Chapter 14
14
ASTON
S taying away from Kerrigan was torture. I barely made it half a mile from her apartment building after dropping her off before I turned back around and parked in her lot.
It didn’t matter that Rafa had promised to keep a couple of guys on her around the clock. I needed to stick close to make sure she was safe. And so I was near when she decided she could live with the secrets I’d been keeping. I wouldn’t consider any other possible outcome.
Kerrigan had quickly become the center of my universe, and I would spend the rest of my life with her. Once she came to terms with the darkness of the world I lived in.
I killed the engine and sat in silence, my hands gripping the steering wheel as I stared up at her window. The blinds were open, but I couldn’t see anything from this angle.
As I fired off several messages to get things rolling with Kerrigan’s plan to trap Ellis, a sleek black SUV pulled into a space a few cars away from mine. I tensed until I recognized the vehicle. It was one of Rafa’s.
Adam was behind the wheel, with Vincenzo in the passenger seat. Both of them were enforcers for The Family.
The driver’s door opened, and Adam stepped out. A second later, Vincenzo joined him. They spotted me instantly and strolled over. I got out of my car to meet them.
“You couldn’t stay away?” Adam asked dryly.
“Not even for an hour,” I admitted, shaking my head with a rueful chuckle.
“Or even to do a better job cleaning up.” Vincenzo jerked his chin toward my arm. “You missed a spot.”
I went to my trunk and popped it. Stripping out of the shirt I was wearing, I used the inside to wipe away any bloodstains I could see on my skin. “Better?”
Vincenzo nodded.
Tossing the dirty shirt into my trunk, I pulled out a clean one and put it on. After slamming the door shut, I leaned against my rear bumper and crossed my arms over my chest. “Rafa assigned you two to guard Kerrigan?”
This time, Adam was the one who nodded. “Nothing will happen to your woman on our watch.”
“It better not,” I growled.
“You didn’t work out your anger by killing at least half a dozen people barely an hour ago?” Vincenzo asked.
“They took her,” I bit out through stiff lips.
There was a beat of silence while Adam studied me. “You’re in deep with her.”
“And there’s no going back,” I replied.
Vincenzo cracked the faintest of smiles. “About damn time someone knocked the French out of you.”
I huffed a laugh, low and grim. “She didn’t knock anything out of me. She just makes me a better man, even the dark parts.”
The men exchanged a look, one that said they understood. Then Vincenzo gestured toward the building. “We’ll do a sweep. Make sure no one’s been sniffing around. We’re close if you need us.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
They peeled away into the shadows, their movements soundless despite the gravel underfoot. I turned toward the building again, bracing myself. Every step I took felt heavy with hope and dread.
I didn’t even make it halfway down her hallway before the door to her apartment flew open.
Kerrigan came running out, barefoot, in leggings and an oversized shirt, her wild red hair a halo of chaos. She barreled straight into me with a gasp, her momentum sending us stumbling back a step before I caught her in my arms.
“Kerrigan—”
“I love you,” she blurted, breathless. Her hands clutched at my shirt, her chest heaving. “I can’t—I don’t want to live without you. I’ve tried thinking of every reason this shouldn’t work. Why I should be scared. Why I should walk away…”
I stood frozen, my heart lodged in my throat.
“But none of it matters,” she continued. “Not if you’re willing to let me in. All the way.”
My fingers curled around her waist. “ Ma petite miette .”
“Exactly…yours,” she whispered, latching onto the first word of my nickname for her.
“Very much mine,” I agreed, my hold on her tightening before I led her back to her apartment, where nobody could eavesdrop on our conversation.
As soon as the door shut behind us, she added, “But I don’t want lies or half-truths between us. If we’re going to do this, we do it together. Partners in crime.”
That last part made me wince.
“You have to know how much I hate that idea,” I murmured.
Her green eyes sparked with stubborn fire. “You said you’d give me anything I needed. Well, this is what I’m asking for, Aston. No secrets…so I can keep you from having to do it alone. Whatever ‘it’ entails.”
I cupped her cheek, brushing my thumb over her soft skin. “I don’t want you dirtying your hands with my sins.”
“Too late,” she whispered. “You dragged me into your shadows. I’m not afraid of the dark anymore.”
Putain. My heart stuttered in my chest.
She surged to her toes and kissed me, pouring every bit of her conviction into the press of her lips. I responded instantly, devouring her with a desperation that had been simmering since the moment I’d left her here.
When we finally broke apart, I rested my forehead against hers.
“You’re sure?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
She nodded. “I want the truth. All of it. And I want to help you because we’re better together. As a team, we can easily trap Sterling Ellis and end whatever hold he thinks he has over you and the DeLucas.”
I stared down at her in wonder. “You really are a little firecracker, ma petite miette .”
“With you in my life, I absolutely am.”
There wasn’t an ounce of uncertainty in her green gaze. Somehow, even with the secrets I’d kept and her kidnapping, Kerrigan had come out of it all stronger. An even brighter beacon of light in my dark world.
A laugh broke from my chest—rough and disbelieving. “I never thought I could love someone the way I do you.”
Her breath hitched. “Say it again.”
“ Je t'aime. ” I gave it to her more bluntly this time. “I love you, Kerrigan Vale. All of me. Even the parts I kept hidden.”
She gasped, a sound of pure emotion, and her eyes brimmed with tears again. “Always so poetic.”
I slid my hand into my pants pocket, then cursed. “ Merde. I don’t have the ring yet.”
Her brows arched. “Ring?”
“I had one sent from Paris. Antique. One of a kind. Like you.”
“You’re proposing?”
I cupped her jaw and leaned in, brushing a kiss over her sweet lips.
“Yeah, ma petite miette . I’m proposing, but it’s the furthest thing from poetic. No grand speech. No kneeling in the rain. Just me, here, promising to love you for the rest of my life. What do you say?”
She laughed through her tears and threw her arms around my neck.
“Yes,” she whispered in my ear. “Absolutely yes, my love.”