Chapter 53: : Chapter 53

I’m going through the small collection of photos of my father and me. There are a few of my mother and me when I was younger, too, but I ignore them. I’ve never entirely had the heart to throw them out, but neither do I care for her in any capacity.

I have the last of my items packed and plenty of cash stuffed in my bag. Craig has organized a private jet for me. He hasn’t told me the location of where I’m going, which was always the plan if one of us got in trouble. I sling the backpack onto my shoulder and look at myself one more time in the mirror. I’m more determined than ever to flee the country.

My deadline to offer Eli’s body is in twelve hours. By then, I’ll be out of the country, and no one will be any the wiser to where I am.

I hear Craig rummaging in his gun closet. I frown, stepping out behind him as he holds a rifle and opens the door. “Wh—?” The question dies on my tongue.

Eli is standing there, looking like a deadly god, as he always does. But, for once, his hair seems a mess, and the shadow of scruff on his chin is heavier than usual.

His gaze finds me where I stand frozen in the hallway, then moves back to Craig. Eli offers him his hand, and Craig looks at it, confused.

“I’m Eli.”

“I know who you are,” Craig says, then goes to slam the door in Eli’s face, but Eli wedged his foot between the door and the jamb despite the crushing force Craig used to close it.

“I’m going to try and do this nicely, but I must confess, I’m not in my right mind at the moment,” Eli says with a smile that is anything but sane. “I understand you’re important to my fiancée, which is why I haven’t blown out your brains for keeping her from me. But I don’t know how long I can continue to be so patient.”

Craig points the rifle at Eli, and I’m shocked by how quickly everything is happening. “I can make this easy on you, kiddo,” Craig says to me. “I can take the shot, and you take the body.”

Eli smiles insanely as he steps forward and presses his forehead to the muzzle of the rifle. “Yes, Jewels. What will it be?”

“Stop it,” I grit.

“Stop what?” He raises a cynical eyebrow with his hands in the air as if he’s doing nothing wrong.

“Playing mind games with me. You need to leave.”

He laughs. “Me? Playing mind games with you?! Want to explain why I woke up drugged with no trace of my fiancée this morning? You can imagine why I’m at my wits’ end.”

“Just let me go! Find yourself a perfect little wife, and stop tormenting me!” I shoot, pulling out my father’s gun and pointing it at Eli.

He angles his head toward me, then approaches me as if hypnotized by the point of my gun. Craig tracks him the entire way, but Eli treats him as if he’s irrelevant.

“I’m not letting you leave,” Eli states.

I scoff. This arrogant asshole. “I think it’s the other way around. All I need to do is put a bullet between your eyes, and it’s done.”

“So why don’t you?” he asks, coming closer. I take two steps back.

“Stay where you are!” I demand, trying to keep my emotions in check. I made up my mind. I didn’t expect him to find me so soon.

“The way I see it, Kitten, you could’ve easily killed me in my sleep last night. In fact, you’ve had a lot of time and opportunity to kill me, haven’t you? But you haven’t.”

“Maybe you’re not the only one who enjoys playing with their prey,” I say, and I hate how my voice wobbles.

His smile stretches despite his eyes being anything but friendly. “Leave us,” Eli commands to Craig.

“I beg your fucking pardon?” Craig steps forward. And that’s when I realize Craig is definitely about to kill him.

“Wait!” I shout, and it tears at me to see how the two snarl at one another. “We’ll go outside.”

“I don’t want this asshole being in your head for one more second,” Craig angrily says.

“Mmm, yes. I much prefer being between her legs,” Eli says with an antagonizing grin.

I shove him toward the door as he laughs sinisterly, purposefully pissing Craig off. I slam the door behind us.

“You left me.” Eli turns on me, imposing on my space. The barrel of my gun is pointed at his chest as he slams both hands against the door above my head. I’m pressed back against the wood and I’m not okay with being cornered.

“It was never real!” I scream at him, trying to shove him away, but he doesn’t budge. The gun is irrelevant to Eli. “Do you really think so little of me when I have a gun pointed at your chest?”

“You’re the only one I’d let do it, sweetheart,” he says, and the truth in his words hits me in a tender place.

“Stop lying to me.” My voice comes out as a squeak, and I hate how small it makes me sound. I feel like a frightened mouse compared to the prowling tiger I usually am. Something flashes in Eli’s gaze, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand him. Or maybe I do, and that’s what scares me so much. I see so much of myself in him, and it terrifies me.

It terrifies me that he has so much power over me and that I willingly gave it to him without even realizing it.

“Tell me what’s happening in that beautiful mind of yours,” Eli begs, his forehead dropping to mine in defeat. Tears well in my eyes, and I hate that he draws this weakness out of me. I hate this vulnerability. The way he’s able to split me in two and bring out these emotions I’ve buried for years. I hate that he ever gave me a ray of hope. I was fine by myself.

I push him back forcefully enough that he staggers, and I aim the gun at him again.

He cocks an arrogant smile as he puts his hands up as if defenseless. “Oh, I get it. You don’t like that you like me.”

