Chapter 28
Kian
Icleaned her up while she slept, careful not to wake her. Sophie lay stretched out across my bed, one leg tangled in the sheet and her red hair fanned over the pillow like a goddess’s crown. The room smelled faintly of sex and… her. That flowery scent that would forever be associated just with her.
The lamp on the nightstand was still on low, casting a soft amber sheen over her pale skin. She was snoring softly and it was the most adorable sound I’d ever heard.
Fuck, the woman had a hold on me, and I had no desire to break free. In fact, I never wanted to let her go and I’d kill any man who tried to take her from me.
I hadn’t made love to a woman without a condom in decades. Trust was a luxury I’d trained myself not to need, and protection was easier than trust.
But I’d trusted Sophie.
I lay down beside her, the mattress dipping with my weight.
The sheets were warm where she’d been. As if she sensed me, she sighed and shifted closer, her breath evening out, her shoulder pressing lightly into my chest. It wasn’t deliberate.
That was the thing that got me. She didn’t reach for me.
She simply settled, claiming a spot unintentionally.
I stared at the ceiling for a moment, listening to the rhythm of her breathing and the distant hum of the sea outside the window. Then I looked back at her, her expression softened and stripped of the armor she wore during the day.
Something in my chest tightened, the old fear of failing another woman creeping in as a memory flickered.
Elena stood by the window, her palm splayed on the glass and the other curved protectively over her belly. She was thinner and her bruises starker, though she’d learned to hide them better behind long sleeves and high-collar shirts in the heat of the summer.
“You shouldn’t be here, Kian,” she murmured. “The staff will tell Gio.”
It was as if she feared that raising her voice might summon her cruel husband.
“Let them,” I gritted, trying to contain my fury at seeing her so battered. “We’ll be long gone.”
She turned, and for half a second I saw the girl who trusted me explicitly.
“I can’t,” she whispered so softly I almost missed it over the ticking of the clock.
“You must,” I reasoned. “His cruelty will kill you.”
I swore to her that I’d protect her from her husband and I meant it. Even if she didn’t want to be with me, I needed her safe.
“It’s too late.”
“No,” I protested. “It isn’t too late until he’s back. We only have minutes. My car is waiting three blocks down with papers, cash, and a new life you can disappear into.”
She didn’t look relieved.
“My son,” she said. “I can’t leave him. Gio took Basilio with him.”
I understood all too well. After all, my own mother fled my abusive father but had to leave me behind. It hadn’t exactly done me well.
“We can get him later,” I said. I couldn’t tell if I was lying or simply believed it. “Once you’re safe, I swear to you—”
She shook her head, tears already spilling. “You don’t understand. He’ll never stop looking. Not for me. Not for the boy. I just can’t, Kian.”
I closed the distance between us and took her wrist. I felt her flinch and hated myself instantly. But mostly I hated Gio for beating this fear into her and making her so skittish.
“Elena, listen to me. You’re not safe here. He’s going to kill you.”
Her voice broke. “And if I leave, he’ll kill my son.”
Silence swallowed us until a slammed door shook the walls, immediately followed by a man’s laugh that held no joy in it. Only malice.
“Elena—”
“Please leave.” Her eyes were wide with fear, and I knew at that moment, I’d lost her forever. She’d never leave Gio.
“I can’t.”
She touched my face softly, a goodbye disguised as comfort. “You must. Save someone else. It’s too late for me.”
I should’ve taken her away anyway. Dragged her. Forced her out of the house and into the car. Let her hate me as long as it meant that she lived.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t be that cruel to her after she’d suffered so much. I slipped through the back door and left her behind.
I never spoke to her again. Later, I heard she gave birth to a baby girl, and I thought maybe she’d gotten through to Gio and his cruelty, but even I knew it was a foolish thing to hope for.
She died not long after. He’d found a way to kill her after all. I failed to save her, and that guilt never faded away. It was the reason I tried to redeem myself in other ways.
But that damned guilt refused to go away. It remained breathing in my soul.
I shoved the old ghosts into their vault, calming my racing heart. I was no longer the same man I was back then. I was older and more powerful.
My gaze found Sophie fast asleep next to me. Her face was covered by her unruly hair and I tucked a few strands back behind her ear. God, she was too beautiful, her thick lashes brushing high cheekbones and casting shadows across her pale skin.
I could—and would—protect my woman.
The feedback I received from Kington yesterday left me deeply unsettled. He’d tracked down Jacqueline’s entourage, scattered and hiding like rats. Yet, there was no sign of the woman herself—no clues, not even a whisper of where she might have fled. The absence was chilling.
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
That wretched woman had posted a bounty on the dark web—an open reward for Sophie’s capture, torture, and execution.
Kingston hadn’t found Jacqueline yet, but waiting was no longer an option. It was time to pull every string, call in every favor, and unleash every connection at my disposal.
I would flush her out, no matter how well she thought she could hide, and when I did, this would end once and for all.