Chapter 15: Veiled Vows: Chapter 15

“This is the lounge. The kitchen is right there, as you can see, and through that door is the bedroom with an adorable en suite.”

Smiling brightly, I turn to Catherine and hold out my arms to emphasize just how amazing this new apartment is, but it’s not working.

Not entirely.

My father made it clear that Catherine couldn’t stay with us for long, and with her parents out of town, the only option was to get her a place where she would feel safe and secure, and away from Seth.

Far away from Seth, actually. He’d be dead but that’s against Catherine’s wishes.

For now.

So, thanks to the clerk who called the cops after he hit me with his car, he’s still out in the city claiming he’s being stalked and harassed with the cops on his side instead of Catherine’s. He’s technically correct since I have one of my men tailing him like a shadow with orders to fuck with him every so often just so he knows that he’s not alone. And he will never be alone. Not after what he did to her.

“Are you sure about this?” Catherine’s hands come together at her middle and tangle her fingers. “I can’t imagine what a place like this costs.”

“Don’t worry,” I assure her, stepping forward and taking her hands in mine. “I told you, this is to help you recover, and I want you safe. I’d keep you at my house if I could, but you know my father.” Rolling my eyes, I pat her forearm and then draw her in for a swift cuddle. “Here you will be safe. Seth is never coming near you ever again, and I’m going to keep one of my guys outside for a while, okay? I promise you will be okay. This is a fresh start for you.”

Cupping her face, I briefly kiss her forehead.

Catherine looks at me with shining eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Shut up, yes you do. Now go and unpack your bags while I cook us some dinner, and then I’m going to tell you all about how crazy my mother has become about this wedding.”

The guilt about what happened to Catherine still weighs on me. It’s a glimpse at how powerless I am despite my best efforts. Protecting my friends is supposed to be easy, but I never clocked that Seth was a twisted little bastard. I want him dead, but until I can do that without losing Catherine, I just have to torture him countless times in my mind.

She scurries off to the bedroom to unpack, and I take over the kitchen cooking up some cheeseburgers and hand-cut fries that crisp up beautifully in the air fryer. By the time the food is ready, Catherine returns in comfy clothes and already looking much more relaxed than when I first brought her here. Settling in will be hard, but I will make sure this place becomes her home. We eat on the couch, and I fill her in on every exhausting story about my mother and her obsession with the wedding.

From dress shopping to hiring expensive designers to build something from scratch, arguments with florists over color schemes and plants, table designs, cake tasting, and more; she’s become a bit of a monster, and through it all she’s been furious with my father over his lack of interest since in her eyes, it’s his fault. Catherine drinks up every detail like my family is her latest daytime soap and expresses her sympathies that my mother has turned into a bridezilla. But as crazy as she is, it’s nice to have her focused on something like this.

She hasn’t been floaty in at least a week, which is a new record. I keep the conversation as light as I can and we talk long into the night until Catherine starts to yawn, signaling the end of my night.

“Do you want me to sleep over?”

“No,” Catherine yawns, patting my thigh as she stands. “You’ve already done more than enough.”

“If you’re sure.”

She turns to face me and points at the door. “I’m sure. Now, go home.”

“Well you’ll call me if anything happens.”

“Yes.”

“Even if you just want to talk.”

“Yes.

“And you have the number of the bodyguard.”

“Yes. Jasmine. I love you. Get out.”

“Okay, okay!” We laugh and exchange tight hugs, then I leave feeling slightly better about her situation. She still has a long road to recovery, but being in a safe place will work wonders in keeping her on the right path.

As I head down the steps, my phone blares to life with a call from mother. “Hello?”

“Jasmine, where are you? I expected you home hours ago!”

“I’m sorry, I was with Catherine.”

“This whole time?”

“Yes!” The streetlight flickers as I come to a stop underneath it and lift my arm, waving over my driver. “I’m on my way back though, so I’ll be half an hour tops.”

“I have far too many dresses here for you to be wasting time,” Bianca snaps. “Hurry home!”

As soon as the call ends, another one comes through, but this one I hesitate to answer.

It’s Roman.

I haven’t spoken to him since we fucked in the deli, and while it was likely intended to make me doubt him, Alto’s words about Roman’s true intentions linger in my mind. I was getting attached briefly, and even now seeing his name makes my heart skip a beat and my skin tingle.

But I don’t know him. Not really. And I can’t talk to him right now, not with my overzealous mother waiting.

I decline the call.

Sliding my phone back into my pocket, my driver pulls up alongside me and out climbs one of my bodyguards. He flashes me a tight-lipped smile and holds the door open.

“Is everything in place?” I ask. “Security is armed? Catherine’s bodyguard is in place?”

“Yes, ma’am, everything you requested.”

“Excellent, I’m going to also need you too⁠—”

A loud gunshot echoes in the night air and a spurt of red erupts from his throat. Blood sprays from the sudden gaping wound in his neck, coating my face in wet warmth as I stare in utter horror. The blood is like a hose pouring from his neck in what feels like liters over the course of a single second. His eyes widen and he drops to the ground. Another gunshot rings out and I duck into the car as something collides with the roof.

“Drive!” I dive into the backseat and slam the door closed. “Fucking drive!”

My driver does just that. I barely spare a thought for the man we leave behind as another shot rings out in the distance and thumps into the car. What the fuck is going on?

Is this Seth? There’s no way he’d be so bold, or skilled to do something like this. It has to be something else, but what the fuck? Cowering down on the back seat, I brace one foot on the floor and try to get onto the seat as my driver swerves around traffic and races through the city.

There’s blood everywhere. All over my face, soaking into my clothes, and coating my hands, making my attempts to get my phone ten times harder.

“Where to?” yells my driver.

“I don’t know!” Another few potshots hit the car, urging my driver to really put his foot down as we race through the city. It doesn’t matter where we go, but we’re clearly being chased, which means we just have to get away and keep going. My phone slips from my panicked fingers, streaked with blood and escaping as the car lurches. It hits the floor and I dive right after it, landing on one knee. The car swerves again, sending my phone right under the driver’s seat.

“Shit! Shit, shit—” I have to call someone. My father. More guards. Roman. Someone. Anyone.

The car swerves several more times, keeping my phone just out of reach, then the back window shatters with a loud crash. Glass hails down on me like falling stars while my driver screams in agony.

“I’ve been shot!” he screams. The car swerves erratically as I clamber back up. With barely time to think, I lunge across the car seat and grab the steering wheel just as my driver sags to the side and drags the wheel with him.

The last thing I see is the guard rail smashing from the force of the vehicle, and we tear off the edge of the road and plummet down an incline into darkness.