Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Ciara
Marco dodges out of the way of the man with the knife but the one who punched him goes in for another hit. He punches Marco in the stomach, making him drop to his knees. The man with the knife tries to stab Marco but Marco jerks to the side, narrowly avoiding getting hit. He gets to his feet.
I’m frozen solid, watching everything in horror. Will these men kill Marco? And why? Because of my brother? Or because of another enemy?
The lack of knowledge keeps me planted in fear.
Marco grabs my arm to tug me along but the man slashes his knife in Marco’s direction. In the process, the knife ends up cutting into my arm. I gasp as blood spills out of the cut on the top of my forearm.
The man with the knife doesn’t even seem bothered by me getting hurt and continues coming after Marco.
Marco grabs the man’s wrist and forces him to drop the knife before he punches the man hard in the face.
At that very moment, a security guard runs over, holding his gun. “Back away from each other.”
The two men who tried to kill Marco slowly step away.
“No one move,” the guard warns.
I glance down at the blood on my arm and it makes me woozy. I stumble back and fall right into Marco’s arms.
“She needs medical attention,” Marco says. “That asshole cut her.”
“She was in the way,” the man growls.
“Then get her out of here,” the guard instructs, nodding towards the entrance. Marco lifts me into his arms bridal style and I’m too shocked to object.
His arms are strong and big. His chest is warm and comforting. It’s a strange sensation I’m experiencing – one I don’t understand.
The moment we’re outside and the cool air hits me in the face, I come to my senses. “Put me down. I can walk. It wasn’t my leg that was hurt.”
Marco sets me on my feet and gently takes my arm. “The cut is shallow but it’s still bleeding. You need to get to the hospital. This will need stitches.”
“My dad doesn’t know I ran away from my bodyguard. I’ll get into trouble.”
“You can’t leave your wound open like that. You don’t need to get an infection and die. You need stitches. Come on. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Don’t you have a private doctor we can go to? One that won’t ask questions?”
“No. Not anymore. Not after I lost everything.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He shakes his head. “That’s a discussion for another time. Come on. Let’s go.”
I sit beside Marco in his car, neither one of us talking. There’s a tenseness between us, like the grand canyon. We don’t know how to bypass it.
I hold a napkin to my arm and watch as the blood seeps through the white flimsy fabric. “You stopped that man after he cut me.”
“He shouldn’t have cut you.”
“I agree. I just…”
“What?” he asks in a surprisingly gentle tone.
“I just didn’t think you’d help save my life.”
“I said you were mine, Ciara. That means protecting you.”
“You just acted like you wanted to control me so I assumed you wouldn’t want to protect me.” The moment I say it, I realize how silly it sounds.
“If a man comes at you with a knife, I’ll protect you. That I can promise. I am a man who keeps my word.”
I flinch. He’s implying that I don’t keep my word. Screw him.
We arrive at the hospital but before we get out, I have to say one more thing. “Thank you. I guess. For saving me from that man.”
“He was trying to kill me so it wasn’t completely selfless.” He pauses. “But you’re welcome.”
We enter the ER and a nurse takes me straight to a chair to look over my arm. Marco hovers nearby. A nurse tries asking him questions but he says that we’re just friends and he doesn’t know any of my medical history.
But Marco and I won’t be strangers forever. Not after we’re married. A tingle runs down my body and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
“I have to tell your dad about this,” he says after a doctor begins stitching up my arm.
“Do you have to?”
“I have to gain his trust, Ciara. You understand. Besides, he’ll see the stitches on your arm anyway.”
I sigh and slump against the seat. “You’re right. Call him.”
Marco does. It doesn’t take long for my brother and father to show up at the hospital. The doctor finishes my stitches and gives me a prescription for antibiotics and tells me I’m free to go.
“What happened?” Cormac asks once I enter the waiting room. Marco keeps his distance from my brother, I notice. “Was it that fucker? Did he hurt you?”
“No. Two men tried killing Marco and I got in the way. One of them cut me.”
“What?” my father hisses.
Cormac’s eyes widen and he stumbles back. “What men? Where did this happen?”
“At a nightclub,” I admit. “I got away from Ian.”
“I know,” Dad says in a stern voice. “Ian called me the moment you ran away and he couldn’t find you. If it weren’t for Marco, then who knows where you’d be.”
“You were at a nightclub?” Cormac asks. “Why did you go there? It’s dangerous.”
“Because I just wanted a night of fun,” I snap. “I’ve had my life dictated by the two of you forever and I just wanted a moment to myself. I ran into Marco at the club and those two men attacked him. They also came at me. Marco stopped them.”
Cormac goes quiet, which is unusual for him. He’s always running his mouth off whenever he feels like it.
“Let’s just get you home,” Dad sighs. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters. But you’re not leaving my sight until the day of the wedding. Not until you’re married to Marco. Is that understood?”
