Chapter 19 Elio #2
She wrenches around, trying to knee him in the balls, but he’s stronger than her. Desmond's face twists with rage, and his hand comes up to strike her. I don't think. I just react, squeezing the trigger.
The shot goes wide—intentionally. I can't risk hitting Annie. But it serves its purpose. Desmond jerks back in surprise, and his grip on Annie loosens for just a second.
It's all she needs.
Annie drives her elbow into his ribs and breaks free, diving behind the altar. Desmond reaches for the gun tucked in his waistband, and I fire again. This time I don't miss. The bullet catches him in the shoulder, spinning him around.
But he doesn't go down.
He returns fire, and I throw myself behind a pew as bullets tear through the wood above my head. The priest has disappeared—smart man—and I can hear Annie's ragged breathing from behind the altar.
"Annie, run!" I shout. "Get out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you!"
Fuck. “Go!” I shout. “My men will get you safe. That’s all that matters—”
“No!”
A snarl of frustration escapes my lips. Stubborn woman. Doesn't she understand that getting her to safety is the only thing that matters?
I risk a glance over the pew and see Desmond backing toward a side door I hadn’t noticed before.
He's bleeding from the shoulder wound, but it's not enough to stop him.
He fires again, giving himself cover, and then he's gone, disappeared through the door.
I can hear more gunshots outside—his men tangling with mine again, probably.
I can only hope that the casualties are on his side and not on mine.
Every instinct I have screams at me to chase him, to finish this now. But I can't leave Annie.
I run to the altar and find her crouched behind it, her arms wrapped around herself. Her face is streaked with tears, and she's shaking violently.
"It's over," I tell her, pulling her into my arms. "You're safe now."
"He got away." Her voice is hollow. "I saw him go. He's still out there. He’s going to come after me again." She’s shaking all over, now that the need to be brave has passed.
"I know. But right now, I don't care about him.
I only care about you." I pull back just enough to check her for injuries.
The bruise on her cheek is darkening, and I see blood on her wrists where the ropes or cuffs cut into her skin.
Rage courses through me, but I push it down. "Did he hurt you anywhere else?"
She shakes her head. "No,” she whispers. “He didn’t get a chance. He wanted to marry me first.”
I see the priest starting to head toward the back, as Diego and the two men with him jog down the aisle toward me. I raise my gun, firing a shot just above the priest’s head, and he lets out a yelp.
“Don’t fucking move, or I aim true next time,” I snarl at him. “Diego, grab him. You others, go after Desmond. He went that way.” I point at the side door. “Get every man I have on tracking him down. Now.”
"Boss, there's an alley back there,” Vince says, wincing. “It leads to three different streets. He could be anywhere by now."
I close my eyes briefly, fighting the urge to put my fist through something. Desmond escaped. Again. And as long as he's out there, Annie isn't safe.
"Just find him," I say through gritted teeth.
Annie is still huddled next to me, trembling in the white silk dress that’s stained with blood now—Desmond’s blood.
I want it off her. I want to get her back to the cabin.
But I need to know what happened. I take my jacket off, wrapping it around her shoulders.
I’m so angry I can’t even feel the cold right now, but it’s frigid in here.
“What was this?” I ask as gently as I can. “What the hell was he trying to do?”
She takes a shuddering breath. "After we left the coffee shop, he drove to an alley and we switched cars.
And then on the way here, he… talked. Told me his plan.
About why he's doing this." She turns to look at me, and I see the fear in her eyes.
"It's about Siobhan. It's always been about Siobhan. "
My jaw tightens. "What about her?"
"He blames Ronan for her death.” Annie’s voice drops to a whisper.
“He said Ronan broke her heart—that he married her and then emotionally abandoned her. That he hated her so much he didn’t pay attention to her, didn’t give her what she needed.
That he drove her into another man’s arms and left her vulnerable.
That it’s his fault she was with someone else, that Rocco was able to get to her and kill her. ”
I suck in a breath, rage still coursing through my veins.
From what I know, that’s fucking bullshit.
Ronan and Siobhan’s marriage was bad, but it was bad because Siobhan iced him out.
They didn’t love each other—didn’t even like each other.
But Ronan tried, only for Siobhan to push him away at every turn.
But Desmond wouldn’t see it that way. If he hadn’t gone after Annie, I might even have been able to find some sympathy for his grief.
There’s none in me now. Not after everything he’s done.
"Desmond decided the perfect revenge would be to hurt Ronan the same way Ronan hurt him," Annie whispers. "By taking something precious from him. By destroying his innocent little sister."
My jaw tightens until my teeth grind together. "That's why he went after you."
"Yes.” She swallows hard, her voice thick.
“He planned it all out. He got close to me, made me trust him.
His original plan was to seduce me, take my virginity, and then tell Ronan about it.
