Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ariana
It was after four in the morning when Henry’s bedroom door finally creaked open.
I’d left the lamp on for him hours ago, hoping the soft light would make the room feel less empty.
He’d told me he wanted me in his bed tonight.
That he wanted to fall asleep with me in his arms. So even though I knew Blake must have found something important, I still expected Henry to come earlier.
But the man who stepped through the doorway looked like a ghost of himself — exhausted, drained, carrying the weight of whatever awful truth he’d uncovered.
“Henry…” I pushed up on an elbow as he shut the door behind him.
He didn’t speak. Just tugged his shirt over his head, pushed down his jeans and slipped beneath the covers, reaching for me immediately. His body was hot, tense, heavy with fatigue.
When he wrapped his arms around me, I felt the exhaustion down to his bones.
He buried his face in my neck, breathing me in. I sighed, melting into him, letting his hands roam over me, slow and possessive.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” he murmured against my shoulder, leaving soft kisses along my skin.
I rolled over and met his eyes, brushing a tendril of hair away from his face. “You’re here now.”
He gave me a halfhearted smile, something flickering behind his gaze.
“Is everything okay?” I asked softly.
But he didn’t respond. Not with words anyway. Instead, he responded with a kiss.
Not a gentle one, either. A hungry one. A desperate one.
He pulled me against him, his arms wrapped tightly around me. He dug his fingers into my hair, tilting my head to the side to deepen the kiss even more, every stroke of his tongue igniting a spark, every circle of his hips sending fire through my veins.
As he tore his lips away, he eased me onto my back and settled between my legs, his eyes locking on mine. Then he slid into me, filling me so slowly it felt like torture.
Every time with Henry was different. But tonight was…more. More needy. More desperate. Just…more.
I tried to wrap my arms around him to pull him even closer, not wanting a single breath between us, but he caught my wrists in his hands and pinned them above my head, his fingers firm but tender, holding me still as he moved inside me with deliberate restraint.
His eyes stayed locked on mine the entire time, like he was trying to read something in me, or write something into me.
Something he didn’t dare say out loud yet.
Whatever demons he’d met tonight, he was chasing them away with my body.
And I let him.
If this was what he needed, I’d give him everything. My body. My soul. My trust. I’d surrender to him completely.
There were no desperate grunts. No carnal declarations of want. The only sound was that of our ragged breathing and our bodies becoming one.
Too soon, I felt that familiar warmth building low in my core, spreading through me like a fire I couldn’t extinguish. And I didn’t want to.
Henry sensed it, too.
He released one of my wrists, trailing his hand down my frame and bringing it between us, rubbing my clit.
“Let me feel you, baby,” he pleaded.
I couldn’t deny him. So I let go, both of us finding our release together.
Breathless and spent, he collapsed onto the bed and pulled me close again. As if he couldn’t stand being apart.
For a few long moments, we just lay there. His heartbeat gradually steadied beneath my palm, but the tension didn’t leave his body.
“Want to talk about it?” I traced my fingers over his chest. “Did Blake find something important?”
“He did,” he replied with a sigh.
I waited, but he didn’t continue.
I lifted my eyes to his. “If you’re worried I’ll be upset you confirmed Victor was cheating on me, don’t be. I know he was. Honestly, I looked forward to the times he went out of town. It meant I could breathe.”
“This isn’t about Victor’s mistresses.”
I furrowed my brow. “But you said Blake found Schaffer’s files. The women he sterilized for Victor.”
“He did.”
“Then…?”
“It wasn’t just a few, like Schaffer claimed.” His voice was barely audible. “There were a hundred and forty-seven.”
My stomach dropped, an unsettled feeling trickling down my spine. “I-I’m not sure I understand.”
Henry pushed out a long breath. “Victor wasn’t cheating on you. Not the way we thought. I could be wrong, but I find it hard to believe he had that many mistresses.”
“Me, too,” I admitted. “So what do—”
“I think he was trafficking those women. And that’s why he paid Schaffer to sterilize them.”
The room tilted as a myriad of thoughts and questions consumed me. One louder than the others.
“Your daughter,” I began reluctantly, unsure I wanted the answer. “Did he… Was she…”
“She wasn’t in Schaffer’s files,” he answered.
Relief hit so hard that I sank into him, relishing in the warmth of his body against mine. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, smoothing his fingers through my hair.
“But I think she figured out what Victor was doing. Or she got too close.”
I met his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I tracked the disappearances and compared them to Sarah’s travel history.” He swallowed hard, grief sharpening his features. “For months before her death, she visited every city a week or two after each woman went missing. And that’s not all.”
“What else?” I prompted.
“They all interviewed for jobs with Kane Hotel Group.”
I shot up, blinking. “They worked for Victor?”
“They were never hired,” he replied. “But Victor had access to all their information. Applications. Interviews. Background checks.”
“And you accessed them,” I whispered.
He nodded.
“Every woman had two things in common,” he continued. “they all applied for a job with Kane Hotel Group. And they came from unstable backgrounds. Nobody who’d push for answers if they vanished.”
