Page 60 of Deadly Oath

“Marryyou? How on earth does that help anything?”

“They want money from your father. He might pay to get you back unmarried, but married, I don’t believe he will. I know how these organizations work, Sabrina, and no matter how much he loves you, you are a thing of value. Your value decreased dramatically already, and it will decrease more when you’ve been married. You might still be worth some of their trouble, if I were just anyone, but I’m not. I’m in charge of law enforcement here, and I’ve already dug into them. There’s already heat on them, and if you’re my wife, that’s the kind of heat they can’t handle. Not from both me, along with any pushback they might get from your father.”

I stare at him, trying to make sense of this. “You’re saying theywon’t want to deal with both of you. And what about the FBI? You know about that, too?”

Kian nods. “I was brought up to speed. The FBI pose a problem for them, but you clearly didn’t say anything to Caldwell about the situation. They’re guessing you still won’t. But married to law enforcement, with pressure on this mafia and the added heat from the FBI and the connection to your father—you will be untouchable. They won’t dare to try anything like this again.”

What he’s saying makes sense, but I still hesitate. Something seems off about all of this, how quickly he’s jumped to it, how he claims there’s no other option. But when I look at his expression, he seems sincere. Concerned for me.

“You would have married for convenience and protection before,” Kian says calmly. “Before you came here. In your old life. What’s different about that now? At least we care for each other.”

I blink at him, startled by that last. “You care for me?” It’s not as if he said he loved me, but it feels like more than I expected, all the same.

Kian smirks. “Would I have come after you if I didn’t?”

The question hangs between us, and I think of what he did—finding me, eradicating every man in that warehouse, efficiently and without hesitation. “It’s your job,” I say weakly, but even I know what he did goes beyond what’s asked of a sheriff. For something like that, he should have called in backup, called Caldwell,something. But he chose to do it himself.

“You were—very capable, in there,” I say slowly. “How did you learn to move like that? Shoot like that?”

Something glimmers in Kian’s eyes, so quickly that I’m not sure I saw it correctly. It almost looks like irritation, but it’s gone so quickly that I can’t be sure. “In a line of work like this, being capable means not dying,” he says smoothly. “I happen to like being alive.”

I bite my lip, looking at him across our plates, the food cooling between us.He’s asked me to marry him.As proposals go, it’s not much of one, but how different is it, really, from the kind of proposal I would have gotten in my life before? Kian is right about that. It wouldhave been a business transaction, between my father and whoever he chose, a signed contract and a marriage made without my input.

This isn’t exactly the choice I would have hoped for, but itisa choice. I could tell Kian no, and while I might not be as safe, I at least have the option to choose.

“What if—what happens when the danger is gone?” I ask quietly. “Are we trying to make a real marriage out of this? Or will we go our separate ways when the marriage isn’t necessary any longer?”

Kian’s smirk never leaves his mouth. “Already thinking about divorce? We’re not even married yet, princess.”

He’s needling me, as he always does, but it’s at that moment that I realize that I might want this. Somehow, in a short amount of time, Kian has become someone that it’s difficult for me to imagine no longer being a part of my life.

I didn’t tell Caldwell about my stalker because, in part, I didn’t want to be taken away from Kian. And now, he’s giving me the option to stay with him. Tobewith him, in a way that I never imagined for us. I didn’t even imagine a real relationship for us, only this temporary pleasure that we’ve both enjoyed together.

But then again, there are so many things I never imagined that Kian has shown me. Why not this, too?

There’s still a lingering doubt, a nervous feeling in my stomach, like an instinct warning me to tread carefully. “If we’re unhappy. Then, when the danger is gone, you’ll let me go?”You won’t force me to stay with you?The idea seems ludicrous, sitting here in my kitchen over pancakes. But in my old life, it wasn’t. Whatever man my father chose for me would have been inescapable, impossible to choose to divorce.

But Kian isn’t Bratva. He isn’t a part of that life. And here, I can ask that question.

His gaze darkens. “You’re asking me if I’ll let you go?”

I nod, swallowing hard.

Kian draws in a slow breath, and I know the answer before he even says it. “I’ve wanted you for what feels like a long time, princess.I wanted to make you mine as soon as I saw you open that front door. So if you are—no. I’m not sure I’ll be able to let you go.”

This is the part where I should get up and run. Where I should tell him to leave. Where I should say, firmly and unequivocally,no. But deep down, against every instinct I know I should have, every part of me wants to stay right here.

Kian wantsme. Not my father’s power, or his wealth, or his influence. Not the esteem of marrying me. Not something beautiful to hang on his arm at dinners and charity galas. Just me. Enough that he’s telling me, bluntly, that a vow to him is a vow he considers to be made forever.

Marriage between us won’t be easy; I know that much. But I’m beginning to wonder if anything worthwhile ever is.

“Yes,” I say softly, and I hear my voice as if it’s outside of myself, making a choice that, for the first time, is my own. “I’ll marry you.”

24

KIAN

The next day, after I’m done with work for the day, I find myself in Louisville at a jeweler’s, picking out an engagement ring for Sabrina.

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