“I don’t know how to thank you,” she said.
Walk away, my brain screamed again.
I shrugged, forcing myself to take a step back away from her. It was hard when she looked at me with that smile, which reminded me what life used to be like—what I used to be like. I shook my head, taking another slow step away. My mouth opened to offer a goodbye as the sirens sounded louder and louder in the evening air.
But my body froze, a strange, pulsing coldness making me aware that something wasn’t right. That I was weak, my already tortured body failing as I stumbled forward. I could see the beautiful stranger's face go stark white, her head turning to scream something at the crowd of people who descended on us.
But I was past the point of caring. My knees folded involuntarily, and I was falling, my body curling as my knees snapped against the cement and my eyelids fluttered shut one last time.
I had lived my life as a selfish bastard. But at least I could die knowing I had done one last good thing. Maybe I would be forgiven then.
Soft hands pressed into my cheeks, my forehead, and then darkness swallowed me whole.
Chapter Two
Penelope
“Care to run that by me one more time?”
I straightened the hemline of my dress with a flicking motion. I loved this dress. It was one of my favorites. I’d picked it out with Madeline just the other day. Having a daughter had brought plenty of issues to the table when I was a teenager, but at twenty-nine, it was, in fact, like having a live-in best friend. Madeline had both impeccable good taste and absolutely no filter. The perfect shopping partner. I’d worn it for extra luck today to deal with my older brother’s nearly constant emails and texts from the past few days.
“I can say it a hundred more times if you’d like, but it changes nothing. Will, he’s staying with me. End of story.”
My eldest sibling, who right now was staring at me as if I had suggested turning Madeline Media into a nonprofit instead of calmly announcing my current living situation, flopped back into his chair with a grunt. I hid a grin. And they thought I was the dramatic Dougherty. Not by a long shot. I was the calmsibling, the poised figurehead. Will was the brains, while my other brother, Adrian, was clearly the creativity.
Together we made the perfect corporate weapon. And at twenty-nine, I didn’t need my brother’s approval. I’d merely come here as a precautionary action since it was my weekend to host family dinner and I didn’t want my brothers to be surprised by my current household guest.
“You,” Will said, snapping his spine straight once more and lining his hands up on his desk before neatly drawing out some shapes, “the CEO of Madeline Media, are taking in a homeless man who saved your life, and he is currently moving into your penthouse.”
I nodded, leveling my brother with the same intense stare I used in the boardroom.
Will’s eyes bulged, but he continued on. “And you intend to keep him there until…?”
I didn’t bother responding. He already knew the answer.
Will sat back, his chest expanding as he inhaled and obviously prepared to continue this days-long battle. I held up a hand, stopping him when his lips parted once more. “I intend to keep him there as long as he needs to get back on his feet.”
This time he groaned, dark head falling forward. I bit down on my lip, waiting for the words to settle into his brain. He knew as well as I did that I wasn’t about to give up on this. After what happened last week, I had never felt more terrified or more lost than I had before my stranger-turned-hero had appeared. And then, after he had dispatched my would-be muggers, seeing him fall to the ground had ripped what remained of my heart and sanity straight out.
Paying for his hospital stay hadn’t been enough. And when I visited, finding him alone, pale, and stitched from an ugly gunshot to the upper arm, which must’ve happened during the fight, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Especially when thehospital called to tell me the man whose care I was paying for was fighting to leave against medical advice. Of course they couldn’t let him leave unless he was going somewhere safe, where he could be cared for while the injury healed.
Such a simple solution, I hadn’t even thought twice before answering.
He had saved me.
I could do this for him. It took only a few minutes to send over my address and direct them to my assistant to help arrange the delivery of anything and everything that he might need during recovery.
But for the first time in a long time, I hadn’t second-guessed myself or worried over the decision. I had seen the look in his eyes when he reached for me, his own body a shield against those who attacked me.
I knew that I wasn’t in any real danger from my hero. My penthouse was easily large enough for me and this man to live in separate wings and see each other only if we wished to. Throw in my on-site bodyguard, and it wasn’t as if he was going to drag his barely conscious self over to hurt me. And even if it had been said, I would go on record anywhere necessary to say that I didn’t believe this man could ever hurt me.
The truth of it had been shining out of his eyes in those moments before everything went wild. He was a good man. Deadly, I had found out quite quickly, but good. I knew I wanted this person safe and healthy. I had a feeling it had been too long since anyone had done that for him.
“Do you have any other questions, big brother? Or can I go pick up your niece from school?” I smoothed the fabric of my dress across my knee.
“I don’t like this.”
“That’s not a question.”
