Chapter 24 #2
“Because I have to go away for a few days.”
I sit up with a gasp. “What? Why?”
How far?
What if he never comes back?
I get up and pad over to him, and I realize he’s packing a bag for me as well as himself. A bag full of Rosie’s things is standing in the hall.
Cullan presses his lips together. “I’d rather not say for now. Will you look after Rosie for me?”
“Like she’s my own. ”
“She is your own, darlin’. You and me, we’re a family now.”
Hearing him say that brings tears to my eyes. “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”
Cullan kisses the tears from my lashes, and whispers, “In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I’d be helping the love of my life cover up a double murder while she knew all about my crimes. What a match we make.”
I hold tight to the man I love. “Where you’re going, is it dangerous?”
“Not for me. Not if I’m careful.”
I relax a little hearing him say that, but I don’t miss the implication that he’s going to be doing something illegal. Something he could be arrested for and taken away from me for a long, long time.
But I put my faith in Cullan that he knows what he’s doing and that being parted from him is necessary.
An hour later, we pull up at a pair of wrought iron gates that mark the entrance to a grand property in Henson.
Cullan turns to me. “This is where Tyrant and Vivienne Mercer live, and they’re expecting you and Rosie.
I would not leave you two behind unless it was absolutely necessary, and I would not hand the two of you into Tyrant’s care if I didn’t know you were one hundred percent safe.
He will protect you like you’re his own.
This property is as secure as my home. I designed the security myself. ”
I hold Cullan tight and close my eyes, basking in the warmth and love of his assurance. “Thank you. ”
“I hope you and Vivienne will be friends. You may tell her and Mercer as much or as little about what has happened between us as you choose. The murders. The baby. Me. You. They are on our side.”
I’m surprised but grateful to hear that I won’t have to pretend everything is normal—like I didn’t just murder my aunts and find out Cullan is the Red Mask Killer.
He drives up a long driveway toward a beautiful gothic house surrounded by high hedges. The front door opens, and a beautiful young woman appears. Her hair is in a half ponytail secured by a black bow, and she wears a pretty lace blouse and knee-length skirt. This must be Vivienne.
I turn back to Cullan for a final, desperate kiss. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, darlin’. It makes my heart happy to know you and Rosie and our baby are safe.”
“Are you going to kill anyone?”
He caresses my cheeks. “Would you mind if I did?”
“I would mind if you were caught and taken away from me.”
He smiles and presses his lips over mine.
“I will not let that happen to us. Your heart is the most important thing in the world to me, and I will not needlessly risk breaking it. I think I will have to kill at least one person. The rest…” He strokes his fingers through my hair. “I’ll decide when I find them.”
Losing Cullan after everything that has happened is a terrible thought, and I know it’s going to plague me until I see him again. “You will come back to me? ”
“Bullets and blades couldn’t keep me away from you.”
I hold Rosie in my arms as we watch Cullan drive away, and I’m grateful I have his little girl with me. I can be brave for Rosie and not cry.
Vivienne greets me and Rosie with a smile and helps me with our bags into the house. It’s a beautiful, grand property with dark wood and chandeliers. Very romantic, and it matches Vivienne’s style perfectly.
“Vee-vee,” Rosie exclaims as Vivienne takes us upstairs and shows me my room and also the nursery where Rosie will sleep with the boys.
“Cullan has access to the baby monitor feeds,” Vivienne tells me, pointing the cameras out.
I smile at her. “I’m so glad. He’ll like that.” And I feel good knowing Cullan will be watching over me.
“It’s wonderful meeting you at last,” she says. “I’ve heard so much about you from Cullan, and I’ve never seen him so happy before. Tyrant and I were about to have some lunch. Will you join us?”
I haven’t eaten since dinner last night, and I realize I’m famished. The three of us sit down in the dining room with Rosie and a toddler called Barlow in high chairs, and Vivienne holds a baby called Huck in her lap.
“Your children are beautiful,” I say, admiring the two boys.
“Aren’t they?” Tyrant says proudly, coming into the room. “They take after their mother.”
Mr. Mercer is just like I remember him, fair-haired and dressed in sleek, dangerous black.
He presses a kiss to his wife’s lips. As he takes his seat, he glances at me.
“You’ve been having a time of it lately, Elena.
” He picks up a dish of grilled salmon and serves me first, then Vivienne, then himself.
There’s also creamed cabbage with bacon and several salads. It all looks delicious.
