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“Why would Isaveyour life just to turn around and end it?”
“Maybe you’re here to abduct me and take me to Franco. Maybe there’s a bounty on my head, and you and he”—I nodded toward my assailant—“fought to claim it.”
The Vigilante slowly placed his knife into his pocket and held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you, Ms. Payne.”
I studied his mask. Half of it cloaked in black, the other half a startling blood red. Its sleek surface looked like it would be cool to the touch while the gray mesh concealed his eyes.
My muscles shouldnotrelax slightly with his probable lie. But the truth was, most of my anger was nothing more than bravado, hiding my fear of dying, of Dad rotting in prison forever.
“Then what are you doing here?” My words tumbled out, my voice quivering.
The sirens grew louder.
“Protecting you.”
“Protecting me?” I choked. “I don’t understand…”
“I heard what happened with Franco after I left, how he thinks you have evidence against him.”
“How did you hear that?” I demanded.
“I have ears on the street,” he said.
“Ears.”
“I never meant to put you in Franco’s line of fire. Least I can do is watch out for you, Ms. Payne.”
I blinked. “You’ve been watching me?”
“I lost sight of you when you started running through the cars.” He looked at Anthony. “I’m sorry for that.”
“Well, I don’t want your protection.”
As the Vigilante’s face angled back to me, a strange tension sparked between us—something that I couldn’t quite identify. It was as if an unspoken understanding had passed between us, a sense of trust begging to be embraced.
I found myself asking, did I trust him? I got the sense that the Vigilante was sincere with what he was saying, and despite everything that’d just happened, a part of me believed him.
Which was absurd. He’d killed my friend, accused him of a heinous crime, and then slaughtered another man right in front of me.
But he’d also saved me. Literally killed a man to protect me, and I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that Dominic might have had a more sinister side than I’d realized.
Though the Vigilante’s mask concealed his eyes, an unmistakable warmth washed over my skin, as if his hidden gaze enveloped me in an unspoken embrace. What a strange feeling—both unsettling and comforting at the same time, as if we were connected in a way that defied explanation.
As we stared at each other, one thing became crystal clear: I’d be dead if the Vigilante hadn’t saved me.
“Who are you?” I tilted my head slightly.
The Vigilante stared at me as the sirens grew so loud, they had to be near the prison now, if not entering the lot.
“I’m sorry for this, Ms. Payne.”
And then he jumped over the seat, out the passenger door, and vanished into the tree line that surrounded the parking lot.
CHAPTER17
The Vigilante
That was too damn close.
