I try to ease her worries. “Nia. Listen. You two will be taken care of no matter what. Whether I don’t come back, or even if you just don’t want me back. It’ll all be sorted out.”
“What does that mean?” she asks. I can tell she’s not happy, but she’s too fed up to spit anymore venom at me.
“It means you can go back to nursing school. It means you can make a life for yourself. It means that, one way or another, I’m going to make sure that the people who know about our connection never see the light of day again... But I can only do that by leaving you right now.”
Nia sighs. “You know, we never even exchanged numbers.” She’s stopped shivering and there’s a worrisome flatness to her voice. “You had my phone for a whole night, and as much as you say you like me, you never even thought to put your number into my phone.”
“I had no intention of ever invading your privacy,” I tell her.
She snorts. “That’s some kind of lie. You respect my privacy enough to not unlock my phone and put your number in, but not enough to find out my details and pay off my nursing school debt?”
Oh shit. She knows... and it doesn’t seem to be helping my case at all.
“What? You think I’m stupid?” Nia starts again. “Sure, it took me a little while longer than I’m proud of to finally figure it out for myself, but I’d missed a call from the school about my debt the morning you came to Chelly’s and returned it to me. Were you thinking of my privacy when you got the information you needed on me to pay off my debt?”
She’s got me there. I’d had Finn do some snooping. “I just wanted to do something nice for you.”
Nia rolls her eyes. “A lot of good your nice gestures do me. First, you walk me home and I get shot at; then, you give me a silver bracelet that somehow invites those greaseball Russians into my apartment. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop with your ‘generosity’ towards my debt. I suspect it will be just as violent as the others.”
I furrow my brows in confusion. Alonzo’s silver bracelet? “What do you mean?” I ask, before clarifying. “About the bracelet and the Russians?”
Nia shivers and brushes her arms with her own hands. “When they showed up at my apartment, they had the bracelet. They... They asked me how I got it.”
“How did they get it?” I ask, perplexed.
Nia hangs her head. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was ashamed. But of what?
“Nia,” I prod.
“I pawned off the bracelet, just like you said.” Her eyes are fixed on the floor. “The pawn shop I hocked it at must have been connected to the Russian mafia or whatever, because the guy somehow recognized the bracelet and took the information from my debit card to find me.”
My stomach drops as it all clicks together.
Fuck me.
The Russians only found out about Nia because of my carelessness.
My phone buzzes in my pocket again. Finn’s probably worried I’ve already been killed. I can’t ignore him any longer. I can’t ignore my fate any longer.
“Nia,” I pinch her soft chin and lead her gaze back up to my face. She doesn’t pull away, but her eyes are cold and empty of passion. “I’m sorry, But I need to go. It’s the only way out. For you, for me,” I look down at her stomach. “For the three of us.”
I close my eyes and kiss her.
She doesn’t kiss me back.
I pull away, feeling emptier than ever.
Her eyes twinkle ever so slightly as I take one last long look. There’s nothing left to say as I turn myself away and head to the door. She doesn’t call after me, and I leave without knowing if I’ll ever see her again.
24
Ronan
“I’m so stupid.”
“Aw, just compared to me, buddy.” Finn jokes over my earpiece, but I’m in no mood.
“If I hadn’t been so drunk with lust and love that night, I would have never given Nia Alonzo’s bracelet—even if I hadn’t made the connection yet.”