I can’t sleep.
My body is sore and my heart is at ease for the first time in what feels like forever. For all intents and purposes, I should be able to rest in my husband’s arms, knowing that he’s actually mine.
Even though how we started isn’t ideal.
I trust him now. I believe what he says when he tells me that he loves me, because the way I feel, the way that we went from hatred to this? There’s nothing else it could be. I thought I loved Aidan, but he never made me feel the way Julian does.
And maybe he’s too dangerous. Maybe he’s all wrong. Maybe I’m being naive for allowing myself to love the man who blackmailed me into marriage, but I’ve spent my entire life being a people pleaser, and I’m done ignoring the darkness inside me that understands everything that Julian is.
And I’m finally taking Riya’s advice and doing something for myself.
Glancing at the clock, I roll out of the large king-size bed where Julian is sleeping peacefully next to me and tiptoe over to where my bag is, picking up my camera. I make my way out of the room and through the common area, sighing as the crisp nighttime air whips across my face as I open the front double doors.
It’s a beautiful night, and I wrap my light cardigan around my arms as I make my way down the small path that leads between the small cottages and start taking pictures of the sky. I’m so lost in the moment, the serene quiet that’s blanketing the air, that I don’t hear the footsteps behind me until they’re right there.
I grip my camera tighter, walking farther down the path and hoping they disappear, but they don’t. My heart shoots to my throat and I exhale heavily before turning around.
Someone’s following me.
But it’s difficult to see in the dark, so it isn’t until I squint my eyes that I’m able to make out their features.
She has bright- blue hair and chipped nail polish on her fingernails, holding something in her hands that’s covered in a dark purple cloth.
“You know, stalking is considered a felony,” I yell.
She ignores me, continuing to move closer until she’s standing directly in front of me.
Her eyes glance from me to the cottage on my left and then to the one slightly in front of us, less than a hundred feet away.
“I’ve watched you today,” she says, her voice low enough that I have to strain to hear. “And I needed to get you alone.”
My spine stiffens, and I glance around, suddenly wishing that I hadn’t snuck out without telling Julian where I was.
“And you are?” I question.
“I’m Jeannie.”
Recognition flickers through me, remembering she was the one Aidan was telling me about. “The archaeologist?”
She nods, licking her lips, her hands gripping whatever she’s holding tighter to her chest. She looks around again before she steps in closer, and I stumble back, putting a hand in front of me.
“What do you want?” My voice is sharper now, because seriously, what the fuck?
“I’m the lead on the excavation dig in Kharga.”
“Okay.” I look down at the box in her hands. “And what’s that, Jeannie? A present?”
She glances around her again, anxious energy pouring off her body, her fingers digging into the edges of the box until I’m afraid her nails might split down the middle.
“I found something,” she whispers. “Something that can help you. Aidan told me about what Mr. Faraci is forcing you to do, and I…it isn’t right.”
My head tilts to the side. “What do you mean?”
“I’m the one who texted you.” Another step closer.
Recognition flares through me. “You’re the employee of Julian’s.”
She bobs her head.
“Well, I appreciate that, but it won’t be necessary anymore. I love my husband.”
She barks out a laugh and shakes her head, like she doesn’t believe me.
I look at her closely. Something’s off. “Are you okay?”
Again, she glances around before she maneuvers the covered box she’s carrying to her side and reaches out to grip my arm tightly.
I suck in a breath, but before I can scream or do something, her words stop me in my tracks.
“You shouldn’t trust them,” she warns.
My brows rise. “Who?”
“They always talk too loud. Men, you know?” She shakes her head. “They get cocky…messy.”
“Are you talking about Julian?”
She swallows, huffing out a breath like my questions are frustrating. “And his goons. Ian, his assistant? He gets drunk and lets things slip.”
Her fingers rip into my forearm, breaking the skin. I jerk back, hissing from the pain, a small trail of blood oozing from beneath her grip and dripping onto the ground.
