muttering something, while a woman is waiting inside the passenger side, giving him an irritated look.
Another knock comes through, and he stares up at the door, turning his head back to the woman, flipping his hands in the air.
“Hey, excuse me,” he says. “But my wife and I are lost. If someone is in there, could you please help us out. We just want to find Acres Lodge. It’s our anniversary…” He chuckles nervously. “And I got us lost. Wife ain’t happy. You’d be doing me a solid.”
How the hell did they end up here?
“I don’t know where that is,” I call out. “Sorry.”
I do in fact know where the place is, and he’s definitely heading in the wrong direction.
“Oh, thank God! Someone is in there. Honey!” he yells over to her. “You were right. There is a man inside and he’s going to get us there. You’ll see.”
She rolls her window down. “Well, hurry! I’m exhausted and I need to pee!”
“Please, man, can you at least look at this damn map on my phone? The GPS keeps taking us in circles. It would mean a great deal. You know how women are.” He laughs again, and with a shake of my head, I unlock the door and start to open it. “Let me see the—”
The words die in my throat as a gun is pointed to my chest. “Hi, Raph. Sorry to have to do this, but your father sends his regards.”
His thumb rests on the trigger as a menacing grin takes hold of his face.
Fuck. Nicolette! I glance back at the car, but the woman is gone.
No!
In a flash, I duck down, just as one of his bullets rings off.
My leg kicks him, throwing him to the ground, the weapon slipping from his hands, the back of his head hitting the ground hard.
Not hesitating, I reach for his nine as he struggles.
My forearm pushes into his throat as I strain my other hand toward the gun.
Fingertips graze the muzzle, while simultaneously, I throw punch after punch into his jaw with my free hand. My fingers wrap around the weapon, and when he registers it in my grasp, his eyes bulge.
“Should’ve thought better than to come after her,” I say.
“Fuck you,” he spits out, rage filling his blue eyes when I line the barrel in between them.
“Go to hell,” I snap, firing a single bullet.
Blood seeps from the top of his head as I jump to my feet, rushing toward Nicolette. And as soon as I see that woman from the car on the floor, on top of her, hands wrapped around Nicolette’s throat, I don’t even hesitate.
Pop.
Nicolette screams as the bitch falls right over her, practically smothering her. Her muffled cries get louder as I run, throwing the woman off.
“It’s me,” I say as soon as she sees me, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” My voice breaks.
Gently, I lift her shuddering body into my arms.
“Are you hurt?” My eyes scan the length of her.
But she only cries with a shake of her head. Rage roils in my gut.
“Sh-she came through the window. I was so scared, Raph.” She burrows her face into my chest, and I kiss the top of her head, shutting my eyes.
This is what life with me will be like. There will always be an enemy we’re fighting, and she’ll always be the one they go after.
“We have to get out of here,” I tell her. “We’re no longer safe.”
“Wh-where are we going to go?” She looks back up, her features tight, eyes glistening.
The cold wind sweeps through the now-broken window, glass shattered on the ground.
Whoever these two were, they were experts. Not good ones, though. I have to get a hold of Michael and let him know what happened. But first, I have to get her to safety.
Hurriedly, I grab a suitcase from the closet and start stuffing our clothes and everything we have inside, while she throws in her shampoo and razors and all the cans of food she can find.
“Come on,” I tell her. “We have to go in case they send more people.”
“O-okay.” She nods while I grab her hand and drag the suitcase out the door, swinging the car door open and securing her inside.
Popping the trunk, I throw in the luggage before getting in.
“What about the bodies?” she asks just as I start the car.
“I’ll call Michael to send people to clean it up.”
Her hands ball and tremble in her lap. “I can’t believe your father found us. It has to be him, right?”
“It was.” I get us on the road, speeding down a deserted stretch of land, surrounded by tall mountains that I manage to see only due to the streetlights.
“Oh, God…” Her words trail.
I grab her hand and thread my fingers through hers, squeezing as I peer over before looking back on the road. “We’ll be okay. I promise you. We’ll make it out of this, and then you can be free from all of this.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want to be free if that means being without you.”
“You don’t mean that.” I turn right, whizzing past a single SUV to her right.
“But I do, Raph. I’d rather live a life of fear and be with you than be safe and alone.”
My jaw tenses, and I don’t know what to say because I don’t want that life for her. She deserves so much more than that. But if I tell her that, all she’ll do is fight me.
We drive wordlessly for miles, passing darkened street after darkened street.
I drop her hand, reaching into my pocket, removing my cell.
Pushing a button after I unlock it, I say, “Call Michael.”
The cell starts to ring.
“Yeah?” His voice booms through the vehicle.
“He sent two assassins after us. They tried to kill us. Their bodies are still there.”
The next thing we hear is a curse. “I’ll send the cleaners. Did you get to check the bodies for any marks?”
If they are a part of any crime syndicate, they’d have some kind of tattoo or mark on them.
“No time.”
“Okay. I’m on it. You two okay?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know where to go?”
“I know the plan.” We discussed this privately already. If we have to run, we go to this small, unassuming motel across state lines. It’s better to hide out somewhere with less foot traffic and even less cameras.
“Okay.” He pauses, but I can still hear his heavy breathing. “I’ll get you home, Raph, where you belong. And when you’re back, the seat is yours if you want it. I can step aside.”
Me as the head of the family? It’s something I’ve always wanted…once upon a time, when I cared about getting my father’s approval. But now I don’t.
“I’m happy to support you, Michael.”
“Are you sure?” he asks incredulously.
“Yes. The seat is yours.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am,” I tell him.
“I want you as my number two, then,” Michael continues. “I want you back where you belong. I won’t take no for an answer.”
I glance back at Nicolette. Can I still be with her when my position will bring added danger?
Will she even want me now? But it doesn’t matter. I won’t refuse my brother. He risked everything to help me. I owe him my respect and my loyalty too.
“Okay,” I tell him, my eyes on the road once more. “I’ll do it.”
And with those three words, I may have cemented my future without her.