With no other choice, I nod. I know I won’t get anywhere with him.
Dad turns to Marco and shakes his hand. “Thank you for protecting my daughter.”
“She got cut,” Cormac growls. “I don’t think he did a good job at protecting her.”
“Cormac, enough,” Dad warns. “We’re leaving. Come along, Ciara.”
“Cormac, a word,” Marco says. “Before you leave.”
“I would rather eat paint than talk with you,” he spits.
“I think we should talk. You’ll want to hear what I have to say. Trust me.”
“You two talk,” Dad says. “Ciara and I will go.”
I want to know what Marco has to say to my brother but judging by the anger on Marco’s face, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Does he think my brother was behind this?
But surely not. Cormac wouldn’t put me in danger. Someone else attacked Marco and I’m scared to find out who.
I have no idea who my future husband is and what kind of enemies he has. I’m even more scared to find out that I don’t have all the answers.
Marco
Once Ciara and Patrick are gone, I turn to Cormac. “You sent those men after me, didn’t you?”
“You’re fucking crazy. I didn’t do anything. I would never put my sister in danger.”
I cross my arms. “You see, I thought so too. You’re clearly protective of her.
But I saw your reaction when she told you about what had happened.
You sent those men after me which means you have people watching where I go.
How else could you have known I was at that club?
But what you couldn’t predict was your sister being there.
I didn’t even know she would be there. It was just a coincidence running into her.
Those men didn’t know she was your sister.
You must have told them to kill me at all costs, no matter who got in the way.
You just didn’t expect it to be Ciara. I saw the guilt on your face, Cormac.
I know it’s you who poisoned me. I know it’s you who sent those men after me. ”
He grabs my shirt and pulls me towards him. As a younger man, he has more strength than I possess but I work out myself. I grab his own shirt and shove him back.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cormac growls. “Stay away from my sister.”
“I protected her from those men. I will be married to her. Your dad wants this. You don’t have any say, Cormac.”
“If you’re dead, you can’t marry her.”
“Is that a threat?”
“You don’t have any proof it was me.”
“I don’t need proof to know it was you. I will marry Ciara and you’re going to have to fucking deal with it.” Seeing Ciara in danger tonight brought out a protectiveness I haven’t felt in a long time. I will not lose her now, especially because of her asshole brother.
Cormac storms away. He knows I’m right and there’s no hiding who he is. I now know what and who I’m dealing with.
If Cormac tries to come for me again, I won’t hesitate to kill him. The only problem is: it will ruin my alliance with Patrick. I have to be smart about this.
But if it’s my life or his, I will choose myself any day of the week.
As for Ciara… something shifted between us tonight. She is just a means to an end to get the alliance I want. Nothing more. And yet, I didn’t hesitate to protect her. I wanted to.
I’m not sure if I should be afraid or relieved I’m still capable of human emotion after I shut off my heart for so long. Either way, this new feeling for Ciara is not going to go away anytime soon.
Ciara
When Cormac returns home in a huff, I’m scared to ask him what I’m feeling. But I have to know the truth.
“Did you send those men after Marco?” I ask after following him into our home gym. Without looking at me, he picks up dumbbells and starts doing bicep curls.
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you promised you’d kill Marco for me. So… did you send those men? I know you wouldn’t put me in danger, Cormac. It must have been an accident then. So did you send those men?”
“No,” he huffs out, not looking at me. “I did not. Marco has a lot of enemies. It wasn’t me.”
“Ok. I believe you.” My brother has never given me reason to distrust him. “Maybe…” I bite my lip, shocked by what’s on my mind.
He sets the dumbbells down. “Maybe what?”
“Maybe we don’t need to kill Marco.”
“Why would you say that?” Never in my life has my brother looked at me like I was this crazy.
“Because he saved my life tonight. One of those men tried attacking me – well he did attack me.” I hold up my bandaged arm. “But Marco stopped that man from hurting me even more. Maybe he’s not so bad.”
“You want to marry him?”
“No,” I say on instinct. “I’m just saying… maybe we don’t need to kill him.” Seeing Marco fight for me tonight made me realize he’s not all bad.
“But if we don’t kill him, you’ll have to marry him, Ciara. That’s how this works. He needs to die.”
“No, you’re right,” I say quickly. “But…”
“But?”
“Would marrying a man who fought to save my life be such a bad thing?”
“You’re not thinking straight. You went through something traumatic tonight. Go rest. Sleep. And then in the morning, you’ll be thinking more clearly. I will kill Marco for you, sister. I promise you that.”
More promises. I can’t keep mine. I’m not sure if I can trust Marco’s word. And as for my brother… well, I always know he keeps his promises.
And right now, I’m not sure if I should be scared of that fact or not.