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“Celia, what are you doing here?” I ask, surprised by her presence at Heaven’s Gate. I fold the sheets of paper in my hand, pocketing them before she notices that my hands are shaking in fear.
She walks deeper inside the study at Heaven’s Gate observing me carefully.
I wish she weren’t here and I had a little more time to understand the threatening notes I just found in my father’s study. Why were my father and brother being threatened? And one of the notes specifically stated that whoever was after them was threatening to destroy the Kittridge line—which means me, and now my son too!
I clench my fists hard to stop the trembling that just won’t stop. I shouldn’t have come here. My father and brother were horrible human beings and now because of my inability to stay away, I may have made the biggest mistake of my life. Why did I even attend their funeral? I should never have allowed Gabe to convince me to pay them my last respects; they definitely didn’t deserve even a modicum of respect from me. I hate that I had to lie to Aaliya to come here. And now, finally, after five years, I will have to tell her everything because of this huge fucking responsibility that I don’t want but has fallen on my head.
I just want to leave and go to her right now, but I can’t. I need a few days to think how to handle this estate, which is now a burden on me. And after finding these notes I can’t let anyone know about Aaliya and Rian and what they mean to me.
My brain still cannot comprehend that my father and brother may not have met with an accident. They were being threatened, which means that they could have been murdered. And I can’t stay behind here to even find out because I have to return to Aaliya and Rian. I cannot put them in any danger. Not right now, not ever!
“Damien, what’s wrong?” Celia asks, taking a step closer to me.
I focus back on her. She is watching me with that trademark glacial expression on her face that makes the hair on my arms rise.
I thought the last five years would have softened her somehow, perhaps even changed her. But no, she’s as cold and detached as ever. Despite the fact that David, my brother—her fiancé—passed away, she looks calm, unruffled and so very collected. Like his death didn’t matter to her in the least.
“Why are you here, Celia?” Ignoring her question, I query her instead. “Did you want something?”
“I wanted to meet you, to convince you to stay,” she replies, gazing at me.
I cluck my tongue, annoyance filtering out of me. “Like I already told you at their funeral, I won’t stay. I’m leaving in two days. This is not my life anymore.”
Her forehead puckers. “You are a Duke now, Damien. You can’t leave all this behind. This is all your responsibility.”
“Then I will ensure someone runs it for me in my absence.”
“What?” she gasps. “You can’t do that. This is all yours. You have to accept your title and everything that goes with it.”
“Well, I don’t want it. I want nothing to do with all this.”
She takes a tentative step towards me, splaying a hand out. “And yet, all this is yours. This Dukedom always was supposed to be yours, never David’s, isn’t it?”
I jerk back, my eyes widening. “What? Who told you that?”
She gives me a sly smile. “I know things, Damien. And looking at your shocked expression, it’s clear as day that you know too.” Celia angles her head studying me. “Actually, I even know that you know. Oh my God! Is that why you disappeared?”
I school my expression refusing to comment on that. As it is, she knows way too much. I refuse to give her any more ammunition, which, knowing her, she will use against me.
“I tried calling you, Damien,” she steps closer, “So many times. Where did you go?” Her face falls. “I needed you and you weren’t here for me.”
When I remain silent, she straightens up. “You can’t leave.”
I raise a brow. “I guess you’ll just watch me do exactly that then.”
I sling my laptop bag across my chest.
Just as I cross Celia, she turns and her hand latches onto my arm, holding it tight. “I won’t let you leave. You see, I’m free now, finally free. And you are the Duke. You and I can rule the world with that title. Leaving you was a mistake and one I intend to rectify. Give me another chance, Damien!”
Bloody hell! We just lowered my father and brother into their graves, not two days ago, and here she is, bartering herself to me for a chance at the title of Duchess. She is unbelievable!
“Release. My. Arm.” My eyes rage with fire.
Seeing the fury spilling out of me, Celia releases her vise like hold on me.
My phone buzzes and I remove it and check the caller. Aaliya!
I immediately disconnect the call. I cannot talk to her in front of Celia. I want Aaliya and Rian to remain away from the chaos of this life. I want them safe always.
