Chapter 29 Annie #2
For a long moment, Ronan just looks at me. Then, slowly, he hands over the gun.
It's heavier than I expected. Cold. Final. I look over at Elio. His expression is approving. Proud, even. He’s looking at me as if I’m the only thing he wants to look at for the rest of his life.
I think of those lessons, out behind the cabin. And I turn to face Desmond.
He's staring at me with wide, terrified eyes. "Annie, please—" he gasps. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Just let me live. I'll disappear. You'll never see me again—"
"Annie, don't!"
I pull the trigger.
The shot is deafening in the enclosed space. Desmond jerks back in the chair, blood trickling from the hole in his forehead where the bullet entered. Blood is sprayed across the floor behind him.
He’s dead.
Dead.
He’ll never hurt me again. Never hurt anyone I love, ever again.
I lower the gun, my hand shaking now. The reality of what I've just done crashes over me, and I sway on my feet.
Elio is there immediately, taking the gun from my hand and pulling me against his chest. "I've got you. I've got you."
I bury my face in his shirt and try to breathe. “I killed him,” I whisper. “I actually killed him.”
"Annie." Ronan's voice is gentle. "Look at me."
I turn, still in Elio's arms, and meet my brother's eyes.
"You did what needed to be done," he says quietly. "No one will judge you. He was a threat, and you eliminated that threat. Understand?"
I nod, not trusting my voice.
“Now I’m going to take you home. Finn is going to take Elio so I can deal with him later—”
"No." I pull away from Elio slightly. "I’m not going anywhere without him.”
The words hang in the air between us, suspended in the cold. My hands are still shaking from the recoil of the gun, from the finality of pulling that trigger. From ending a life.
But I don't regret it. Not for a second.
What I regret is the look on my brother's face as he stares at Elio and me, his dark eyes—so like our father's—dark with fury and something else. Betrayal. Pain. The knowledge that we've been lying to him for days while he tore himself apart looking for me.
"Annie." Ronan's voice is low, dangerous. The voice he uses right before someone dies. "Get away from him. Now."
I don't move. I can't. My legs feel like they're rooted to the floor, my body still pressed against Elio's side where he's holding me up.
Without him, I think I might collapse. The adrenaline that's been keeping me upright is starting to fade, leaving behind a bone-deep exhaustion that makes my vision blur at the edges.
"No," I whisper.
Ronan's jaw clenches. "Annie, I'm not asking—"
"I said no." My voice is stronger this time, cutting through the tension like a blade.
I force myself to stand straighter, to meet my brother's eyes.
"Ronan, please." I take a step forward, and Elio's hand tightens on my waist. I can feel the tension in his body, the way every muscle is coiled and ready.
He's preparing for a fight. Preparing to defend me against my own brother if he has to. "Just listen to me. Let me explain—"
"Explain?" Ronan's laugh is harsh, bitter.
"Explain what, exactly? How you've been lying to me for weeks?
How you let me think you were dead or kidnapped while you were shacked up with him?
" He jerks his chin toward Elio, and the contempt in his voice makes my chest ache.
"How you let me tear this city apart looking for you while you were playing house with the man I trusted to help me find you? "
"It wasn't like that," I say desperately. My heart is hammering against my ribs, my pulse fluttering in my throat. "Ronan, I swear, it wasn't—"
"Then what was it like, Annie?" He takes a step closer. Everyone can feel how close we are to violence. How close Ronan is to snapping. "Tell me. Make me understand why my baby sister would do this to me."
I take a shaky breath. "Desmond blamed you for her death. He thought—he said you broke her heart. That you drove her into another man's arms and left her vulnerable. That it was your fault Rocco was able to get to her."
Ronan's face goes pale.
"I know it's not true," I say quickly. "I know you tried with her, Ronan. I know she pushed you away. But Desmond didn't see it that way. He wanted revenge. He wanted to hurt you the way he thought you hurt him."
"By going after you." Ronan's voice is flat, emotionless. But I can see the rage building behind his eyes, the way his hands are clenching into fists at his sides.
"Yes." The word comes out as barely more than a whisper. "He planned it all out. Got close to me, made me trust him. He thought he lost his sister because of you, so he’d take yours.”
Ronan's breathing has gone ragged. "Annie—"
"I didn't tell you because I knew what it would do to you.
" My voice cracks, tears burning behind my eyes.
