I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Did that just happen?
Damien could’ve killed the man who had tortured us both…and he didn’t.
I knew he’d done that for me, and I couldn’t describe the way it made me feel. I knew he loved me to be able to do something like that, to spare the life of the man I used to love just because it would be hard for me to watch him die.
And he’d had my full blessing to kill him.
Liam took the stairs and returned to the platform where I was sitting. Some of his men came up to him and exchanged quiet words, either condolences or pity.
I got to my feet because I didn’t know what to do. All I wanted to do was run across to the other side so I could be with Damien, but I felt like I had to speak to Liam first, to say goodbye.
Liam walked up to me with sadness in his eyes, either because he’d lost or because Damien was the bigger man…again. There was no doubt who I should be with; Damien was a better partner to have for a lifetime. Liam had to see it by now.
In silence, he stared, at a loss for words. “Did you mean anything you said before?”
I actually felt bad for lying to him. Instead of answering with words, all I could do was shake my head.
He didn’t seem disappointed, as if he expected it.
“I’m sorry…”
He glanced at his surroundings for a few seconds before he looked at me again. “Deal’s a deal. I’ll leave you alone.”
Had this been the solution the entire time? To gain Liam’s respect on his own turf? Maybe fighting was the only language he could understand. Maybe it was the only way for him to feel like Damien deserved me more. “Glad he didn’t kill you.”
He shook his head slightly. “It’s gonna be hard for me to bounce back from the humiliation. And also from that mercy.”
“He didn’t do it to be merciful. He did it for me.”
He stared down at me with his blue eyes. “Yeah…”
I didn’t know what else to say. We should have parted ways a long time ago. This heartbreak would have been spared if we’d let the relationship die out a long time ago. I never should’ve gone back to him in the first place. All of this could’ve been avoided. It was time for a goodbye—long overdue.
“I know this isn’t going to be much, but I am sorry about everything.”
I was speechless as he apologized.
“Not just about my infidelity, but losing my temper, trying to kill the man you want to be with, kidnapping you… All that shit. I just love you so much, and I don’t know how to handle these feelings. That’s no justification for what I did, but I’m sorry, nonetheless. It was just love that drove me to madness.”
He didn’t deserve my forgiveness, but I wanted to give it to him anyway. “I’m willing to forgive you if this is really the end. If you aren’t going to show up and try to take me again. If you aren’t going to try to kill Damien when he drops his guard. I’m willing to start over and give you a clean slate if this is genuine.”
He sighed loudly. “Surprised you’re willing to forgive me at all…”
“Love triumphs over hate. I’m not in love with you anymore, but I will always love you.”
Guilt moved into his gaze. “I’ll always love you too. I wish we could have more, but I know what I did was wrong.”
“I hope you learn from those mistakes and can be better for the next person. Because you’re a handsome man with a lot to offer. You could have any woman you want.”
“You know you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. The others…they’re just physical. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel this way about someone again.”
I’d thought the same thing until I’d walked into Damien’s office. “You will…someday.”
Damien reached our side of the stands, and when he came close to us, he was wearing a t-shirt with his shorts. His eyes moved back and forth as he watched our conversation. Instead of pushing his way through and grabbing me, he let us finish.
I glanced at him and turned back to Liam.
Liam noticed he was there. He sighed quietly to himself and looked at me one final time. “Take care, Anna.”
His goodbye was so heartfelt and genuine, it almost made me want to cry. It was peaceful, just a little painful, exactly what it should’ve been a long time ago. “You too…”
Before Liam departed, he turned to Damien and stared at him for a while, gathering his thoughts as he looked at his former opponent. Liam wasn’t the kind of man to lose, and accepting this defeat was probably harder than anyone could understand. But instead of lashing out, he extended his right hand.
Damien clearly hadn’t expected that because he was slightly taken aback. It took him a few seconds to reciprocate, the place his palm in Liam’s and give it a firm shake.
Liam pulled away and walked off.
Damien watched him go before he turned to me. I waited patiently for his demeanor to change, for him to look at me as the love of his life rather than as a trophy. He started to soften, started to turn into the man I knew. He released a painful sigh of relief as he came closer to me, his eyes growing more emotional the nearer he got. When he was in front of me, his hand slid into my hair, and he pulled my face to his to give me a soft kiss.
My arms wrapped around his neck, and I breathed a deep breath, blocking out the noise of the buzzer as the next fight began, the sounds of cheers and boos as men forgot about the fight that had just taken place. We’d been separated for weeks, and knowing this was finally the beginning of a real relationship was so beautiful. I breathed against his lips and felt my eyes water because I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be, with the person I was supposed to be with.
