Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
STEPHEN
“You should leave via the emergency stairs, get out of the building. I’ll take it from here.”
The words from Dallen’s father halt my steps toward her. “I can’t leave. I know what I’ve done, and I don’t regret it. I won’t leave her here.”
“You will if you love her.” The Chief stands, his mouth tight with determination. “Go. I’ll be in contact soon.”
I turn to Dallen, move to reach for her, but she cowers against the wall. I stop, hate that I’ve done this to her. That I’ve placed her in a position that’s caused her so much trauma. A trauma no one ever heals from. Not really.
The sight of her shrinking from me guts me worse than any blade ever could. I’ve killed for her, would kill again without hesitation, and yet I’m the one she recoils from. What does that make me? Savior or monster?
“Dallen…”
“Go,” I hear her whisper. “Just go.”
A lump forms in my throat, and for several heartbeats I can’t move.
Will I ever see her again? Is she going to be okay?
What can I do to make this better? To make this night disappear?
If I could trade places with her, take the memory from her mind and carve it into my own, I would.
I would carry it. I would carry all of it.
“Go. The elevator is moving. The cops are here.”
I leave the building, exit through the emergency stairs, and make my way to the ground floor before stepping out onto the street through a side door. I shove my hands into my pockets and quickly hail a taxi. I’ll go to Lucien’s. He’ll know what I should do.
My mind isn’t thinking clearly, and I don’t trust myself to make any sound decisions right at the moment.
All I can see is Elio’s face under my fists.
All I can hear is the crack of bone giving way.
And the sick part? The part I don’t dare voice?
It satisfies something dark in me—something my father would understand perfectly.
I get to Lucien’s, and he buzzes me up immediately. His eyes widen at the sight of my face, my hands, as I step into his apartment foyer. Briar gasps and quickly comes toward me, clasping my hand to bring me into the living room.
“What’s happened?” they both say at the same time.
I slump into the chair, holding my head in my hands.
“I killed Elio Romero tonight. He was…” Goddamn it, how to voice such horror, the memory makes my stomach turn.
“Dallen was late to dinner we were having with her parents. She wasn’t responding to texts or calls, so her father and I went to her office to check everything was okay.
We found Elio there with her.” I pause, raising my eyes.
They lock with Briar’s, and I can see hers are full of tears.
“I don’t need to tell you what we found. ”
Her torn blouse. The bruises already forming. The bite on her chest. The sound she made when she saw me—relief and devastation tangled together. I will hear that sound for the rest of my life.
“Fuck.” Lucien starts to pace.
Briar comes and sits beside me, places a comforting arm about my back. “Where is Dallen now?” she asks.
“With her father at the office. He called the police and ambulance. I imagine they’ll go to the hospital.”
“And you just left?” Lucien asks, his tone far from pleased. In fact, it borders on accusatory.
I glare at him, not in the mood for lectures. “No, I didn’t leave. The Chief of Police ordered me to go before the cops arrived. I wanted to stay. I know what I did, and I’ll face the consequences of it. Goddamn it, I’d do it again, but he ordered me. I don’t know why.”
And I hate that I obeyed. Every instinct screamed at me to stay, to stand over Romero’s body and own what I’d done. Let the world see what happens when someone touches what’s mine.
Lucien nods, clearly thinking of everything that could or could not happen from this point. “So we wait. The Chief obviously had his reasons for those orders.”
“I don’t know what they would be. He loathes me. To pin something like this on me, have front row seats to me expiring Elio’s life, is the perfect outcome to keep his daughter out of my hands.”
“You love her, don’t you?” Briar states, not a question, merely stating a fact.
“I do. When I saw her tonight, on the floor, I can’t tell you—the rage that erupted inside of me was beyond reason.
Nothing, or anyone, could have changed how this night ended for Romero.
” It isn’t just rage. It’s terror. The kind that strips you to bone and leaves nothing but instinct.
I thought I was too late. I thought I’d lost her before I’d even had the chance to build a life with her.
“I’m glad he’s dead.” Briar hugs me tighter.
“You’re not helping, sweetheart,” Lucien states, throwing her a reassuring smile. “I’ll turn on the news, see if anything is being reported while we wait to hear from Dallen’s father. I’m certain we will.”
The call comes late the next day. I am ordered to Dallen’s parents’ house, and I arrive to find the place eerily quiet.
I expect cops to come out from behind closed doors and arrest me.
I welcome the charge. I don’t regret a thing, and I can’t be remorseful for removing another Romero from this world.
If prison is the price for keeping her alive, I will pay it. If exile is the cost, I will accept it. What I cannot accept is losing her because I wasn’t ruthless enough.
“She’s upstairs, first room on the left,” her father states when he lets me in. “I’ll be in my office. We need to talk before you leave.”
I nod and head upstairs, needing to see Dallen as much as I need air. The sight of her on a small lounge in her room, her legs tucked up beneath her, bruising over her face, her lips swollen, her jaw a horrible green and gray color—
My loathing for Elio doubles, and I send up a prayer that I hope he is burning in hell. I should have made it slower. That thought flashes through me before I can stop it. I should have made him feel everything she felt. And that is how I know the darkness in me is not gone—just restrained.
“Dallen?” I knock, not wanting to startle her or come in without permission.
She jumps anyway, but thankfully, upon seeing me, she waves me into her room. “Hi,” she says, and my heart crumbles in my chest.
I sit beside her, not sure if I can hold her hand, reach for her, comfort her. I want to, the draw to touch her, to remind myself that she’s okay, she’s here, alive at least—but I don’t. She looks so fragile, so injured and sore. I can’t add to her pain.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else I can say to her. What can I say when it was because of me, because of my family, and our past that brought on this trauma for the one woman I love most in the world?
