Dangerous Hearts

The Admission

Charlie's POV

Dinner had gone well. I had managed to keep the more personal questions about Stephen and my bruised ribcage away from the conversation and I'd finally relaxed into a comfortable state with Alexander. He was surprisingly funny. Along with being charming, handsome, and a little bit dangerous, but amazingly, he didn't scare me as much as Stephen had. When he'd told me that he was more into the protection part of the mafia, and less into the darker parts than I'd originally thought, I knew that he could be trusted. He might be a killer, but he did it for a good cause, and he hadn't given me any reason to not believe him.

The food was amazing, as well as the conversation, but it was the twinkling lights and beautiful gardens that made this night perfect for me. I'd always loved flowers, and I'd attempted gardening at some point, but I didn't have the green thumb that my mom did and ended up killing off any flowers I'd had. Stella was better at it than I was, but she still struggled to keep up with it. I loved all the scents that wafted up to us as we walked by the assortment of flowers. It wasn't overbearing, but it was powerful.

As we walked, I could feel the heat of his gaze on me, and I couldn't pretend how wanted it made me feel. It had been a long time since I'd been involved with a man, mostly because anytime I talked with anyone other than Stephen, he'd threaten them or me to stay away from each other. This was the first time I'd felt comfortable with letting anyone in and I wanted it to stay that way. I almost didn't want to leave, but I knew that it was getting late and I had a lot to do at the house this weekend still.

We stepped up to the balcony that oversaw the entire city. In the darkness of night, it was lit up like a supernova even at the distance we were from it. It was beautiful.

I sighed and turned to him, tensing in shock when I saw how close we'd drifted to each other and his dark gaze was locked onto mine. Crippling pain circulated from my ribs and I winced as it almost doubled me over this time. It was much harder to hide my discomfort when I was standing than when I was sitting, and I knew that he'd for sure seen it this time and his concern was palpable. Before he could ask me if I was okay, I blurted, "I should probably get home."

His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before he sighed and reached out his hand to tuck some of my hair away from my face, "It's late. Why don't you stay here tonight?"

"I can't. I have so much to do this weekend that I'm already behind on." The excuse was extremely true, but I also wanted to get away from his concerned gaze and avoid the awkwardness of trying to get out of telling him why I was hurting. I'd had much worse, but the bruised feeling in something that I barely noticed normally doing its job of keeping me upright was annoyingly persistent in letting me know that I was an i***t.

I almost stopped breathing when his fingers brushed against my cheek gently, "Stay with me tonight and I'll drive you back myself tomorrow morning," he said quietly, his deep voice rumbled and I felt it stirring something low in my belly. I wanted to protest again, knowing that this probably wasn't the best idea getting involved with a mafia boss when my ex-husband was a police officer, but the words died on my lips when he said, "Please?"

I nodded, "Okay, I'll stay."

He smiled brightly at my agreement. "I've got plenty of rooms available for you to sleep in-"

"I'll stay with you," I interrupted him. Being in my own bedroom in the middle of an estate full of mafia people I didn't know was scary enough. I knew him and Joseph, but staying with Joseph would be more awkward than staying with Alexander.

"I-are you sure?" He asked, taken aback at my forwardness.

I nodded, "I'll feel much safer with you than being by myself in a new place." He nodded after a moment before grabbing my hand and walking us back to the large building. "I will need some clothes to sleep in, though. I don't have anything else with me."

He chuckled, "I can get you something to wear to bed, don't worry." If I wanted to, I could've said, 'or I could just wear nothing at all,' but then he'd see my bruises and I wouldn't be able to get out of avoiding that conversation anymore. Plus, that would probably get me into trouble since I've only ever had s*x with one person and don't have much experience with it. Although, the thought of having s*x with Alexander made me feel tingly inside, I actually didn't want to randomly sleep with someone I barely knew and have it not work out.

He led me up the stairs and to the elevator. He lived on the sixth floor of the huge estate and both of us knew that I'd never be able to make it up all six flights of stairs tonight. Joseph and Killian, who'd slipped in with us after we'd made our way inside, were chatting up a storm with each other and I found myself laughing with them. Killian looked like he was a killer, compared to Joseph, who was softer on the outside and easily approachable, but they both turned into real goofballs when they weren't in danger or watching the perimeter. Alexander even cracked a few jokes on the way up to his floor and I had to control my giggling so my ribs didn't protest.

