Protecting You ("The Shadows" Series: Book I)

IX.

Ryan's POV

Zach took care of the bodies and disposed them somewhere only he knew. All the members that I trusted in our group were now sitting with me in our meeting hall.

"I've got some information regarding Gonzalez." Thomas, one of our sources said, passing a file to all of us. We opened it and started scanning through the information.

"He has some of his best men following Lily Banner. My men heard that she has some unfinished business with him and Adam Gonzalez is waiting for her to be captured. Next, he is planning to kill Anthony Brew. You know him right?" He continued.

"My father's friend. I know. Buy why does he want to kill Anthony? I never heard him getting involved with Adam." I got curious. He was like a family. He had spent a lot of time with my father and had supported him in times of need.

"Reasons are unknown. But we are trying our best to get all the information as soon as possible." He concluded. We all sat silently, deep in our thoughts. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Liam said something on his earphone and listened carefully.

"It's your father." He said as he glanced at me.

"We'll talk about this later. You all can go. Thomas I need to know everything. Don't let me down." I said to him. He nodded firmly and left with others. My father entered in the room with an envelope in his hand. He sat in front of me on the other side of the table.

"How you doing?" He asked while glancing at his watch. I replied with a faint 'good'. He nodded and looked straight at me.

"I'm not going to beat around the bushes. This is the girl you will be marrying. Elena and I chose her. She will be good for our family and for you." He said sliding the envelope in my direction. I felt my face heat up in anger. Before I could reply he continued.

"She is ready to marry you. You will be surprised to know who she is. They will meet us on Sunday. Today is Tuesday. Be ready by then." He said as he stood up and walked out of the room before patting my shoulders. I tried to calm my rage but to no avail.

How can they do this? My life was already fucked up. I was getting death threats from almost everyone. And here my parents were planning my marriage. Do they want to destroy that girl's life? Does she know who I am? What she is signing up for? Who do they think they are? I stood up and threw the vase that sat on the corner of the room against the wall, shattering it into pieces. I took the envelope and tore it into shreds without looking at the photo. I knew I won't be marrying anyone anytime soon. So why bother looking at the picture...

Lily's POV

Million thoughts were running through my head. Adam Gonzalez wanted me. He wanted to kill Ryan Martinez, my soon to be husband.

That was a shocker. When my dad showed me the photo of the guy whom I was supposed to be getting married, I almost fainted. It was him. Ryan Martinez. Then I told Dad everything. How we met in the cafe, how I got hit, how he took care of me, even his threats before I woke up in my bed the next day. Dad laughed at the last one. He said and I quote He is like that. He must have seen something in you that's why he let you live, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here with me. He earned a death-stare from me for that.

After our conversation, he called his father, Rafael and told him that I have agreed to marry their son. I don't know why I had this sudden urge to protect him from his enemies. I wanted to be close to him and that made me take the decision. His father was ecstatic and wanted to meet me. So we decided to have dinner with his family on Sunday. They have seen me in photos only so they were obviously eager to see who in her fucked up mind said yes to marrying their son.

Then I went to see the guys who were captured by his men. We had this deal. They wouldn't kill them until I talk to them. So Jim accompanied me to their warehouse. I told him about my marriage and he was furious. He knew that I would not be able to live a normal life if I marry Ryan. He was the leader of the most dangerous mafia group. No one would expect a normal life if one joins the group in anyway. When I told him my excuse he looked at me as if I was crazy. He tried to reason with me but I was stubborn as hell. I wanted Ryan to be happy and safe.

I was under his debt, whether I liked it or not. He had saved my life at one point. I knew he had threatened me not to open my mouth in front of anyone but he was just being cautious. And he had also sent his men to protect us, whatever his reasons be. I was thankful and as much as he would have liked me to stay away from him, I wanted to be the one to help him out of this fatal situation. Not only my life was in danger, but he was also sending his men who would have died to keep me safe. I appreciated that.

The sharp shooters were pathetic. As much as I wanted to get more information from them, I was not going to have a chit chat with those shit excuse of men. They were getting on my nerves and I was already exhausted with all the truth and reality checks I had on my shoulders. I had nothing else but to shoot them when they called me whore. I hated when people judged me. It's not like their opinion mattered to me at all but I wanted the other guy to spill something out of fear. And he did. I just wanted to know why Gonzalez wanted me. It's not like we had crossed paths ever in my entire life, not that I knew of. But it got me a little worked up. I was scared not for myself but for Ryan. What if he wanted to harm Ryan because of me? What if he gets to know that I was going to get hitched with him? What if he saw his men following me all the time? I wanted to keep everyone around me safe and there was only one way of doing that.

To keep everyone away from me...including Ryan....