Page 17 of Unwritten Vows

Derrick

This is the first time I’ve ever seen Liza scared of anything. I wonder how many times in her life she has actually worried about what her father does for a living. I know her mother was killed, and I’m sure it had something to do with this life we live. Can she really have never questioned it?

Either way, it’s clear she’s been kept firmly away from this side of things. She’s been so well hidden and protected that she’s never had to worry about being kidnapped or gunned down on a city sidewalk late at night.

She couldn’t hear it, but my guard confirmed that it wasn’t just press following us and trying to get a picture.

My guys caught one of Edoardo’s men snooping around a garage near the restaurant that we went to earlier in the night, and then one of his men was sighted hanging around the opera house.

They’re allowed to roam the city, of course—they own much of the East Side—but what is the likelihood that two of his higher ups just happened to be enjoying the same activities as we did tonight?

I didn’t want to admit it to her, but now that I think about it, I have to wonder if this is happening to her because she’s with me.

My father and I don’t have a lot of enemies, but maybe I am putting her in danger in some way.

Maybe just taking her out, reducing our security, and trying to sneak out the back entrances are making her less safe.

I have to balance her well-being with her father’s wish not to have tons of press make assumptions about whether she and I are together or not.

I decide right here and now that I need to either shit or get off the pot. I need to tell her father the next time I see him that I won’t keep running from the press when I’m with her.

We drive in silence for what feels like forever before she speaks.

“Where are we going?”

She’s realized finally that we’re driving further uptown than her house, and too far east.

“I’ll bring you home if you want, but I need to make sure it’s safe first.”

She swallows hard. “Safe? What… what might have happened?” She chokes the words out like they’re stuck in her throat.

“Oh, don’t worry about your father. He’s fine.

” I haven’t heard anything concrete, but if something happened to her father, we’d know by now.

I can’t imagine that he’s been hurt. His house is like a fucking fortress, and he has about a dozen escape plans that even I know nothing about except that he has them in place.

I’m relieved when this seems to ease some of her tension, but she’s still obviously shaken up.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going, though.”

My eyes wander to hers. “My hotel.”

She thinks for a moment, and then asks an extremely logical question. “Why would your hotel be safer than my house?”

I’m glad I can answer this question, and I find myself hoping that it will ease her worry.

“I always check in under a false name and have someone scoping out the area whether I’m there or not.

Since no one knows why I’m in New York City, they probably haven’t thought to try and find me.

But everyone knows where your father lives, and it’s more likely that they’re waiting for us to drive that route than this one. ”

This seems to placate her just a bit. She takes a deep breath and exhales with her eyes closed.

If I thought she was done though, I was very mistaken. “You never told me who that guy is—Edoardo?” she asks, wincing when her voice comes out in a high squeak.

I absolutely do not want to get into this shit with her right now, so I shrug. “No one you have to worry about.”

“I’m serious,” she says. I can see her sitting on her hands, and I know it’s because they’re shaking. She tips her pointed chin up, trying to look brave. “If there might be people trying to mess with me, I want to know who they are and what they want.”

My eyes slide to hers. She might be scared, but she’s obviously serious.

She wants details. But it’s not up to me to give this information to her.

“Liza, I think you need to talk to your father about this. I won’t let anything happen to you, but I’m also not really in a position… I mean, I just met you a week ago.”

She narrows her eyes and crosses her hands over her chest. “Yeah, and that’s precisely when all of this started happening.”

I shake my head. “Okay, here’s what I’ll tell you. He and your father… don’t get along. You know what your father does, and I’m sure you know that this business isn’t just designer clothes, partying, and frolicking out to the opera. But like I said, I can protect you. I told you I would.”

“No, that’s not enough,” she says after a moment’s consideration. “Why would he be after me? What’s going on right now, after a lifetime of leaving me alone?”

I highly doubt he’s left her alone all her life, but she has barely been out of the upper west side where she lives without a veritable security brigade surrounding her.

Maybe the war is just heating up. Maybe he sees an opportunity when she’s with me, and that’s why he’s been skulking around.

Both of those reasons are likely, when I think about it.

But whatever the reason, even if I wanted to have the discussion with her, I absolutely cannot.

“I really just don’t know,” I say, and it’s the truth. I might have guesses, and it probably has something to do with me, but there’s nothing concrete to go on.

“Derrick, I’m not stupid —”

“You asked me if I liked you, Liza. Do you like me?” It sounds like I’m changing the subject abruptly, but I’m going to try and make her understand.

She opens her mouth, likely to argue, but then realizes that I didn’t make a point. She pauses, her face crumpling in confusion. “What?”

I keep my face impassive. “Simple question, just like you asked me earlier. Do you like me?”

She sighs in annoyance, but to my surprise, answers the question. “Lord only knows why, but… yes, I do.”

I give her a shark-toothed smile. “Then I assume you want me to live?”

She narrows her eyes again. “I suppose.”

I nod my head. “Well, I can promise you that if I give you the information you want about this, your father will kill me.”