CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DECLAN
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Boots pounding out in the hallway are the backdrop to Stella’s scream after my bullet leaves the chamber. I lower my weapon and run to her as she falls to the ground.
“Stella!” I cry, sliding to the floor and pulling her into my arms.
Tony Marino lies dead on the ground near us.
One shot. Bullseye. My bullet arrived on the count of one, not after, and it was all the time I needed.
“Right between the eyes,” Grayson says, kicking him so he can get a clear look at the hole.
Shouldn’t have touched my girl.
“Sweetheart, talk to me.” I leave the team to deal with everything else and focus purely on Stella.
She’s shaking, but she’s alive.
The door is yanked open, and the police start calling out all the things, while Ryder introduces himself using his rank and position as General Manager of Private Security at Black Hawke Security.
Then I hear Josh’s voice.
Stella grips my arm. “Am I dead?”
“Not today, sweetheart. Not for a long time if I have anything to do with it.” I smile into her big, glossy eyes.
She starts sobbing and wraps her arms around me. I pick her up and lift her into my arms, holding her tight against my chest. All I want to do is get her home and away from here.
“Hold up, soldier. We need to question both of you.”
“SEAL,” I correct the cop, and he nods, mostly uninterested. “Can you please get a blanket for her?”
Stella is trembling, and I’m not wearing a jacket.
I move to sit on the sofa, and Grayson comes to stand a foot or two away, guarding us from everyone, but giving us his back respectfully.
“Hang in there. I’ll get you home soon, okay.”
“My dad.” She shudders, her tears breaking my heart. I don’t know what to tell her. I’m not even sure what she’s asking. “I did it for him.”
I close my eyes and nod. “I know.”
“I’m sorry Declan, so sorry.”
Christ.
“Don’t be sorry. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing.” It’s a lie, I’d kill whoever tried to threaten my family, but it’s what she needs to hear.
Stella isn’t a trained killer like I am.
She should never have been put in this position, and I hope there are consequences for it. I don’t understand the legal position enough to understand if Voss will be punished, but I’ll do all I can to advocate that he is.
“You shot Tony. Oh, God!” Stella tries to pull out of my arms. “Declan, no! Will you go to jail?”
“No.” I brush my hand over her hair, hating this fucking wedding dress on her. “Don’t worry about that. Did he touch you?”
Her lips press hard together.
I’ve had enough body language training to know what that means. She doesn’t want to tell me. I curse, shaking my head.
“Fuck.”
“Declan,” Stella grabs my face, her voice a sob. “Please don’t do that. Please don’t be revolted by me now.”
I snap my head back and press my fingers into her back and thighs, where I hold her. “Never. I just wish I could shoot him again.”
Grayson clears his throat as the cop arrives with a blanket. Yeah, probably shouldn’t throw words around like that.
It’s unlikely I’ll be charged under the circumstances, but it’s good to be careful.
Josh strides over and stays present while we are questioned. Stella tells them everything, backing up the email messages that we obtained illegally.
I plan to leave all of that in Josh’s hands.
Miles mills around, talking to the police and keeping his eyes on me and Stella. I like my new team. They all seem extremely competent and loyal.
Important attributes.
Not that I should ever second-guess Josh. He’d never employ idiots.
Forty minutes later, we are free to leave. Stella tightens the blanket around her and walks beside me, assuring me she can walk.
Grayson gets the keys off Ryder, and the three of us head outside and climb into the Black Hawke Security SUV.
The ride home feels like it takes forever.
“You guys need anything?” Grayson turns, laying his arm along the other front seat when we arrive.
“Nah, man. Thanks for dropping us off. Tell Josh I’m going to take a few days.”
“Understandably.” He nods. “Glad you’re okay, Ms. Voss.”
“Thank you.” She smiles gently. “I need to get this disgusting dress off. Can we go?”
I push open the door and help her out.
“See you on Monday,” I tell Grayson and lead Stella inside and up to her penthouse. When the elevator doors close behind us, Stella lets out an audible wobbly sigh, and I try my hardest not to crowd her.
She’s still in shock, processing everything, and will be for days and weeks.
Possibly even longer.
That motherfucker touched her. I want all the details. I want to scream and punch a wall. I want to go back and rip Marino’s dead head from his body.
Except what I really need to do is be here for Stella. Which is exactly what I’m doing.
“What happened to you today...” I press my hand into her back. “You’re going to recover from. I promise. Just one step at a time.”
Stella nods.
