Page 11 of His Public Claim
His head knocks back, his mask explodes, and he staggers, before slumping to the ground.
I’m full-body shaking before I wholly comprehend what has happened. Blood trickles from the bullet hole in his forehead. The mask has been blown away, revealing the angular features of his thin face. His eyes haven’t closed, staring glassily at the night sky.
He’s dead.
One shot with what must have been a silenced pistol that the wolf had taken from the car.
Was that… For me?
I’m trembling with fear for what might have happened if the cobra had his way, and for the first time I’ve ever seen a death. My god, tonight really has been an education.
“Get in.” The wolf—or should I say my captor and the murderer—points at the passenger seat.
No need to tell me twice. I practically throw myself in and in a second the engine has roared to life and the wheels spin, first on the dew-dampened grass then on the gravel as we speed away down the long drive, only slowing a bit as we enter the section sheltered by overhanging trees on both sides before we turn onto the main road.
My heart rate is so rapid it’s like it’s vibrating in my chest. The panicked fast beat of a mouse that avoided the trap. I swallow.
“Thank you.”
He shakes his head dismissively.
“You killed a man.” Voicing what just happened makes it more real somehow. The cobra threatened a mafia war, and the wolf executed him in cold blood. There’ll be no question who was responsible.
“It was nothing.”
I huff sceptically. “Five million pounds of nothing, too.”
“Worth it,” he says more softly.
Oh. I bite my lip. It wasworthit?Iwas worth five million pounds? Instead of investigating that, I ask, “Where are we going? Can you take me home?”
“Too risky. You’re coming to my house. You’ll be safe there.”
“But…” I pause. I was about to say that my family will be worried. But they thought, like me, that only the auction would be public. They probably don’t expect me back until the morning, and it’s late. Most likely they’re all asleep. “Okay.”
“You can stay longer if you need space before you see them again.”
My gaze flies to his face, the profile mainly disguised by the mask, and yet… Familiar somehow. I guess just because I’ve spent some pretty intense time with this man. He’s older than me, I’d think around forty? Too old by most standards, but his air of knowledge and authority is attractive. And he not only knew exactly how to satisfy the requirement for him to take my virginity while protecting me from anyone seeing, he did it without hurting me, apart from the first couple of seconds. Quite the opposite, in fact.
To adjust. I suck in a deep breath. Yeah. I’m not a virgin mafia princess anymore. I think of my room at home, with all my pretty photographs on the wall. It’s a world away from what happened tonight.
I suppose I should feel dirty, but I don’t feel tarnished. I feel like just as I saved my family, this man saved me.
“I don’t know,” I confess.
“It’s up to you. You’re welcome as long as you like.”
“Thanks.” He doesn’t look at me, and my heart aches.
We lapse into silence, and I think about the implications of what I’ve agreed to. Staying with the wolf. I only have the dress I’m sitting in, and it’s not even mine and it doesn’t include knickers.
“I’d need some clothes.” I can’t wear this dress for days on end.
“Of course.”
“And…” Oh god. I knew this was going to be awful, but I assumed I’d be at home. “Are there any shops near where you live?”
Is that subtle?
