Nila

“WHY DID WE come here?”

Jethro grabbed my hand, leading me from the Ferrari and through the car park at Diamond Alley. “You’ll see.”

Four weeks had gone by.

Four weeks of adjustment and simplicity.

I’d had my cast removed and my arm had knitted together, erasing Cut’s crime. My father and I had discussed the revelation of Jacqueline many times, and V and I were both keen to track down our triplet and stare into the eyes of a lost relation.

Every day brought different experiences. Kes was gone. It was hard to get used to—especially as he deserved to enjoy the changes we slowly wrought on Hawksridge Hall—but time ticked onward, dragging us forward without him.

After staying with us for a few weeks—to clear the air and spend time together as a new puzzle-fitted family—my father moved back to London to oversee a busy part of the year with fabric deliveries and demands.

Vaughn stayed most weekends, chatting quietly, slowly letting go of his animosity about a past he couldn’t change. Instead, he focused on a future so much brighter.

During the week, my twin spread his time between his penthouse and Hawksridge. He and Jaz spent a lot of time together, and Jethro and V talked more and more.

I’d caught them chatting over cognac beside a roaring fire in the gaming room. The room no longer tarnished with gambling debts and almost-rapes but a place where my lover and brother found friendship.

Tinsel hair brushing dark hair, discussing the world’s problems and hopefully seeing eye-to-eye on most subjects.

I’d also seen them chuckling over something juvenile in the dining room, slowly switching from enemies to friends.

I’d stop and watch, hidden by shadows, and allow residual fear to flee. The gaming room was no longer the room where the Third Debt was almost repaid, the octagonal conservatory no longer where the First Debt was extracted, and the lake no longer where the Second Debt had been delivered. They were blank canvases ready for new memories.

Hawksridge slowly shed its antiquity of brutality and pain, relaxing into a gentle ceasefire.

And now Jethro had brought me to another place I’d already been.

Diamond Alley.

The fascinating warehouse where I’d met Kill for the first time.

Arthur ‘Kill’ Killian had returned to Florida after the final battle and the day I almost lost my head. We had a future because of him. We had a life to look forward to because of what those men did that day.

Knocking the same door we’d passed through last time we came here, a small pang hit my heart. Kes wasn’t with us today, and he wouldn’t be any other day, but his presence never left. Jethro didn’t bring him up often, but I knew he thought about him.

The nine-digit password was accepted and the door opened.

Immediately, Jethro handed me a pair of sunglasses and pulled me into the large diamond building. The incredibly bright spotlights warmed my skin like a tropical sunshine while tiny rainbows danced on the black velvet sorting pads of the tables.

The diamond collar I wore hummed to be amongst its kinsmen and I willingly clung to Jethro’s hand as he dragged me down the corridor toward the door I’d once thought was a janitor’s closet.

He didn’t say a word as he opened it and entered the code to the large safe and spun the dial. Once the armoured entrance hung open, Jethro bowed. “After you, Ms. Weaver.”

I grinned. “I can imagine Cut is turning over in his grave seeing Weavers stay happily in his Hall and touch his diamonds on display.”

Jethro hadn’t told me what’d happened in the outbuilding, and I hadn’t pried. That was his trauma and triumph to bear.

Bonnie had been buried on the estate, in the catacombs beneath the house. Her sarcophagus had already been crafted as per the custom of burial rights for rich lords and ladies.

At first, I hated to think of Bonnie beneath my feet as I roamed the Hall, but after a while, I didn’t mind. I’d won. She hadn’t. It was her penance, not mine, to witness life move on for the better while she rotted below.

Daniel’s body had never been found. His bones gnawed on and flesh devoured by predators. The Hawks had taken so much from the African soil. Karma had seen to pay that debt with his flesh.

“I don’t think he would’ve minded as much as we think.” Jethro moved toward the safety deposit boxes. “In the end, he truly was sorry for what he’d done. Without him revoking the conditions on his last Will and Testament, all of this would’ve been lost. We would’ve spent years in legal battles trying to claim our birthright and Hawksridge would’ve been torn to pieces by the state.”

