Page 48 of Darkest Kiss

It should sound like a threat, coming from this monster of a man. And yet, it sounds like a promise. I swallow and look away, fiddling with the hem of my new sweater while Jared bags everything up with quiet efficiency.

We leave the boutique loaded down with bags and are immediately swarmed by our new protection detail, which has now swollen in size to be twenty men in shades and dark suits. Rian’s driver, a thick-necked guy named Danny who doesn't smile, hands the bags off to security.

“Thank you.” I touch Rian’s hand. “I know that you weren’t exactly excited about leaving the house after the attack on the roof.”

He jerks under my touch, frowning, but a heartbeat later he pulls me closer. “Anything for you, pretty girl.”

In the car, I press my forehead to the cool window and watch the city roll by. New York looks different from this side of the glass. Safer, maybe, although that's probably the armored Bentley talking.

"Can I ask you something?" I say without looking at him.

"Mhm."

“How long do you think I need to stay away from my apartment?”

“I don’t know.” He sighs. “If I had my way, you’d stay forever.”

I smile and roll my eyes. “Forever is a long time. You’d be sick of me sooner or later.”

“No.” He pins me with a serious expression. “I wouldn’t.”

"You’re crazy. Anyway, I want some things from my apartment.”

His expression doesn't shift, but something behind his eyes does. "I'll get them for you."

"I could go with you," I offer.

He frowns again. "It's not safe for you to go back there right now."

I want to argue, but I think about the Vitellis and about my uncle's blood pooling on the bookshop floor. I think about the two men who grabbed me and the needle in my neck. The way my body stopped responding to my brain's frantic commands.

“You’re thinking about it.”

“Huh?” I blink.

“I’m not sure what happened, but something did.” Rian strokes the back of my hand soothingly. “We’ve talked before about my certainty that you weren't taken at random. The Vitellis specifically targeted you. Why? That’s what I’m wondering."

My mouth goes dry. I've been waiting for this question since I woke up in his bed, turning the answer over in my head, trying to figure out how much to tell him. Or whether to tell him at all.

But he saved me. He bought me at a fucking auction and carried me out of there. He held my hair back while I threw up. He saved me on the rooftop, he holds me while I sleep, and just this morning he made me come.

Never once has Rian asked for anything in return. Well. He asked for a lot. But he didn't take anything I wasn’t offering.

Besides, if my excuse before was that I didn’t know Rian well enough to judge whether he meant well, I certainly know him now.

"The Vitellis targeted me because I saw something. A murder.”

Rian’s jaw tightens. "What did you see?"

I twist my fingers in my lap. My heart is going so fast that I can feel it in my throat. "Like I said at dinner, my uncle Marc sold the Vitellis the building the bookstore is in. I just kept my head down and ran the bookstore."

"Go on."

"A few days before they took me, I went back to the store after hours. I tried to call 911 for some girls on Gloss, but forgot my phone inside the store. My…. my uncle Marc and Andreas Vitelli came into the shop while I was there. They were arguing, so I… I hid behind the bookshelves." I swallow hard. "Marc confronted Andreas about Gloss. He was upset that girls were turning up dead and said that it might come back to him politically."

Rian's jaw tightens. "And?"

"And Andreas just shot him." My voice cracks on the last word, which pisses me off. I press my lips together and breathe through my nose. "He put a bullet in my uncle's forehead."