The pain medication that I'd quickly taken before leaving earlier was starting to wear off and I could feel the strain my body was in, in trying to keep me upright. Alexander put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him gently like he could sense the pain I was in, and I was grateful for his stability right now.

When we finally reached the floor, Joseph and Killian veered off to their rooms, while Alexander and I walked to the end of the hall where his was. He opened the door and let me go in before him while he turned on the light. It was a very masculine room, with shades of gray, black, and white and, instead of just having a bedroom like I originally thought, it was like a hotel room with a kitchenette to the left of us and a living room with a huge flat screen TV and a large U-shaped couch with a coffee table in the middle. The actual bedroom had to be down the hall on the right of us. He kept it very clean and organized, not a single thing out of place, and I strived to be this clean in my life. Stephen used to get mad at me when the house wasn't this immaculate when he came home from work, so when we divorced, I tried to balance my cleanliness with the need to free myself from his oppressiveness.

Alexander closed and locked the door before striding over to the kitchenette, "Would you like something to drink?"

I turned to him, "I'll have some water please." He nodded and grabbed a cup before filling it with ice and water and bringing it over to me. He's been extremely attentive to me tonight. I had a feeling that he knew how nervous I'd been when I'd first gotten here, and he'd done everything he could to make me feel comfortable around him. "Thank you," I said softly as I took it and drank a little bit of it.

"You're welcome," he smiled, "make yourself at home. The bedroom has a full attached bathroom if you need to shower or anything and I can grab you some of my clothes to wear tonight." He started walking that way, and I followed behind him at a slower pace as I sipped at the cool water.

The bedroom was just like the rest of the suite. He had a king-sized bed with another flatscreen TV across from it, a huge white carpet that was so fuzzy and soft looking that I almost opted to sleep on that instead of the bed or couch, and I could see that he had a full walk-in closet with the door open and everything lined up neatly inside. The other door in there, I'm assuming is the bathroom, was closed.

He walked into the closet and rummaged through a couple of drawers before coming back out with some clothes for me. "Thank you," I took the soft clothes and realized that it was a large t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. I'd have to roll the legs up a couple of times because I would be swimming in them with how short I was compared to him.

"You can change in here or in the bathroom," he said quietly, "I have to make a call real quick. I forgot to do it earlier and it needs to be done before I go to bed tonight."

I nodded, "Okay." He smiled at me and then turned to go back into the living room area to make his call, closing the door behind him as he went. I toed out of my boots and sat them neatly beside the closet door where his shoes were lined up, before I started working on getting out of the dress I was in and into the clothes he'd brought me. I ended up pulling the pajama pants on first, since they'd take the longest because I had to roll the legs up a few times and tighten the waist band to fit me. I had just maneuvered the dress over my head to put the shirt on when I heard him come back in. I was out of breath from having to bend over and move around so much with this stupid injury, that I didn't even have the strength to pull his shirt over my head before he saw the bruise on my back.

"Who did that to you?" He asked, deadly quiet with a slight tremor in his voice. I barely turned to look at him over my shoulder, but I was able to distinguish the edge of anger in his eyes and the tightness of his jaw.

I sighed, "Nobody," I whispered, almost afraid to speak any louder for fear that he'd explode. "I nicked it on the corner of my mailbox earlier." While true, I wouldn't have done it as hard as I did if not for Stephen backing me into a corner and making me freak out about his proximity.

I finally managed to pull the shirt over my head with some effort and turned to face him. He looked murderous, but I found it strangely comforting.

I walked over to him and set my trembling hands on his chest lightly, "I'm okay," I said quietly, to try to get him to relax a little bit.

"Let me see them closer," he ordered softly. He seemed to have gotten a hold on his anger and I could see the concern shining through again. I sighed and went to protest, but when I saw the look in his unyielding eyes, I decided that arguing was pointless with him right now. I turned around and let him lift the shirt back up so that he could see the mess of bruises on my lower ribcage just underneath my bra. I felt him brush my skin lightly with his fingertips and goosebumps raised on my skin in their wake. He examined my skin thoroughly and after a few moments, he sighed, "I don't like seeing bruises on people that don't deserve it." He turned me around to face him after letting the shirt drop down over me again and I looked up into his dark eyes, "I believe you when you say you hit the corner of a mailbox, but it's not usually the back that gets hit. You were cornered into it, weren't you?"

