Page 16 of Under His Watch

He cocked his head to the side. “Do you mean that?”

I nodded.

“Then it’s my pleasure to let you know he’s dead. All three of them are.”

I held my breath, letting his simply stated words filter through my mind a few times. I wanted justice, but that was fast. And grisly. “Dead?”

“Yes.”

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, staring at him in a very new light. Strangers. We definitely were strangers, but I was plugging in more details about him.

He killed those men. He was a murderer.

Yet, I wasn’t afraid. “You…?”

He nodded.

“Holy shit.” I breathed it out in a rush, accepting his claim and letting it sink in.

I sat across from a killer. A murderer. A man who killed others was my rescuer. “Are you going to kill me?”

He snorted a laugh. “No.”

I licked my lips, feeling a rush to ask so many things but intimidated to speak at all. I'd never met a killer before. I didn’t associate with criminals.

But is he one?He wouldn’t tell me who he worked for, and I had so much to learn. But not right now.

“Will you…” I cleared my throat to get the words out. “Are you going to keep me here against my will?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I will do whatever you want me to do, Tessa.”

I gaped at him, wondering if he was joking.

“Just ask,” he prompted.

I sniffled, hit again with the need to break down.

No one, and I meant no one, had ever been that generous and considerate to me before.

“Can you…”

I heaved in a shaky breath.

“What, Tessa?” He furrowed his brow as he slid further to the edge of the chair.

“Can you just… hold me?” I asked, my heart cracking at how badly I needed that basic comfort.

Even from a deadly stranger like him.

7

ROMEO

Dammit.

I stood just close enough to reach her. Wrapping my arms around her felt natural, like she belonged in my embrace. I kept my hold loose, just in case she’d regret what she blurted out in that broken tone.

Last night, she flinched from my touch. Now, she clung to me. Her fingers twisted the front of my shirt, and with a heaving, desperate inhale that almost sounded like a sob, she pressed her face against me.

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