A lump forms in my throat. It’s past “like.” I’m certain that I… Nope, not going there right now. I hover my finger over the trigger. “I just have to take your body to my client in twelve hours and be done with this.”

“So why don’t you do it?” he questions. “Or you can have a little more faith in your fiancé, and we can meet this head-on together.”

“You’re not real. This isn’t real!” I scream desperately as the emotions flood over me, and my hand begins to shake. He’s playing with me, isn’t he? In the same way, he likes to torment his prey. His mind fuckery game is strong.

“If it isn’t real, then tell me why I’m here, Jewel, begging like a desperate man for you to come back with me. Do you think I’ve ever begged anyone for anything in my life?!” he says hysterically.

“You just want to marry me for convenience so you can have your stupid empire!” I scream.

He takes a step back as if something just clicked into place. “You and I both know that what’s between us is real. Truce be damned. You are mine, Jewel Diamond, and unless you put that bullet in my brain, I will not stop pursuing you.”

My hands are shaking, and I feel like I can’t breathe. What if he leaves me? What if it’s a lie? What if I’m just convenient and can be thrown to the wayside? I’ve never loved anyone other than my father. Don’t know how to. I tighten my grip on the gun, wanting so badly to pull the trigger, knowing it’ll take all of this pain away with it. Because if I kill Eli Monti, it’ll take all of me with him.

“I want you to say yes to me,” I speak truthfully. “But I know your ambition will always put me second.”

“What are you talking about? It’s always been yes! You have been the only woman I’ve ever gotten on my knees for. I don’t know what else I have to do.”

I can barely see through my tears, and it happens so quickly that I’m stunned. He swipes the gun out of my hand, but instead of aiming it at me, he puts it to his own temple.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I step forward, but he takes a step back with determination in his gaze.

“Is this really the only way to prove to you?” he asks earnestly.

“This is stupid and manipulative, and I can’t do this!” I yell, closing my eyes. It hurts. It hurts all over.

“Of course it hurts, Jewels! Neither of us has ever fallen in love! We don’t know what the fuck we’re doing!” he says, and my eyelids burst open. He looks sad as he throws the gun to the side. “That’s right, Jewel Diamond! I fucking love you more than I thought I was ever capable of loving someone! I know I have my faults. But if you asked me right now to give it all up for you, I would.”

I shake my head because imagining Eli without power has never crossed my mind. It’s not even an option. “You wouldn’t, Eli. Power, blood, and money are all the things you are. Being at the head of your family is your rightful place.”

“As is being by your side.” He takes a step forward, and I take another step backward, my back meeting the door.

“You wouldn’t,” I repeat, my bottom lip trembling and tears streaming down my face. How does this man so easily slip under my skin?

He reaches out to me slowly. “Why wouldn’t I give it all up when you’ve already done the same thing for me?”

It hits me with a force I’m not ready for. I choke on the tears that seem to suffocate me. His callused hand lifts to my cheek. “That’s why you ran, isn’t it? You got the final order for the hit?”

I fall into a million pieces, barely able to hold myself up as I lean into the man I tried to run away from. He cups the back of my neck and rests his chin on my head as I cry hysterically. “I tried,” I sob out. If only he had left me alone. If only he didn’t follow me here.

“I know. But don’t ever do that again. You are a part of my family, Kitten. From the moment you threw that dagger into my leg, I knew you were mine.”

I choke on a laugh because it’s so absurd with how hysterically I’m crying. I haven’t really cried since my father’s funeral. The irony is not lost on me; I’m crying over the man I chose to save by leaving him, but he still won’t let me walk this path alone.

“Let’s meet your client and finish this. We’ll kill them and then get married,” he says as if it’s the most obvious and easiest answer.

“We don’t even know who it is, Eli. What if you get killed in the process?” I ask, looking up at him, and he laughs as he wipes away my tears.

“Wasn’t that the goal in the first place? And, unfortunately, I’m hellbent on marrying you.”

I choke on another laugh. This asshole is absurd and unhinged. But now I’m certain he’s mine—if we make it out of this alive.

I let myself fall into the truth and the lack of guarantee that this love won’t break me like all the others.

But I only had the strength to walk away from Eli Monti once.

He presses a kiss on my forehead. “And if we die, then so be it. We were always meant to die together, married or not. But, surely, by now, the one faith you have in your husband is that nothing can kill me. And I sure as hell won’t let anyone or anything touch you.”

I wipe at my tears, happiness, and fear rolling together inside me. “Those are some vengeful lies, Eli Monti because you’re nothing but reckless.”

“The world is about to discover how devoted I am to my wife, Jewel Monti,” he declares as he leans in and kisses me with the fierceness and depravity of a man who has only one reason to live. His hands cling to mine, and I feel the cool touch of the engagement ring slide onto my ring finger. For the last time. Because I’ll take it to the grave with me.

I hold on to him, too scared that he’s a mirage. Or even worse, that I’m just a phantom destined for a life without him. Luckily, Eli is a ball and chain I’ll happily force onto myself.