I looked into his eyes and saw the expression that I was sure matched mine, so deep and so full of love that I felt safe. Damien would never hurt me, never betray me, and he would be everything I deserved. It’d been weeks since we’d talked, seen each other in the flesh, but no conversation was forthcoming. He only said one thing. “Let’s go home.”
Returning to his home felt so strange. I’d honestly feared I would never come back.
It’d only been a few weeks since the last time I was there, but it felt like forever, and the place also felt exactly the same. I moved to the couch and thought about everything that had happened. It was a lot to process.
Damien sat beside me and stared at my features as if he never wanted to stop, as if he wanted to look at me every day for the rest of his life. His fingers lightly caressed my hair, and he held me close like nothing else mattered.
I gently touched his discolored eyes, which were swollen and bruised. He had a few other injuries, but nothing serious. “Will you be okay?”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled my fingers away from his face. “I’ve been through worse. And it was totally worth it.”
It was the first time I’d smiled in so long.
“Are you okay? That’s what I’m more concerned about.”
“What do you mean? I’m sitting here with you. I’ve never been happier…”
He squeezed my fingers. “I know.” He locked our fingers together. “I’m just scared…of whatever you had to go through while you were there.”
Now, I understood exactly what he feared. Liam had said things to him in the ring, but I couldn’t make them out, probably things to get under Damien’s skin. “I was upset Liam held me against my will, so I was in my bedroom the whole time. I refused to come out. He tried to talk to me. I wasn’t interested. He brought me meals. That was it.”
“He didn’t…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the question.
“No. I was afraid that might happen too…but it didn’t. Liam had more honor than I expected.”
He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”
I hadn’t thanked Damien for what he’d done, hadn’t acknowledged it at all. It was so selfless, I didn’t know where to begin. “You could’ve killed him…why didn’t you?”
“Annabella, you know why.”
“I would’ve understood. I even told him to his face I wanted him dead.”
“But I knew it would haunt you down the road. And I gave him the power to make the decision. If I spared his life, he would leave us alone. He accepted. I took a leap of faith and trusted him to mean that. I hope that wasn’t a mistake.”
I didn’t want to reveal the details of my final conversation with Liam because it was personal. It was a goodbye, bittersweet and painful. But I could tell Damien this. “It wasn’t a mistake.”
He caressed my knuckles with this and gave a slight nod, but didn’t ask me to be more specific. “Now what?”
“Don’t we live happily ever after?”
He gave a slight smile. “Is that what you want?”
I nodded. “My feelings haven’t changed. Won’t ever change. This is where I want to be…for the rest of my life.”
Damien and I didn’t leave the house for a long time.
We were in bed together for most of it, cuddling even if we weren’t doing anything more serious. I loved to feel his hard body, smell his cologne, and just be with the person who made it so easy to breathe.
Everything felt like a bad dream, as if it never happened in the first place. Our lives had been like this without pause, gourmet dinners over candlelight, and passionate lovemaking like there had never been anyone else for either of us.
I never wanted it to end.
There was no one trying to keep us apart. We could go out to dinner whenever we wanted, but we never did. His bed was my bed. Half of the bathroom was filled with my stuff. My clothes were in his closet.
It was nice.
Now that there was no danger, I’d have to return to my apartment sometime, to live alone again so we could have a normal relationship. We’d never really dated, never really had time to get to know each other traditionally. Most of the time I’d known him, I’d been married to somebody else.
I kissed his shoulder then his chest, happy that the bruises had finally started to fade. His eyes weren’t so dark anymore, almost normal. I kissed him again because I was so happy he was there. So happy he was in my life. I pulled away and dragged my fingers across his perfect body. “This has been the best week of my life.”
His fingers glided into my hair, and he gave me that sexy look with his dark eyes, like he was happy without really showing it. His jawline was covered in hair because he hadn’t shaved the entire week. If he allowed it to grow any longer, it would turn into a beard. “Me too.”
“I want to stay here forever, but I should get back to my apartment. I haven’t been there in…a long time.” I knew he was happy to have me back, but I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. I wanted us to continue to be happy, but we had lives to return to. Damien hadn’t worked much, and I still hadn’t gone back to the hotel.
His expression slowly deflated, like he didn’t like being reminded of reality.
We’d been making love all day and night, and I had to remind myself that it wouldn’t end just because I was returning to my apartment. We could still do those things, but at a normal pace. I kissed his stomach then got out of bed. I grabbed my clothes and started to get dressed.
