Promise Me Forever (Top Shelf Romance)

by Kate Stewart

  “It’s all over, godfather.”

  His dark brown eyes stared back at me almost as if he were challenging my claim. I suppose a man like him would defy anything that wasn’t to his liking.

  Just like your son.

  His son.

  Arturo Knight was as powerful as he was dangerous but his son…

  My legs trembled.

  …his son was a dark replica of the man my father murdered.

  Their legacy wouldn’t have died with Arturo.

  Angel would never let it.

  “Oh, God.” My gaze was pulled away from the painting until it found another. The last one in succession.

  The sixth.

  The floodgates opened.

  So many memories I couldn’t keep suppressed any longer drowned me. The same man trapped in the painting stood between those gates with his arms outstretched and his strong hands holding them open.

  Keeping them open.

  My body jerked, and I found myself clutching the back of the chair and dragging it over.

  It had to be.

  I launched myself on top of the chair, and with strength I hadn’t possessed before, I lifted the painting. Staring back at me was black metal about a foot wide and high. A keypad was centered to the right of the handle.

  After setting the painting down and recalling the combination from memory, I said a quick prayer for it to work. I reopened my eyes and positioned my index to key in the first number.

  That’s when I heard it.

  The faraway sound of a door closing.

  I was no longer in this house alone. Art may have been dead, but Angel was not, and the reality of how much trouble I was in slammed against my chest from the inside.

  It was too late to pretend I wasn’t here.

  So, I did the next best thing.

  Slipping from the study, I ran to the main hallway and stayed close to the wall. There were three bedrooms I could hide in on the east wing but the balcony poised over the foyer would expose me. I should have been running for the exit, but even a rookie such as me knew it was the most likely avenue to get caught.

  With careful steps, I slid along the wall, deeper into the west wing. Another set of doors like the master suite on the east wing was up ahead.

  Fuck it.

  I threw open the door and slipped inside. Looking around, it appeared to be just another guest room. This room, however, had small pieces of life to it, though not as much as the master suite.

  This must have been Angel’s room…

  “I’ll take the west wing,” I heard a hard voice call out.

  Shit! Shit! Shit!

  I was trapped, and from context, I gathered he wasn’t alone. I didn’t recognize the voice, which meant my childhood crush turned worst nightmare wasn’t the one hunting me. Standing in the middle of the bedroom, I knew the owner of the voice would catch me at any moment.

  Hide.

  I analyzed each potential hiding spot and acknowledged each as worse than the last…

  Heavy footsteps drew closer.

  Time had run out.

  Since the closet was the likeliest place a person would hide, I chose the bed and wiggled my way under it with little effort. I guess being petite had its advantages after all.

  Breathing became impossible when the shadow of the person’s feet stopped outside the door.

  Maybe he could smell fear…

  I wanted to shut my eyes, but I was more afraid of not knowing when my doom would happen.

  The bedroom door opened.

  The boots stepped inside.

  I was no longer alone.

  He waited, and I prayed.

  Suddenly, his feet turned. He headed toward the closet. I listened as the door was snatched open and items were tossed aside as he tried to uncover my hiding spot. When it was clear no one hid among the cargo and dark jeans Angel had favored when we were kids, he moved to the bathroom. Finding nothing, he made his way to the side of the bed and stopped.

  I closed my eyes for self-preservation, but it was too late. The stranger’s voice disrupted the silence.

  “Come out. Come out. Wherever you are.”

  I didn’t come out.

  After a moment, his heavy footsteps plagued my ears once again. He must have discarded the possibility that an intruder would hide under the bed since most people stopped thinking it was a good hiding place after age ten.

  I cracked my eyes open and stared at the open doorway. He stood in it, and I could tell his back was turned to the room. The door slowly closed and only then did I breathe again.

  Until the unthinkable happened.

  Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep Beep!

  I froze, but it didn’t matter.

  Two seconds later, my hiding spot was missing its key element when the mattress and support were ripped from above me and effortlessly tossed away.

  I looked up into the startling silver eyes of the devil’s envoy.

  “Hello, pretty girl.”

  “Should we fuck her up or keep her on ice?”

  God, I was straining so hard that I wasn’t entirely sure exploding wasn’t the next step. I’ve been trying to make sense of the one-sided conversation since I was tossed over the broad shoulder of a man I hadn’t seen enter the room and was carted downstairs.

  The one that found me had suffered a pretty hard blow to the kneecap so I could escape what was left of the bed.

  Unfortunately, he’d managed to recover before I could escape…

  “Give it up, girl. I’m bigger than you.”

  I ignored his leering face and looked for an avenue of escape.

  “Stronger than you.”

  I scoffed and considered jumping from the window. Could I get it open in time?

  “Faster.”

  Guess not.

  With no other option, I got into a fighting stance and prayed the meager training Angel gave me—one of the few things he did right—paid off. “So try me, bitch.”

  The sudden glint in his silver eyes was my only warning a second before he launched.

