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“And yet here I am,” he said. “Talking to you alone. Don’t let having a bodyguard give you a false sense of security,” he continued. “It only takes a moment to get to someone, Ms. Payne.”
My heart rate spiked at his words, and I shifted uncomfortably.
His lips curled up into a ghost of a smile. “You have my protection whether you appreciate it or not. And if anyone hurts you, I’ll slit their throat.” The promise in his voice was as chilling as it was decisive, making my blood pump faster through my body.
I was ashamed of feeling a flush of adoration for this man, but maybe it was only human. When someone would be willing to go to extreme measures to keep you safe, to enact vengeance should anyone hurt you, it was hard tonotexperience a wave of gratitude for that.
“But Franco? He won’t be given the mercy of dying quickly,” he continued, his voice dripping with dark intent. “There are six places you can stab someone that results in death rapidly. You can rest assured I’ll avoid all six of those locations when I get my hands on him, Ms. Payne.”
“I don’t want you to kill Franco. I want him turned into authorities, to face a trial of his peers.”
To this, the Vigilante looked amused, the edges of his mouth lifting, adding an air of ominous foreboding to the fog snaking between us.
“I will never stop hunting him, Ms. Payne. And I’ll never stop protecting you.”
Protecting me.The phrase ripped through my heart, sending its beat into a rhythm of confusion.
It seemed unconscionable to be grateful to this man who was out there, trying to keep me safe. Maybe it was just a survival thing—hoping if it came down to it, if Franco slipped past all other defenses, he might be intercepted by someone as capable of violence as he was.
In the distance, sirens began to wail.
“They’re coming for you.”
“Most likely, yes.”
“Which gives you no more than a minute or two to escape before they arrive.”
“Plenty of time.”
“But there’s only one way out of here.” I nodded to the ladies’ room door. “And on the other side of it is my bodyguard.” Whom the woman must have run past so fast from terror, she hadn’t alerted him. “You’ll never make it past him. So, what’s your plan?”
He leaned closer, the heat from his skin igniting a thousand tiny fires within me.
I couldn’t decide which fire it was, though. Anger at him for having cornered me here? Or a sick appreciation that this man was working so hard to protect me?
“I have a plan, Ms. Payne. I’m afraid you won’t like it very much. And I apologize in advance for what I’m about to do to you.”
His lips curled into a friendly ghost of a smile, and when they did, some sort of recognition flickered.
One I couldn’t place.
“Why do I get the feeling I know you?” I asked.
He stilled.
“Because I get the sense that I do,” I pressed.
His mouth tightened. “You would be well advised to not try to guess my identity, Ms. Payne.”
“So, that’s a yes? I do know you?”
He dropped his arm from the side of my head and stared at me for another moment before clearing his throat.
“Inform your bodyguard that I walked in the front door of this building and checked in under a pseudonym. I got you alone in here, while he didn’t check on you once. And, Ms. Payne?”
I waited.
“Iamsorry about what I have to do next.”
