Chapter 45 – Two Weeks Later
ADRIEL
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Come on, we can’t be late,” I call out from the bedroom while she finishes getting ready in our master bath. “She’s gonna have my head if we’re late.”
Kayla laughs. “Well, she can be a bit temperamental. Wonder who she got that from.”
The door opens as she grins at me, wearing a pair of tight jeans and an off-the-shoulder red top that does nothing but make me wanna throw her on the floor and fuck her until we’re both too filthy to go anywhere.
But I promised my niece I’d be there for her birthday when we spoke a week ago, and I’m not a man who breaks the heart of the women he cares about.
It was a difficult decision, whether to go or not, but in the end, I decided we had to. Especially being that Sophia herself called me and demanded I attend. Or else. Whatever else she had planned, I didn’t want to know. Going was the only seemingly smart option.
“You’re not supposed to look this breathtaking for a kid’s birthday party.” My arm weaves around her hips and I tug her to me, kissing the tip of her nose.
“And you’re not supposed to look…” Her eyes dance down my chest, a simple black t-shirt on. She rolls her eyes. “You literally could wear a bag and still look hot.”
“Hot, huh?” My face practically splits from the happiness she brings me.
“That’s right.” She tosses her arms over both of my shoulders. “My boyfriend is crazy hot. Have a problem with that?”
“Not at all. But I’m pretty sure my wife is the only hot one in this relationship.”
Her brow curves. “I can live with that.”
Then it hits her.
“Your wife? I thought we were okay with proper labels these days.” She squints in this adorable way that has every part of me warm and fuzzy like a damn teddy bear that I’m not.
I chuckle as I reach into my pocket.
She watches breathlessly, her chest rising. Retrieving a small box I’ve been saving for a few weeks now, I drop to my knees right before this woman I’m insane about.
“Well…” I stare up at her. “Wife would be a proper label…if you said yes.”
The box opens, and her mouth parts when she sees a red diamond staring back at her. Large enough to know she’s loved, yet small enough not to overwhelm her hand.
“Wha-what is this?”
“Just me, asking you to marry him.” I crack a smirk. “I know I’m not someone you’d choose if you’d never gone through what you did.”
When she tries to argue, I shake my head.
“Let me finish.”
Her eyes shimmer, and she nods.
“I don't know how to do hearts and flowers,” I confess. “Or how to love like others do. But what I can do is put you first. Let you be who you want to be. Take care of you and kill for you and let you kill when you want to. I just want a life with you, Kayla, whatever the hell that looks like.”
Emotions spread across her features, and tears in her eyes overflow.
“It probably sounds insane that someone like me could want something like this,” I say.
“But I can't live in a world where you aren't my wife. You’ve been my baby bird from the moment I saw you, and I want to fly with you, wherever you’ll take me. So marry me, Kayla Jenkins. Be mine. ’Cause I’m already yours. ”
She lets out a sob and drops to the floor throwing her whole body around me. “Of course I’ll marry you. Whenever, wherever. I want you.”
I release a weighty sigh and cup the back of her head. “I’m your home now, little wolf. And you’re mine.”
“Always.” She kisses me, sinking those heavenly eyes into mine.
And for a man who’s been so used to hell, heaven feels too good right now.
“Yay, it’s Kadriel!” Sophia rushes through the foyer and straight into my arms.
I lift her in the air as Kayla laughs.
“Who is Kadriel?” I ask, completely confused.
“You know…” My niece rolls her eyes. “Kayla and Adriel together? Kadriel?”
“Oh.” I nod, slowly scratching my temple as I stare at my fiancée.
Shit, that sounds too good.
Michael and Elsie stroll toward us hand in hand. Elsie approaches first, smiling at us.
“Thank you for coming, guys.” Her stare holds mine for a moment before she hugs Kayla. And when she sees that ring, her eyes explode. “I’m sorry, are you two…”
Kayla looks down at her hand. “Oh, this old thing?”
Then she’s nodding, and Elsie is squealing with excitement.
“Oh my God!” Her eyes water over. “I’m so happy right now! This is amazing news. Right, babe?”
She glances back at Michael, who nods, tentatively approaching me.
“Congratulations.” His hand reaches for me.
I stare at it, not sure if I should extend the same gesture. I can’t just pretend that we’re all okay. That it isn’t strange for me to be here with them. Like I’m part of all this.
Sophia snickers. “Would you two shake hands already?”
Michael laughs, and I do too.
“Fine. Fine,” I say giving him my palm, and he slaps his hand into it.
“See? We can all be friends now. Right, Daddy?” She narrows her gaze.
“Whatever you want, princess,” he tells her. “It’s your birthday.”
“Good!” She slants her chin. “I think it should be my birthday every day, then. So I can make the laws around here.”