I looped my fingers, listening quietly. Whatever passed between Jethro and Cut that day was their own affair, but I was glad Jethro got closure. Cut hadn’t died with hate in his heart as I’d expected. He’d died with an apology and sorrow. I hoped he was at peace, wherever he was.

Standing in the middle of the safe, I waited as Jethro pulled out the long gunmetal grey drawer.

My heart beat faster.

I know what’s in there.

The last time he’d shown me the original black diamond, he’d hinted at what he was. He used the stone as an example of his condition—absorbing light and emotions rather than refracting and preventing them from entering. The analogy was perfect for him.

Moving closer, I placed my hand on his forearm. “I should’ve guessed that day. I should’ve known what you were and convinced you to run away with me.”

He chuckled. “Running was never an option, Needle. But you’re right. Those drugs really fucked me up. I’d hoped you’d guess and slap me out of it.”

I smiled. “I seem to remember I did in the end. I marched into your bedroom and forced you to listen.”

“You’ll never know how much your strength helped. How your tenacity to make me feel broke my unhappiness.” His lips touched mine as his hands pulled out the black pouch.

“This is for you.” He pushed the soft material into my grip.

I jerked backward. “What? No. There is no way I can accept that!”

He grinned. “Yes, you can. By accepting me, you’ve accepted it already. It’s yours and I want you to open it.”

“Jethro...”

He placed the ribbon in my fingers. “Open it.”

My hands shook as I opened the velvet. My eyes narrowed. I expected one large stone tenderly nestled in padding. However, something didn’t look right. Inside rested more parcels wrapped in delicate tissue paper.

Jethro crossed his arms, smugness decorating his face. “Go on. Keep going. You haven’t opened it all yet.”

Placing the pouch on the table, I plucked out the first packet. My fingers trembled harder as I pushed aside crepe paper. As soon as I unwrapped it, I almost dropped it. “Oh, my God.”

Jethro didn’t say a word as I pulled out the most stunning bracelet I’d ever seen. “This...it’s...you made this from the single black diamond?”

The one stone that’d started it all. The priceless gem that’d raised his family to riches and tainted glory so long ago.

Jethro nodded. “Yes.” Taking the dangling bracelet, his fingers traced the filigree pattern where gold licked around clusters of black diamonds, steadily growing bigger to one large rock in the centre of the design. “Give me your wrist.”

Speechless, I held out my arm.

Jethro very gently secured the jewellery. Of course, it was the perfect size. “You had this made for me?”

“How could I not?” He kissed me again. My heart transformed into feathers wanting to take flight. “You’re the reason I’m alive and happy. I want to give you everything, Nila.”

Running his fingers over the uniquely shaped diamonds, he added, “This cut is called a kite. It’s rare—not many jewellers remember the art.” He smirked. “I thought it was rather fitting to use in the design.”

I couldn’t stop staring. “More than fitting. Now I have a Kite in my heart and kites on my wrist.”

“For the rest of your life, I hope.”

Not letting me answer, he looked at the pouch again. “There’s more. Open the next one.”

I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the one he’d already given me. It was too much. Far, far more than I ever expected. The blackness of the stones sucked the light, glowing like an otherworldly charm.

Unable to speak, I pulled free the next crepe paper present. Tears glossed my eyes as I revealed what rested inside. “Jethro—”

Before I could kiss him or pounce in gratefulness, he dropped to one knee before me.

Stealing the black diamond ring, he grabbed my shaking left hand and smiled tenderly. “I’ve asked you to marry me twice. And each time you’ve said yes. As far as I’m concerned, you became a Hawk the moment you answered my first text. But I couldn’t steal you away for the rest of your life without doing this properly.”

I gasped as his voice broke. “Nila ‘Threads’ Weaver. Will you do me the absolute honour of accepting this ring, this man, this future? I offer you everything that I am and will become. I promise to adore you with every heartbeat and will forever protect you like I should've done from the day we met. Will you agree to be my best-friend and partner for the rest of our lives and continue to be so selfless with your love and kindness?”

