ROME
Chapter forty-one
Rain had countless opportunities to tell me the truth; even if he’d confessed to the target on my back earlier, I know this house is where I’d be.
The knowledge that he killed Connor is something I may have been able to work through with him, but endangering my family is unforgivable.
I will not allow them to be hurt because I was selfish and fell for someone who I knew from the start would be a horrible mistake.
As much as I want to lie to myself and say I had restraint in allowing him into my life, I didn’t. I was too intrigued by the way he made me feel. Now, I’m pissed off and hurt. Those few moments when he made me feel like it was okay to be me weren’t worth this ache in my chest.
I’d called my mother once Rain forced me upstairs and into his bed.
I didn’t want to inform her of the danger hanging over their heads, and that terror is now consuming me.
Rain continued to ensure me they’re safe, that my being here is purely a precaution, but I can’t sleep.
I’ve been laying here, watching the sheer curtain of the open door flail in the breeze, for hours.
My heart jackhammers, and I jump when a piercing alarm blares from Rain’s computer. Three screens light up, burning my tired eyes.
What the bloody hell is this?
Throwing back the blanket and stalking toward the door, I swing it open. My heart skips when Rain’s body already fills the doorway.
“Sorry, baby, sorry,” he apologies and pushes past to rush to the computer. The wheels scratch against the hardwood floor as he throws himself into the chair, the tapping of keys distorting the alarm for a few moments, my ears continuing to ring long after it stops.
Rain’s bare chest moves with harsh breaths, eyes flicking across the screens. “What do you want?” he whispers as I approach to his left. “Where are you?”
The breeze shoots past me, sending goosebumps across my covered skin.
Kilah’s right—I’m horrible with computers and Rain’s knowledge cannot be challenged, because he’s typing like a maniac without looking at the keyboard as various documents lap one another on the centre screen.
“What do you want with these?” he taunts.
I open my mouth to speak before promptly closing it. I doubt he’d take kindly to being called crazy right now.
His fingers slow their frantic typing. “That’s all you wanted? You won’t find this computer, you son of a bitch.”
Once he’s relaxed, stroking his chin, I clear my throat. “What was that?”
He blinks and snaps his head to me. “Smith was attempting to hack my father’s company, but all he did was try to open these confidential files from Elizabeth’s computer, but I shut him out before he could.”
“Elizabeth?”
“My father’s lawyer. The one handling your father’s case.”
He’s providing many resources to help put my father behind bars. He went to jail for me, he killed someone for me, but does all that outweigh the danger he’s brought upon my family?
He releases a sigh and spins, reaching for me. I grind my teeth, stepping back. “Don’t touch me.”
“Rome.”
“No.”
Releasing a frustrated breath, he focuses back on the screen, enlarging certain documents. Once he’s occupied reading, I slide back into bed and snatch the remote, turning on the TV.
“Uh, baby?”
“What, Rain?” I snap.
“You co-signed your grandfather’s estate?”
Why the hell is that information he’s looking at?
“In September,” he adds.
I throw the remote to the bed. “How do you know that? I thought you were looking at your father’s documents?”
“I am.” He points to the screen. “I’m looking at the current draft of a new project. A major apartment complex south of London.”
“What does that have to do with…” My stomach dips when I look at the mapped location. “That’s my grandfather’s property. Are you putting more of my family in danger?”
“No, baby, of course not.”
“What else are you keeping from me?”
He throws his head back, staring at the ceiling.
“I dig into peoples’ lives to find the things they try so desperately to hide.
Most people have a price, but when you’re running in the elite circle Dad has for over twenty years, they can’t be bought.
You want a block of land or a building that’s prime real estate—people will raise their price, meaning a profit will never be made, and others just refuse to sell.
That’s where I come in. I find their secrets which are used as blackmail.
Most tend to back down and negotiate at the original or lower price.
When they don’t, Blade comes in. The owner of a block of land is dead, and there’s miraculously no copy of a will.
Dad then has various people he entrusts to buy and sell the land to, and when he decides is time, he buys it off them for the lowest price.
” His dark eyes lower to mine. “Dad decided to make our company public two years ago, meaning people can buy and sell shares on the stock market. What he doesn’t know, is that I created multiple alias that trade, meaning I…
” He scratches his head, seeming unsure whether to provide me with more information.
“I’m technically manipulating the market. ”
My mouth is agape, eyes blown wide as I stare at him. My gut warned me I didn’t want to know the true nature of this family.
“You kill innocent people.” I choke on the bitter words.
“No.” He raises a finger defensively. “I’ve never allowed an innocent person to be killed. Every single one has committed some cruel or heinous crime.”
“Like?”
“The last man was sexually assaulting his nephew, so Blade was sent in to take him. He then tortured him and killed him…while I watched.”
“So, you want me to act like your Mother Theresa?”