“They’ll kill you. Do you hear me? Once they get what they want, they’re going to kill you.”
My stomach deep dives to the floor, my heart slamming against my ribs.
“I can help you,” she says again, nodding down to the box. “This can help you. Barter for your freedom.”
Irritation swims through my veins because this woman is doing anything but giving me answers, and quite frankly, she’s freaking me the hell out. “I don’t need any help. I promise, I’ll be okay.”
A door opens from one of the cottages in the distance, and her gaze flies behind me before coming back to mine with a frantic look.
“I found it,” she whispers. “Nobody knows. And you shouldn’t tell them.”
My forehead scrunches. “Found what?”
She reaches out, handing me the box. “The lamp.”
I’m not sure when Julian had time to arrange things for everyone to leave, but the next day, we’re loaded up and ready to go.
We’re outside the main building’s entrance, Julian’s arm wrapped around my waist possessively, hugging me to his side while we listen to Ian complain about not being on the private jet. And I’m reeling on the inside, my eyes watching as the driver throws my suitcase into the back. The one that has the lost lamp.
God, what the hell am I supposed to do with it?
I was tempted to take it straight to Julian, but something held me back. I don’t know who has eyes and ears here, and if it’s that easy for Jeannie to overhear people talking, then I don’t want to risk someone else finding out what I have. I can just tell him when we get back home.
“I don’t understand. We’re all going to the same place,” Ian complains, crossing his arms as a driver loads his and Aidan’s luggage into the back of the car. I watch him closely, Jeannie’s warning whispering loudly in the back of my mind.
“I want time alone with my wife,” Julian replies. “There are things we’ll be doing that I’m sure not all of you would like to hear.” His eyes flick to Aidan, and I elbow Julian in the side.
“Don’t look so glum, Ian. At least I put you in first class,” he says.
Ian scoffs, throwing his hands up and storming over to the car, sliding into the back seat. Aidan follows, pausing just before he sits down, his hand on top of the door and his eyes locked on me.
He looks downtrodden, and a small pang hits my chest, because I know that nothing between us will ever be the same.
I don’t hold any hate toward him, just a profound sadness for what we lost. He was my first love, my first everything, and while I don’t know how things ended up this way, I have to believe it was for the best.
Maybe one day we’ll be able to stay friends, after the hurt has healed. And really, I have Aidan to thank. If it wasn’t for him loving me, I wouldn’t know the difference. Because my love for Aidan is like a warm sunny day, and my love for Julian is a blazing inferno.
“Remember what I said, princess,” Aidan says.
Julian’s hand tightens around my waist, and I reach up, pressing my palm to his chest, sliding it over and turning his face toward me, bringing him down into a kiss.
It’s probably a bitch move to do right in front of Aidan, but my concern is with the man I chose. He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m going to show him all the reasons why it won’t.
We break apart and I move toward the car, glancing around one last time to see if I catch a glimpse of Jeannie. But she’s like a ghost, and she’s nowhere to be found.
My stomach churns, hoping like hell that nothing happens to the lamp, and I’m freaking out that I didn’t hide it well enough. I have no idea how we’re going to get it through customs, but right now I only have the mental capacity to freak out about one thing at a time.
It isn’t until Julian and I are on the private plane that I think about it again. I’m sprawled out on the couch, drinking sparkling water, watching him stare at something on his computer screen, a slight crease forming between his brows beneath his reading glasses.
“Are they going to check our bags?” I ask.
I probably shouldn’t just blurt it out like this, not when there are flight attendants and pilots and a number of other people around to hear, but if I don’t at least figure out the customs situation soon, I’m going to puke.
Julian glances at me from over the rim of his silver frames.
“Would you like them not to?”
I shrug, standing up and walking over to him, maneuvering myself between the table and his legs and plopping myself down in his lap, my arms wrapping around his neck.
