16. Bronwyn

16

brONWYN

We were having a busy morning, for once. The line of customers stretched almost to the door and I was working non-stop to serve them while Jen restocked shelves and dealt with queries.

“Enjoy!” I told a woman who was buying an enemies-to-lovers shifter romance called I Can’t Bear You . “We just got the sequel in, I Can Bearly Bear You Either , so come back when you’re ready.”

For the last three days, I’d thrown myself into my work, reaching out to local book clubs to offer them discounts, creating a new window display and redoing all the book tables...anything to stop me thinking of him. I wasn’t getting much sleep, but the extra effort was paying off.

There’d been a few other pieces of good news. The day after I’d followed Radimir into that building, a man had appeared and started fixing the cracked glass in the door. When I argued with him, saying I couldn’t afford it, he said that Aristov Incorporated had already paid him. And later the same day, a package arrived in the mail. Three thousand dollars in cash. To cover the books that were destroyed, said the note. I wasn’t comfortable taking criminal money, but the alternative was going out of business: I had to replace those books.

“Is this okay for a thirteen-year-old?” asked a mom, holding up a dark romance.

“ Definitely not.” I whipped it out of her hand and passed her a teen romance book from under the counter: I keep a stack for exactly these moments. “But this is excellent.” I rang the book through for her and smiled at the next customer, a guy in his twenties clutching a graphic novel. “Be right with you.” I looked down at the computer for a second, checking if the delivery I was expecting was still on track: it was. I smiled and looked up. “Okay, will there be anythi?—”

Radimir was standing in front of me.

My mouth moved for a second, but nothing came out. I was scared and angry and... God, he looked good. His gray eyes were icy with brutal efficiency, but I could see the cracks there, the raw emotion underneath.

He tugged his waistcoat straight. “We need to talk.”

I swallowed. “I don’t want to see you.” I hated how shaky my voice sounded.

“I’m aware. But we still need to talk.”

We stared at each other. I wanted to run, to lock myself away somewhere until he’d gone. I was scared because of what I’d seen: he really was the monster everyone said he was. But I was just as scared by how much he’d managed to hurt me when he walked out after the sex. I hadn’t realized how deeply Nathan and losing my parents had scarred me. I shook my head. “Please leave.”

“Bronwyn, please.”

Jen inserted herself between us, hands on hips, and glared up at Radimir. “You heard her,” she growled.

Radimir looked at me over the top of her head. I saw the ice in his eyes fracture and break. He was pleading.

“Five minutes,” I mumbled. I asked Jen to jump on the register and led Radimir to the back room, away from the gawping customers. I shut the door, leaned against it and crossed my arms, trying to look strong. But inside, I was a mess. Part of it was fear: I’d seen him kill , just snuff out a man’s life like it was nothing. I shouldn’t be alone with him, shouldn’t even be in the same building as him… But there was something else going on, too. That deep attraction that had been there ever since I first laid eyes on him...it hadn’t died when I saw him kill, like it should have. I was scared of him, but I still wanted him.

Radimir sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You witnessed something.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” I said quickly.

“I know that. But others don’t. And there are people who could force you to talk.” He was always so confident, but suddenly he was as awkward as a teenager asking someone to prom. “I have to keep you safe. And there’s only one way to do that.”

He took something out of his pocket, flipped open the top and—OH MY GOD?—

“I need you to marry me,” said Radimir.

I stared at the diamond ring as the room seemed to tilt under my feet. There was a brief second of shock and then a joyful, indescribable rush that made it impossible to speak. It was the fairy tale I’d been waiting for my whole life, ever since I was a little girl dreaming of princes. I’d had it once before, with Nathan, but that hadn’t felt like this …

Then cold reality shattered the dream. It all came lurching back: what I’d seen. Who he was. I shook my head, sick with fear.

“You have to,” he said. “So you can’t be made to testify. So that no one will touch you.”

I shook my head again. I could feel myself going pale. Marry him?! My whole life... gone.

“Bronwyn, my brothers will kill you if you don’t. They will kill you to protect me!”

I clapped my hand to my mouth, tears filling my eyes. “But I didn’t—I don’t want any of this. I don’t even know you!”

“I know.” I could hear the pain in his voice.

“I’ll go to the police!”

“We have people in the police.”

“I could run away! Change my name!”

“We’d find you,” he said tiredly, and lifted the box towards me. “Bronwyn, I’m sorry. But this is the only way to keep you safe.” He grabbed my wrist, took the ring and pushed it onto my finger.

I pulled my hand away and stared at the ring in horror.

Then I threw open the door and ran out of the store.