He thought that would break Ronan's heart—knowing his sister had been defiled by the brother of the woman he'd destroyed. "
The casual way she says “defiled” makes my blood boil. "But you escaped before he could."
"Yes. And that's when he changed his plan.
" She pulls my jacket tighter around herself.
"He said taking my virginity wasn't permanent enough.
It would hurt Ronan in the moment, but then it would be done.
But marriage—marriage is forever. If he forced me to marry him, I'd be his for the rest of my life.
Ronan would have to live with the knowledge that his sister belonged to the man he hated most, and there would be nothing he could do about it. "
"Except kill him."
"Desmond said he was prepared for that. He said he'd make sure the marriage was consummated immediately and that there would be documentation. If Ronan killed him, it would start a war. And he said I’d have to convince Ronan to stop it. Not to let men get killed over me, not to risk himself over me. He said he’d make me beg Ronan to let it go, or I’d regret it.
” Her voice cracks, the words ending on a sob.
My hands are shaking, I’m so fucking angry. The level of calculation is sickening. He wanted to hurt Annie, to tear Ronan apart. To destroy the O’Malley family the way his was destroyed. But it wasn’t Ronan’s fault, and it definitely wasn’t fucking Annie’s.
"There's more," Annie says quietly. "He told me he'll never stop.
That it doesn't matter how many times I run or who tries to protect me.
He said he'll kill anyone who gets in his way—you, Ronan, anyone.
He won't stop until I'm his. He told me to give in, or he’d make sure I had to watch all of you die.
That I could stop it just by saying yes—" She lets out another shaky, shuddering sob.
My jaw clenches. “He isn’t going to do any of that. I’m going to fucking kill him first."
"What if you can't?" She turns to face me fully. "What if he keeps coming, keeps getting away? I can't live like this forever, Elio. I can't spend the rest of my life hiding and running and looking over my shoulder."
"You won't have to. I'm going to end this. I’m going to keep you safe, and we’re going to finish this. He’s not going to get away again."
"But when?" Her voice rises with frustration and fear. "Tomorrow? Next week? Next month?”’
“I’m going to do everything I can—”
"That's not good enough!" She's getting agitated now, her hands shaking. "Don't you understand? Every minute Desmond is out there, I'm in danger. Every minute we keep lying to Ronan, this situation gets worse. We're running out of time."
"I know that—"
"No, you don't know!" Tears are streaming down her face now. "You're not the one he's hunting. You're not the one he wants to force into marriage and—and—" She can't finish the sentence.
I take a deep breath, reaching out to touch her face.
I brush her hair back, and she doesn’t flinch.
She looks at me with wide, wet eyes, and it breaks my heart to see her like this.
I’d do anything to make it better. Anything to fix what he’s done to her.
"Annie, listen to me. I will not let him have you.
Do you understand? I will die before I let Desmond Connelly lay another hand on you. "
"You almost did die tonight." She wipes at her tears angrily. "What if next time you're not fast enough? What if next time he succeeds?"
"He won't."
"You can't promise that."
She's right, but I can't admit it. So instead I reach for her, pulling her into my lap. She comes willingly, burying her face in my neck and sobbing like her heart is breaking.
"I'm so scared," she whispers. "I'm so tired of being scared."
"I know, cuore mio. I know." I stroke her hair, her back, trying to calm her the only way I know how. "But you're safe now. You're with me, and I won't let anything happen to you."
"But for how long? How long can you protect me from someone who won't give up?"
I don't have an answer for that. So I just hold her while she cries, wishing I could take her fear away, wishing I could fix this impossible situation right now, before she has to go another minute feeling the way she does right now.
Finally, her sobs quiet to hiccups, and she pulls back to look at me. Her eyes are red and swollen, her face blotchy from crying. And yet, somehow, she’s still impossibly beautiful to me.
“What if—” Annie takes a slow breath. “What if we make his plan impossible?"
I frown. "What do you mean?"
"His whole revenge is built on forcing me to marry him.
On making me his wife so that Ronan has to live with the knowledge that his enemy owns his sister.
" She looks at me with those clear blue eyes.
"But he can't marry me if I'm already married to someone else.
" She looks at Diego, who is standing there holding the priest by his arm, patiently waiting for my instructions as the man blubbers and protests. I haven’t heard a word of it.
Understanding crashes into me, and I stare at her. "Annie—"
"Think about it, Elio. It's the perfect solution. If I'm already someone's wife, Desmond's plan falls apart completely. He can't force me into a marriage that can't legally exist. He can still try to get to me, try to hurt me—but he can’t do what he really wants.”
"You can't just marry some random person—"
"I'm not talking about some random person." She cups my face in her hands, forcing me to look at her. "I'm talking about you. I want you to marry me, Elio."