Nila #2
I’d turned from seamstress to diamond heiress with the amount I now wore. The huge stone glittered menacingly in a cushion cut with baguettes on either side.
I didn’t want to guess how many carats the ring held.
Breaking the kiss, Jethro murmured, “There’s something else in there. Something that isn’t for you, but I want you to see it.”
My eyebrow quirked, but I reached upward and plucked the pouch from the table. With the weight of my new engagement ring, I fumbled with the crepe.
Once it was unwrapped, I couldn’t stop the tears this time.
I huddled over the necklace where a teardrop black diamond had been fashioned with gold scroll work and the wings of a hawk and a needle with thread in the fixings.
It wasn’t just a necklace; it was a joining of our two houses.
A gift for someone who would be treasured above any diamond or estate.
A priceless necklace for a priceless child.
“You made this for our daughter.”
Jethro sucked in a breath. “How did you—”
I smiled, liquid glassing my vision and heart. “I know because I know you.” Stroking the diamond, I breathed, “You want a daughter over a son?”
His arms banded around me. “Nila, I want whatever you give me. But a daughter, if she’s firstborn, will be the end to everything. The debts will never take place again. She’ll be part Weaver, part Hawk, and I wanted her to have something to symbolise what a new beginning she will represent.”
“I love you.” I grabbed his cheeks. “I love you so damn much.”
His entire body melted in my hold, his adoration for me glowing in every facet. “I know. And I’ll never ever deserve it.”
Climbing to his feet, he helped me upright. Tugging me into an embrace, he kissed me softly. “There’s one other place I’d like to take you to, if you’d let me?”
My body curved into his like a comma. “I want to go wherever you want to take me.”
His gorgeous face lit with a sexy smile.
Thoughts of sealing our engagement with more than just a kiss crossed my mind.
When Jethro had bundled me into the car this morning and driven off the estate, I thought it was to complete a few errands or to stand beside me while I visited my assistants at Weaver Enterprises and give feedback on an up-and-coming design line.
Our life had become somewhat normal with work and businesses to run. I loved the normalcy but loved the magical alone times, too.
I would never have expected something as spellbinding as this to happen.
It is spellbinding.
We’d made promises in the heart of Diamond Alley to love, honour, and treasure each other for the rest of our lives. What else existed if those vows weren’t classified as a spell? A forever kind of spell. A spell that would keep our souls joined even after death.
My eyes fell on the large diamond on my finger.
I couldn’t stop looking at it. Flashing the black gemstone, revelling in how thoughtful and incredible my future husband was.
I ran a finger over the glossy surface. “I’ll never be able to thank you for what you’ve given me, Jethro. More than just an anchor. You’ve given me a home in your heart and made me belong.”
He grabbed my hand, squeezing my fingers tight. “I feel exactly the same way. Now, let’s go, so I can show you the next part of my plan.”
“The next part?” I laughed. “Careful, you might spoil me.”
He smirked. “You don’t know where I’m taking you yet. It might be an awful place.”
“I highly doubt it.” Tossing my hair away from my face, I smiled. “Tell me then. Where do you want to take me?”
Guiding me from the safe, he grinned. “You’ll see.”
* * * * *
“In here?” I looked over my shoulder as Jethro nodded.
We’d left Diamond Alley and driven into a bustling local town where knickknacks and tourists decorated the streets.
“Yep.” Jethro bit his lip to stop from smiling.
“You want me to go into a coffee shop?”
He moved past me, pushing on the door until the chime above welcomed us into the decadent smell of coffee and sweets.
“But I don’t even like coffee. You know that.”
He smirked. “I know.”
“Then why—?”
“Stop asking questions and get in there.” Grabbing my wrist, he dragged me over the threshold and beelined for a tatty couch in the coffee shop window.
The couch.
The coffee.
Oh, my God.
My heart stopped. “This...it’s similar to the café in Milan where I tried to kiss you when we first met.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
I frowned, even as my heart thundered with love. “Why...why did you bring me here?”
He patted the couch, sinking into the soft cushions.
I followed, our knees touching as we faced each other.
The softness of the settee cradled me as Jethro stroked my ring, his face alive and pensive.
“That night I told you so many lies and hid so much from myself. I wanted you so much. I wanted to run the other way, to hide you, to never return to Hawksridge. But I didn’t.
I let a lifetime of conditioning control me, and I made the worst mistake of my life. ”
Looking around the tiny café—at the grandmother feeding a teacake to her granddaughter and the barista serving a couple—he added, “I’ve known you for months, Nila, and I haven’t once taken you out on a proper date. Never been to see a movie or eaten at a restaurant.”
My entire soul overflowed with affection. “You’re saying you want to do that?”
“Of course.” His back straightened. “I want to explore the world with you. I want to show you off and let people know I might’ve planted evidence saying you ran away with me at the start of this mess—that the media believed we’d had an affair well before we did—but now, it’s true, and I value you enough not to keep you all to myself. ”
His golden eyes darkened to bronze. “You’re no longer indebted. You’re free to go wherever and whenever you wish; I want to be by your side for every experience you find. I want to be the reason you smile every day and the man you hold every night.”
Quick flashes of the doctored photographs and Flaw’s handwritten note to the press the night Jethro stole me entered my mind. I no longer suffered any hurt or annoyance because, in the end, that was life’s plan. To give me to Jethro so I could steal him in return.
My voice stayed soft, inviting. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I’ll be beside you no matter what you want to do. If you want to return to sewing, I’ll be there holding the fabric. If you want to travel and help me with diamonds, I’ll be there carrying your bags. As long as we’re together, Nila. I don’t care where we are.”
