“I’m sorry,” I say softly.
The apology catches her off guard. She looks up at me, her eyes swimming, her expression heartbreakingly beautiful.
“I’m not sorry I did it, but I’m sorry it happened. And… that you feel responsible.”
She takes that in quietly, and then she looks away again, blinking away tears.
“Come on,” I say, reaching for her again, relieved when she doesn’t push my arm off. “I’ll take you back to your hotel.”
She lets me lead her to my car. We’re both silent for a long time as I drive away. I’m completely unequipped to handle this. She’s in a fragile state right now and I’m worried about saying the wrong thing to set her off.
“What are you going to do about the bodies?” she asks after some time has passed.
We’re on the road to the city, the trees and everything that hurt her is behind us. Everything except me that is.
“Nothing,” I inform her. “They’ll be found soon enough. When they’re found, their organization will probably cover it up.”
“Won’t someone know I was there? They’ll know they abducted me,” she points out. “And they’ll know someone saved me.”
“Even if they do, it won’t matter. They won’t be able to trace it back to me. And I’ll make sure no one touches you ever again.”
I let those words settle and glance at her as she tries to make sense of it.
“Why?” she says softly. “Why did you save me? Why do you care?”
My heart clenches while my jaw tightens, “I don’t know, Lindsay. I just do. I guess I enjoyed blocking you from all my files this past year. Who would fuck with me if you were killed?”
The admission feels like parting with a vital part of me. I don’t look at her as I say the words.
She sniffs softly, and I realize she’s crying. “I should call the police. Tell them everything that happened.”
“You won’t,” I murmur.
She grows quiet again, not contradicting my words. We drive into the city and arrive at her hotel twenty minutes later. I park just across from it, staring up at the large building filled to the brim with people. Innocent people who aren’t tainted by me. By my world.
I’m sure she wishes she was one of them.
When I turn to her, she’s staring forward, chewing on the inside of her cheek. A nervous habit I’ve noticed.
“You’ve been watching me, haven’t you? You were there at the park yesterday?”
I nod once, compressing down my anger as I remember who she’d been with at the park. I already asked Elio to dig into the man. I remember how she smiled as she looked at him. It took most of my self-control not to walk into the café and demand her attention.
“Thank you,” she says under her breath.
“I don’t want your thanks, Lindsay. I want you to be okay.”
“I’ll be okay. As long as you stay away from me.”
That hurt. I look at her, my eyes boring into hers. I want to see what’s behind the depths. I want to uncover every inch of her. And then drown in that deep ocean that she hides behind.
“Are you really sure you want that?” I ask. “Look me in the eye and then answer the question. Do you want me to leave you alone?”
She stares at me for an eternity and her expression crumbles.
“No,” she whispers, the truth wrenched from her like she can’t control it.
The tension between us simmers. We’re both staring now. She shifts closer, leans forward and then her eyes flick to my lips. I see it in her expression. Lust and want mixed together. But there’s also fear. And I simply can’t ignore that.