He cleared his throat, forcing himself to continue. “In return, I promise to always love you, always protect you. I’ll be the anchor you need and will never do anything to hurt you again.”

I dropped to my knees before him. Knee to knee. Heart to heart. “I do. I accept and I promise you the same thing. I will never lie to you, hurt you, or keep things from you. I will always be there when you need me most.”

His lips crashed against mine. My fingers dove into his salt and pepper hair. Everything I’d been through was in order to deserve this. Him. The greatest trophy, gift, and reward I could ever have dreamed of.

With his lips on mine, Jethro slipped the engagement ring onto my finger. Snug, perfect, never to be removed just like my collar.

I’d turned from seamstress to diamond heiress with the amount I now wore. The huge stone glittered menacingly in a cushion cut with baguettes on either side.

I didn’t want to guess how many carats the ring held.

Breaking the kiss, Jethro murmured, “There’s something else in there. Something that isn’t for you, but I want you to see it.”

My eyebrow quirked, but I reached upward and plucked the pouch from the table. With the weight of my new engagement ring, I fumbled with the crepe.

Once it was unwrapped, I couldn’t stop the tears this time. I huddled over the necklace where a teardrop black diamond had been fashioned with gold scroll work and the wings of a hawk and a needle with thread in the fixings. It wasn’t just a necklace; it was a joining of our two houses. A gift for someone who would be treasured above any diamond or estate. A priceless necklace for a priceless child.

“You made this for our daughter.”

Jethro sucked in a breath. “How did you—”

I smiled, liquid glassing my vision and heart. “I know because I know you.” Stroking the diamond, I breathed, “You want a daughter over a son?”

His arms banded around me. “Nila, I want whatever you give me. But a daughter, if she’s firstborn, will be the end to everything. The debts will never take place again. She’ll be part Weaver, part Hawk, and I wanted her to have something to symbolise what a new beginning she will represent.”

“I love you.” I grabbed his cheeks. “I love you so damn much.”

His entire body melted in my hold, his adoration for me glowing in every facet. “I know. And I’ll never ever deserve it.”

Climbing to his feet, he helped me upright. Tugging me into an embrace, he kissed me softly. “There’s one other place I’d like to take you to, if you’d let me?”

My body curved into his like a comma. “I want to go wherever you want to take me.”

His gorgeous face lit with a sexy smile.

Thoughts of sealing our engagement with more than just a kiss crossed my mind.

When Jethro had bundled me into the car this morning and driven off the estate, I thought it was to complete a few errands or to stand beside me while I visited my assistants at Weaver Enterprises and give feedback on an up-and-coming design line.

Our life had become somewhat normal with work and businesses to run. I loved the normalcy but loved the magical alone times, too.

I would never have expected something as spellbinding as this to happen.

It is spellbinding.

We’d made promises in the heart of Diamond Alley to love, honour, and treasure each other for the rest of our lives. What else existed if those vows weren’t classified as a spell? A forever kind of spell. A spell that would keep our souls joined even after death.

My eyes fell on the large diamond on my finger.

I couldn’t stop looking at it. Flashing the black gemstone, revelling in how thoughtful and incredible my future husband was.

I ran a finger over the glossy surface. “I’ll never be able to thank you for what you’ve given me, Jethro. More than just an anchor. You’ve given me a home in your heart and made me belong.”

He grabbed my hand, squeezing my fingers tight. “I feel exactly the same way. Now, let’s go, so I can show you the next part of my plan.”

“The next part?” I laughed. “Careful, you might spoil me.”

He smirked. “You don’t know where I’m taking you yet. It might be an awful place.”

“I highly doubt it.” Tossing my hair away from my face, I smiled. “Tell me then. Where do you want to take me?”

Guiding me from the safe, he grinned. “You’ll see.”

* * * * *

“In here?” I looked over my shoulder as Jethro nodded.