He stayed in bed and watched me, moving his arm behind his head. Glorious and beautiful, his perfect body lay on top of the bed, so lean and toned.
I fixed my hair with my hands then came to his side of the bed. “Can you give me a ride?”
Without moving, he continued to stare.
I didn’t know what I’d said to change his mood, but he was definitely different, far more different than he’d ever been before. He was a closed book, so I couldn’t read his pages.
He sat up and stared at me. “Do you want to live in your apartment?”
I sat beside him, gently rubbing my arm. “That’s my home…” I’d been bouncing around this last year, going from my husband’s house to my own apartment, back to his place, and then to Damien’s… I’d never been steady.
He dropped his gaze for a moment, rubbing his palms together. “I thought this was your home.” He lifted his gaze and looked at me, this time visibly disappointed.
I didn’t know what I’d said to offend him. “You are home, Damien. But my apartment is where I live…”
“Why don’t you live here?”
The puzzle pieces started to come together. “Are you asking me?”
“No,” he said coldly. “I’m telling you. I just assumed you’d move in. Doesn’t make sense for you to go back to your apartment and live alone. I don’t want you on your own, and I don’t want to be in this bed alone. I’ve lived without you for so long.” He shook his head and pressed his lips tightly together. “I don’t want to do it anymore.”
My heart was touched. “I want to stay with you too. But…do you think that’s too soon? We’ve never really had the chance to date. We’ve never really…been together. Now we have a chance, the chance that was taken from us.”
He continued to rub his hands together as he carefully phrased his response. “We can take things slow, but what’s the point? We aren’t strangers. We’ve been through something together, and we can’t erase that. I don’t want to start over. I don’t want to see each other for a year before we take the next step. I don’t want to follow some fictional guideline. I want you to live here with me. And I don’t want you to leave.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’d ask you to marry me if I thought you would say yes.” He looked me straight in the eye, showing no hesitation or embarrassment, putting all his cards on the table without fear of losing the game.
I inhaled a deep breath.
“But I know that’s too soon, not because it’s too soon for us, but after everything you’ve been through…it’s best to wait. So, if you wanna live with me…the offer’s on the table.”
My answer was quick. “Of course, I want to live with you, Damien. I want to sleep with you beside me every night. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to be with you as much as I can. But there’s something we’ve never talked about…”
“What?”
“A long time ago, you said you didn’t want to be with me because of your dangerous career. You didn’t want me to get hurt, to get caught up in that. Have your feelings about that changed?” I’d never asked because I didn’t want to give him a reason to leave, to doubt that this relationship could work.
He couldn’t look me in the eye anymore, and he turned away. It was a question that would require a deep and complicated answer. After a long time, he responded. “I left you to protect you, and it didn’t make a difference anyway. I don’t want to leave my businesses because I enjoy them, but I suspect my retirement will be inevitable…someday. When we have children, that’s when I’ll hang up my coat.”
“Damien, I’ve never asked you to give anything up. I’m just asking how you feel about it.”
He was quiet again, considering his response. “I’m not ready to walk away right now. I have unfinished business. But I’ve learned from Hades, and at some point, it’ll have to be over. When we start a family in a few years, that’s when I’ll leave. Gives me time to get things in order.” He rested his forearms on his thighs and looked straight ahead. “I’ll do everything I can to protect you, but I can’t promise to always keep you safe. I can’t promise that enemies won’t try to use you against me. There’s one person in particular that I have to eliminate because he’s never going to disappear. I can’t sugarcoat that.”
“Who?”
He turned back to me. “The Skull King.”
“Why?”
“He was Liam’s accomplice. He’s been trying to ruin my life since I refused to pay him. A year ago, he would’ve killed my father if I hadn’t stopped it. I have to kill him…at some point.”
Staying with Damien would be dangerous, but I still didn’t want to live any other way. “I’m okay with that.”
“Another reason why you should live with me. I can take you to work in the morning and pick you up later. And when you’re in my home, no one will get to you. It’s the safest option, but I’m using it as an excuse, more than anything else.” He watched me for a long time, his green eyes appreciating me with his deep gaze. He was a man who wasn’t afraid to show how much he loved me, how much I meant to him.
“Then let’s go to my apartment and get the rest of my things.”
He seemed a little stunned by my response, surprised that I would give up everything and risk it all to be with him. He’d just told me he still had a battle to fight and I could even be a casualty, but I still wanted to be with him…forever. “Let’s go.”