“Damien, don’t go. Be with me. I can protect you in ways you can’t believe and I can’t explain. All that I can say is please stay here and don’t leave.”
Her words give me pause. Is she threatening me or warning me?
“Protect me from whom?”
“Your father and brother were evil and terrible. Have you considered that they...” she pauses considering me carefully until her jaw firms and she says, “they may have not been in an accident...”
Good God! I push my hand inside my pocket, running my fingers over the threatening notes I’d placed inside moments after Celia had arrived.
“What are you trying to tell me? Were they killed?”
She clamps her mouth shut and continues to stare at me.
“God, Celia! What have you gotten yourself involved in? My father and David were rotten, I know. But killing them? How could you?”
Her face contorts with pain. “You don’t know what I’ve been through, so don’t you dare judge me. And I wasn’t the one who killed them.”
Fear clogs my throat, but I push past it. I need to learn as much as I can so when I leave, I know exactly who to protect my family from.
“That doesn’t mean you don’t know who did. It sounds like you were complicit in the plan to have them out of your way. Why?”
“It wasn’t just me. They wronged another too. They took something from someone else—something that person could never recover from.”
“Who?”
“Stay with me, Damien. Marry me and I will tell you everything. Let me protect you. I don’t want you to be the next victim. Please don’t go...not right now!”
Next victim!
Horror slashes through me. I need to get away from her. She’s mad. She’s talking about killing and death like it’s a normal occurrence for her. What has happened to her in the last five years?
No. I don’t want to know.
“I can’t stay, Celia. I have to go.”
“Damien please...”
Ignoring her, I check the time. I have to meet Gabriel in three hours and discuss with him everything I’ve learnt. I need his help to sort things here before I go back. It is now imperative that I return to India as soon as I can and perhaps then disappear once and for all.
So, I march out the study door, hell bent on leaving this miserable existence and return to where I’ve been happy and carefree for the first time in my whole life. And it’s all because of Aaliya—my wife and the love of my life.
I jerk upright on my bed, my breath rushing hard and fast out of my lungs, and my heart pounding in my chest. I wipe a clammy hand across my face, breathing in and out.
That dream! It was real. I’m well aware that I had conversed with Celia moments before I’d left Heaven’s Gate and met with an accident that had caused my memory loss. Most probably, all the notes I had found in Heaven’s Gate were destroyed in the accident too. Which must be why I didn’t know of them until I found similar ones in my father’s study in the London mansion, that very same day I’d learned that Aaliya was my wife.
But now, I remember them and this conversation—via a dream.
I look around the dark and unfamiliar room in my home in Mumbai and switch on the night lamp on my bedside. Aaliya is fast asleep beside me. Even in repose, she looks worn out with the dark circles deep around her closed eyes. I had fallen asleep next to her the moment my head had touched the pillow. After being awake for more than twenty hours, ensuring that I cared for Rian while Aaliya had as much rest as possible during our long journey, I’d been more than exhausted.
Climbing off the bed, I head inside the en-suite bathroom. Just as I splash cold water on my face, the lights go off enclosing me in pitch darkness. My heartbeat accelerates until I reassure myself that the generator would kick in within seconds.
The generator would kick in?
Fuck! Suddenly, I remember with startling clarity the rare electricity cuts I’ve faced while living in Mumbai. And sure enough, the lights turn back on that very second. I gaze at my reflection in the mirror and the man staring at me is my old self, the one with the thick beard and glasses—my persona while I lived here. I blink and that man vanishes and I’m staring back at myself, the water sluicing down my face.
I lean against the vanity with both hands thinking of the vivid memory that flashed in my dream. What did Celia mean that the Dukedom was always supposed to be mine? What was it that I knew and have forgotten? Who had my father and brother wronged? What had they taken away from that person—most certainly their killer—that had ultimately led to their death?
Stay with me, Damien. Marry me and I will tell you everything. Let me protect you. I don’t want you to be the next victim. Please don’t go...not right now!
