Tristian (The Doherty Mafia Book 5)

by Kasey Krane

  I took my hand off his elbow and stepped back.

  “You can come back some day, when it’s safe. You can have your life back, but to reach that point, you have to do this.”

  I turned and threw myself on the bed. I didn’t want to look at him anymore. I didn’t want to hear what he said.

  There was silence for some time and then he left the room, softly shutting the door behind him.

  Tears trickled down my cheeks into the fresh smelling bed linen. I pressed my face into the sheets and breathed in the smell of him. What if I never saw him again? What if our paths never collided?

  I owed him my life. I owed him everything. I loved him.

  He just didn’t feel the same way about me. I’d always known it, but now there was no denying it.

  It was over.

  There wasn’t anything I could do to change his mind because Tristian Doherty always did exactly what he wanted to do.

  He wanted to send me away.

  Thirty

  Tristian

  Brendan found me smoking a cigarette by myself out in the gardens. Pretty much at the exact spot Elsie and I had stood over an hour ago. Before she realized I was about to betray her too. Just like her father had turned her world completely upside-down.

  “You wanna be left alone?” my brother asked, coming up behind me.

  “Kinda,” I groaned, without meeting his eyes.

  I knew he’d figure it out if he looked at me. My brothers always figured it out.

  “Something tells me you’re worried about her. Elsie.”

  “I’m not going to have to worry about her safety anymore. I’ve decided to make her disappear.”

  “Disappear?”

  “Poof. Gone. I don’t want Aldo to ever find her. Ever lay a hand on her again. She could’ve died out there. If we were just a few hours late, he would’ve killed her. He was done with her.”

  Brendan put a hand on my shoulder and I had no choice but to look at him.

  “But he wasn’t able to do what he wanted. She’s here and she’s safe.”

  “For now.”

  “Things are different now. We’re all keeping an eye on her. She’s going nowhere.”

  “She’s going somewhere nobody will find her.”

  “For how fuckin’ long?”

  “Why the fuck do you care? You didn’t even believe her story,” I snapped.

  Brendan drew his hand away from me and shoved it in his pocket.

  “I was being skeptical. I was being overly protective of my family. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger because of someone we didn’t know or trust. I didn’t…I wasn’t aware you were in a relationship with her, bro.”

  “I wasn’t. I’m not. There’s no relationship.”

  “But you’re fucking her.”

  “I have fucked her. That’s it. I’ve fucked a lot of chicks.”

  Brendan glared at me because we both knew I wasn’t being honest. The silence between us was deafening.

  “What do you want me to say?” I groaned.

  “What you’re really feeling.”

  “Feeling? What the fuck, man.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with feeling something for a chick. I feel something for Rosalie I’ve never felt for anyone before.”

  “Elsie is leaving. Soon. I’m going to make sure Aldo will never get to her.”

  “And why do you care so much?”

  I couldn’t think of a snappy explanation quick enough, and that made Brendan smile. The answer was obvious.

  “I care because we had a deal. That I’d keep her safe.”

  My brother grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me.

  “Listen to yourself, Tristian. Listen to yourself making idiotic excuses. None of them are true. You care about your safety because you care about her, and if you send her away, you’ll never forgive yourself for it.”

  “And I’ll never forgive myself if Aldo finds her again.”

  “What does she want? Does she want to go and hide out for years until Aldo’s dead? And even after he’s dead, how do you know she’ll be completely safe from his men? His legacy? When will she be able to come back?”

  I didn’t have the answers and I didn’t want to think about them.

  “Look, Tristian, I get that you want to keep her safe. That is how I feel about Rosalie and Davey too. I’d do anything for them, man. But you have to respect her wishes too. It’s her life, and if she wants to spend it with you, who are you to say no?”

  Brendan left me alone for a while before I decided to go back inside and speak to Elsie again.

  Even though I’d spent some time thinking about it, I didn’t know what I’d say to her. How I’d make her see this was the only way forward.

  I knew Brendan was right about everything. I cared about her, more than I cared about myself. And that was exactly why I had to send her away.

  Isabelle intercepted me on my way back up to Elsie’s room.

  “How is she doing?” she asked, looking worried.

  “She’s fine. She’ll be fine.”

  “And what about you? How are you doing?”

  “I’ll live.”

  “But what kind of life would it be if you don’t want to live without her?”

  “What’s gotten into all of you?” I groaned. I felt attacked. The last thing I needed today was to feel anything.

  “Maybe we all just care about you and we don’t want to see you drown yourself.”

  I broke away from Isabelle and went up the stairs. I just needed to talk calmly with Elsie without both of us losing our minds. If I could just get her to see…

  I knocked on her door and there was no answer. After I’d waited for over a minute and knocked again, and there was still no answer, I pushed the door open to find that her room was empty.

  It looked like someone had pulled all the linen off the bed. The clothes she had worn were on the floor in a crumpled mess. I couldn’t tell if she’d flown into a frenzy and left the room in this state or there’d been a struggle here.

