Chapter 11 Elio #2
“You can hide me. He won’t know where I am.” Both of her hands are gripping my arm now, anchoring herself to me. "Please, Elio. I can't face Ronan right now. I can't face anyone. I just need somewhere safe to fall apart for a little while."
Her begging is going to be my undoing. Annie, the love of my life, the woman I want more than anything, came running to me, and now she’s begging me for help, for safety. How can I possibly say no?
This could mean my life, if Ronan finds out. But looking at Annie’s pale face, her shaking hands, her pleading expression—suddenly it doesn’t feel as if it matters. Nothing matters except for her.
Protecting her, loving her, avenging her. That’s all that’s ever mattered. I’m being given a chance to show her what she means to me. I don’t need anything to come of it. I don’t need her to love me or want me. I know this doesn’t change the fact that we can never be together.
I’m still going to do everything I can for her.
I take a deep breath. "Okay."
Relief instantly floods her features. "Okay?"
"I have a place that will work. A cabin in New Hampshire, completely off the books. It’s isolated, very out of the way.
A hunting cabin, basically. No one knows about it.
" I'm already mentally cataloging what needs to be done—securing transportation, making sure the cabin is stocked with supplies, ensuring we won't be traced. My security is loyal to me, so they’ll help me without reporting to Ronan.
But I still need to be careful. "But Annie, I need you to promise me something. "
"Anything,” she says, too quickly.
I take another careful breath. "After you've had time to process this, after you're ready, you tell Ronan what happened.
All of it. He needs to know, and not just because he's your brother. Whoever did this is dangerous, and he might try this with someone else." The need to know who it was is still hammering through me, but I can’t push her. She’ll talk to me—I just need to give her time.
Time to process whatever happened tonight.
Annie nods slowly. "I promise. Just… give me a few days?"
“A few days,” I echo. “I’ll get you some of my clothes to change into.”
That relief spreads across her features. “We’re leaving now?”
“Yes.” I nod. “We’ll get you to the cabin and get you settled in. I’ll make sure you’re safe.” I'm moving toward my bedroom, already mentally packing. "Give me ten minutes to throw some things together, then we'll go."
She draws in a shaky breath. “Thank you,” she whispers. “You—you didn’t have to do this. Thank you, Elio.”
I stop at the foot of the stairs and look back at her. She's still wrapped in my blanket, still looking fragile and broken, but there's something else in her expression now. Gratitude, mixed with hope. "Yes, I do."
Because the truth is, I would do anything for her. Move mountains, start wars, burn down the world if that's what it took to keep her safe. And if that makes me a traitor to Ronan's trust, if it complicates everything I've worked for since coming back to Boston, then so be it.
Annie O'Malley is worth everything.
I hurry up the stairs to my room, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt for her to change into, and changes of clothing and toiletries for myself. I stand over my duffel bag that I’ve thrown onto the bed, trying to breathe as my mind careens through the potential ramifications of this.
What the fuck am I doing?
The rational part of my brain is screaming warnings about the choice I'm making. Ronan trusts me implicitly, gave me power and position beyond what I ever dreamed possible. And I'm repaying that trust by lying to him, by helping his sister disappear without his knowledge.
If he finds out, it could destroy everything. My position with the family, my relationship with the man who's been like a brother to me, possibly even my life if he decides I've betrayed him too completely to forgive.
But when I think about Annie sitting on my couch, broken and terrified and begging for help, none of that seems to matter.
She’s still there when I come down, duffel slung over my shoulder and the change of clothes in my hand. I hold them out to her and she looks up at me, pale and shaky, her eyes impossibly wide in her face, and her makeup smudged.
“The bathroom is right over there.” I motion toward the guest bathroom. “These are going to be too big for you, but it’s the best I can do for now. I’ll figure out some other clothes for you once you’re settled in.”
Annie takes them from me, a grateful expression on her face. “Thank you,” she whispers, and then she stands slowly, padding across the living room.
When she re-emerges, blanket in one hand and the tatters of her dress in the other, I have to fight the instinctual reaction my body has to seeing her in my clothes.
She’s swimming in them—it shouldn’t be sexy at all, but seeing her in my sweatpants and T-shirt, her hair and makeup messy, I can’t help but think of what she’d look like after a night in my bed.
My cock twitches, and my jaw tightens. Fucking stop it. That’s the last fucking thing she needs right now.
"Ready?" I ask, trying to ignore my body’s reaction. Annie looks at me, and for the first time since she arrived, I see something like her old strength in her expression.
She nods shakily. "Yes."
"Annie." I look at her as we walk into the elevator, and I hit the button to take us down to the garage. "What we're doing—disappearing like this without telling Ronan—it could have consequences."
She bites her lip. "I know."
"He might never forgive me for this, if he finds out. For helping you lie to him."
She tenses and looks up at me, her blue eyes serious and sad. "Are you having second thoughts?"
I should be. Everything logical and strategic says I should march her right back upstairs, call Ronan, and let him handle this situation the way he sees fit.
Instead, I reach out and squeeze her hand. This time, she doesn’t flinch away from me.
"No. No second thoughts."
She deserves the right to heal on her own terms, at her own pace. Ronan will go after who did this, the same as I would. But I’m willing to wait for her to tell me everything. I don’t know if he’d do the same. And at the end of the day—
The only reason that really matters, the only one that’s really true, is that she asked me for this. That’s all that she ever needed to do.
No other justification is needed. She asked, and I’m going to help her.
As we descend toward the parking garage, I make peace with my choice. Whatever consequences come from this decision, whatever price I have to pay for helping her, it will be worth it.
Annie O'Malley is worth everything.
And she always has been.