Chapter 33 #2
“Derek, come on. Can’t you see that you’re hurting her?” Megan was hovering now. “Just let her go.”
“I’m comforting her. Aren’t I, baby?” Derek released me just long enough to rub tears from underneath my face. His touch was too rough, pulling at my skin. “I miss you, Laney. I’m here because I still love you. You know that, don’t you?”
I wanted to say no. I wanted to shake him off, tell him to get the hell out of my life, leave me to pick up the pieces that he had broken first, and others had shattered after.
But nothing could come out. Even my breath wouldn’t come.
He leaned down, his lips hovering over mine.
“No.” I leaned away just as another set of heavy footsteps sounded at the door.
Megan crossed her arms. “Well, it’s about freaking time.”
Ronan stood in the doorway, fists clenched by his side as he took in the scene. His dark gaze landed on Derek and sparked dangerously. “Take your hands off my wife. Now.”
Derek just clutched me that much tighter and sneered. “Am I supposed to be scared by that?”
Ronan’s eyes turned coal-black. “If you were smart, you would be.”
Two steps, and he yanked Derek off me by the collar, then spun me out to Megan’s waiting hands. One more step, and the crack of my husband’s knuckles on Derek’s jaw echoed through the apartment.
“Ronan, stop!” My voice finally returned.
“He had his hands on you, Laney.” Ronan’s voice was low and deadly as he circled Derek, who had stumbled backward, hand to his face. “He was trying to kiss you, and you didn’t want him to. I heard you.”
“Laney, who does this guy think he is?” Derek cried. “This is who you want to be with? A two-bit thug who goes around assaulting people for giving hugs?”
“Better than a limp-dick sociopath who can’t keep his junk in his pants.” Ronan was circling him now, like a fighter fresh in the ring. “Seems to me you deserve a lesson in respecting women, Derek.”
He jabbed Derek’s shoulder on the name, and while my ex was able to shuffle back enough to parry the blow, it was enough to wake me up too.
“Ronan, stop.” I twisted out of Megan’s grasp and darted between the two men.
“Laney, get out of the way,” Ronan ordered.
I drew myself up as tall as my five feet and change would allow. “No.”
Ronan stared, eyes dilated. “Laney, I swear to God. No one touches you like that and gets away with it—”
“Please.” I put my hand on his chest, feeling his heart give strong, hard beats under my palm.
“I know you want to protect me. I know you want to do what’s right.
So please listen to me when I tell you that taking your anger out on him isn’t worth it.
Ronan, he isn’t worth it. Please be better than that. For me.”
Derek used the opportunity to scramble around us for the door. “I’m with her, man. You don’t need to—”
“Oh my God, get out!” Megan shoved him out the front door and shut it after him before running to the other side of the apartment to shout out the window. “And don’t think you are officially dis-invited from game night, you ass!”
She turned to find Ronan and me watching her and offered a sheepish smile.
I slumped on the arm of the couch. My heart was still racing. The medication should have started to work by now.
“You think we could get a moment?” Ronan gestured toward me. “I need a moment with my wife.”
Megan looked at me. “Laney?”
I took a deep breath. Then another for good measure. Okay. I could do this.
Then I took an extra step away from Ronan just to put some space between us. “Megan stays. Ronan, what are you doing here?”
For the first time since I’d met him, he looked legitimately helpless.
Part of me didn’t blame him. Roman was used to being the quickest person in the room, and subsequently, used to being able to manipulate various situations using his wit or even minor alter egos.
Right now, he had nowhere to hide.
“I—” He glanced between Megan and me nervously. “I came here to say—”
I didn’t look away, even with the emotions roiling inside me. “To say what?”
His eyes found mine again with an expression that was straight as an arrow. “I love you.”
Bullseye.
He knew it too as he went on, steadfast and sure. “I’m here because I’m so fucking in love with you, Laney, that nothing else matters. Not my family. Not their company. Certainly not any of my father’s Machiavellian bullshit. You, Ari, are all that matters to me.”
“Ohhh.” Megan’s hand covered her mouth.
I could certainly feel my own resolve cracking as another round of tears pricked my eyes. “I—how do I know that’s even true? How can I trust you after what you did?”
He grabbed my hand before I could move farther away, begging me to keep looking at him.
“Because you know me, Laney Fisher. Better than anyone else. You see who I am when I’m not forced to be one of Niall Black’s sons or Blackguard’s dirty henchman.
You give me the freedom to tell the truth, and I swear to God, Laney, I have never lied to you about how I feel, not once.
