“Where are you going, princess?” I ask softly.
“Away from you,” she replies without turning around.
That hurts more than I’ll ever admit aloud.
“At least tell me how you’re feeling. Turn around.”
Surprisingly, she does. Her eyes meet mine first, then they shift downwards, almost like she’s cataloging every inch of me.
“You don’t have a speck of blood on you,” she breathes. “You just brutally murdered three men and there’s not a shred of evidence of it on you.”
I don’t reply to that, my gaze careful and assessing. She still looks calm, eerily calm.
“Do you have any idea how depraved that was? You broke that man’s neck like a twig,” she continues. “It’s sick!”
Her words sting, but I continue to watch her quietly.
“Do you have nothing to say?” she says, her voice rising.
My jaw clenches. “I saved your life.”
“And I’m supposed to thank you?” she seethes. “I never asked you to murder those men. I didn’t ask for anything!”
“And if I left you alone, what do you think would have happened?”
“I’m specially trained in negotiation. I could have—I could have talked them out of it!”
“Are you naïve or simply stupid? They were hardened criminals that would have sliced your pretty skin and laughed about it. They were about to kill you.”
“That doesn’t mean you should have murdered them! Especially not like that. You could have used non-lethal force. After that display, I’m sure you’re capable. Shoot them where it’ll hurt like a bitch and then leave them alive to pay for their crimes in the right way!”
“Shoot them where it’ll hurt like a bitch?” I repeat incredulously. “Are you even hearing yourself?”
I fight the urge to run a hand through my hair. I’m not listening to this anymore.
“I’m taking you home,” I state, reaching for her arm. She flinches away and there’s no missing the fear in her eyes.
My jaw tightens and I mask the hurt I feel at the sight. Where was that fear when her life was in mortal peril?
“I’ll go home myself,” she mutters and there’s no missing the shiver that rolls through her.
The thin material of the shirt she’s wearing is likely doing nothing to keep the cold at bay. Slowly, I take off the jacket I’m wearing. I approach her like she’s a caged animal, placing the jacket over her shoulders. She doesn’t push it away, but she’s tense. Practically holding her breath at my approach.
“And how do you plan to do that, princess? Walk? For once, don’t be stubborn and let me take you home.”
“What home?” she yells suddenly. “I live in a hotel! I don’t have a house, nor a family that I can trust. I don’t even have a friend that isn’t tainted by this!”
Her loss of control is startling, and I rethink my previous assessment. She’s not calm, not in the slightest. She had only been hiding it. But right now, it’s pretty clear the dam is close to bursting. I could help her. A better man would do something to keep her demons at bay.
Instead, I decide to push and prod, to bring them to the surface.
“Tainted by what exactly?” I ask.
“By you. By your entire world,” she replies and her eyes are like the deep blue ocean. They well with tears and I’m powerless to stop it. “You killed those men for me and because you did it for me, I’m responsible. It’s my fault they’re dead.”
“They kidnapped you. They signed their own death note; that’s on them.”
She’s shaking.
