She’s not getting away. Not now, not ever.
I give chase, but she has a good head start. I sprint after her, ignoring our startled wedding guests. She barrels through the front door and down the steps to the street, white veil flying behind her, and dives into a cab that’s ready and waiting for our wedding guests to depart after the ceremony.
Maledizione!
I reach for her door and pull—it’s locked—then the cab pulls into traffic.Cazzo!I can’t let her go. The need to catch her is so visceral I can hardly draw in a breath. Glancing around, I grab the next cab in line.
“Follow her!” I gesture to the yellow and black vehicle in front of us. “Step on it and I promise to make it worth your while.”
“You got it.”
We weave in and out of traffic, horns blaring, drivers shouting. All of it’s background noise. The only thing I care about is catching up with Elena for two reasons. One, it isn’t safe for her out here on her own. We have enemies who might twist this situation to their advantage.
Two, she’s mine. My fiancée, my love—the one and only woman who’s supposed to becomemy wife.
The car gains some speed as we venture closer to the river. Narrow one-way streets weave under overpasses until we reach a dead end.
In front of us, the taxi comes to a screeching halt and Elena bails out. She bolts toward the marina. Does she have a boat waiting? How long has she been planning her escape? Damn, I should have seen this coming.
Tossing a few hundred dollar bills on the seat, I go after her. “Elena, stop!”
Veil and white dress flying behind her, she doesn’t slow down until she has nowhere left to go.
She reaches the end of the pier, teetering far too close to the edge, and I slow to a walk. I don't want to frighten her, or tempt her to jump. This is it—the end of the line.
Realizing that, she spins around, facing me. Tears stream down her cheeks as she collapses in a cloud of cream-colored silk.
My chest clenches at her distress. Then, I’m there, surrounding her, holding her as she sobs against my chest. “Shh,bella, I have you. Everything will be okay.”
“No it won’t.Nothingwill ever be okay again.”
I swallow hard. “Do you really hate me this much? That you’d rather contemplate jumping into the Hudson than being my wife?”
She sighs. “I don’t hate you.”
“Then why? Why run?”
Agony colors her beautiful, tear-stained face, mascara running down her cheeks. “Because if I marry you then I’m stuck here in this life. It’s only a matter of time before someone takes me again—locks me up, tortures and kills me. We were lucky with those assassins, but that’s all it was, dumb luck. That night could have gone terribly wrong. They’ll be back. One day, when we think we’re safe, they or someone just like them will comeback and destroy us. I can’t live the rest of my life in fear of that day.”
I let her words—her greatest fears—sink in as I hold her close. Denial and reassurance are on the tip of my tongue, but my denial of her fears would be self-serving, and my reassurances hollow. Elena’s right. Even though I will always do everything in my power to protect her, she’s right. I pray to God that the shield I offer her is strong enough.
“Come with me.” I stand and pull her to her feet. With her tucked under my arm, we walk back to solid land beneath our feet.
Vincent already has the limo idling, as he followed us from the wedding venue, and opens the door for us. I slide in after Elena, promptly engaging the privacy window.
She sits across from me, arms wrapped around her middle, teary gaze fixed on the floor.
“You’re right,” I finally tell her. “Each and every day is a blessing. We don’t know when we’ll meet our maker, and being part of this dangerous world increases our chances of an untimely death.” I catch her gaze and hold it. “But I’d rather spend a single day with you than have a long life without you.”
Her breath catches, then she softly clears her throat. Her voice comes out small. “I’d rather take my chances far away from here.”
My heart crumbles at her statement, but I keep my expression neutral as I ask, “You’ll never love me, will you?”
She swallows hard. “No.”
Glancing away, I lean back in my seat. That single word punches me in the gut. Fuck, I’ve been wrong about everything the whole time. I convinced myself that Elena just needed time to get to know me, to see how good we could be together, and she’d fall madly in love with me. But I was wrong. She’ll never love me, and lust isn’t the same thing at all. All I’m doing ishurting the woman who owns my heart by keeping her trapped here.
Now the question is, am I selfless enough to let her go? To set her free?