I didn't want to answer. I didn't want him to know that my ex-husband had abused me in so many ways for years and that, because he was the Chief of Police, there was nothing anyone could do about it. He was my son's father and my first love as well, and he'd threatened multiple times that if I told anyone about what he'd done to me that he'd take Oliver away from me for good. But, looking into Alexander's dark eyes, I had a feeling that if anyone could help me with this, it was him. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to risk it though. I didn't want to lose Oliver to Stephen, and I knew that somehow he would find out that I'd told someone and I knew that it would kill me to have Oliver taken away from me.

I slowly nodded before looking away from his gaze, not really sure what to say to make this conversation end before it began.

He lifted my chin up with his knuckles so I'd meet his gaze, "I won't ask, because I have a pretty good idea of who did this to you and I know it makes you uncomfortable to talk about. I just want you to know that I consider you and your son to be under my protection now, and if anything like this happens again, I want you to tell me and I will deal with it."

I could feel the stinging in my eyes as tears sprung up from my fear of losing Oliver, "I can't," I whispered on a choked sob, "I don't want to lose Oliver. I'm not supposed to tell anyone." I could feel the panic creeping up now, and I barely registered him gently lifting me in his arms and walking us over to the bed.

He held me for awhile until I calmed down enough to get my breathing under control again, "I won't let anything happen to you or Oliver. I won't let him get taken away from you," he promised as he stroked his hand up and down my back gently.

I leaned back to look at him, just now realizing that he had me straddling his lap and I was clinging onto him like a lifeline, "You don't know what he can do. He's basically got the whole city backing him up and no one will do anything to stop him."

He cupped my face in his hands, gently shushing me, "I've told you about my business and you barely batted your eyes at it. You didn't even flinch when I raised my gun to your face..." he paused, remembering how I'd avoided answering his question about it earlier, "and yet, you're terrified of this one person who thinks he has this city on lockdown? Charlie...I know you don't want to talk about it, but I'm desperate to know. What did he do to you?"

I closed my eyes, struggling not to fall back into panic mode at the flashbacks of every horrible thing Stephen had done to me in our marriage. When I opened them, I met Alexander's dark gaze, and knew that I could trust him with my life and with my past. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to trust him not to kill Stephen though, not with how protective he already seemed to be with me. We'd only met last night, but it seemed as though that didn't matter to either of us at the moment. "You have to promise me that you won't kill him," I said softly. His jaw tightened in the realization that I wouldn't be asking this of him if it wasn't this bad. "Please?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning his forehead against mine for a minute. When he opened his eyes again, he nodded, staring straight into mine with an openness that made him look slightly different than he usually looked. It was softer and more tender, "Alright, I promise."

I swallowed nervously before launching into every detail of Stephen and I's whirlwind romance in high school, getting married and having Oliver. How he'd slowly become the vindictive and cruel man he is today, all the beatings and insinuations that he'd go after Oliver if I stepped out of line once, the messy divorce where no one batted an eye at what I'd told them he'd done to me, but instead took his side. How he constantly threatened to take Oliver away from me if I didn't go back to him or if I tried telling anyone else what went down between us. How he'd tried to get me to go to dinner with him earlier and backing me into the mailbox with enough force that I'd hurt myself.

When I had finished telling him everything, Alexander was trembling and his breathing was coming in fast pants with the force of his anger. He looked ready to murder Stephen, but instead of springing up from the bed and storming out like I thought he would end up doing, he tightened his hold around my waist and buried his face in my hair. Even though I was trembling too, because of rehashing everything I'd only ever told my therapist before now, I rubbed his back to try and get him to calm down and realize that I was here and that I was okay-well, semi-okay-now.

He pulled away to cup my face in his hands, "I won't kill him yet, not until you give me the okay or if something happens that I don't like, but I don't want you and Oliver out there unprotected. Not now. I need to make another call," he pressed a kiss on my forehead and gently lifted me off of him to sit beside him on the bed.

"Wh-" I started to ask him what he'd meant by that.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," he said as he stood and strode from the room with powerful and angry steps. I'd started to get out of bed to stop him, but paused at his words. By the time he'd disappeared from my view, I didn't have it in me to protest against him.

"What the heck did I get myself into?" I asked myself softly as I got under the covers and tucked my knees up to my chest. I felt both heavier and lighter at my admission to him, and what I was left with was exhaustion and some fear of what would happen now that a powerful mafia boss knew and was on my side.