His hands grip me immediately, strong and sure, and a spark of desire rushes through me from the touch.
Leaning in, I press a kiss to his neck. “I don’t want anyone touching my things but you.”
He hums, his fingers running up and down the length of my spine. “Then they won’t.”
Relief flows through me, because I know that if Julian says they won’t, then they won’t.
“You know, this was really a shitty vacation,” I muse, sinking deeper into his lap. “You didn’t take me to a single place to sightsee, and on top of that, now we’re here on this big plane with a huge bed, and I’m still here”—I lift my eyes to look at him— “wearing all these clothes.”
He smirks, but I feel him growing hard underneath me. “Some of us have work to do. Diamonds don’t sell themselves.”
“You have hundreds of employees to sell them for you,” I whine. Sighing, I stand up and sink my teeth into my bottom lip. Shrugging, I start to walk to the back bedroom. “Guess I’ll just take care of things myself then.”
He’s on me before I can blink.
Large hands wrap around my waist, flipping me over his shoulder. I squeal, my stomach rising and falling like a roller coaster as he takes me to the bedroom, closing the door with his foot and throwing me on the bed.
His face is serious and his hands go directly to his belt buckle.
“Time to put that smart mouth to work, gattina.”
I grin like the cat that got the cream.
He moves to stand at the edge of the bed, lowering his pants so his thick cock bobs in the air, his veiny hand gripping it at the base and stroking it all the way from the length to the tip. “Crawl to me,” he growls.
I shake my head, feeling playful.
He tilts his head. “That’s one.”
My heart skips. “One what?”
“One orgasm you won’t get.”
My mouth drops open. “That’s not fair!”
He strokes his cock again, and my tongue swipes across my bottom lip as I watch him touch himself.
“Life’s not fair.” His words are punctuated with his eyes moving to the edge of the bed where he wants me. “Crawl to me, amore mio. Show me how bad you want it.”
Rolling over until I’m on my hands and knees, I do what he’s asking, slowly crawling across the bed, my hands sinking into the plush comforter as I stare at him from under my lashes and make my way across the bed until I reach where he is.
He presses his free hand against the back of my head. “Good girl.”
And then he drags my face forward and presses his dick against my lips.
My tongue peeks out, swiping at the salty liquid beading at the tip, and I hum at his taste.
“Suck it.”
I don’t argue this time, too desperate to feel his thick cock stretching my mouth. There’s a large vein that runs up the underside of his length, and the thought of it pulsing on my tongue while he shoots his cum down my throat makes my pussy clench. I wrap my tongue around the head of him, planning to tease him until he cracks, but before I can, he fists my hair and pushes me forward until he’s hitting the back of my mouth. My eyes water and my hands splay out on his lower abdomen as he holds me there, his cock slipping down my throat inch by inch. I make a humming noise, even though it’s difficult not to gag from the sheer size of him.
His other hand comes up to cup beneath my chin, stroking softly. “Breathe through your nose, baby.”
I do, and it helps, and then he’s pulling me back off him until he pops out of my mouth completely, a thin string of spit connecting the tip of his cock to my bottom lip.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
Nodding, I lean forward again, my hand gripping the base of him as I suck him deep, taking him all the way down to the base of his cock and creating suction on the way back up until my cheeks hollow. He doesn’t force me down again, allowing me to go at my own pace, and I double my efforts, wanting to feel him as he unloads everything he has on my tongue.
“Fuck.”
One of my hands moves to his balls, lightly scratching against the sensitive flesh while I’m bobbing my head down the length of his cock, and they jerk in my hand.
I’m so wet, I can feel it pooling in my panties, and I start to reach down to give myself some relief, but before I get there, the grip on my face tightens.
“Do not touch yourself.”
The command in his tone is unmistakable and I listen, not feeling like disobeying this time, because I don’t want him to punish me even worse.
