He couldn't allow that.
It was his fault Kia was still with that bastard. If he hadn't pulled back at the last second when he slammed the butt of his gun to her head, she would have been dead. If he had just fired the gun as he had originally intended, she would have certainly been dead.
But at the last moment, grief had overwhelmed him. Such sorrowful, pain-filled grief, that he had pulled back.
The next time, he would make certain he didn't pull back. Chase had to realize what it was like to lose everything, to be destroyed as only a man can be destroyed. It was just so sad Kia had to pay the price for the lesson Falladay had coming
. Sweet Kia. She should have remained faithful. If only she had just remained faithful, been the wife she should have been, and stayed away from Falladay. Everything would have been okay then. She wouldn't have to be hurt or frightened.
How sad.
He breathed out a small, weary sigh and maneuvered his car onto the street, heading away from the direction the others had taken.
He had been watching for her, waiting for her to return home. He had wanted her to see. Wanted her to save herself by distancing herself from Falladay. But she hadn't. She was with him, and she would remain with him.
He had failed the first time, but he knew he wouldn't fail the next time. It was planned. Everything would go smoothly and he would stare her in the eye and pull the trigger. He would watch the life leave her eyes, and in that death Falladay would know how it felt to lose everything.
To hurt, every day. To ache. To dream of days when all had been lush and filled with life and happiness. He would know the agony of reality, the loss and the certainty that he had marked her for death.
Vengeance, It was going to be his. And, he promised himself, it would be sweet.
Chapter 21
"You can't put a bubble around me." Kia stared at her fingers, interlaced in her lap. They twisted together, a nervous reaction, Chase realized.
Kia rarely showed her nerves. Even two years ago, facing him, knowing what he wanted from her, she hadn't shown any fear.
Steel spine. Tears fell silently when they did fall. She didn't sob, she didn't latch on to him and beg for strength, even silently. She wiped her eyes with that damned handkerchief Khalid had given her and tried to still the tears and the pain.
"I can do more than put a bubble around you," he told her. "I know what we're looking at now, and I do know how to protect you, Kia."
She lifted her head, her tongue swiping over her pale, dry lips.
"What are we looking at?"
"Someone out of control," he told her. "Someone you can anticipate." He drew her into his arms, feeling the fine tremor that raced through her body.
"Someone who will try again and again until he succeeds," she said.
"And when they do try, there will be protection," Khalid stated, his voice harsh, hard. "And he will be caught."
Kia shook her head, tense as Chase held her to him.
"Trust me, Kia," he whispered against her hair, his hand stroking her arm, trying to warm her. "Do you trust me to protect you?"
Kia kept her head lowered. She was aware of too many eyes on her, too many watching her. Khalid and Cameron. And Chase.
"Who will protect you?"
She fought to keep her hands in her lap, to keep from touching him, just to make certain he wasn't hurt, even though she knew he wasn't hurt. She felt his lips against the top of her head, his hand warming her arm under the sweater she wore. And she was terrified. For Chase.
"Protect me?" Chase lifted her face. Something in her voice, in the set of her body, filled him with a heat that threatened to burn him alive.
When his eyes met hers he felt that heat consume him. She wasn't worried about herself; the fear wasn't for herself. It was for him.
He felt his expression tighten. He couldn't help it. Emotion tore through him like an explosion, tightening his arms around her and clenching his teeth with brutal force.
Fuck. Damn her. She was ripping into his soul and there wasn't a damned thing he could do to stop her. No one had ever cared about his protection.
With the exception of Cameron, there had never been anyone who gave his life a thought above their own. Until Kia. It was her life in danger. She had been attacked, hurt, everything she owned brutalized, but she was worried about his protection?
"You watch my back, and I'll watch yours." He lowered his head and whispered the words to her as Khalid and Cameron found something fascinating to watch outside the car windows.
He felt her start, her eyes dilating in surprise. The slightest lessening of tension, the hint of her heart rate easing.
"You would let me?" Her whisper low enough that he knew only he heard.
He touched her cheek, experiencing the same rush he always felt when he touched her skin.
"Any day of the week, any hour of the day. Keep your eyes on me, Kia. Mine will always be on you."
Kia let her head rest against his chest then, inhaling with a slow, measured breath. Nothing could happen to him, not because of her, especially because of her. She couldn't live with herself if it did.
The drive back to Chase's apartment was made quickly and Kia had nearly managed to regain her balance when they pulled into the underground parking lot and she realized her parents were there.
"Who called Dad?" She wanted to scream in frustration then.
She loved her father and her mother. They were the bedrock of her life, but she knew exactly what was coming.
"Kia, I couldn't not let your father know," Chase chastised her gently. "He'd kill me."
"He'd only hurt you a little," she snorted as the chauffeur opened the door. "I would have made it worth your while."
She was aware of the surprised looks as the men moved from the car and Chase helped her out gently.
"He would have killed me," he reiterated. "And then you'd really have to make do with just the electric blanket."
"There was more than that." The brief byplay was easing her nerves, giving her more to concentrate on than her mother's tearful face.
"Remind me to spank you again for that one," he murmured in her ear as they neared her father's limo.
And of course he made certain he got in the last word.
"Kia, sweetheart." Her father pulled her into a bear hug, his big arms wrapping around her like they used to when she was a child. "Are you okay?"