  I cursed and ran back out of the room, calling her name.

  I yelled her name. Isabelle was still at the bottom of the stairs.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Where is she?” I spat, running down. Killian and Nolan emerged from other rooms to see what was going on.

  “Where’s Elsie?” I shouted while my brothers and Isabelle ran behind me.

  I went out the front of the house and that’s when I saw her.

  She was in the driveway, wearing a different set of clothes, sitting calmly by the fountain with Davey.

  They looked up when they heard the commotion and I ran towards them.

  Elsie looked confused, but there was also sadness in her eyes. And at that moment, I knew I’d never let her out of my sight.

  Thirty-One

  Elsie

  Tristian ran to me and scooped me up in his arms before I even knew what was going on. I saw him and some of his family rush out of the house in a panic.

  “What happened?” I murmured as he pressed himself to me, holding me tightly in his arms.

  “I didn’t know where you were. I thought you ran away again or you were taken or something…” His voice was muffled by my hair and shoulders.

  I pulled away from him and he cradled my face in his hands.

  “Fuck! Don’t do that to me again!” he growled.

  “Do what? Play with Davey? I’ve been sitting with him for a while. I didn’t want to be up there in the room by myself. I wasn’t feeling good,” I said with a faint smile on my face.

  Tristian cursed under his breath and then looked at Davey, forcing himself to smile.

  Killian came over to us and took Davey’s hand to lead him away, realizing t we needed some time alone together. I wasn’t sure what happened. I hadn’t expected Tristian to react this way to my absence from the room.

  “Sorry if I scared you.”

  “You didn’t. You just caught me by surprise.�
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  I held his hands and pulled them gently off my face.

  “Tristian…I’m not going to run away again. It was a stupid mistake that cost Libby’s life, almost cost my own. I won’t do something like that again. You don’t have to worry. Please…can you please just trust me?”

  He stared into my eyes, and I saw he was at war with himself.

  “Yes. I trust you,” he replied.

  My heart raced. If I could get him to admit he trusted me, would I get him to change his mind about sending me away? What did all of this mean?

  “I just want you to be safe,” he continued.

  “I know that. I know you will keep me safe. But if you make me disappear, I will lose my identity. I’ll lose my life.”

  “And I’ll lose you,” he added.

  I was pretty sure I hadn’t breathed at all. I couldn’t do anything other than wait for him to say something more. But Tristian was still thinking, still working it out in his head.

  “I don’t want to lose you,” I whispered.

  Tristian pulled me closer, planting a kiss on my forehead.

  “You’re never going to lose me, Elsie. I’ve made some pretty bad mistakes in my life, but trusting you isn’t one of them. I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through.”

  “You’ve saved me from everything going wrong in my life. You’ve just been…it’s been difficult for both of us. I understand why you said and did the things you said and did.”

  “No you don’t, and I want to explain everything to you.”

  “Then I’m all ears,” I said.

  Tristian looked over his shoulder at his family. Most of them had gathered at the front door of the house, watching us.

  “Not here. We need some time to ourselves,” he replied.

  We went to his apartment and I was happy to be back in that familiar space. I was also happy to be completely alone with him because we had a lot of talking to do.

  Tristian brought beers over from the fridge and we sat on the couch together, drinking them. He told me everything he had to say, and I was in shock when I heard what had happened with Christie eleven years ago.

  I was always aware that he had something holding him back from me—but I never expected it to be this complicated.

  All I could do was listen to him and let him have his say. I saw how deeply it had all affected him. As a child, it’d left a scarring impact on him. I had barely made it through my own imprisonment in one piece as an adult. I couldn’t even imagine what he had felt, especially given everything that happened with Christie.

  “I just couldn’t get past it. I couldn’t let myself fall for you because I was constantly reminded of what happened the last time I trusted a beautiful girl,” Tristian explained.

  “I’m glad you went and spoke to her again. It must’ve been very eye opening for you.”

  “It made me realize it was all an illusion. None of that was real. But what I feel for you, and what we’ve experienced together…this is real,” he said, reaching for my hand.

  He pulled me closer and kissed me. It was a soft slow kiss, lasting a decade. Neither of us wanted to let go…I just hoped we wouldn’t have to.

  “So what happens now? Have you changed your mind about what you’re going to do with me?”

  “I’m not going to make the decision for you, Elsie. It’s your life. I don’t want to control your life the way Aldo had tried to control it. You’re right, everyone’s right. It has to be your choice.”

  “I don’t want to go anywhere you’re not going to be,” I said quickly. I wanted to make it clear to him. I hoped it was clear enough.

  “Then you’ll stay here. With me. I’m going to work extra hard to end Aldo. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe from him.”

  I leaned in for a kiss again. I couldn’t stop smiling. I couldn’t stop blushing as he held me.

  “I’m in love with you, Elsie,” he said.

  All I could do was stare at him in surprise. How was it possible? That a man like him loved a girl like me?