“Stop twisting my words, baby.”
“And what if they don’t deserve it? What justifies death?”
“Cheating, sexual assault, rape. If they haven’t committed something along those lines, I refuse to go after them. I know what we do isn’t ethical, and I refuse where I can. I know it’s hard for you to understand my perspective, but your version of wrongdoing is very different from mine.”
“Wrongdoing? Seriously, Rain? You’re killing people to get land to make more money.”
“They deserve it.” The frigid breeze whips past as he moves to sit on the edge of the bed. His closeness fills my mouth with bitterness. I don’t know what it is… Hatred, disgust, anger…betrayal, possibly.
His stare hardens when I move my leg farther from his fingers reaching for my covered limb. “Do you believe someone who rapes another should die?”
I fill my answer with the bitterness pooled in my mouth. “Of course I do.”
“Someone who sexually assaults another?”
“Yes.”
“What if they were sexually assaulted and then repeated what they saw. Does that excuse it?”
“I—I—” I clear my throat and shake my head. “What’s that saying? Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you or something.”
He slowly nods. “Confucius. Don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you.”
“Yeah…that. It’s very simple.”
A small, almost pitiful smile tugs at his lips. “It’s never that simple, is it?”
The bitterness chokes me, and I quickly confirm it’s anger causing it. “It is.”
“Not to someone who’s traumatised. Does that excuse it? No, absolutely not. Their perception of right and wrong is blurred. Am I wrong for killing someone who commits a vile act like that, Rome?”
“You’re doing it to get land.”
“Does that make what I do wrong? Or is it simply a…fortunate consequence?” Before I can speak, he shakes his head.
“I know what you’re thinking. That’s just an excuse, a justification for wrongdoing, and, yes,” his smile widens and he points a finger at me, “I understand why you would see it that way, but understand that I don’t have a choice.
” The volume in his voice falls to a whisper.
“But I do get satisfaction from what I do.”
Does that excuse it? His father’s company gains from what he and Blade do, but he’s also removing people who harm others. But what about me and my grandfather? We’ve never hurt anyone.
I feel completely empty, lost and confused as I stare at the beautiful man I once craved to hold, the one I dreamed about even when I wished I hadn’t.
I’ve hidden my true self away for years.
I was honest with him about the shame that has eaten me alive for seven years.
I confided in him and let myself be vulnerable around him.
I want to break down and ruin his beautiful fucking face, because I don’t know who this man really is.
The door swings open, and Blade casually leans against the door frame.
“So, pretty boy is my key to Alexa.” Rain shoots up, cocking a gun out of seemingly nowhere.
Blade’s chuckle is like ice injecting into your veins.
“Come on, Rain, I won’t kill him right now.
I like to earn the surprised screaming that comes with killing someone. ”
Rain’s chin lifts, the gun steady in his hand. “I’ll kill you if you so much as raise a finger toward him.”
“Truth prevails, doesn’t it, pretty boy?
” He flips his hands, slowly moving his fingers.
“The silky blood of those twelve people extends from my hands to his. You know me, brother.” A horrifying grin tugs at his lips.
“I like my killing bloody, same as my revenge. You tried to keep her from me for three years; you tried to protect her from the big, bad wolf.” He frowns sarcastically before releasing a terrifying laugh.
“It’s a full circle moment, isn’t it? I take your precious boy toy and finally get what I want. ”
“I’ll kill you,” Rain whispers.
“Always the hero. Trust me, brother, the villains a thrill.”
I thought Rain was crazy. Blade is fucking insane.
The lowering gun trembles in Rain’s hand. “I’ll get you the jet. You have my word.”
“Good.” Blade smiles. “You know what happens if you don’t.”
I finally take a full breath once Blade disappears back down the hall, and Rain closes the door, wedging a chair underneath the handle.
I’d bought that estate for my grandparents. My grandmother passed from a heart attack in August, and my grandfather is the sole occupant. I co-signed the deed to ensure it would never be lost. Rain appearing in my life a week after I signed isn’t a coincidence.
“Did you know?” I whisper, watching him place the gun on the opposite side table. “That your father had a plan to kill me and my grandfather?”
“No, baby.” He takes a seat on the bed, reaching for me. I pull back, shaking my head. “I had no idea this is what he was planning. I understand now why Dad chose that specific time to take me to your game. He knew you were doing an interview. He knew I’d take one look at you and be captivated.”
“Let me leave.”
His stare hardens. “The only place you’re safe is with me.”
“Fuck you.”
“I won’t let him near you.”
I was an idiot for wanting him just because he was the first person to not make me feel ashamed of any aspect of who I am. I was starved, and that made me stupid.
I watch his bloodied hands coat his hair as they slide through it.
Is he telling the truth? Did he really not know what his father was planning? I’m dead anyway, aren’t I?