“What did Cullan tell you?” I ask, helping myself to the fennel salad.
“Just that. No details. Let me or Vivienne know if there’s anything you need. Baby wipes. Assassinations. Nothing is too much for Cullan and his family after everything he’s done for us.”
I smile at him. “No assassinations right now, thank you, but I’d love some of that cucumber salad.”
Tyrant passes the platter to me, and I put slices of cucumber and tomato on Rosie’s plate along with buttered bread and some fish. “I, um… I think he’s gone to get rid of some bodies.”
Tyrant quirks a curious brow. “Oh? Cullan’s killed people?”
“No.” I swallow hard. “I did.”
Cold prickles down my spine. Despite what Cullan told me, I brace myself for looks of horror and disgust on their faces. Screams telling me to get out of their house.
Tyrant just nods and takes a bite of his lunch.
Why aren’t they saying anything? Vivienne must have opinions that she’s hiding behind that serene expression. “It was in the heat of the moment. They were so cruel to me.”
The pretty young woman smiles. “Don’t worry, I understand. Probably more than you might think.” The way she says that makes me wonder what she’s had to do to survive in the past. Her life may have had some darkness if it put her in the path of someone like Tyrant Mercer.
My stomach is churning with anxiety, and I feel the urge to confess everything I’ve done.
Lay it all out right now on Vivienne and Tyrant’s antique polished wood dining table.
These are Cullan’s trusted friends. He’s gone, and I need some assurance that everything’s going to be okay.
“There’s more. Cullan is the Red Mask Killer. ”
I flinch, regretting my words already. You can take a girl out of the Catholic church, but you can’t stop her from confessing.
Vivienne raises her eyebrows and continues buttering a piece of bread for Barlow. “Oh, that’s interesting.”
Tyrant grins, showing all his teeth. “I’ve been following the news coming out of Blackport and wondering if it’s got anything to do with Cullan. There was something different about Cullan the last time I saw him. He looked better than he has in years.”
Tyrant Mercer is a hardened criminal who looks like he’s got a killing or two of his own under his belt, so it doesn’t surprise me that he greets my news with pleasure.
Vivienne is much like one of the young women I’ve waitressed with, bright and sweet and, well, normal. How is she not upset by this news?
Vivienne must notice my wary expression, and she smiles at me. “Were you expecting me to scream and run from the house? There’s not much that shocks me these days. I’ve met real monsters, and I know the suffering they cause.”
“Cullan has a list,” Tyrant says. “He’s never told me who’s on it, but I have been wondering if there are fewer names on it now.
” Slowly, he smiles at me. “You’re worried that we were going to throw you out of the house for telling us this, weren’t you?
I told Cullan to be honest with the next woman he falls for, and I’m pleased to see that he has taken my advice. ”
We finish our lunch, and Tyrant takes Barlow upstairs for his nap. Rosie has had enough of her high chair, so I hold her in my lap while I help her finish her meal.
Vivienne watches me closely, her brow creased in worry. “You’re afraid, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Of Cullan?”
“I could never be afraid of Cullan. I’m afraid for him. The more flagrantly he breaks the law, the more he’s likely to get caught. The police are already hunting him. He’s careful, but everyone makes mistakes eventually.”
Vivienne takes a bite of fish and chews thoughtfully. “Maybe he’ll want to slow down now he’s found someone who loves all of him, including his darkness. Maybe he won’t need to be the Red Mask Killer anymore because you’ve seen his true face.”
I gaze at my fingers tangled together in my lap. That sounds too simple. Life has taught me not to hope that things will be easy. “Do you really think it works that way? I thought serial killers don’t stop until they’re caught or dead.”
Vivienne looks at me for a long time, and then says, “Can I show you something?”
“Of course.”
Vivienne puts down her knife and fork and lifts the hem of her top to expose her stomach and ribs, all the way up to the underwire of her bra. Her torso is covered with shiny, horizontal scars. Dozens of them, all an inch or two long, crisscrossing one another.
They must have bled. They must have hurt.
“Who did this to you?” I cry.
“I did it to myself. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t show anyone.
Everything in my life was pain, and then I met Tyrant.
He didn’t fix me, love doesn’t work like that, but once all my darkness was out there for someone else to witness, it lost its power over me.
I was free.” She smiles, and lowers her top. “People can change.”
Huck kicks his legs and makes his desire to be released from his high chair known.