“You look so perfect like this,” he says. “With your makeup smeared and your pouty lips wrapped around my dick. I bet if I asked you to choke on it, you’d slide that pretty mouth down my length until you were gagging like a greedy little whore, wouldn’t you?”
A thrill sparks through me at his words, because I’ve never been talked to like that. Everyone has always walked on eggshells around me, and I never realized until him how much I needed the opposite.
I pop off him, my hand messy with saliva from where I reach up to continue stroking him. His dick throbs and satisfaction rushes through me.
He’s close.
“Fuck my face,” I beg. “Please.”
His eyes flare at my words and he doesn’t waste a second, gripping my hair so tightly it pulls at the root as he slips his length past my lips and drags me up and down his shaft. His hips thrust and he hits the back of my throat forcefully. My eyes water and my nose burns, but I push through, swallowing around him and drawing him in deeper.
“That’s my girl, amore mio. You were made for sucking my dick.”
Pleasure zings through me at his words, my hands reaching around his hips and grabbing onto his ass, feeling his muscles flex as he uses me like a toy.
I’m so wet that my panties are completely soaked through, but I remember what he said about not touching myself. Not letting myself come.
Julian’s breathing grows heavy and his eyes glaze over, his thrusts becoming erratic.
I moan around him, and that’s all it takes. His cock starts to pulse in my mouth, hot cum shooting down the back of my throat, and I flatten my tongue along the underside of his shaft, feeling that vein throb rhythmically with every drop.
It’s sexy, and it makes me ache from how badly I want him inside me.
“Swallow it all, gattina.”
I do, letting him slip out of me after and opening my mouth wide so he can see I didn’t waste a drop.
He groans, bending over and kissing me, his tongue tangling with mine until I’m sure he can taste himself, and then he breaks away and cups my cheek, his thumb smearing the wetness that’s left on my lips.
“You are so fucking perfect. And so fucking mine.”
He swoops down and lifts me, cradling me in his arms and plopping me back on the bed, tucking me in and smoothing down my hair. He spends the rest of the plane ride catering to my every need: bringing me a drink, making sure I have food, combing my hair, and whispering that he loves me.
It’s nice, and when we finally make it home, I’m floating on a cloud of bliss, wondering how he could have gone from someone I hated so vehemently to this so quickly.
But the good feeling doesn’t last, because before I even get up the stairs, I’m checking my voicemails, and Shaina’s voice comes on the line.
Her tone is soft and soothing, and the second she speaks, I just know.
Dropping the phone from my hands, I spin around from the foyer of the house, meeting Julian’s eyes.
He stops short and then nods when he sees the tears that I’m trying to keep at bay brimming.
Julian doesn’t waste any time, taking me to the estate himself, and when we reach my father’s bedroom door, Shaina is there, looking at us with tears in her beautiful big brown eyes.
Emotion burns through my chest, a heavy ache settling in deep. I open my mouth to speak, to maybe ask how he is or what I can do, but my breathing stutters the moment I do, grief welling up like a tidal wave.
Julian’s arm wraps around my waist and pulls me into his side, giving me silent support while he presses kisses to my temple.
“He’s asleep,” Shaina says without me asking.
“Will he wake up?” I force out.
She shakes her head softly.
My heart splits.
She walks toward me, reaching out and grasping my hand in hers. “But he can hear you. And I know he’s been holding on until you could make it back.”
A tear drips down my face, my throat so swollen I can hardly breathe. I nod, spinning around to look at Julian.
He cups my cheeks, wiping away the tears before they can hit my chin.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I whisper, my voice cracking.
Sighing, he presses a kiss to my forehead before leaning away and staring directly into my eyes.
“There’s nothing for you to do, amore mio,” he soothes. “Just walk in there, hold his hand one last time, and say goodbye.”
My face screws up as tears fall without me being able to stop them, my breaths stuttering from the pain that’s shredding my chest in two.
I nod, backing away from my husband, and I walk toward my father instead.
One last time.
