Kidnapped by the Billionaire(64)

"And Fitzgerald's empire?" Rutherford this time. "You might need help."

"I won't."

He stepped through the door and pulled it shut after him.





CHAPTER TWENTY

Violet had no money and no phone, so she walked, trying to keep her head  down in case any of her brother's minions were out and about.

She'd timed her escape from the car just about perfectly, the lights  changing to green as she'd gotten out which had meant the driver had  been unable to chase her without abandoning his car in the middle of the  street and causing a big traffic jam.

She'd run hard and fast after that, sticking to crowded places with lots  of people at first, then dodging down alleyways. She'd gotten lost a  couple of times, riding the subway a lot had meant she'd never really  gotten a clear picture of how the streets of Manhattan connected in her  head.

But even lost, she'd pressed on. Walking and walking and trusting that eventually she'd figure out where she was.

It was strange to realize that she was finally free. That for the first  time in a week or so, she wasn't anyone's captive. Shit, she could go  anywhere: back to her own apartment or to Honor's. It would have been  the intelligent thing to do, after all. Go get a change of clothes, some  money, a phone.

Yet somehow all of those things seemed unimportant.

There was only one thing that mattered and that was finding Elijah.  Making sure he was okay. Letting him know that she was there for him.  Whatever happened after that felt kind of insignificant.

It shouldn't have taken her that long to get from Alphabet City to the  West Village, but what with her getting lost and trying to keep a low  profile, it felt like a long time before she finally started to  recognize some of the streets.

By then the sun had started to go down as the afternoon shambled on into  evening. It had gotten cold too, clouds rolling in and the temperature  plunging. It would probably snow again, which was just great timing  considering all she wore was a sweater and jeans.         

     



 

The long shadows of evening had well and truly closed in by the time she  eventually approached the hulking brick edifice of Elijah's apartment  building. She went up the stairs, shivering as the wind began to pick  up, realizing as she came to the securely locked door that she had no  idea how to get in.

There was a buzzer off to the side, so she pressed it then waited. But  nothing happened. She tried a couple more times with the same result.  Okay, so crap. He wasn't there. Which meant she either had to wait here  for him or find somewhere else to go.

She turned around, scanned the street up and down a couple of times,  some part of her hoping that he'd magically turn up right about now. But  the street was empty, no sign of him.

Well, she could go home or go to Honor's, it wasn't like anything was forcing her to stay here and wait for him.

Yet she didn't move. Because she didn't want to leave. She wanted to  stay here, wait for him, be there for him when he came home, whenever he  came home. And whether that took a couple of hours or whether that took  all night, she knew that's what she was going to do.

You're crazy. You might freeze to death out here.

Well, yeah, she might. But how else was she going to find him?

She let out a small breath and sat down on the icy stone steps, wrapping her arms around herself. And prepared to wait.

The sound of footsteps brought her to consciousness, making her aware  suddenly that she was cold, so cold it felt as if she was encased in  solid ice. She opened her eyes, unable to remember when she'd closed  them.

It was fully dark, the cold, clear light of the street lamps shining on  sidewalks sprinkled with a dusting of fresh snow. A black shadow of a  man stood on the steps in front of her, looming like a mountain.

The cold must have somehow frozen her solid because she couldn't move  and she couldn't speak. She could only stare up at the shadow, her heart  beating furiously as his features began to come clear.

Black eyes. A twisted, scarred mouth. Blunt, brutally handsome features.

Elijah.

Relief burst like fireworks, surging through her blood, making her feel weak and trembly and pathetically like crying.

He didn't say anything as he looked down at her, and she couldn't have  said what was going on in his head. His expression was absolutely  opaque.

Then abruptly he bent down and scooped her up in his arms, his warmth,  after so long sitting in the cold, almost making her gasp aloud. His  hold was gentle and she allowed herself to rest against his chest,  looking up at him as he unlocked the door and got them both inside,  heading toward the elevator.

He stayed silent as the elevator came and they went up. And she felt no  need to say anything quite yet, content just to rest against him and  absorb the heat of his body, letting the familiar scent of him surround  her. She had no idea what he would say when he got her into his  apartment, but of one thing she was clear. She wasn't going to leave.  She wasn't going to leave him ever again.

