Pain spreads in my head and I groan, my eyes slowly opening.
Please tell me I wasn’t assigned to the same section of hell as my father. Yes, I killed him and myself, but he definitely has more blood on his hands.
The least the managers of this place could do is separate us.
Or maybe my custom-made hell is to be with him so he’ll have a hold on me even after death.
“Mom…!”
I jolt, then I remain completely still as a shock of white, antiseptic, and vanilla scent surrounds me.
Is this a heartless play of my imagination?
Otherwise, how could Gwen be here and even call me Mom?
A shadow perches over me and I squint when her soft, beautiful face comes into focus.
A wide smile pulls at her lips. “You’re finally awake.”
I cough, my throat scratching, and with it comes that faint pain again.
“Oh, here, drink some water.” She helps me to sit up and places a glass of water with a straw to my lips.
I take greedy gulps, letting the liquid soothe my dry throat, but I can’t stop staring at her. At her wild ginger hair and red puffy eyes.
It’s starting to look so freakishly real and I can’t afford to have such hope now.
I reach a finger to her face and wipe at the dry tear streaks on her cheek. But no matter how much I touch her, she doesn’t disappear. “You were crying.”
“Of course I was crying.” She nestles the glass of water between her elegant fingers. “I thought you were going to die with that crazy jerk, and then when you were sleeping for two days, I was so scared that it’d be Dad’s coma all over again.”
My lips part as stabs of my memory start rolling through my head. I think I heard Kingsley’s voice in those last moments.
Is the reason I’m alive because he’s…
“K-King…” My voice trembles. “Is he…”
“Right outside, kind of threatening your doctor with a lawsuit because you wouldn’t wake up. He can be extra like that, my dad.” She grins. “But you should’ve seen him when he came running the moment you were falling. He singlehandedly pulled you from the edge, even when your father was trying to drag you with him. Daddy looked like a superhero.”
I release a long, shattered breath that seems to have left my soul. I think I hit something in the middle of the fall, which is why I started to lose consciousness, but I held on to my father with all of my might. I couldn’t have let him survive.
“How about…my father?” I ask Gwen.
“He’s dead,” she says softly. “Dad’s scary-looking friend took his body with him.”
It must’ve been Nicolo.
The reality hits me then. I’m finally free.
Free of fearing him.
Of trying to escape the shadow he cast on my life.
Free.
It’s too surreal to wrap my head around that knowledge, so I stroke Gwen’s hair. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Totally fine.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that because of me.”
She frantically shakes her head. “You don’t have to apologize. Dad told me all about you and your father, and I know you did everything to protect me. But don’t sacrifice yourself again, or I won’t talk to you. I was so scared you’d die now after I finally have you, Mom.”
My chest squeezes so hard, I’m surprised it doesn’t burst. “What…what did you just call me?”
“Mom,” she repeats, more determined this time. “You were always my mom, even when you weren’t there.”
I wrap my arms around her and hide my face in her neck, partially so the tears aren’t visible. “Thank you, Gwen.”
She squeezes me back, her voice trembling. “No, thank you for being my mom.”
I think I just upgraded to a different level of existence. No one told me that being someone’s mom felt so revering. It doesn’t even matter that I’m in one of the hospitals I loathed so much, and it has everything to do with the girl in my arms.
She’s not a stillborn baby. She’s alive, hugging me, and has called me “Mom.”
We remain like that for a moment too long, until our breathing is in sync. The door opens and we reluctantly break apart.
Kingsley appears in the doorway, larger than life, even when his hair is disheveled and his shoulders nearly rip out from his shirt due to how tense they are.
My chest expands and my stomach contracts so hard, it’s a miracle no one hears the sound.
Being in the same room with Kingsley has always been an experience. Like sinking in dark waters and knowing he’ll be the one to provide me with oxygen.
He drips with power and authority that speaks to the secret submissive part of me without words.
But right now, he’s channeling the devil himself, looking dark, broody, and like he has a taste for violence.
“Um…I’ll be right outside.” Gwen grins, then whispers so only I can hear her. “I didn’t tell him you love him, so you can do that yourself.”
