Chapter Thirty – Two #2
“Max, don’t leave me,” I muttered into his chest, hoping to stave off the monsters that hid in the darkness.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby.” I felt my hair being combed with his fingers.
“I love you,” I whispered for only me to hear, because emotion didn’t belong in our relationship of convenience.
“Love you more, always have, always will.”
My brain tried to process what I heard, even as I was dragged into the darkness of the abyss. It must have been the drugs because Maximus didn’t love anyone since emotion made you weak, and he would never let anyone manipulate him.
Monsters haunted my sleep, Brendan’s face looming over me, the screams of the women in the walls, and the dead bodies on the floor as we left.
Blood coated everything, dripping from the edges of my dreams, and contaminating my thoughts.
I tried to swim through the horror to reach daylight, but I couldn’t escape the clutches of the terror that gripped me.
The dream began to shatter and break when I heard the deep timber of Maximus’ voice. I had laid in bed so many times listening to him on the phone that it became a familiar tenor in the house.
“What about the house?” Maximus asked.
“What house?” I heard Jake reply. Maximus tended to put his phone on speaker when he was distracted “I don’t know how Flynn pulled it off, but I doubt anyone would know a house stood there a few days ago. He seems to be a magician at making things disappear.”
“The bodies?” Maximus queried, and I winced as I tried to move my arm.
“Everything was cremated in that fire he set. There is nothing more than the odd charred bone left, and you’d have to get an anthropologist to determine if they were human.”
“They’ll start a war over this,” Maximus stated, and I could imagine him running his fingers through his messy black hair.
“I would imagine they’ll be too busy pulling up their drawbridges and hiding their valuables to be worried about starting a war just yet.” Jake sounded disgusted.
“The organisation will sustain itself with one family missing,” Maximus replied. “It isn’t the first time a family has died out intentionally.”
I groaned as I tried to roll onto my back.
“I’ve gotta go. Keep me in the loop, and tell our men to keep a low profile for a few days,” Maximus said, before hanging up and moving across the room toward the bed. “Hey, sleepyhead, how are you feeling?”
I groaned, flopping back when I tried to sit up.
Maximus was beside me in a heartbeat, helping to lift me up, and surrounding me with pillows.
“Sore,” I replied. “It feels like I’ve been trampled on by an angry elephant on a rampage.” My voice was raspy, and my throat was still tender.
“You look even worse than that,” Maximus said. “I’d say we should be looking for the entire herd.”
I stared at him for several seconds before I realised he was joking. This was a different Maximus, one that I didn’t understand.
I held my hand up to him. “I need to pee.”
He lifted me out of the bed. “You’ve been asleep for nearly two days,” he said as he carried me to the bathroom. “Ben said you were fine when he checked in on you, that your body just needed to rest and repair.”
“I’m sure you terrorised him,” I replied. “I’m not peeing in front of you.”
He stared at me as if I’d spontaneously started to speak a different language. He frowned when I made little shooing motions with my hands, rolling his eyes as he turned his back to me, and folded his arms across his chest.
Maximus could be difficult when he wanted to be, and right now he was in full asshole mode.
He lifted me around the waist when I tried to walk past him on shaky legs. He growled when I attempted to wiggle free.
“So, we started a war?” I asked from where he deposited me at the side of the bed.
He shrugged one shoulder. “I never walk away from a fight.”
“I caused this fight with my stupidity.”
“This war started the moment they wanted to auction you off to a room full of perverts,” Maximus replied. “They should learn not to touch what doesn’t belong to them.”
We stared at each other for several moments. “How is Megan?”
“Jordan flew her home with a private doctor monitoring her all the way. He seems to think England is the best place for her to heal.” He shrugged again. “Maybe he’s right since we have a lot of enemies circling.”
I sucked in a deep breath, and stared at his feet. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
His fingers under my chin lifted my gaze to his. “I told you I’d always find you. When that ring went onto your finger, then you became the most important person in my life.”