He got her into the apartment a minute or two later, kicking the door  shut behind them, and she thought he might carry her over to the couch  and put her on it, but he didn't. He set her back on her feet the moment  the door closed, then he leaned back against it, folding his arms.

The look in his eyes was the one she knew so well, cold, hard, sharp.  Glittering with all that icy anger he carried around inside him. "What  the fuck are you doing here, Violet? I thought you and your monster  brother were sticking together?"

She swallowed, her throat suddenly thick because she'd known she'd hurt  him back there in that apartment. She just hadn't realized quite how  badly till now. "Well, I thought so too. And then I thought that perhaps  I'd made the wrong choice."

He stared, his dark eyes roaming over her, giving her back nothing at  all. "Why? You think I'm any less of a monster? I've spent seven years  in hell, princess. I'm not coming out clean."

She still felt cold, the feeling settling down deep into her bones, even  though the apartment's heat had obviously been on. But she ignored the  sensation. She didn't matter, not right in this moment. Only he did. "I  know that," she said clearly. "And I don't care what you've done or  where you've been. I'm not here because you're less of a monster than  Theo. I'm here because you don't have anyone who's there for you but me.  You need me, Elijah. So that's why I'm here."

He watched her, his gaze completely cold. "But I don't need you, Violet. Not anymore."

It might have hurt if she hadn't realized then that his whole body was  taut, a leashed and furious energy radiating from him, like the wash of a  stormy ocean contained behind a high seawall.         

     



 

She knew what that energy was: the force of his emotions, the press of  them, and he was trying to hold them back the way he always did,  encasing them in ice. Imposing on them his usual savage control. And he  wouldn't break-he'd been containing them too long to let them crack now.

But she knew how to handle this. He was a wild creature. A beast. And  the only way to tame a beast like him was to lay her heart out on her  sleeve and feed it to him.

"That's a shame," she said hoarsely. "Because I need you."

"No, you don't." There was a strange kind of tension in his voice. "You  have your brother. You have your friends. You don't need me."

"But I do. My brother is … " She blinked back the sudden prickle of tears.  "I don't know what he is. A monster, sure. And yes, I have my friends,  but  …  they don't give me what you give me."

His mouth twisted. "I give you fucking nothing but pain."

That he meant it was obvious. It broke her heart. "No," she said forcefully. "You don't."

"I kidnapped you, shot at you. Fucked you up against a goddamn wall."  He'd pushed himself away from the door now, his hands dropping in fists  to his sides, the tension pulling tight. "You slit your wrists to get  away from me and then, when you needed me to protect you, I wasn't  there!" His voice had risen, echoing in the vaulted space of the  apartment. "I was going to kill your fucking brother, but I didn't. And  you know why? Because I couldn't bear to cause you any more pain,  Violet. I just  …  couldn't fucking bear to see it." His chest heaved and  for a second she saw the anguish in those midnight eyes. The same  anguish she'd glimpsed back when he'd held that gun to her brother's  chest. "That's all I give you, princess. That's all I ever give anyone.  So I repeat. Why the fuck are you here?"

She couldn't stand still any longer. Couldn't hold herself back. She  walked over to where he stood, coming up so close. Not touching him, but  getting into his space so he knew she wasn't going to be backing down.

"You destroyed my world," she said fiercely. "But I'm glad you did.  Because my world was a fucking lie. My whole life was a fucking lie! And  yes, that hurts, but it wasn't you who lied to me, who pretended to be  something they weren't. It wasn't you who faked their own death and let  me believe it. You never lied to me, Elijah. You always told me the  truth. And sometimes the truth hurts but I'd take that any day over a  lie." Her breathing was fast and hard, and she didn't look away. Holding  his gaze so he could see that she was telling the truth too. "I've been  wearing a blindfold all this time and you ripped it away. You made me  see myself. You made me see that I'm stronger than I ever thought  possible." She wanted to touch him, but she didn't. She had to lay her  heart out for him and see if he would bite. "I'm flawed, Elijah. There's  something bad in me, something hungry. And I wanted my brother to live,  despite knowing what he's done, because that bad thing in me doesn't  want to be alone. Because he's all I have. And I was so stupid not to  listen to you when you told me that I had you. So fucking stupid." She  let the emotion thicken in her voice, didn't hold it back. "I chose the  wrong person. I should have chosen you. So that's the truth of why I'm  here. I want to choose again. I want to choose you."