Page 92 of Arranged Obsession
“That’s good. Very good. Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you. Not tonight, anyway.”
She stifles a sob, hugging herself. “Please don’t.”
“Since our friend here is clearly not going to be talking anytime soon…” I tilt her chin up with the tip of my knife.
“I need you to deliver a message.”
Chapter 30
Bianca
Mourners line the block. I don’t recognize any of them, but there are so many people here. Young and old, colleagues and family, all wearing black.
None of them know who I am. I don’t get any hard looks. No accusations, no blame, no screams of revenge or anything like that. Mostly everyone’s too busy crying and consoling each other.
The city lost an angel.
And it’s my fault.
Cormac stays by my side as we drift through Elena Vasquez’s receiving line. I tell the family I was a colleague and nobody questions it. She had a brother and three sisters, a father and a mother, cousins and uncles and nieces and nephews. A whole family, a constellation of people. Friends and boyfriends and more.
All of them devastated.
“You didn’t do this,” Cormac murmurs after the service is over. I feel like someone shoved me underneath a steam roller and flattened me out. “You know this wasn’t your fault.”
“If she never came to that meeting…” I trail off, struggling to keep it under control. “She was a good person.”
“You’re right, she was.”
“And now she’s gone.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” He hugs me tighter, steering me away from the church and over to where we parked the car. We sit inside, the engine running, as mourners begin to filter out, heading to the cemetery for Elena’s burial. “Don’t let yourself indulge in that fantasy, Bianca. You’re a good person too.”
“How can I be? I’m the one that got her blown up.”
“The Russians did that.” His voice lowers to a low rumble. “And I swear I’ll take care of them.”
I believe him, but it doesn’t help.
I keep seeing her. She was mid-conversation. Her mouth was open and there was a brightness in her eye. We’d talked about Second Chances together and she seemed excited about the project. Still skeptical that I was for real and could gather all the funding, but optimistic.
I was feeling the same way. Elena had all the qualities I was looking for.
Most of all, she was a decent person.
In a city filled with fucking monsters.
Many of which are in my own family.
In my own damn bed.
Cormac leans across the car and lightly tugs me to him. He kisses me, holding me, until we’re the only ones left in the parking lot. The mourners are gone, the decent people, the normal, regular, everyday folks. Leaving only us monsters behind.
“It should’ve been me,” I say, choking it out.
But Cormac only snarls in response. He grabs me and drags me toward him, pulling me right into his lap. His hands grip my ass tightly, pulling up my dress as I straddle him, arching my back against the steering wheel. He pulls my hair tight, leaning up to stare into my face.
“Don’t youeversay that again,” he says, biting my lower lip. “Do you hear me, Bianca? That woman might’ve been good, but you’re a saint. You’re an angel. You’re my feather, my lightness?—”