I was back to being his property again.
“Liv,” he groaned. “I think maybe we need to talk.”
I continued to stare up at him.
“You tend to talk a lot when you’re full of pain relief,” he continued. “You seem to be under the opinion that I only married you out of a sense of duty.” His eyes never left mine, and I felt a sense of horror rise up from my toes to engulf me.
“I told you years ago, that I would only ever marry for love,” he said, his gaze intent.
“We were children at the time,” I replied. “No one knows what they want at that age.”
“Bullshit,” he said, and I recoiled at his tone. “The only time we were real was with each other. Those moments were what formed my opinion of what I wanted in life.”
I pushed my hair back off my face. “Maximus, we both know the arrangement that we made,” I replied. “You saved me from Roberto being a dick, and selling me off to the highest bidder.”
“Do you really think I would let someone else marry you?” he asked, the muscle at the side of his jaw tight. “Or touch you?”
“I was engaged to Dale,” I pointed out.
“Dale wasn’t attracted to women. His preference was for young boys, which was why his father tended to exclude him from the family business.”
I blinked once, trying to understand the information he’d given me. “He told me he was asexual, and wasn’t attracted to anyone.”
“He lied, and there was a dungeon filled with his slaves that proved his proclivities.” Maximus’ top lip lifted in disgust.
I wasn’t sure what to say to this. “You were behind his death,” I commented. “Roberto pushed him, but you had a hand in his death.”
Maximus face neutralised into a mask. “I told you that I had no intention in letting someone marry you, that included Dale.”
I rubbed my forehead as a migraine was brewing. “You never showed any interest in me, and were always surrounded by a crowd of very willing, beautiful women.”
“My fiancée or wife would have a target on them. The truth is best hidden in the middle of a huge distraction.”
I stared at him, confused by his words, and unsure what was happening. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
He folded his arms across his wide chest, his intense gaze making my mouth dry.
“I’ve always been honest with you, Olivia.
I told you I would only ever marry for love.
I told you that I would always find you wherever you went.
I told you that I would kill anyone who hurt you.
What part of those statements do you not understand? ”
“I…” My tongue darted out to moisten my lips. “Probably the first one since we had an arrangement to thwart Roberto.”
“You had a plan to thwart Roberto, it just happened to coincide with my plan.”
I pursed my lips together, my entire world tilting dangerously on its axis. “You intended to marry me?”
“I made that decision about five years ago. You just took time coming to the same realisation.”
My mouth fell open. Five years ago he killed those men in the garden who tried to abduct me. “You killed those men for crashing the party.”
“For touching you,” he corrected.
None of this made sense. I must had hit my head harder than I thought.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. “You ignored me.”
“I kept you safe while I took control of my family business, allowed you time to finish school, while I found a place to keep you safe.”
“No.” My hand covered my mouth, and I slowly shook my head.
Maximus lifted my hand away, threading his fingers through mine. “Why is this so difficult to understand?”
“You let me get engaged, plan my wedding, and then believe Roberto would sell me.”
“That marriage would never happen, and I knew Dale would never want a sexual relationship. You were safe while I watched over you from a distance.”
He had had it all planned, and I never stood a chance. “What made you think I would agree to marry you?” I asked.
His slow smile transformed his face. “You belonged to me, and I belonged to you. At those parties, I was the only person you felt safe with, the only person you confided in. Someone once told me that love was the highest form of friendship, and that’s how we started – we found each other in shadows.
It only makes sense that we belong together. ”
“What happens now?” I asked, my emotions cascading over me in waves to leave me dazed.
Maximus’ thumb caressed the side of my hand. “That’s the simple part. We’re already married and have a family home, so the next phase is probably a dog and some children.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said.
He knelt in front of me, his gaze locked on mine. “Olivia, I love you, that’s why I married you. I never once told you that I had married you out of duty, you decided that all by yourself.”