  “I love you,” I gushed as we kissed again. I reached for his cock, wanting him inside me. I wanted him to claim me. For real this time.

  Epilogue

  Tristian

  After I took Elsie back to my place, we went underground for an entire week. I sent one text to Nolan to let him know we’d be MIA, and after that, I turned my phone off.

  We kept all the windows and doors locked for the entirety of that week because the only thing either of us wanted to do was to be alone with each other.

  We only ate pizza that we ordered twice a day. With milkshakes and fries. We drank loads of beer and had sex on every inch of my apartment. There wasn’t one part of Elsie that I didn’t know by now.

  But more than anything else, I loved when she sat in my kitchen at the table. With her legs folded under her, smiling as she sucked in mouthfuls of strawberry milkshake from a paper cup. When we first met, we said very little to each other—but now, we spent every waking minute talking.

  We had an entire lifetime’s worth of information to share, personalities to dissect and uncover. She wanted me to know everything about her, and I wanted her to know me completely too.

  If we were going to do this thing together—life—then we had to do it right.

  I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes I made the last time I thought I was in love with someone. This time, I’d jump in with my eyes wide open. And I liked everything I saw about this girl.

  I knew it would still take her a while before she moved on from the deaths of her parents and her friend, Libby, but I’d help her get there. I’d help her stop blaming herself for what happened.

  And most importantly, I’d make sure Aldo was dead. If not today, he’d be dead soon.

  I wouldn’t let my woman spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. She’d be free, and she’d live her life freely with me.

  And after one whole week of being locked up in the apartment together, I was pretty sure we both knew what we were doing. There was no second guessing it now.

  “Cabin fever much?” I asked with a laugh when we finally walked out of the front door together.

  Elsie blushed, leaning on my arm so she could kiss my chin. I wrapped my arm around her and held her close as we took the elevator down together.

  “I’d be happy to be locked up with you for a year,” she said.

  I would have agreed to it too, but real life beckoned. I knew my family needed my help and presence. Aldo was still a problem that needed to be dealt with.

  Everyone wanted to know what was going on with Elsie, and it was time to introduce her to the family as my woman. As an official part of the family.

  Isabelle waited for us at the door of the family home when we pulled into the driveway.

  She screeched like an excited schoolgirl who finally got to meet her rockstar heartthrob. Elsie was excited to see her too, running out of the car and straight into my sister’s arms. The two of them hugged and gushed as I stepped out to join them.

  “I’m so happy you’re not taking her away from us!” Isabelle shrieked, giving me a hug too.

  The door opened, presenting Davey, who ran out of his mother’s arms and straight to Elsie. They had a happy reunion as I stood back and watched the others emerge from the house.

  For some reason, they were all happy to see her. Even Killian, who was always a grump around strangers. And technically, Elsie was still a stranger to the family, but I couldn’t wait for them to get to know her.

  Nolan came up to me while the others talked to Elsie and wanted to know what we’d been up to the past week.

  “Congratulations, you guys look happy,” he said, thumping my back. Brendan and Colin joined us. We were all amazed by our women who were so excited and happy to be together.

  “Well, at least we need to thank Aldo for one thing. Because of him, we’ve all fallen like a deck of cards for these women,” Aidan said as he came to us.

&n
bsp; “Our family is growing,” Brendan said with a smile.

  I looked over at Nolan who was the only unattached male in our family now, and he rolled his eyes. He looked pretty sure of himself, like he wasn’t going to fall as easily as we had.

  Maybe he wouldn’t.

  “I don’t want to rain on everybody’s parade, but I feel like I need to put it out there,” Colin said. “Aldo is still out there somewhere and none of us are getting any sleep at night until we’ve got him. He’s hurt enough of us. Our whole family. Our women and children. It’s not over yet.”

  We all nodded our heads. Each of us had a personal vendetta against him. We all wanted him dead. We wanted him to suffer.

  I caught Elsie’s eye as she laughed with the other women. She had Davey up in her arms and the sun shone brilliantly on her face. I’d never seen a more beautiful sight in my life.

  I knew she was my family now. She’d be the mother of my children. I’d ask her to marry me and I’d put a baby in her. No matter what happened, I’d keep her safe.

  I winked at her and she smiled back at me lovingly. Nobody had ever loved me like this before.

  Sneak Peak at Nolan

  Chapter 1

  Amelia

  I needed a break. I’d been standing there, trying to make small talk for the past three hours and I really needed a breather.

  When the heavyset woman with the impossible hair walked into the salon, Eliza and Marcie turned to me and rolled their eyes. I knew exactly what they’d do, but they were the ones closest to the door and I couldn’t stop them. So they simply stepped out before I did anything about it.

  Ruby, our manager, gave me a shrug before greeting the woman.

  “Hello Mrs. Bailey, Amelia here will assist you today,” she said.

  I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. We all knew Mrs. Bailey pretty well, and none of us wanted to work with her.