Even before I admitted it to myself, I was always in this. I only ever wanted you.”
By this point, I couldn’t stop the tears from sliding down my cheeks.
It was different from before. These weren’t the harsh, painful sobs that robbed me of speech after years of pent-up pain.
This was a different kind of emotion, born of passion and yearning and, yes, if I was telling the truth too, love.
“Please, Ari.”
Megan and I both sucked in harsh breaths as he lowered to one knee, then the other.
“Oh, Laney,” she murmured.
Neither Ronan nor I looked at her. We could only see each other.
“I’ll do anything,” he whispered. “I’m on my knees. I’m here for one reason only—to beg my wife for a second chance to make her happy. Please let me love you. Please let me try.”
Maybe I should have said no. Stuck to my guns and forced him out. Broken both our hearts all over again.
But there’s a reason they say the truth sets you free. I felt Ronan’s truth in every word, just as I felt my own thrumming on a cellular level.
He loved me.
And I loved him too.
In a way, that made the idea of trying again that much more terrifying because now there was so much more to lose. But I could do it. If I could just be brave enough to try.
I opened my mouth to tell him. “Ronan, I—”
Three hard knocks on the door made everyone in the room jump.
“Seattle Police,” a voice called. “We have a warrant.”
The blood drained from my face as I looked back at Ronan. “I didn’t—I swear, Ronan, I didn’t say anything—”
He rose and pulled me into him. “I know,” he spoke into my hair. “It’s okay.” Then he turned to Megan. “Let them in.”
She looked unsure until the banging started again.
“Ma’am, we hear you in there. We’re giving you until the count of three to open the door, or else we will have to break in ourselves.”
“Just do it,” Ronan ordered.
“Keep your pants on, I’m coming!” Megan shouted as she scurried to the door. With a sorrowful look, she opened it.
“Ronan?” I wondered.
His arms around me were still tight, though I could see the fear in his eyes. “Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”
Would it, though?
The door opened, and three policemen entered the room, two in uniform, another in a suit that identified him as a detective. “Ronan Black?”
Ronan turned, his arms still tight around me. “That’s me.”
All three policemen looked shocked that he was willing to cooperate. “Mr. Black, we have a warrant for your arrest,” the detective said. “We’ll need you to come with us.”
I jerked at the sight of handcuffs. “What? But he’s cooperating.”
“Laney, stop. I need you to trust me.” Ronan cupped my face and delivered a brief but thorough kiss. “I love you. No matter what, I love you.”
Two of the officers approached warily, clearly having been warned about Ronan as a risk. They seemed surprised when he unwound his arms from around my waist and offered his wrists for them to secure.
“Mr. Black.” The detective spoke while the other two affixed the cuffs. “You’re under arrest for the murder of William Richards. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law—”
“What?” I jumped forward, only for Megan to yank me right back and out of the way.
“Don’t,” she said as they went on reading his rights. “You’ll make it worse.”
“But he didn’t do anything!” My chest throbbed as I tried in vain to shake her off. “He was with me the whole night, I swear it! He couldn’t have done anything because we were together, and—”
“Laney, don’t.” Ronan’s eyes, so dark, so fierce, implored me to be quiet. “I told you. Don’t lie for me.”
“You have the right to an attorney,” the detective continued. “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you—”
“But we met at the club.” I was finding it hard to breathe again. My heart felt like it was trying to jump out of my chest. “We met in Vegas—and he couldn’t—he didn’t—”
“Laney, listen to me. This is important.” Ronan’s voice cracked as the officers began to steer him toward the door. “Take care of yourself, do you understand? Schedule your surgery. Finish your PhD. Live your life, Ari. For me.”
“No!” I was reaching full levels of hysteria now, even as Megan tried to shush me. “I won’t let them take you—you can’t—”
But Ronan’s voice remained calm and gentle, tinged with inevitability. “Whatever happens, remember that I love you. And marrying you—even for the wrong reasons—was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“No!” I wrenched myself away from Megan, intent on following. “I won’t let them—”
My heart felt like it was about the beat out of my chest. Then a harsh pull stopped me cold, and I crumpled to the floor as the world spun.
“Laney?” Megan’s voice was far away. “Laney, what’s going on?”
“My pills—I need—”
“Oh God, ohGodohGod, Laney, you just took the last one.”
I blinked. The world was going blurry. “Please—call—”
“LANEY!” Ronan’s voice was a distant roar. “Jesus, help her! Call an ambulance! She has a heart condition!”
My name, shouted with pure terror, was the last thing I heard as the world went black.