Chapter 6 - The Kiss Nobody Was Supposed to See
Damian refused the hospital.
Instead, his doctor came to the brownstone.
The bullet had only grazed his shoulder.
I stayed beside him.
“You're impossible.”
“So I've been told.”
“You could have died.”
“So could you.”
He looked at me.
“You were protecting me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His expression softened.
“Because I couldn't lose you.”
The room became silent.
I looked away.
“That's dangerous.”
“What?”
“Caring about someone like me.”
“I'm aware.”
I laughed softly.
“You're supposed to be terrifying.”
“I am.”
“You don't seem terrifying right now.”
“Give me a minute.”
I smiled.
He reached for my hand.
His fingers were warm.
“Friday night,” he said.
“What about it?”
“I wanted to tell you who I was.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because you were the first person in years who talked to me without knowing my name.”
I looked at him.
“And if I had known?”
“You would have been afraid.”
“I am afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
I paused.
“Of what I feel around you.”
His expression changed.
He leaned closer.
“Then don't run.”
I didn't.
He kissed me.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Nothing like the violent world surrounding him.
For a few seconds, there were no conspiracies.
No money.
No threats.
Just us.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“Victor is dead.”
My stomach dropped.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
I knew immediately.
“It wasn't an accident.”
“No.”
He hung up.
“We need to move.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they can't find us.”
But before we left, another message arrived.
A photograph.
It showed me and Damian kissing.
Taken through the window.
Underneath was one sentence:
You should have stayed in the elevator.
I stared at the photograph.
Someone had been watching us.
The threat wasn't about money anymore.
It was personal.
Damian looked at me.
“They want you frightened.”
“I am.”
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Why is that good?”
“Because fear keeps you alert.”
He took my hand.
“But I won't let them touch you.”
That night, we moved to a secure property outside the city.
The next morning, Damian discovered something worse.
The ledger was missing.
Someone had entered the brownstone while we were gone.
They had taken only one thing.
The ledger.
But they left a note.
Ask your girlfriend what her mother never told her.
I stared at the message.
“My mother?”
Damian looked at me.
“What aren't you telling me?”
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
Then I remembered something.
The ring I had inherited from my mother.
A small silver ring with an unusual engraving.
I took it from my jewelry box.
Damian examined it.
“There's a compartment.”
He pressed the side.
A tiny panel opened.
May you like
Inside was a microfilm.
My mother's final secret.
