His expression didn’t falter. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll lock you in your bedroom if I have to.”
She froze, her eyes widening. Her lips parted, as if she couldn’t believe the words coming out of Cillian’s mouth. He couldn’t blame her; he could barely believe he was saying them. He had never imagined himself as this kind of man, but here hewas. He wasn’t going to let her leave, not when they had so few answers. It was too dangerous, and she was too afraid to think about it rationally.
“You wouldn’t,” she said, her voice soft, almost in warning, as if she was giving him one final chance to stop this and let her go.
“I would if it meant keeping you safe,” he growled.
She stared up at him. “Cillian, if you do that, I will never forgive you,” she warned, her voice still soft but dangerous.
“I know,” he said. “I’ll take that if it means keeping you safe.”
“Don’t do this,” she implored, backing up.
Cillian began closing the gap, coming closer. “I don’t want to. But right now, you aren’t giving me much choice.”
She kept stepping back, Cillian following her. Her eyes flicked around as if searching for an escape.
“This is a bad idea, Cillian,” she said.
“I know you’re going to hate me for it,” he said. “And I wish I didn’t have to do any of this, but I would do anything to keep you safe.”
It wasn’t until she darted to the side that he realized she had been dragging him further into the room, away from the door. She had been trying to give herself the space to sprint around him.
She ran faster than he would have expected, circling far enough away from him that he couldn’t just reach out and stop her. But she wasn’t fast enough. He dashed after her and grasped her arm just before she reached the door.
“Let me go,” she spat, trying to wrench her hand from his grasp once more.
“I’m not going to do that,” he said.
“I’m not staying here,” she said, still trying to tug her arm away.
“You are until we know more,” he said, pulling her deeper into the house and toward the stairs.
“Don’t you dare,” she warned, but the sudden weakness in her tone told him she knew it was already too late.
Cillian sighed, trying to smother some of the guilt writhing through him at what he was doing. Still, despite that unease, he didn’t hesitate. This was the right thing to do, even if she didn’t see it.
He pushed her up the steps, nudging her forward a step at a time, not letting go of her as she let out a string of curse words. Every time she tried to stall, he gave her another nudge. She glared at him before reluctantly moving.
It took longer than normal to make their way up to the second floor, but eventually they cleared the landing. He opened the door to her room and ushered her inside. All the doors were old-fashioned, the kind with physical keys and keyholes, the ones that could be locked on either side. He had always liked the style, though he had never expected to actually use the locks. He plucked the key resting in the inside lock.
Amber walked toward the door, as if hunting for some way around him. He blocked her path. She stopped a few feet away, looking at him as if she had never seen him before in her life. She licked her lips.
“Cillian,” she said. “You really don’t want to do this.”
“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I will if it means keeping you safe.”
“Just let me go, and we can forget all of this.”
“We can talk about it later.”
She jutted out her chin. “If you do this, I’m never going to forgive you.”
He winced. “I know. But you’ll be safe. At the moment, that’s all I care about.”
Before she could respond, he stepped out of the room. He closed the door and locked it, leaving the key twisted in the lock. He could feel her glare through the wood as he walked away.
Guilt lanced through him. He knew he was being impulsive. More importantly, he knew that Amber meant it when she said she’d never forgive him for what he’d done. But this was the only way he could keep her safe.
