Protect Me
She needed protection from my family…
I needed protection from her heart…
She was my ex-best friend’s little sister. Shy, gorgeous as hell and did I mention completely off limits.
Well that is until she lands on my doorstep begging me for protection from my brother. She has no idea the kind of world she’s walked into, or that I’m no better of a man then the one searching for her.
But when she offers me her v-card the last thing she has in exchange for protection I cant deny such a tempting offer.
She’s everything I want, and nothing I can have.
When my brother finds out she’s under my protection, that I've been hiding her under his nose this whole time he gives me an ultimatum…
Marry her, or kill her…and since there’s no way in hell I’m going to let him kill her I decide to make her mine…forever.
Chapter1
Keira
I stare at my brother's lifeless body on my apartment floor. I know what I need to do next, but I can’t move. My feet remain cemented to the ground, my brown eyes moving over the scene before me. There is blood…so much blood.
I bite into my bottom lip hard—hard enough to draw my own blood. I won’t scream. I can’t. Leo told me if someone ever came for him, I was to go to a man, one of his friends, and he would protect me, but I can’t remember his name.
My stomach rolls, bile rising into my throat. I place a hand over my mouth to stop the impending vomit.
My brother is dead.
My chest tightens; my hands fist at my sides. My brother is dead. Actually dead. We joked about this moment many, many times, but looking down at his lifeless body, his vacant stare, I know this isn’t a joke.
Start moving, a little voice inside my head says.
I look at the message the bastards left on my fridge. The sticky note shakes in my hands as I read the words over and over.
I’ll be back for you.
I shiver involuntarily. I need to find the man my brother wanted me to go to. I have a feeling he’s the only one who can protect me now.
With unsteady hands, I pull my phone out and go to my emergency information. I created a small doc simply for this very thing. Leo had only given me a name and address, saying it would be enough.
But how can I show up on someone's doorstep with this kind of thing? Leo said the person would understand—they’d know why I was there—but I didn’t believethat…not one bit. Too afraid to go into my bedroom or even stand inside the kitchen another minute, I walk out the door, closing it quietly behind me.
Tears fall from my eyes, staining my cheeks. I have never felt so much pain and confusion all at once. My lungs seem to deflate, refusing to fill no matter how many breaths I take.
I make it two steps down the stairs when I hear voices coming from the level below me. I spot two guys talking, both with accents—Russian maybe. I’m not concerned until the words meet my ears.
“The boss said he wants the sister for himself, so don’t fuck her up too bad.” The men are big and burly, way bigger than me, and definitely stronger. If they get their hands on me, I’m as good as gone.
Move, Kiera!My brother's voice fills my head as I try to stop the tensing of my muscles. I have to get out of here. If they catch me…I shove the thought away before it takes root.
As soft as my feet allow, I tiptoe backward, away from the staircase. I slip my shoes off and start walking up the stairs in my socks. Staying close to the outside, I make sure they can’t see me if they decide to look up through the middle of the stairs.
With my lip caught between my teeth, I hold in the scream that wants to rip from my throat. Fear consumes me, my muscles remain rigid, but I continue onward. I walk all the way to the top floor and take the emergency stairwell down.
I’ll be safe, hidden from their gazes—a secret passing through. My entire body shakes as I take the steps two at a time, my eyes passing over my shoulder every few seconds, causing me to trip. Landing against the railing, it digs into my ribs. I need to pay better attention or I'm going to get caught.
I sigh in relief when I make it down the stairs. I am only in my first year of college. I’m supposed to be partying, hanging out with other people my age, not discovering my dead brother's body, or running away from two monsters who want to drag me back to their boss. The image of being attacked by one of them flickers in my mind.
