***
"Erik. What happened?" Grace walked toward me as I moved out of the shadows at her library event. She looked like an angel in her white dress and sparkly heels.
"You look good enough to eat." I licked at the side of my mouth and smiled at her as my heart sank.
"Answer me." She reached up and brushed her fingertips by the side of my face.
"I got into a fight with a hammer?" I smiled and flinched. My lip was busted from getting in my father's face again. One thing I wasn't willing to do was strike back. Not ever.
"I don't like it." She moved into my arms and let out a frightened sound. "Did you talk to him?"
I looked down at her and touched her cheek before kissing her softly a few times. "Yeah. He's not willing to let me go. Not ever."
She glanced down, her expression growing sad. "Okay. I understand. Just be careful, okay?" She looked back up and touched my chest. "And if you ever get a chance to come back to the library-"
"Hush, kitten. We're not through." I cupped the side of her throat and leaned down, kissing her more fully though it hurt like fuck to do it. I pulled back and enjoyed the look of ecstasy on her beautiful face. "We'll leave when you're done with your event. I don't know how long I have or how far we'll get, but I want to spend as many days with you as I can."
"No." She shook her head. "I'm not going."
"What?" A host of emotions raced through me. She was trying to protect me. "Yes, you are."
"No." She took a step back and shook her head. "Please leave. I'm not going to be the reason you keep getting hurt." Tears swam in her eyes.
"Grace. This is the life I chose to live. It's the-"
"No. It isn't." She reached up and blotted her eyes. "You're stuck in that life because of being born to a monster. Nothing is going to change that." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Goodbye, Erik. Take care of yourself."
She turned and walked into a large group of people, her attention gone from me completely. There wasn't anything else to say. She'd given up on us because she wanted to save me, but her dismissal left me standing alone, the darkness around me growing thick.
My father had done this. He'd threatened her and me in a way that left her strong enough to turn away from me. I had half a mind to walk across the floor and snatch her pretty ass up, carry her outside and put her in the car myself.
But what good would it do?
My phone buzzed. Kane. The hit on Thomas was activated.
"Of course it is," I mumbled and turned, walking back down the stairs and out the front of the library. Grace was right to turn away from me. She needed to stay strong because I couldn't do it.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Cole, hating myself as the phone rang.
"Erik. Where are you? You need me?" He sounded on edge, as if he'd already claimed me as a brother. What was it with this fucking guy?
"Yeah. I'm going to do the hit on Thomas. I need Grace there to see it."
"Hmm... so she'll hate you?"
"Exactly. She trusts you. Get her there." I dropped the call and jogged to my bike as my insides burned in agony. I'd planned on letting her brother go and taking the hit on my own head to spare her from the loss of someone she loved, but things never quite worked out the way I planned.
My world was too much for her, and as of late, it had become almost too much for me. I drove the bike around to the other side of campus and got off, spotting Kane in the distance. I made my way over to him through the crowd of drunk college kids.
"You look like shit." He patted my shoulder. "Still suffering from your last ass beating."
I growled and looked down at him. "Say one more thing about it, and I'll cut off your dick and watch you choke to death on it."
He shivered. "I was kidding man. Shit."
"Don't. I'm not in the mood." I turned and let my eyes run across the lawn, spotting Thomas in the middle of a group of good looking girls. He was a player alright. I had no doubt that Grace knew nothing of the nasty games he played with girls, tying them up and taking his time to enjoy watching them come unglued. I'd learned a thing or two about the bastard over the last few weeks, each thing giving me more of a reason to pull the trigger.
In the past, I needed no reason at all.
Fuck Grace for making me love her.
"Alright. You doing it or am I up?" Kane moved across the yard with me as a cold wind blew past us.
"Me. I need to do it. Tell him Grace is in his bedroom and she's upset." I walked away, knowing that Kane would get the guy upstairs in no time. And if I knew anything about Cole... he would have Grace in the right spot as well.
I walked up the stairs, ignoring the odd stares I got. I was the only mother fucker in black, and everyone else was wearing a white sheet as a toga. Nothing mattered. Hell, getting caught didn't matter much either. Maybe that was another option.
After finding the right room, I walked to the window and picked up the picture of Thomas and Grace sitting on his desk. She looked so happy, so young and full of life.
"Grace?"