“Oh, really?” I ask. “And what laws would you create?”
With Michael beside me and the ladies behind us, we start toward the noise coming from the rest of the guests.
“Well, for starters…” Sophia considers. “I’d make everyone get along.”
Michael shifts uncomfortably.
“I’d also make it a rule that everyone must eat ice cream for breakfast.”
“Wow.” I look up at her. “Sounds like you’d be a great president one day.”
“I think so too.”
As soon as we step into the large family room, everyone quiets, like someone has muted the volume. So many faces here: the Cavaleri brothers and their significant others, my parents, even Kayla’s parents.
Fuck. I just wanna run, but instead, I reach for Kayla’s hand and hold it like a lifeline.
“Hey!” Gio breaks the silence and jumps to his feet. “Look, it’s the newest member of the family, and his much-better-looking other half!”
“Fiancée now!” Elsie intercedes.
“Shit!” Gio exclaims, and everyone else congratulates us and cheers.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper into Sophia’s ear while Kayla squeezes my palm and lets go to hug her parents. “I didn’t mean for the engagement to take over your birthday party.”
“Eh,” Sophia says. “I don’t mind. I’m happy.” She hugs me tighter. “This just means I get to be your flower girl, and I don’t know if you heard, but I really love being the flower girl.”
I chuckle. “Wouldn’t have picked anyone else.”
“Duh! I’m, like, your niece. You have no choice.”
“Don’t make me change my mind,” I tease.
She giggles. “I love you, Uncle A.”
“Ditto, kid.”
She places her head on my shoulder just as Raph steps up to us.
“Congratulations. Happy for you both.”
I stare at him, kind of happy I didn’t kill him. I let my rage win then. I don’t want it to anymore. I give him my hand, and he takes it without hesitation.
“Appreciate it.”
Now that I’m here, I’ve wanted to ask him something for a while, and it feels like we’re in a good place for me to do that.
“By the way…” I whisper. “How did you escape that bomb I set in your car?”
He chuckles dryly. “Michael had all the vehicles strapped with some high-tech bomb detection device he purchased through his lawyer from some underground tech company called Apt—”
“Avenue?” I snicker. “No fucking way.”
“You know it?”
“Yeah.” I grin. “I run it.”
His amused laughter increases. “You’re telling me your own device saved me?”
“Apparently.” My head shakes. “I’ve gotta be careful who I sell to.”
“Damn.” He slaps my back. “Thank you.”
I feel a bit better, here with them. The hate I’ve felt for so long has closed its chapter, and in its place is a new one with blank pages. I have the power now. I can write whatever I want in it, and I choose to write this.
KAYLA
Together, with all the people who matter most, we watch Sophia blow out all seven candles on her cake.
Adriel’s arm is secured around me where it belongs.
I crave this man, want him and need him on a level even I don’t comprehend.
Maybe it’s unhealthy. Maybe it’s wrong to want someone this much, but I don’t care.
I’ve been so lost in this world for so long; now I have someone keeping me steady.
I lay my head on his arm as everyone claps for Sophia. She’s the light of this family, and seeing the way Elsie is with her makes my heart twinge. I’ve never felt it before, not in the other times I saw them together. But now? It hurts. And I hate it.
“You okay?” he whispers down to me, as though sensing my pain.
And when our eyes connect, I shake my head. Because I refuse to lie.
He kisses my temple, knowing exactly why I’m hurting. Though I’m unsure if I could even mother a child in the first place, I hate that I’ll never know. Hate that one more thing has been stolen from me, ripped from my body like the rest of me was.
“I’m right here. You’re not alone anymore,” he reminds me.
And in his arms, I know I’m not. I know that no matter what I go through, he’ll always be there.
Reaching into his pocket, he retrieves his phone, staring at the screen for a few moments, concentrating deeply on something he’s reading.
“What is it?” I ask him, curiously peeking at the screen to find out what has him so enthralled.
He grinds his jaw for a moment as he looks at me. And without saying a word, he shifts the phone so that I can see what’s on it.
My pulse races as I see it: a man with brown hair and even darker eyes, the smirk on his mugshot so vile I want to reach inside and rip the skin off his face.
Everything in me wants to see him suffer, feel him take his last painful breath.
“What is this?” I murmur, even as everyone else around us happily enjoys the pieces of cake now lying across the large dining table.
“You know what it is. The question is, are you still in?”
We haven’t discussed this at all. Not the murders, not the future when it comes to that part of our life, but I never intended to stop.
“I want to keep going.” My lips curl at one side. “I want us to do it together.”
He brushes my jaw with his knuckles and his eyes turn hooded. “Then let’s go hunting, little wolf.”
And so we do.