“Yes.”
“I don’t know who you are.”She offered me a smile.“I feel like you’ve told me your name, and you’re like a celebrity I should know.”
“I’m not a celebrity.”
She chuckled.“Who are you?”
“I’m a lot of things.”
“You killed that man for me today,” she said.
“You’re not scared?”
“No, I’m not.”
I stroked her cheek and looked into her striking blue eyes.They were focused on me, and they were not filled with fear.I don’t think I have ever seen fear in her eyes.
“You’re safe now,” I said.“I won’t let anyone kill you.”
“Why?”she asked.“Wouldn’t it be easier for you?Just get the job done.”
“I have no interest in killing you and getting it over with.”
“You’re going to torture me?”
“You think living with me has been torture?”
Maeve smiled.“Actually, it has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time.Do you know what I realized recently?”
“What?”I’d never been one to make small talk, but I like Maeve talking to me.I love listening to her voice.She’s not lying or faking.
Walking into that changing room today and seeing those hands wrapped around her neck, knowing she was close to dying ...if I had waited just a second longer, that bastard might have killed her.It filled me with a rage I had never felt before.I’d always been calm and collected.
Sure, there were times I had gotten pissed off over the years, but it had never exploded like this.I hadn’t thought, all I had done was react.Saving Maeve was all that mattered to me in that moment.
“Although I had a family, I was never part of it.My family didn’t even hesitate in giving me up.All my life, they had separated me from them.I was never allowed on family vacations.I couldn’t spend time with them.I wasn’t even allowed to watch movies with them.”She shrugged.“They’re not really my family.”
“You know someone from your family sent that man to kill you,” I said.
“How do you know?”
“It would be punishment for kicking them out of the restaurant.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head and stroke her cheek.“You have no reason to be sorry.They will pay for this.”
“But I’m nothing.I’m just a debt you have to kill eventually, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t.”
Maeve groaned.“I don’t know how any of this works.”
Her voice sounded croaky, and it was then I noticed she had quite a bit of dried blood on her.I hadn’t exactly gone gentle on the man that had been intent on killing her.
Gritting my teeth, I picked her up in my arms and carried her across the threshold into my en-suite bathroom.
“What are you doing?”