“Oh, god…” I covered my mouth, a wave of guilt washing over me.
“I’ve seen how this type of thing plays out. Maybe not firsthand, but in my line of work, you see how sick and depraved some people truly are. My guess is that Victor used his access to their personal information to target them.”
A chill washed through me so violently I wrapped an arm around my stomach, as if I could keep myself from splintering.
I’d known Victor was cruel. I’d suffered from that cruelty. I wore it in my scars.
But this?
This was monstrous.
“I had no idea,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “All those poor women… Maybe if I had—”
“No.” Henry sat up, clutching my cheeks in his hands, forcing my gaze to his. “Do not blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault. This is all on Victor.”
“But those women. Where are they now?”
“I’m not sure. But I’ll find them. And I’ll find him.”
“How?”
“I’m working on it. Victor has resources, but so do I. I will find him, Ariana. And I will make him pay.”
I stared past him, bile burning my throat.
Over a hundred women. Gone. Disappeared. Vanished.
Sold to god knows who for god knows what.
For ten years, I’d been draped in diamonds, fed caviar, wrapped in privilege. All paid for with their suffering. Their pain had been the currency of my comfort.
It made me sick.
And strengthened my determination to take him down.
To make him pay.
By any means necessary.
“You can use me,” I announced.
He darted his eyes to mine. “What?”
“You mentioned Victor most likely tried to have my mom killed in order to draw me out.”
His jaw clenched. “Yes.”
“Then use me. If he’s desperate to find me, turn that desperation against him.
If he wanted me dead, I’d already be dead.
Those Bratva soldiers had plenty of chances.
He wants me alive for a reason. If I reappear with some story that I went out of town to meditate or something equally cliché for a rich, trophy wife, it’ll be front-page news.
He won’t be able to resist stepping into the spotlight as the relieved husband.
He’d have to in order to keep up appearances. This could end everything.”
“And throw you into the lion’s den?” he bit out. “Absolutely not.”
“Henry…”
“No, Ariana. I can’t let you do this. Won’t let you.”
I scrambled out of bed, fire scorching my veins. “You won’t let me? I don’t need your fucking permission, Henry. This is my life. And my choice. I overheard you talking to Gideon the other night. He suggested the same thing.”
“And I wanted to punch him for it,” he said, jumping out of bed and stalking toward me, gripping my biceps. “I can’t… I can’t lose someone I love. Not again.”
I opened my mouth to argue my case further, but then snapped it closed when his statement finally hit me.
“You…love me?” I squeaked out through the lump forming in my throat.
A part of me expected him to take it back. Claim it slipped out. That he didn’t mean it. That he was caught up in the heat of the moment.
Instead, he moved his hands to my face with nothing but complete certainty in his expression.
“I do. I love you, Ariana Summers.”
He curved toward me, seeking out my lips. But before he could brush his mouth to mine, I placed a finger over his.
“Then prove it.”
He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“If you love me, show me you trust that I know what I’m doing. I put my trust in you when it was one of the hardest things for me to do. Now it’s your turn to trust me.”
“I do trust you. It’s Victor I don’t.”
“Please, Henry.”
I grabbed his hand and brought it up to my mouth, leaving a soft kiss on his rough knuckles.
“I don’t want to hide for the rest of my life.
I want my freedom. I want to cut the chains he wrapped around me.
” My eyes locked on his, unwavering in my resolve.
“If we’re to ever have a future together, I need to settle my past. So do you.
Otherwise, I don’t see how we can ever truly move on together. Not like we deserve.”
“How will we move on if you’re dead?” he shot back, his voice heavy with emotion.
“How do you expect me to just stay here, knowing what those women are suffering?” I retorted. “I know what kind of hell they could be enduring. I lived it for ten years.” With each word I spoke, my voice shook a little more as all the years of torture and abuse came rushing back.
Which was exactly why I needed to do this.
“All that time, I would have given anything to be free. For someone to realize the truth and help me escape that hell.”
“Ariana…”
I held up a hand, cutting him off. “I have the power to save these women, Henry. To finish Sarah’s work, if your theory is right. Don’t let her sacrifice be in vain. She gave her life for this.” I swallowed hard. “Let’s make it mean something.”
I saw the moment I finally got to him.
He released a reluctant sigh and wrapped me in his embrace.
“You are so fucking stubborn,” he said into my hair. “But you’re also a goddamn warrior.” He pulled back enough to meet my eyes. “If this is what you choose…”
“It is,” I breathed.
“Then I’ll support you.” His thumb brushed my cheek. “On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“We don’t rush this. We’ll come up with a foolproof plan. And part of that plan will include training with me. Learning self-defense.”
“I can get on board with that.” A slow, wicked smile curled my lips as I draped my arm over his shoulder, hoisting myself onto my toes. “Why don’t we start with you teaching me how to break out of zipties?”
“Zipties?” he murmured, steering me the few feet toward the bed.
“Could be fun. Although, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I’d want to break free around you.”
He helped lower me onto the mattress and crawled between my legs, grabbing my wrists and holding them in his firm grip. “Then I’ll be sure to make them extra tight.”