Then she dashes out, shouldering past her father.
He kicks the door shut, then stalks toward me. “What, and I can’t stress this enough, the fuck were you thinking, Aspen? Do you have a death wish at thirty-fucking-five? Or do you like playing Russian roulette with your life? Why would you do that—”
I pull him by a handful of his shirt and slam my lips to his. Kingsley growls in my mouth, then wraps a big hand around my neck and kisses me with a hunger that steals my breath.
Our teeth, tongues, and even our souls collide in a shattering kiss that turns my limbs into Jell-O. I kiss him with the desperation of a reborn woman while he breathes life into me.
“Fuck,” he whispers against my lips when we break apart and he drops his forehead against mine. “This doesn’t let you off the hook.”
“I know. It was a thank-you, not only for saving me but also for being there for both me and Gwen. Thank you, King.”
He grunts as the tension he carried on his shoulders as a badge slowly withers away and he sits on the bed, unapologetically pulling me onto his lap.
I sit, facing him as he wraps both arms around my waist with a tightness that suggests he’ll never let go.
“You’ll have to do a lot more than kissing me in thanks, sweetheart.”
“Like what?”
“Lifting the illegal ban, for one. As soon as you’re healthy, I’m going to sink my teeth into your neck while I fuck your pussy, then your ass.”
I hesitate, directing my gaze sideways.
He uses two of his fingers to grab my chin and bring my attention back to him. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Fuck that, Aspen. You started that ban for a reason, and if you don’t tell me about it, I won’t be able to figure it out. I’m smart, but I’m not a mind reader.”
“I just…don’t want sex to be our only connection. If that’s why you want me, one day you’ll get me out of your system or maybe you’ll get bored of my fight and find someone who kneels to your will, and it’ll be all over.”
“Are you fucking serious?” He plasters me to his chest, his fingers digging into my nape, and speaks so close to my mouth, I feel every word instead of hearing it. “I had a connection with you before sex was even involved. Yes, I love your submission to my dominance and how you secretly enjoy the way I mark your skin, and sex plays a role in what we have, but it’s not all we are. You chase away my darkness and understand me on a level no one else does. You never shied away from my callous side. If anything, you stood right in the path of its destruction, challenging me for more. Not only are you my match and the woman who gave me Gwen, but you also make me a better man, sweetheart.”
“You make me a better woman, too, King,” I whisper in an emotional voice I usually wouldn’t allow myself to speak in. “I’ve wanted you since I was fourteen and I think I never stopped wanting you since. You’re the one man who sees inside both the old and new Aspen. You make me want to embrace my weaknesses and my scars because they’re a form of strength, too.”
“As you should. They’re as beautiful as you.”
“So you don’t hate me anymore?” I ask with pathetic hopefulness.
“I don’t think I ever did.”
“Then why were you a jerk all that time? Especially after you found out I was Gwen’s mother?”
“Truth is, I searched for you more than you searched for me. In the beginning, I thought it was to teach you a lesson for abandoning Gwen, but in reality, I wanted you all for myself. You were the only woman who made me feel at a time I thought I was incapable of it. You looked at me as if I were the only person in the world.”
“And you looked at me as if I were important. I never felt important until that moment.” I reach a hand out and stroke his cheek. “I love you, King. I think I’ve loved you since that first time.”
He briefly closes his eyes, nostrils flaring with each harsh intake of air. When he opens them again, they look like my custom-made storm that will drag me into its depths and never allow me to surface.
And the worst part? I don’t want to surface. If he’s dark, then I’m willing to embrace that darkness.
His pulse thumps loud against my chest as if his heart wants to fuse with mine. “What I felt for you was obsession at its finest, but over time, I realized, this type of obsession ran deeper and wilder than I ever anticipated. This type of obsession is a twisted translation of love. You had me long before either of us knew, but now you own my heart, body, and soul, sweetheart. Just like I plan to own yours.”
I smile, murmuring. “You already have them.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. You’re my king and I want to be your queen.”
“You already are.”
He kills the small distance between us, devouring my lips in a kiss that I’ll remember for the rest of our lives.
I’m his.
He’s mine.
This time, permanently.
