AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She agreed to do whatever I wanted as payment to spare her life. And being an understanding man, one with great sympathy for those who are down on their luck, I gave her an ultimatum.”
“Wrynnie,” Ruby finally says, and I look at her, “I never thought you would try so hard to find me. I thought it would be like I died. You would mourn and move on.”
“You were my everything, Ruby,” I say as the first tear makes its way down my cheek. “You think I wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth to find you and bring you back? It was always me and you, through everything.”
“I didn’t want you to know.”
“Why? I would have helped.”
“We were already living paycheck to paycheck, barely able to afford our apartment.”
“I would’ve gotten another job,” I say, trying to make it make sense.
“You already had multiple jobs,” she screams, and Viktor makes a sound of displeasure. She lowers her voice. “I couldn’t do that to you. I was so ashamed. So terrified. This was my way out, and I wasn’t going to bring you down with me. I didn’twantyou involved.”
“And look where that got us,” I say bitterly.
She tries to take a step toward me, but Viktor holds her firmly in place.
He opens his mouth to speak, then pauses and raises one hand to his ear, listening intently to something that must be coming through a hidden earpiece. His face grows stony, then concerned. His eyes flick back and forth between me and Ruby and then to Frank and the other man.
“Watch them,” he demands before striding from the room, leaving me kneeling on the floor in front of the one person I finally gave up on ever seeing again.
Ruby rushes forward, kneeling in front of me and grabbing my hands. She pulls me in for a long hug, during which neither of us says anything. Her chest heaves with silent sobs, and my face is wet with my own tears. When she pulls back, she grips my face in her hands and wipes her thumbs underneath my eyes.
“Get off each other,” Frank growls from his position at the door.
Ruby stands, pulling me up and sitting me on the couch. She takes the spot next to me, and I can sense the men’s beady eyes on us. She sits stiffly and places her hands in her lap.
“That night,” I say, searching her face, “you weren’t acting different. You didn’t seem like someone who knew they were about to leave.”
“I didn’t want to worry you. I wanted to leave you with good memories of me. I wasn’t thinking straight. It wasn’t that cut and dry, I know.”
“You must have thought about how I would feel for you to go missing without a trace.”
“I knew it would hurt you. And every day, I have been eaten up with guilt over it. I didn’t want to leave, but I also didn’t want to bring my mistakes to you. I didn’t want you involved in the dark shit I was in.”
“I am now though,” I say, and her expression shutters.
“Do you love him?” she asks me, and her hand creeps across the cushion, moving slowly so Frank doesn’t detect it.
She finds my hand and clasps it. Cold metal digs into my skin, and I curl my fingers around hers.
“Did you ever love him?” I counter and watch the remorse flash across her face. “You were using him.”
She turns her face away from me, and we sit like that for a moment. Hand in hand, hiding a weapon, with secrets laid bare.
“Bertrand found out I was talking to the Leonis. He threatened to kill me. He threatened to kill those I loved. I knew he didn’t have a lot of information on me yet; otherwise, he would’ve known you were my person, the one in my life that mattered. He wanted me to leave Connor alone. I really thought I was meeting Connor in that alleyway, and I knew it was my last chance to get information. I had planned on leaving right after and meeting up with one of Viktor’s men, who was tasked with bringing me back to Chicago and setting up a new identity for me. Instead, I was taken by Bertrand’s men. They beat me badly before we were found by Viktor’s contact, who managed to get me out of there.”
I gasp, horrified at what she went through. All because she had thought she didn’t have any other choice. I’m angry that she thought it would be easier to leave me behind completely and make me believe she was dead rather than face her problems with me. But I can also see it from her side, where she thought she was doing the right thing for me and for us. Didn’t I do the same thing? And didn’t Connor keep information from me for the same reasons? The lines are all so crossed and muddied now.
I reach up, tracing a scar on one side of her face, near her eyebrow. One she didn’t have the last time I saw her.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” I whisper, and she leans in toward me, toward my touch, closing her eyes.
“It’s in the past,” she murmurs. “Francesca told me that Connor is here. He’s coming to get you.” Ruby barely moves her lips, not wanting Frank to overhear what she’s telling me. “You must get out of here. If Viktor comes back, I’m afraid you won’t leave here alive.”
“Come with us. Connor will make sure you get out too.”
