Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty
Zen’s POV
I lifted my boot off Tom’s wrist and crossed to embrace my girl. I could see in his eyes that he wouldn’t try anymore shit with me. I didn’t know if it was because he now knew I could kick his ass, or because he realized that I would’ve had no other reason to keep him alive if not to please and protect Elizabeth. One pull of my trigger and Tom would’ve been out of the picture, but she would’ve hated me for it. Besides, we needed his help. All my connections were tied up in my group, and we had nowhere to go. I hoped Tom had a plan besides just taking her back home.
I opened my arms hesitantly, but was pleasantly surprised when Princess rushed into me, squeezing onto my midsection tightly. I could feel her trembling and sobbing against my chest, so I gently ran my fingers through her thick and slightly damp locks. Tom finally climbed to his feet, once again towering over me. He was holding onto his injured wrist. He knew it wasn’t broken, and headed to the table to reset it.
“You’re a quick little fucker.” He mumbled while walking to shut the front door. He had to lean the chair up against it, since he busted the frame kicking it open. I smirked at his remark.
“Had to be. I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” He smirked in return.
“You don’t work at the animal shelter.” He said, looking like a disappointed father or some shit.
“Nope.” I replied popping the p. I then used my free hand that was resting on Elizabeth’s back to point at her. “That one was actually her idea.” I admitted, a little bit of pride lacing my voice. Elizabeth had finished sobbing, and buried her face further into my chest to hide. I chuckled.
“Liz…” He chided, before sighing and running his hand over his face. “Who are you, then?” He directed back at me.
“Who do you know that I am?” I knew the fucker knew my full name and I wanted to know what all he knew.
“Not much is known about you. I just ran your prints from the knife. Found info about some foster kid named Zen Warren, now 26 years old. Involved in a gruesome murder case at the age of ten, but declared innocent, pleading self-defense.” I stiffened, causing Princess to glance up at me in curiosity. Damn it. “You disappeared off the face of the earth once you turned 18. No credit cards, no student loans, nothing. It made sense that you were drafted, but one thing wasn’t adding up.” I nodded for him to continue. “I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why a trained assassin of 8 years would leave his weapon with his prints at his targets home.” I ground my teeth. He was right. That had to have been the stupidest mistake of my career. “Was it planted? Did you want me to find you?” I didn’t really care to admit my mistake, so I hoped to throw him off by acting twisted. I smirked.
“Do you really want to know?” I questioned, a hint of amusement in my voice. He gave me a hesitant look before nodding slowly. Curious Bastard. I moved to cover Princess’ ears, but she moved her hands to block me. I glanced down at her in confusion to see her staring back at me with even more curiosity. I didn’t want her to hear this shit.
“I want to know, too.” She pleaded. Fuck. I sighed, before looking back up at Tom.
“Fine. I was planning on slitting her windpipe after we fucked. I had the dagger held to her throat while she came, but I couldn’t kill her, so I threw it into the corner of the room before she opened her eyes. I fled when you knocked and didn’t bother collecting my weapon.”
“You sick motherfucker.” Tom’s eyes were turning feral at the mention of me fucking Elizabeth. Elizabeth cut him off before he could rip me apart.
“Why?” She asked, stepping away from me.
“Like he said, I’m a sick motherfucker.” I responded coldly, trying not to show my annoyance with her moving away from me. She shook her head.
“No, why couldn’t you do it? Haven’t you killed a lot of people already?” She wasn’t angry? I just admitted to planning her murder after fucking her, and all she takes away is that I couldn’t do it?
“I don’t know.” I lied. She reached out and grabbed ahold of my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. The simple gesture warmed me, and I couldn’t stop the rush of guilt that accompanied it. I didn’t deserve her understanding or grace, but it was obvious that she didn’t believe me, so I decided to tell her the truth. “I knew you were different. I couldn’t kill you, because I didn’t want you to die. You… disarmed me.”
Her eyes widened at my words and I could see that she was having a conversation with herself in her head.
“Elizabeth, are you sure you trust this guy?” Tom was pissing me off with his questions, acting like I wasn’t standing right there. She was quiet for longer than I liked, looking into my eyes like she could see inside of me, but eventually turned to face him.
“With my life.”