"I knew it would open up all those wounds from Siobhan's death.
I knew you'd blame yourself, that you'd think this was your fault somehow.
And I couldn't—I couldn't do that to you, Ronan.
Not when you'd finally started to heal. Not when you'd finally found happiness with Leila. "
The silence that follows is deafening. Ronan stares at me, and I can see him processing my words, trying to reconcile what I'm saying with his own guilt and grief and rage.
"So you decided to handle it yourself," he finally says. "You and him." He looks at Elio, and the hatred in his eyes makes my blood run cold. "You decided to lie to me. To let me think you were missing or dead. To let me tear myself apart while you played vigilante."
"I was trying to protect you," I repeat desperately.
"I don't need your protection!" Ronan's voice echoes through the church, bouncing off the walls. "I'm your older brother, Annie. I'm supposed to protect you. That's my job. That's always been my job."
"And you've done it," I say, my own voice rising to match his. "You've protected me my whole life, Ronan. You and Tristan both. You kept me safe. Yes, I should have told you the truth from the beginning. But I was trying to do what I thought was right. I was trying to spare you pain."
"By causing me more?" Ronan shakes his head. "Do you have any idea what the past few weeks have been like for me? Thinking you were gone? Thinking I'd lost you the way I lost—" He cuts himself off, but I know what he was going to say. The way I lost Siobhan.
Guilt crashes over me in a wave so powerful it nearly knocks me off my feet. He's right. Of course he's right. I hurt him by trying to protect him. I made everything worse.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. "Ronan, I'm so sorry. I never meant—"
"Sorry doesn't fix this, Annie." His voice is tight. "Sorry doesn't change the fact that you lied to me. That you let him—" He jerks his chin toward Elio again. "—lie to me. That you both betrayed my trust."
"Elio was only trying to help me," I say quickly. "He wanted to tell you. He tried to convince me to tell you. But I begged him not to. I made him promise. This isn't his fault, Ronan. It's mine."
"He's a grown man," Ronan says flatly. "He made his own choices. And he chose to lie to my face every single day while he was hiding my sister and—" He stops, his eyes dropping to where Elio's hand is still resting on my waist. "And doing God knows what else with her."
Heat floods my cheeks, but I don't look away. "That's none of your business."
"The hell it isn't." Ronan's voice drops to a dangerous whisper. "You're my sister, Annie. Everything about you is my business. Especially when it involves the man I put in charge of the De Luca family. The man I trusted."
"Then trust him now," I plead. "Trust that he was trying to do the right thing. Trust that he kept me safe when I needed him most."
"Safe?" Ronan's laugh is bitter. "He put you in danger by agreeing to your insane plan. He should have dragged you back to me the second you showed up on his doorstep. Instead, he hid you away and played hero while I lost my mind."
"He saved my life." My voice is steady now, certain. "Multiple times. He hunted Desmond down. He rescued me when Desmond tried to force me into marriage. He's the reason I'm standing here right now instead of—" I can't finish that sentence either.
Ronan's jaw clenches. "And I'm supposed to thank him for that? For doing what he should have done in the first place?"
"You're supposed to understand that he was in an impossible situation." I can feel tears streaming down my face now, hot and fast. "I put him there, Ronan. I begged him to help me. I made him choose between his loyalty to you and his—" I stop, the words catching in my throat.
"His what?" Ronan's eyes narrow. "His loyalty to you? His duty to protect you?" He pauses, and I see understanding dawn in his eyes. "Or something else?"
My heart stutters in my chest. This is it. This is the moment where everything either falls apart or somehow, impossibly, comes together.
"I love him," I say quietly.
The words hang in the air between us, heavy and irrevocable. I see Elio go rigid beside me, feel his sharp intake of breath. But I don't look at him. I keep my eyes on Ronan, watching as my brother processes what I've just said.
"You love him," Ronan repeats slowly, like he's testing the words. "You love Elio Cattaneo."
"Yes." My voice is stronger now. "I've loved him since I was sixteen years old. Since before he left for Chicago. Since before any of this happened."
Ronan stares at me for a long moment, and I can see him putting the pieces together.
The way Elio and I used to look at each other when we were younger.
The way I never seemed interested in any of the men he tried to set me up with over the years.
The way I've been so fiercely protective of Elio throughout this entire conversation.
"And him?" Ronan's gaze shifts to Elio. "Does he feel the same way?"