Page 22 of Her Keeper
Then there were things I needed to tell him before it was too late for all of us.
“Let him through, Brooks,” Sloane said, her tone flat. “Penny trusts him enough to talk to him.”
Brooks’ shoulders stiffened even further, and then dropped a bit, and she stepped to the side. Michael, who had known these two girls since he was born, gave Brooks and Sloane a suspicious glance, but then nodded at them and walked slowly toward me. When he dropped to his knees in front of me, I flinched back, my need to flee nearly overwhelming.
Then I looked into his eyes and saw that he was nearly as terrified as I was.
“Penny,” he said, reaching out and taking my hand. “It’s time you told me everything.”
“I tried in the office,” I noted, unable to stop myself. “Are you actually going to listen this time?”
A ghost of a smile passed over his lips, and he nodded. “I will.”
Right. Well, here we went.
I started at the beginning, telling him that Monica had been trying to contact me for weeks before I finally gave in and met with her. I told him exactly what she’d wanted—dirt on Michael and his family—and that she’d threatened to blackmail me if I didn’t go through with it.
“What the fuck could she possibly have on you?” he asked.
The same question he’d asked in the office. The one I’d refused to answer. But now, I knew that keeping that secret might cost me my life.
“I slept with Tony Caruso when I was in college,” I said bluntly. “I was incredibly drunk and it was such a mistake and I’ve regretted it ever since, but Monica knows about it somehow and said she’d tell everyone and I can just imagine how that would go. You’d have thought I was a plant the moment you found out. Someone there to get information on you and pass it right back to the Carusos. You’d never have trusted me again and it would have ruined everything and that’s definitely not who I am! I hate the Carusos! I hate Tony Caruso!”
I was sobbing by this time, my emotions getting the best of me, and the cold mask that had come down over Michael’s face just made it even worse. Oh God, hedidthink I was a plant. Hedidthink I’d just been selling information to the Carusos. And now I was sitting here confirming it for him.
This was going to change everything. He’d never talk to me again and I’d have to live the rest of my life with a broken heart, knowing that Michael Rossi thought I was the lowest of the low.
“I didn’t do it to sell you out,” I breathed. “I was trying to protect you. I thought if I went in, I’d be able to pass little nothings to Monica Hart. Keep her from finding out anything important. And keep her from sending anyone else. I thought I could act as your shield. And then once we... once we... I thought I should just tell you everything. Tell you exactly what was going on. Monica said she’d hurt me if I did but I thought you’d protect me from her. I thought it would be okay. I was going to tell you this morning and then Alfonso came in and you got so mad and—”
He grabbed me and crushed me to him before I could finish, his arms like vices around my ribs and his breath hot and heavy in my ear. “You were trying to protect me?” He leaned back and put gentle fingertips to my cheek, his brow creased with confusion. “You were trying to protectme?”
I gulped. “I thought if I didn’t do it, she’d send someone else, and they’d go through your things and find enough to put you in jail. And I didn’t want that to happen.”
The mask disappeared from his face, leaving vulnerability and affection and something I couldn’t quiet identify in his eyes. “You stupid, stupid girl,” he croaked. “Oh my God.”
He dipped his head to mind and claimed my mouth, his lips desperate and insistent, so full of questions and answers that my mind spun away from me and left me with nothing but the sensation of his mouth over mine, searching and needy and more wonderful than I could have imagined. I fell into him, letting all my thoughts disappear and all of my worries melt away.
Michael was here, and he believed me.
He’d protect me. I knew it so deep down in my bones that I wondered how the fuck I’d ever questioned it in the first place.
By the time he broke the kiss I felt boneless and wasted, like a husk of the person I’d been that morning. But his intense, dangerous eyes on mine made me remember almost immediately what we were doing here.
I was in trouble. And Michael, Sloane, and Brooks were trying to save me.
“There’s a hit out for her,” he said over his shoulder. “Courtesy of my father. He’ll have people looking for her. I guessed she’d be here, and that means others will guess as well. None of us are safe in this apartment. Brooks and Sloane, go to someone else’s house. Not Sloane’s. Someone not connected to the family. I’m taking Penny somewhere that they won’t find her.”
“Hold on just a minute,” Brooks said, stepping forward. “You think we’re just going to let you take her? We don’t know ifyou’retrying to kill her.”
“I’m trying to save her!” he shouted. “Brooks, you know me. You’ve known me my whole life. Have I ever hurt anyone I cared about?”
Her eyes flew from him to me, and I could see her fighting the need to tell me she told me so. She’d told me right from the start that he wouldn’t hurt me, and now that I’d confirmed it, she was ready to rub it in my face.
I made a face at her telling her to fucking save it. We had more important things to deal with right now.
She pursed her lips and made a face back, assuring me that I’d definitely hear about it later, but said, “Penny, what do you think?”
“I trust him,” I told her quickly. “He’s not going to hurt me. And I want you and Sloane someplace safe.”