  Throwing myself out of the way just in time, I scrambled to put distance between us. He stood where I once was, and I moved closer to the door.

  I expected anger and insults. The pretty man dressed in blue jeans and a fitted white tee stared back at me with interest. He certainly didn’t look the type to storm castles and scare little girls from under their beds.

  Figuratively speaking, of course, since I did break in.

  “Why are you just standing there?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His attention was no longer invested in me.

  “Because you already lost.” The whisper came from behind, so close it tickled the hairs on my neck.

  I’d forgotten he wasn’t alone.

  Goose bumps spread from my neck to my fingers, and the voice materialized in front of me in the shape of a man. His blonde and black hair was pulled carelessly into a bun. His green eyes twinkled as he smiled. “Hi, there.”

  I was lifted in the air before I could react and tossed over his shoulder. I jerked into action and pounded against his back, but I might have been throwing feather punches because he didn’t break stride or even indicate he was in pain as he carried me from the suite to the staircase and down.

  I could feel the presence of the other man following, but then his voice speaking curtly into the phone confirmed he’d followed.

  “It’s a chick, man. Yeah… she’s alone.”

  Man Bun never took his eyes off me and with half a grin on his pretty face, he looked too friendly for what was happening here.

  I sat on the marble floor of the entrance where he ordered me after I had socked him and sat crossed legged as he instructed. He stood in front of me with his hands shoved in his pockets, but something told me not to misjudge his easy stance. He could probably slit my throat before I untucked a leg.

  The other one brooded a few feet away with his phone plastered to his ear. He wa
sn’t as friendly as his partner was, but he hadn’t hurt me either. I sat as still as I could and listened in on his side of the conversation but understood nothing. They either spoke in code or didn’t believe in complete sentences.

  The defined muscles in his arms, powerful back and broad shoulders straining against the thin shirt he wore told me where he spent much of his time. I wondered if he was one of those guys who were all muscle and not much else. His dusty colored hair was messy in a fashionable way. Maybe he’d just rolled out of bed with someone who couldn’t keep her fingers from running through it. I knew I wouldn’t.

  “You look like you have a question,” Man Bun commented. His lazy grin grew into a full-fledged smile when my gaze jerked from his partner. It was obvious I’d been caught ogling. I ignored his comment and his smugness and let my gaze fall to his chest. A pristine white button-up covered the area, but it didn’t hide the muscles bunched beneath them. He wasn’t as strongly built as his friend was, but he was no less impressive. The black jeans he wore emphasized his muscular legs and fit him like a glove but not tight enough to make me question how much air he was getting down there. Black suspenders hung from his jeans, giving him the appearance of a rugged geek. On his feet were black Nike high-tops.

  My perusal traveled back up and found he was no longer watching me. His attention was on his friend’s conversation and a deep frown obscured his soft features. Instead of investigating his change in mood, I studied his hair. His dark roots faded into the blonde highlights before disappearing behind his skull and into whatever tie he used to hold the strands together.

  He had a playfulness about him that made me wary. He probably knew exactly how attractive he was and how much power he could wield with his assets.

  My gaze pinpointed the spot where my fist had connected with Man Bun’s jaw as soon as he released me. A bruise was beginning to form, and I smiled at my handiwork. His partner’s slight limp as he paced told me he still felt my kick to his kneecap. It was too bad it didn’t shatter.

  I bet they wouldn’t be writing home about the hundred-pound girl who kicked their asses anytime soon. They hadn’t seemed to be in any rush to hurt me. I even hurled insults as I was carried down, but they never reacted.

  “What the FUCK do you mean let her go?” The angry outburst from the brooding one caught my attention. His was already fixed on me. His disdain for me was obvious, so I made sure to return the gesture. “Why?” he growled into the receiver. He listened and then scrubbed his hand down his face. “Fuck. Fine.”

  I made sure to look real smug about that. He caught my smug look and expressed with his eye and the curl of his lip exactly how much he wanted to murder me. When he started toward me swiftly, my smile dropped, and I scooted back on my bum.

  “It’s for you.” He extended the phone, but it might as well have been a bomb.

  “Um…”

  “Take it,” he demanded through clenched teeth.

  “Why?”

  He snatched the phone back and stabbed the screen. “You’re on speaker,” he informed. There was nothing but silence while my heart pounded in my chest.

  “Tsk. Tsk.”

  So much for lucky breaks.

  “Ever the disobedient one…” I felt my blood drain when I recognized the refined voice. It was deeper now–stronger. “Even when you’re in my house uninvited.”

  “You have something that belongs to me.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  I shrugged to hide the tremble, but then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Believe what you want.”

  “There are consequences to bad decisions.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

  “But your father would, wouldn’t he?”

  I sucked in a breath and tried to talk myself out of being afraid. There was no way he could know my father had anything to do with this. “My father is none of your concern.”

  “Wasn’t it your father who sent you?” I didn’t answer that. I wouldn’t. “If you won’t answer, maybe I should ask him myself.”

