Page 57 of Forbidden Pawn

Smiling, I give her a wave and head downstairs, my pulse quickening when I spot Ryker’s limousine idling in front of my building. Enzo’s sitting in the driver’s seat, and when Ryker steps out to meet me, my heart does a little flip.

He looks absolutely dashing in a dark suit and his hair gelled to the side, and I’m grateful that I dressed up as well. He greets me with a kiss on the lips before he motions for me to get inside.

“Ready?” he asks, as I settle in, feeling both comfortable and electrified.

“I guess so. I don’t even know where we’re going,” I say.

“You look beautiful,” he says, ignoring my implied question, before he reaches for my hand.

“You still won’t tell me?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Nope. You’ll have to wait and see.”

I narrow my eyes when I look at him, and he lets out an amused chuckle as he sinks into the soft leather seat.

Sometimes I still can’t believe the life I have now. It still feels like something out of a novel—the rescue from the Cortesi, the story we spun for the police, the daring plan that put the entire Cortesi operation behind bars.

In the end, it really was my kidnapping that took them down. Since Ryker and the Reid brothers couldn’t go anywhere near the cops, I was the only one who could bring the evidence forward. The story we fed the authorities was simple but effective: I’d been taken, held captive, and escaped with some conveniently damning documents in tow. I was a little surprised to see how easy it was to feed this story to the authorities. The police had been after the Cortesi for a while, just waitingfor evidence to finally lock them down. And I gave them that evidence. That’s all that mattered to them. They’d been waiting for something to bring the Cortesi down for so long, they didn’t even question the way these incriminating documents found their way into their hands.

My broken hand probably helped to add a touch of authenticity to the story. I’ll never forget the tension in the air as I handed everything over to the police. It was all worth it—watching the headlines shift from my kidnapping to the arrests of yet another Mafia family.

I look outside and notice that we are leaving the city.

“Are we going to your place?” I ask, turning back to Ryker.

He casts me a playful smirk. “Who knows?”

“You do.”

“Yes, but I won’t tell you,” he says, clearly enjoying this. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Just trust me.”

Trust him. Those words are heavy with meaning for us. Trust is something we’re still establishing between us. Deep down inside of me, I knew I could trust him from the moment he risked his own life to save mine, when the Cortesi attacked us, but I still needed time — and so did he.

Now, as the lights of Boston fade and the dark countryside unfolds around us, I lean back in the seat, my hand in Ryker’s, feeling more secure than I ever thought possible. And with a man who I didn’t see coming. I thought it would give me closure to see him behind bars, and now I can no longer imagine wishing that for him. I could never hate him the way I swore to, and I was battling against my growing feelings for him, but now I no longer have to.

Now, I can finally be happy.

Chapter 44

Ryker

Sitting beside June in the back of the car, watching her gaze out the window, I feel a peace I’d thought was beyond my reach. The story we spun was that I saved her from the Cortesi’s grip, but in truth, she was the one who saved me. She tore me away from a life I couldn’t continue living, a life that had already darkened parts of my soul.

As Enzo drives us through the quiet suburbs, I think about the Reid brothers. We’ve made peace, they paid their debt — which, as it turned was never an issue for them, they just wanted to create tension to buy time so they could figure out their plan with the Cortesi — and shut the door on our rivalry, but they stayed behind in that world. They had no intention of leaving it, not like I did. They’re no friends of mine, and I doubt they ever will be.

I turn toward June, feeling the urge to say it, to let her know what she’s done for me.

“You really made me rethink things, June,” I say, my voice soft. She looks up, and there’s something so steady in her gaze. “I’d never considered how my business affected innocent people until I met you.”

She takes my hand, her thumb tracing small circles on my knuckles, and I know she understands.

“I know,” she says. “But you’ve changed. You left it all behind… for me.”

I reciprocate her smile. “It wasn’t just for you, it was just as much for myself. But you were the driving factor behind it. I knew I couldn’t have a life with you if I kept doing what I was doing.”

Her eyes widen, and I realize the weight of my words. Fuck, I said I didn’t want to ruin the surprise, and now I’m dangerously close to doing just that. My pulse speeds at the way she’s looking at me, so hopeful, and slightly confused.

“And that’s what you want?” she asks. “To spend your life with me?”

---