Then, as we walk in further, she drops the blanket on the floor and glances around. I wait as she stares out the grand windows of her penthouse.
Minute after minute passes.
“Do you want a showe—”
“Do you love me?” Stella spins around, her big, vulnerable eyes seeking mine. “What he said. Was he right? Do you?”
Yes.
But is this the time to tell her?
“We don’t have to talk about it now.” I shake my head, running my hand over her sleek black hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“No. I need to know.” Tears roll down her cheeks, which are blotchy and smeared with mascara. “I need to know who I can trust. My father, my fath...my own father.”
I pull her against my chest as she sobs her heart out.
Jesus fuck.
Stella’s entire reality has been destroyed. The parents who raised her, the family she believed to be where she belonged and could trust, have been ripped from her.
In the most horrible way.
“Christ,” I say into her hair as I kiss her forehead over and over.
“You don’t have to. I just wanted to know,” Stella’s voice is vulnerable and soft.
I take her face and almost die from how beautiful and raw she is.
“I love you. I fucking love you,” I reply roughly. “I don’t break into people’s homes and shoot them for just any girl, you know.”
Three blinks, and I watch as her world changes.
Not because I told her a lie, or what she wanted to hear, but because she belongs to me and I need her to know that.
A hint of a smile appears on her lips, and her eyes start to come back to life.
“If I find out you have, Declan Sloan, I swear to God...”
“Then you can do whatever you want to me.” I tweak her cheek; then I glance around. “I don’t have any of this. I’m not a rich man. But you have me. My heart. My protection. My commitment to always put you first.”
“All I need is you.” Stella’s smile is teary.
I lower my mouth to hers and let her feel my love and devotion. Then lift her and carry her up to the bathroom.
Together we rip the expensive wedding dress from her body, and the lingerie, promising to burn it as the tub fills. As we wait, I never let more than a foot separate us, but as the water cascades into the large spa bath, I can’t help but wonder what that asshole did to her.
Did he touch you?
Please don’t be revolted by me now.
Lifting her into the tub, I climb in behind her and wrap my legs around her. Stella leans back into me.
Running the sponge over her slowly, it feels like I’m washing away all the sin and darkness. She lets me touch her everywhere, after a while pushing my hand between her legs when I keep away from the area.
“Do it,” she says.
“Stella.”
“Do it. Wipe him from my body and memory.” She demands.
Tossing the sponge, I part her legs and slide my fingers through her sensitive flesh. Her head flops back against me.
“This is mine,” I rasp, moving gently but with purpose. “Your pleasure belongs to me, Stella. Only me.”
“Yes,” she sighs, and then I hear her moan. I take it as a positive and press two digits inside her.
“Oh, God.”
My mouth claims her neck as I fuck her pussy with my hand, feeling her eagerly tightening around my fingers.
“No one else gets to touch you, just me. Are we clear?”
“Yes, more, oh Lord,” she cries as her orgasm nears.
It’s as if I know I need to keep her arousal peaked. I pull out, smile at her groan, and go in again. Behind her, my cock is thick and hard.
Standing as water sloshes everywhere, I help her out of the bath and lead her back into the bedroom. Laying her on the bed, I spread her thighs and suck tightly on her clit.
“Oh, fuck!” She arches, and I still her body, lapping my tongue over it rapidly. “Declan, please.”
Grinning, I crawl up her body. “Plead again.”
“Please. God. I need to come.”
What man doesn’t want to hear those words? I’m so glad she is in my arms and safe. Never again will I let her out of my sight or be in any danger.
Her father will pay for this.
For now, I need to make Stella mine in the way only a man and woman can. Carnally.
Tucking her thighs around me, I press my cock to her entrance.
“When you come, you are doing it around my cock,” I growl, nipping at her lips. “Understand?”
“Yes.” She gives me a naughty smile.
There she is.
“Good girl.” I thrust in. “Now, give me everything. Every last drop of your juice.”
I thrust again as our eyes lock.
And again.
Plowing into her over and over and over, I watch as she is pushed to the edge, her breathing faltering. Sharp nails pierce my shoulders, but I keep going.
Then I feel it.
Her walls strangling my cock and fire racing through me as my muscles spasm, tense, and then the white-hot pleasure explodes out of me.
Into my woman.
“Stella,” I cry, as my neck arches and I’m trapped in the beauty of what we have created together.
There will never be anyone else.
She hasn’t said she loves me back, but I see it in her soul. I know it in my bones.
Stella Voss was made for me. My very own jigsaw puzzle piece.
Now, she’s right where she belongs.