I blinked. “Did you just say you love me?” I asked in disbelief.
“Why is that so hard to believe?” Maximus asked. “I had your rings already designed, they just needed a final fitting. Did you really think a wedding that size could be arranged so swiftly?”
“Now I just feel stupid,” I muttered.
“Never.” His big hand cupped the side of my face. “You just need to listen to me, and believe what you heard. I may skate around the truth at times, but I never lie. I love you, Olivia. You were mine from the moment you wandered into that hallway ten years ago.”
“I thought you never saw me as anything other than an annoying sister,” I whispered, emotion starting to overwhelm me.
“I already have two of those, I don’t need a third.” He leaned forward to press a soft kiss on my lips, his smile infecting me, so I ended up returning his smile.
“I’ve loved you so long that it hurt,” I replied. “I had to stand and watch all those women in your life hanging onto you as if they owned you.”
“They never meant a thing to me, just as Dale never meant anything to you. We are both masters of hiding our emotions.” His thumb swiped over my bottom lip. “I told you what happened in our home belonged only to us, the outside world never gets to see what is real.”
My hands rested on either side of his face, and I pressed my forehead to his. “This doesn’t feel real.” I groaned and closed my eyes. “I am sitting here with my hair a mess, and wearing my pyjamas.”
His lips twitched against mine. “I noticed, and considering you travelled through Hell a few days ago, you are absolutely stunning.”
“Liar,” I teased, my fingers sliding into his dark hair.
“I don’t lie,” he reminded me. “There was a moment I thought I would never see you again. I never want to live through that ever again.”
“Says the man who risks his life every day,” I replied.
He sat back on his knees, his blue gaze studying me. “Come on, time to get you something to eat.” He stood up, and held his hands out.
“Only after I brush my hair and my teeth,” I said, grimacing as I tried to comb my fingers through my hair.
Maximus pulled me up, lifting me with his arm around my waist to carry me to the bathroom, and set me on the counter. He carefully brushed my hair, working through tangles until the brush ran smoothly, and I felt more human.
He tucked my hair behind my ears. “Perfect.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
He lifted me again, carrying me downstairs. I wrapped my legs around his waist and rested my chin on his shoulder, allowing him to take my weight. Maximus seemed to have a fridge filled with ready-made meals in tidy boxes. He lifted two out and popped them in the oven.
I wandered across the kitchen, letting myself into the garden, closing my eyes as I allowed the fresh air to fill my lungs.
Maximus’ arms wrapped around my waist to tug me against him. I remembered the last time we stood in a garden and watched the stars. Sometimes the simplest times were the most memorable.
I gasped, grabbing Maximus’ hands when a shooting star flashed across the sky. “Make a wish!” I exclaimed.
“No need,” he replied. “I did that a long time ago, and it came true.” He kissed the side of my neck, sending shivers through me.
I turned slowly in his arms, and my breath caught with the emotion I saw in his eyes. Words could lie, but his expression couldn’t.
“I don’t deserve you,” I said.
“Tough. You have to keep me. No returns, you knew the type of asshole I was when you married me.”
“I guess I’ll just have to learn to live with my terrible decision,” I said, my lips twitching in a smile.
Maximus’ smile made my heart beat faster, his head dipping so that his lips skimmed mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck to tug his head back down, because I needed to feel his kiss warm my soul.
His kisses had always intoxicated me, but tonight was different because for the first time he actually belonged to me.
This was a moment I never believed would happen.
Our lips fit perfectly together, our bodies in alignment.
Some destinies were worth waiting for, and Maximus had been the ultimate prize.
He had always been my secret fantasy, and I intended not to waste another moment.
“Love you,” I said against his lips.
“Love you more,” he replied, swinging me off my feet, and making me squeal. “You need my care and attention, doctors’ orders.”
Whatever challenges life brought, we would face it together, like a proper married couple.
Finally.