My heart galloped with longing and love and overflowing lust. “Kite...” Leaning closer, my eyes latched onto his mouth. “As far as I’m concerned, you come first. I might not be indebted anymore, but I have no intention of running far from you. I don’t care what we do as long as we do it together.”
He relaxed a little. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
“Never get tired that I love you or that I won’t run?”
His smile turned into a sinful invitation. “If you run from me, I have the means to chase you. I’d find you and make you mine again.”
My legs twitched as my belly fluttered.
Inching closer to me, Jethro ran the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I need to do something that I should’ve done that first night.”
My breathing stopped. “What should you have done?”
His breath fanned over my lips. “Kissed you. You owe me the kiss you so naively offered me moments after we met.”
“Naively?” My heart pounded as my core grew wet. The tension between us swirled and sparked. “Don’t you mean stupidly? I remember you calling me that a few times.”
His hand cupped my cheek; his thumb skimming from my lip to my ear. “Like I said. I told a lot of lies that night.” His eyes drifted to my mouth. “May I? May I take back that first wrong and make it right?”
I couldn’t breathe.
I nodded.
“Fuck.” His body fell forward, his mouth met mine.
I parted for him, welcoming his taste and control. Scooting closer, his arms banded around me, his knees bruised mine, and the coffee shop faded into obscurity.
I moaned into his mouth, melting into his embrace.
I’d never been kissed so deeply or so selflessly.
He poured the past and present down my throat, rewriting history and revoking everything that’d happened.
In his arms, I only remembered how happy I was and not about the sadness still clinging to us.
My diamond ring weighed on my finger. My diamond bracelet decorated my wrist. And my diamond collar locked me forever as his. So much had happened. So much pain and debts and death.
But this.
A simple kiss in a simple coffee shop in a simple world.
This made it all worth it.
This made it all priceless.
His tongue danced with mine, slowly pulling away from me, leaving me needy and desperate for more.
Letting me go, Jethro reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment.
“It’s fair to warn you, Needle, that after that kiss I’m fucking rock hard and need you more than I can stand.
I doubt I’ll have the self-control to order a coffee or watch you eat a piece of cake without needing to be inside you, so I’m going to show you this before I yank you out of this place and find a dark place so I can fuck you.
Then, when the violence in my blood is sated, I’ll reward you by making love to you and showing how my love can both be a punishment and a play. ”
My mouth fell open. His torrent lapped around me, licking my nipples with promise. “We can leave now. This very second.”
He shook his head, fanning out the parchment on the low coffee table. “No, we can’t. Not until I show you this.”
His eyes met mine, dark and delicious, his lips glistening from our kiss. “I never told you this, but the Sacramental Pledge I made you sign the night of Cut’s birthday—the one you signed after breaking in my office—I burned it before I came to get you in London.”
I shivered, remembering that night and what happened afterward. He’d kissed me. He’d fucked me. He’d let me win after watching me come apart. “Why?”
His fingers stroked the inked words. “Because I didn’t want the burden of owning your soul when I’d taken it so cruelly.” Spreading out the parchment further, working the kinks from the centre, he dipped into his pocket again and grabbed a fountain pen.
Holding it out for me, he said, “It’s not a quill, but this will have to do.” Sudden nervousness covered his features. “Would you? Will you sign another, now you know everything that I am?”
My eyes fell on the paper. That’s what this is?
A new Sacramental Pledge? A new contract trumping the Debt Inheritance and everything it stood for?
I took the pen without hesitation. “I’ve already agreed to marry you. I’ll agree to anything that puts your heart at rest and grants me you for eternity.”
He sighed, his knee rubbing mine. “You’re far, far too good to me.”
“And you gave me everything I ever wanted.” Kissing him gently, I whispered, “I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign, Kite. But...can I read it first?”
He chuckled, tucking fallen strands behind my ear. “Of course. I want you to read it. I want you to know what I need from you.”
Plucking the parchment, I held it within slightly trembling hands.
The night of Cut’s birthday came back. The way I broke in his office.
The cuts on my back killing me from the First Debt.
This was so different. Our first ‘date.’ Our first normal outing together as lovers rather than debtor and debtee.
My eyes landed on the gorgeous calligraphy of Jethro's writing. The words were so similar to the other pledge I’d signed but at the same time so different.
Jethro Hawk, firstborn son of Bryan Hawk, and Nila Weaver, firstborn daughter of Emma Weaver, hereby solemnly swear this is a law-binding and incontestable contract.
Nila Weaver revokes all ownership of her free will, thoughts, and body and grants them into the sole custody of Jethro Hawk. In exchange, Jethro Hawk renounces his free will, thoughts, and body and grants them entirely to Nila Weaver to do as she pleases.
The previous incontestable document named the Debt Inheritance is void now and forever. No debt nor family decree will ever befall these two houses. This new agreement brings two enemies into one family where bygones are bygones and the future is bright for all.
Both Nila Weaver and Jethro Hawk promise neither circumstance, nor change of heart will alter this vow.
In sickness and in health.
Two houses.
Two people.
One contract.
One lifetime marriage and commitment.
I looked up.
My heart showered with countless droplets of adoration.
I kissed my future husband. “How is it possible that you keep making me love you more each day?”
His face shattered into tenderness.
Before he could reply, I scrawled my name and accepted everything—the past, the present, the future. The triumphs and tragedies. The deaths of good people. The demise of bad. The pain that’d ruled us for so long. And the treachery that allowed madness to rule.
But not anymore.
This was our new chapter.
Our new story.
And we would write every sentence together.
Nila Weaver.
Jethro Hawk.
Two houses.
One future...
...
One family.