We’d left Diamond Alley and driven into a bustling local town where knickknacks and tourists decorated the streets.

“Yep.” Jethro bit his lip to stop from smiling.

“You want me to go into a coffee shop?”

He moved past me, pushing on the door until the chime above welcomed us into the decadent smell of coffee and sweets.

“But I don’t even like coffee. You know that.”

He smirked. “I know.”

“Then why—?”

“Stop asking questions and get in there.” Grabbing my wrist, he dragged me over the threshold and beelined for a tatty couch in the coffee shop window.

The couch.

The coffee.

Oh, my God.

My heart stopped. “This...it’s similar to the café in Milan where I tried to kiss you when we first met.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

I frowned, even as my heart thundered with love. “Why...why did you bring me here?”

He patted the couch, sinking into the soft cushions.

I followed, our knees touching as we faced each other. The softness of the settee cradled me as Jethro stroked my ring, his face alive and pensive. “That night I told you so many lies and hid so much from myself. I wanted you so much. I wanted to run the other way, to hide you, to never return to Hawksridge. But I didn’t. I let a lifetime of conditioning control me, and I made the worst mistake of my life.”

Looking around the tiny café—at the grandmother feeding a teacake to her granddaughter and the barista serving a couple—he added, “I’ve known you for months, Nila, and I haven’t once taken you out on a proper date. Never been to see a movie or eaten at a restaurant.”

My entire soul overflowed with affection. “You’re saying you want to do that?”

“Of course.” His back straightened. “I want to explore the world with you. I want to show you off and let people know I might’ve planted evidence saying you ran away with me at the start of this mess—that the media believed we’d had an affair well before we did—but now, it’s true, and I value you enough not to keep you all to myself.”

His golden eyes darkened to bronze. “You’re no longer indebted. You’re free to go wherever and whenever you wish; I want to be by your side for every experience you find. I want to be the reason you smile every day and the man you hold every night.”

Quick flashes of the doctored photographs and Flaw’s handwritten note to the press the night Jethro stole me entered my mind. I no longer suffered any hurt or annoyance because, in the end, that was life’s plan. To give me to Jethro so I could steal him in return.

My voice stayed soft, inviting. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I’ll be beside you no matter what you want to do. If you want to return to sewing, I’ll be there holding the fabric. If you want to travel and help me with diamonds, I’ll be there carrying your bags. As long as we’re together, Nila. I don’t care where we are.”

My heart galloped with longing and love and overflowing lust. “Kite...” Leaning closer, my eyes latched onto his mouth. “As far as I’m concerned, you come first. I might not be indebted anymore, but I have no intention of running far from you. I don’t care what we do as long as we do it together.”

He relaxed a little. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

“Never get tired that I love you or that I won’t run?”

His smile turned into a sinful invitation. “If you run from me, I have the means to chase you. I’d find you and make you mine again.”

My legs twitched as my belly fluttered.

Inching closer to me, Jethro ran the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I need to do something that I should’ve done that first night.”

My breathing stopped. “What should you have done?”

His breath fanned over my lips. “Kissed you. You owe me the kiss you so naively offered me moments after we met.”

“Naively?” My heart pounded as my core grew wet. The tension between us swirled and sparked. “Don’t you mean stupidly? I remember you calling me that a few times.”

His hand cupped my cheek; his thumb skimming from my lip to my ear. “Like I said. I told a lot of lies that night.” His eyes drifted to my mouth. “May I? May I take back that first wrong and make it right?”

I couldn’t breathe.

I nodded.

“Fuck.” His body fell forward, his mouth met mine.

I parted for him, welcoming his taste and control. Scooting closer, his arms banded around me, his knees bruised mine, and the coffee shop faded into obscurity.

I moaned into his mouth, melting into his embrace. I’d never been kissed so deeply or so selflessly. He poured the past and present down my throat, rewriting history and revoking everything that’d happened. In his arms, I only remembered how happy I was and not about the sadness still clinging to us.

My diamond ring weighed on my finger. My diamond bracelet decorated my wrist. And my diamond collar locked me forever as his. So much had happened. So much pain and debts and death.

