Page 40 of Don't Bite The Boss
‘But I don’t want to turn Tristan. I don’t know if I want to stay with him forever, I just don’t know anymore.’
I don’t voice my thoughts.
“And Tess? Does she know about this? Because I don’t want her there, she can’t fight.”
“Tess doesn’t know anything yet. Charlotte will fill her in when she lands and ensure she is kept safe. But she has to be in Rome. Solomon has to have his spies inform him that all of you are in the one place at the one time – or this trap won’t work. We are banking on the fact he won’t leave your capture to his minions this time, he will want to be there to personally secure you once and for all, and all at once.”
I stiffen at his words. I know he’s right.
“If it doesn’t work, and Solomon looks like he’s won, and if you are still alive,” I say quietly, “I want you to shoot me with a silver bullet, Tristan. Kill me, don’t let me be taken by him, do you promise?”
“No,” he shakes his head, “I know what you want to hear. But I won’t lie to you, deceive you any more than I already have,” he says quietly, “I won’t do that, Pru. I can’t.”
“Why not?” I growl.
“Because I love you.”
‘Oh.’
I don’t know what to say, so instead, I reach for him, pull his face to mine, and kiss him hard.
“Ouch,” he smirks and pulls back, putting his hand momentarily to his lip, “is that your way of saying you love me too?”
I stiffen in his arms, and he raises up on one elbow and stares down at my face.
“You once told me you loved very few. I don’t know how long I need to make it up to you, my appalling behaviour, before you say those words to me. But I’m willing to wait.”
“Let’s just take one day at a time,” I say after a long pause, “we have a wedding to survive before we worry about anything else.”
I hear his heart miss a beat at my response and know that’s not the answer he’s looking for. Still, it is the only one he is going to get right now, because it feels too soon, just too soon to tell him. But I know that his words had just mended my arrowed heart and that I love him too, more than he could ever know.
16
I pull the strings tight at the front of the pale pink bodice I am wearing, ensuring the small silver throwing stars are concealed under frothy fabric within each criss-cross and stare at myself in the mirror in my lethal bridesmaid’s gown.
I have a whole range of weapons strapped to my legs under this gown, some silver and wrapped to prevent them from burning me. Tristan had supplied a veritable arsenal to all of us.
I know that Tess, if she ever gets here, will be wearing a dress of a slightly darker hue, as befitting the maid of honour, and Serena will be wearing one the same as mine. Or I suppose she will because I had yet to see her since arriving in Rome. Everything has been a whirlwind of party and wedding preparations, gown fittings, guest arrangements and of course, murder plans.
In all this, I’ve hardly even seen Tristan. He’s still strutting around here and there pretending to be Christopher, to keep the game up, while the real Christopher and Serena are staying out of the public eye, although Charlotte said they were housed in a hotel suite not far away.
We are all accommodated separately at this stage, me in this hotel, Tristan on his plane, Charlotte and Nick in one hotel, Serena in another.
‘But Tess, where is Tess? Her plane was due in at 6am, she should be dressed and here by now.’
I place another call, and this time, mercifully, she answers.
“Tess, where the fuck are you?” I almost shout down the line.
“Pru, God, Pru. I’m so glad I had time to say goodbye to you, you of all people.”
My blood runs cold.
“Tess?”
“I have to go, Pru. I can’t be here anymore. You understand, you understand better than the others.”
I hear the subtext behind her words.