I turned at the sound of Thomas' voice and lifted my gun. "No, but she'll be here soon."
"Oh no." He made a run for the door, but Kane closed it and stood in front of it. "Please. I have the money coming on Tuesday next week. I promise. I'll give you anything if you can just hold off. Please."
"Why would steal from the mafia, Thomas? How fucking stupid are you?" I moved a few steps closer, wanting to beat the kid’s ass and send him home. Grace was the only woman I could see in my future, and that meant her little brother was mine too. Fuck her for being so right for me.
"I didn't know. I didn't." He stopped mid-sentence and paled. "Wait. Why is my sister coming here? She didn't do anything. She has nothing to do with this." He turned and started to swing at Kane.
I moved up behind him and locked my arms around him. "Get something from the closet, and we'll tie his hands up."
"No. Please. Not my sister. She didn't do anything. This was all me. Please." He thrashed about until Kane walked back and together we got his hands tied behind his back.
I moved back and wiped my hand down my face as I lifted my gun. "Shut the fuck up. I'm not going to hurt Grace. It's you who owes the money."
Grace burst into the room, her eyes wide, tears streaking down her face. Cole appeared in the doorway behind her.
"No! Erik. No!" She ran across the room and got on the floor in front of her brother, turning to face me and covering him as best as she could. "How dare you. You sorry bastard."
"Rules are rules, Grace. I tried to leave." I shrugged, letting a coldness settle over me that I had after Delaney's death. "Move, or I'll shoot you both."
"Erik," Cole warned and moved into the room with us.
I nodded at Kane, and he moved from behind the door and hit Cole hard in the back of the head. The big lug fell over, hitting the floor loudly. "And stay the fuck down," Kane growled.
"Your brother stole from my father. He owes twenty-thousand dollars. I'm here to collect. If he doesn't have it, then his life will do instead." I cocked my gun, and she cried out in fear.
"Why are you doing this? It's me. Look at me." She patted her chest as she sobbed.
My heart broke deep inside of my chest. "Move Grace. This bullet isn't meant for you."
"I'll give you anything you want. I'll go with you. Let's go. Just don't hurt Thomas," she screamed at me, her emotions raping her.
"Last chance, Grace. Move." I fired off a shot beside her, and she screamed. Thomas lay below her, crying like a fucking girl. I glanced over at Kane. "Meet me outside and make sure no one comes in. Got it?"
He nodded, his eyes wide, his face pale. I must have looked like the demon my father raised me to be.
"Erik. Baby. Look at me." Grace reached out, her hand shaking as Kane shut the door. "I know you don't love me the way I love you, but please. I'll get you the money. Just don't hurt my brother."
"Do you know what's going to happen if I return to my father and Thomas is alive, but I don't have the money?" I tilted my head to the side, studying her, but not really seeing her. "Do you know what I've already suffered for you?"
"Please. Please, Erik. See me. Please." She pulled her hand back and turned to cover her brother with her body.
I wasn't sure what I expected. For her to choose me over Thomas? That was impossible. I'd put a hole in her head before I let her touch Delaney. My life didn't mean much without the possibility of her in it anymore. It had been so fucking lonely and dark before that, but now...
The sound of her and Thomas crying followed me down the hall as I walked toward the front door. Kane was waiting by my bike, but I ignored him, got on it and drove toward my father's mansion.
He wouldn't accept my reasoning, so there was no reason giving it.
He wouldn't bend on requiring Thomas' life, but he'd have to send someone else. I loved the pretty girl splayed out across Thomas far too much to go through with it. I wasn't the hitman I thought I was. I wasn't anything.
The guards moved back as I walked up to the house a few minutes later and numbly made my way to my father's office.
He glanced up from writing something and stood. "Erik. What happened?"
"I failed you. I failed me." I closed the door behind me and walked toward him, handing him my gun. I took a few steps back as he walked around the desk and pointed it at me.
"Explain."
"I love her, Dad. I can't take her brother's life, not even to save my own." I shrugged. "I'm sorry. I wish I were more of who you wanted me to be."
He smiled. "You're exactly who I want you to be. You're just lost, but I'll help you find your way back."
I let my head drop as he raised his hand. The pain that exploded across my face was numbed by the sweet darkness that pulled me under.
For once in my shitty life, I'd made the right choice.
The unselfish one.