“I had a choice to leave this relationship, and I didn’t. It’s not your fault.”
She is being too gracious. Too forgiving.
“But it is. I brought you into my world. One that we’ve been fighting to leave for years, and I knew that.
I still pursued you. Refused to think of what could happen…
I’m sorry I wasn’t there sooner.” I will never forgive myself for those lost minutes.
For the time it took to act. For the seconds wasted debating whether she was late due to some benign reason.
Those seconds could have cost her everything.
She swallows, and I can see the action pains her. “I’m not okay, Stephen, and I need time. I think this has to end until I'm ready. You need to walk away.”
I can’t walk away. I love her. The thought of not being with her rips open my body, and I clasp my chest, trying to soothe the ache.
I’ve always said I couldn’t walk away. That once she was mine, nothing would come between us, not even her family.
Every part of me wants to refuse. To say no.
To promise vengeance on anyone who dares separate us.
But that is the man my father raised. Not the man I want to be for her.
And yet, sitting here, seeing her broken, I can’t be the man I was. I can’t be another man who takes what’s not rightfully given. Freely given. “Okay.”
Her eyes widen, as if she expected another response. I don’t blame her. I wanted to give a different answer, but I’m not a bastard. A killer, yes. A son of a mafia king, absolutely. But when it comes to Dallen, I’d do whatever she says so that I may have a chance.
A second one that I desperately want.
She reaches for me and hugs me tight. I pull her against me, never wanting to let her go.
I breathe in the sweet scent of her hair and kiss her neck, wishing everything could be different.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get there sooner, baby.
” I swear to whatever God is listening, if she gives me another chance, no one will ever touch her again.
I will burn the world down before I allow it.
“I’m sorry too.”
We hold each other for a long time before she pulls back, settling herself back in her chair. “You should go. I’m feeling tired, and I need to sleep.”
I nod and stand, starting for the door. I turn back and drink in the sight of her. Take a mental image of her and what I’ll never allow to happen to her again. “I love you, Dallen. I’m sorry.”
Tears well in her eyes, and she bites her bottom lip, but doesn’t answer.
And why would she? There are no words that can fix this wrong. Correct the past. Only time—and even then, it only ever dulls the ache.
I head downstairs and find Dallen’s father in his den. “Close the door,” he orders as I step into the room.
I do as he states and take a seat. Now, for my reckoning, which, oddly, will be less painful than saying goodbye to Dallen. “What happens now? I assume you have a warrant for my arrest.”
The Chief leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers. “I’m not arresting you. In fact, as far as anyone is concerned, I killed Romero saving my daughter.”
I lean forward, not liking that outcome at all. “But there will be footage of me going into the building, of being in the elevator. Of strangling the life from his worthless body.”
“There is no footage. Elio Romero had that shut off before he headed up to Dallen’s floor. Those bastards are nothing if not thorough.”
Anger sweeps through me, and I fight not to lose control of my thoughts. Even in death, they manipulate the board. But they miscalculated one thing—they thought fear and love would weaken us. They were wrong.
“And Dallen and me? What’s to happen there?
” There was a time when I’d say to hell with her parents.
I get what I want, and I want Dallen. She’s mine as much as I’m hers, and nothing will keep me from having her.
But now? Now everything is changed. She’s changed, and I can’t disregard her family, her life, as easily as I may have once. I love her too much for that.
“It’s no secret I disagree with you seeing my daughter. You’re from a family that I’d prefer to take down than align myself with, but my daughter, for whatever crazy, unhinged reason, has fallen in love with you.”
The word love steals my breath. “She doesn’t love me, Chief. I haven’t won that honor.” Yet…
“You have,” he says, dismissing my denial.
“You just haven’t heard it, but I’m sure she’ll tell you one day.
But that you saved her, slayed the monster that will forever haunt her mind, I can’t hate you as much as I want.
And so if she chooses to see you after she’s through this period of her life, then we won’t stand in your way.
But know this,” the Chief states, leaning on the desk and meeting my eyes.
“Should you ever hurt her, or anyone ever harms her again because of something you or your family does…I’ll hunt you down and shoot you like the dog all you mafia fucks are.
I’ve lost one kid to crime. I won’t lose another. Do you understand?”
I fist my hands and release them. I can’t throw hands with Dallen’s father, no matter how much he’s just pissed me off. “I understand.”
“Good.” He leans back in his chair, his demeanor once again of indifference. “You need to give her time and space. She’ll choose when she’s ready to see you again, and if she doesn’t, you need to be okay with that.”
I nod, knowing that the next several weeks, months, years, even, may be the hardest of my life. I reach into my pocket, pull out a note, and slide it across the desk. “If I’m to give her time and not face it, give her my address if she chooses me. I’ll be there for the foreseeable future.”
The Chief glanced at the address. “Ireland?”
“I have a cottage there. I need some time away from this city. I hope Dallen joins me there. Ireland will help her heal. It’ll be good for her.” Away from bloodstained hallways. Away from names that carry violence. Somewhere the past can’t find us so easily.
“Thanks for keeping my name out of this mess. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen when I first met Dallen. I liked her. I love her. I want her in my life. Just thought you should know.”
The Chief doesn’t answer, merely stares at me before I leave. I walk out of Dallen’s home and out of her life.
For now.
But I’m not done fighting for her. Not with fists. Not with threats but with patience. With distance. With becoming someone she can choose without fear.