But this.

A simple kiss in a simple coffee shop in a simple world.

This made it all worth it.

This made it all priceless.

His tongue danced with mine, slowly pulling away from me, leaving me needy and desperate for more.

Letting me go, Jethro reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. “It’s fair to warn you, Needle, that after that kiss I’m fucking rock hard and need you more than I can stand. I doubt I’ll have the self-control to order a coffee or watch you eat a piece of cake without needing to be inside you, so I’m going to show you this before I yank you out of this place and find a dark place so I can fuck you. Then, when the violence in my blood is sated, I’ll reward you by making love to you and showing how my love can both be a punishment and a play.”

My mouth fell open. His torrent lapped around me, licking my nipples with promise. “We can leave now. This very second.”

He shook his head, fanning out the parchment on the low coffee table. “No, we can’t. Not until I show you this.”

His eyes met mine, dark and delicious, his lips glistening from our kiss. “I never told you this, but the Sacramental Pledge I made you sign the night of Cut’s birthday—the one you signed after breaking in my office—I burned it before I came to get you in London.”

I shivered, remembering that night and what happened afterward. He’d kissed me. He’d fucked me. He’d let me win after watching me come apart. “Why?”

His fingers stroked the inked words. “Because I didn’t want the burden of owning your soul when I’d taken it so cruelly.” Spreading out the parchment further, working the kinks from the centre, he dipped into his pocket again and grabbed a fountain pen.

Holding it out for me, he said, “It’s not a quill, but this will have to do.” Sudden nervousness covered his features. “Would you? Will you sign another, now you know everything that I am?”

My eyes fell on the paper. That’s what this is?

A new Sacramental Pledge? A new contract trumping the Debt Inheritance and everything it stood for?

I took the pen without hesitation. “I’ve already agreed to marry you. I’ll agree to anything that puts your heart at rest and grants me you for eternity.”

He sighed, his knee rubbing mine. “You’re far, far too good to me.”

“And you gave me everything I ever wanted.” Kissing him gently, I whispered, “I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign, Kite. But...can I read it first?”

He chuckled, tucking fallen strands behind my ear. “Of course. I want you to read it. I want you to know what I need from you.”

Plucking the parchment, I held it within slightly trembling hands. The night of Cut’s birthday came back. The way I broke in his office. The cuts on my back killing me from the First Debt. This was so different. Our first ‘date.’ Our first normal outing together as lovers rather than debtor and debtee.

My eyes landed on the gorgeous calligraphy of Jethro's writing. The words were so similar to the other pledge I’d signed but at the same time so different.

Jethro Hawk, firstborn son of Bryan Hawk, and Nila Weaver, firstborn daughter of Emma Weaver, hereby solemnly swear this is a law-binding and incontestable contract.

Nila Weaver revokes all ownership of her free will, thoughts, and body and grants them into the sole custody of Jethro Hawk. In exchange, Jethro Hawk renounces his free will, thoughts, and body and grants them entirely to Nila Weaver to do as she pleases.

The previous incontestable document named the Debt Inheritance is void now and forever. No debt nor family decree will ever befall these two houses. This new agreement brings two enemies into one family where bygones are bygones and the future is bright for all.

Both Nila Weaver and Jethro Hawk promise neither circumstance, nor change of heart will alter this vow.

In sickness and in health.

Two houses.

Two people.

One contract.

One lifetime marriage and commitment.

I looked up.

My heart showered with countless droplets of adoration.

I kissed my future husband. “How is it possible that you keep making me love you more each day?”

His face shattered into tenderness.

Before he could reply, I scrawled my name and accepted everything—the past, the present, the future. The triumphs and tragedies. The deaths of good people. The demise of bad. The pain that’d ruled us for so long. And the treachery that allowed madness to rule.

But not anymore.

This was our new chapter.

Our new story.

And we would write every sentence together.

Nila Weaver.

Jethro Hawk.

Two houses.

One future...

...

One family.