  “No!” His silence shattered my armor. “My father didn’t send me.” My voice begged him to believe me. It was only half the truth. If he had a choice, I wouldn’t be here, but I gave him none.

  I waited, but only silence followed. I looked to his two henchmen who listened to our exchange with curiosity and confusion etched on their perfect faces.

  “I’ll see you soon.” He didn’t say more. The line disconnected, and I was left feeling as if fainting would erase everything that just happened.

  Chapter 6

  ANGEL

  Nine Years Ago

  “Angel.”

  The commanding gruff of my godfather’s voice pulled me away from the video game. Lucas and Z were sleeping off last night’s job, so this was all I had to occupy my time. His tall, muscular frame filled my bedroom doorway. It was actually my second bedroom in my home away from home where I spent my summers away from the nauseating boredom of the countryside.

  I paused the game and threw down the controller. I had been in a bad mood since my father, once again, denied my request to initiate me. “What’s up, Unc’?”

  I was actually surprised he was here since my father left for one of his safe houses an hour ago. They rarely made moves without each other.

  His face cracked into a wide smile. “I want you to meet my pride and joy.”

  I didn’t get it, and I’m sure my face said as much because he stepped aside after a beat. Brown hair and pale skin came into view, and I realized that his pride and joy was a girl.

  My first thought was that she was pretty.

  And then, I noticed how soft she looked.

  Fuck me, but she was tiny.

  Standing next to her father, she looked completely breakable. Except she stared back at me as if it were the last thing she would ever do.

  Mine.

  My body jerked and it completely ruined me when she did the same. Her father was still talking, oblivious to what was happening between us.

  The territorial feelings were foreign but the powerful urging to do something about them was winning me over.

  “Baby girl, this is the son I’ll never have.” Theo’s boast regained my attention.

  “She’s yours?” I already knew that, but I needed to hear him say it.

  “She’s mine,” he answered with pride.

  I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her even when I felt him watching me. Theo was as sharp and as dangerous as my father was. If I didn’t turn it down, he would notice and lock his daughter away in the tallest tower in the furthest land because he was a smart man.

  “What’s her name?” I sounded hostile even to my own ears, which is how I ended up stunned speechless when she answered instead of her father. It had nothing to do with the sweet, soft sound of her voice.

  Nothing.

  “Mian.” There was defiance in her tone. I used it with my father whenever he was around. “And you can ask me.”

  I drank up the sound of her voice and reveled in it. My lips even twitched trying to fight a laugh when her shoulders squared. She was trying to prove how tough she was, but all I saw was someone pretending not to be affected. She was giving everything away just by standing there, and if she licked her lips one more time…

  “She’s feisty like her mother. I’m going to have my hands full when she’s a teen.”

  The wind had been knocked out me. I resisted bending over to allay the pain in my gut. I mentally swore and kicked myself.

  I was lusting after a baby.

  I just assumed she was small for her age with soft features but sixteen like me. I should have fucking known.

  Theo was still rambling on. I only managed to catch the tail end of it. “…and so I’ll need you to look after her until your father and I return.”

  I hadn’t hesitated nor did I miss a beat. I wanted time alone with her. Even if knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I needed to know if this wa
s real or imagined. “How long?”

  “Until Sunday.”

  Two days.

  I’d have two days alone with her.

  “It’s going to cost you.”

  He chuckled and crossed his arms over his thick chest. I wanted muscles like his one day. Maybe even better. “I’d be disappointed if it didn’t. How much?”

  I shook my head. I had enough money. More than any sixteen-year-old I knew, but I had yet to earn it. “I want you to talk to my dad.” I glanced at Mian. She was looking around my room as if she had landed in a foreign land.

  “About?”

  “I want in.” I wasn’t sure how much I could reveal around her. Theo had never brought her around before. I’d always thought Theo being a father was a rumor. Similar to the rumor that she never came around because his late wife had forbidden him from exposing their precious daughter to his dangerous lifestyle.

  He grunted. “Impossible.” His answer was quick, making me wonder if he already knew what I would ask. “He doesn’t want you in.”

  “Then make him want me in.”

  “You’re his son. He’ll want what’s best for you.”

  “I know what’s best for me.”

  “You’re sixteen. You don’t know shit,” he spat. Theo had never been one to sugarcoat something already covered in shit.

  “I know you’re going after whoever’s stealing your jobs.”

  Theo swore and muttered something about needing soundproof walls.

  “You shouldn’t know about that.”

  “But I do.” He tried to stare me down. Two years ago, it might have worked, but I wanted this.

  My father was a notorious criminal.

  A bad man.

  And I admired him.

  Even without my father’s blessing, I’d follow in his footsteps.

  “Fuck.” He glanced down at Mian apologetically, but she pretended she wasn’t listening. “I’ll talk to him, but I do not promise anything.”

  “I wasn’t asking for promises.”

  “You’re a smart kid.” He shook his head with pity. “You could do better.”