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“Back away from her or I will put a bullet in your brain. Don’t fuck with me.” The difference in Zane’s personality should scare me to death. Instead, I was impressed.
Tristen’s chest heaved as he glared at me. Then he backed away.
“Now, get the fuck out of here. I can handle Ms. Rollins myself. Don’t you have a meeting to go to?”
The tension in the air was so thick it was suffocating.
“Fine. But you know what to do if she attempts to escape. If you fuck up, you will pay the price.” Tristen turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
Zane exhaled, the sound exaggerated. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. What’s his fucking problem?” I shifted in the chair, taking shallow breaths as he slipped his weapon behind his back and walked closer, tossing the rope onto the coffee table.
“I’m sorry about that. Tristen and I are adversaries.”
“Why? Because you’re a nice guy and he isn’t?”
“Because I wasn’t able to protect a woman he cared about, and she lost her life.” He lifted his gaze, allowing the ugly information to sink in.
“Oh, shit.”
“Exactly. If Mr. Thorn hadn’t intervened, my grave would be cold. That’s why I’ll always be loyal to the man and because he’s good to me and my family.”
“You have a family?”
He grinned. “A baby sister. Our parents are dead. She has special needs and Mr. Thorn made certain she was selected for a very special school that I could never have afforded.”
Wow. That was all that ran through my mind.
“That’s nice to hear. I’m glad you have family.”
“You don’t?” he asked.
“A half-sister that I didn’t really know well, and we were trying to get closer. We’re two different people. I doubt she’ll notice I’m missing.”
“Mr. Thorn is trying to protect you. You can believe what he says.”
“The jury is still out on that, Zane. I don’t know him. He abducted me, requiring that I marry him. That doesn’t give him credits in the trust department.”
“He has his reasons, but I can tell he likes you. I know that might not mean very much, but he does.”
Sighing, I opened the water and took a sip, hating the way my nerves continued eating at me. “Is it okay that I look around?”
“Yes, but for now I can’t allow you outside.”
“Understood.” While I wanted to dart out, get lost in the woods, I doubted Zane would be allowed a third chance at life.
I moved around the room, running my fingers across the furniture. Could I even stand the thought of spending a year, maybe longer with Constantine? As soon as my mind whispered his name, the tingles drifting through my body became yet another betrayal. For all the hatred I’d felt for him, the anger that kept me on edge, the heat of our connection had become the most overpowering feeling.
However, the dark emotion I’d seen in him less than an hour before had kept my mind spinning. He wasn’t the monster I’d believed him to be. If what he’d told me about the man he’d killed was true, then was his death that unwarranted? While a part of me couldn’t believe I was thinking that way, I wasn’t immune to loathing pigs who took advantage of children. They deserved a special place in hell.
I headed toward a group of pictures, lifting one from its arranged position. Constantine had a lovely family, his brother and sister so much like him, his father a spitting image only with gray hair. His mother was different, blonde and beautiful, her appearance that of a glamorous movie star. They appeared happy and it made me wonder if they were able to find joy in what so many would call mundane activities. I had a feeling no matter how each one of them lived, they did so with gusto.
Maybe it was because they knew that each day could be their last.
“How many people have you killed, Zane?” Instantly, I could tell the question hadn’t just caught him off guard. It had troubled him, his deep sigh an indication.
“That’s not what we’re about, Jade.” He said my name carefully, almost in reverence.