Had she been warning me to not get into the car? Did she know that my accident was planned? I sigh. The answer to that question is most likely a yes.
Scenes from that memory play like a loop in my head until my head starts to ache from all the pressure I’m putting myself through.
“Hey, are you okay?” Aaliya peeks inside the bathroom door I had left ajar.
I swivel to face her and she slowly makes her way to me, the black silk of her short, strappy nightgown swishing against her thighs as she walks. Upon reaching me, she picks up a napkin and pats my face dry.
“What happened?” she asks, her voice edged with concern.
“I had a dream. Only it wasn’t just a dream, it was a memory.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.” I gulp out. “Not right now. Maybe later, when I can make more sense of everything.”
“Alright, come to bed then.” She rises on tiptoes and lowers my mouth to hers.
Our lips touch and a zing goes through me. I jerk back.
Fuck! This woman still has this damn effect on me.
She looks at me with wide eyes, the same shocked expression reflected in her dark orbs. She reaches for me the same time I grab hold of her face and then we are both out of control. We kiss ravenously like we have been deprived of each other. And we have. Her tongue sweeps inside my mouth and I groan, digging my hands into her hair to hold her in place as she lays siege to my mouth. My body hardens and swells as I allow her to do what she wants with my mouth and lips until I can’t take it anymore.
Swooping down, I lift her off her feet and place her on the vanity in front of me. I crush her mouth under mine, kissing, sucking, laving and it’s not enough. I’ve not had her in days and in the craziness going on in my life, she’s always been the only one who manages to make me forget everything. And right now, that’s what I want—to forget every damn problem I have for a few blessed moments and lose myself completely in her.
Her hands wrap around my back and Aaliya pulls me closer to her until our bodies are flush against one another. She rubs her core against my erection while my mouth inches down her chin and her jaw. My lips skate down to the delightful curve of her shoulder where I bite and suck until she moves faster, undulating against me, needing me as much as I need her. My hands coast across the silky skin of her thighs, going higher and higher to that place of hers where I know she’s aching for me, just like I am aching for her.
Goddammit! My mind begins to blank out as pleasure starts spiraling against the very edge of my senses. Tugging the strap of her nightgown down her shoulder with one hand, my mouth latches onto her peaking nipple and I swirl my tongue over it, while my other hand finds her core and presses against it.
Aaliya moans and I suck harder. I enter her with one finger and she squirms. Her hands clutch my head tight, holding me in place as I pleasure one breast first and then the other, adding another finger to her velvety core. My fingers move in and out of her center and she shatters around me in seconds, her voice hoarse as she yells my name.
Fuck! This woman, she drives me insane. I can never get enough of her.
I wrap my arms around her and yank her to me, holding her tight and kissing her lips again. Her harsh gasp of pain reaches my ears and I take an involuntary step back.
“Shit! Aaliya, are you alright?” I gasp out.
“Yeah, there was a little pain when you pulled me like that, but come back here. You can make it all go away.” She smiles, reaching for me again. But this time, I step back and rake my hands through my hair.
“No! I can’t, Aaliya.” Guilt surges through me. “You were shot only recently and I forgot. How could I forget that? I was behaving selfish right now, needing you to escape the demons haunting me, when I should have been looking out for you. You haven’t even healed; you’ve barely slept and I was ravaging you like a beast.”
She cups my face with one hand. “You didn’t do a single thing I didn’t want. You can take me, Damien. I’m yours.”
I rest my forehead against hers, breathing in that exotic scent of hers that I love so much. “Aaliya my mind is a warzone right now. And if I take you, it won’t be gentle. It will be rough and hard and I don’t want you to be hurt. I can’t see you in pain.”
“You can never hurt me with your love making, Damien. Do you know that for five years you were nothing but sweet and tender while we made love?” At my frown, she continues, “It’s only now once you lost your memory that I saw the real you, the man who can be both gentle and rough and I...I love it. I love both sides of you. So, make me yours again. It’s been too long!”
I shift my head to kiss her palm.
“Tonight, you need to rest,” I tell her.
Aaliya pouts and I put a finger on her lips halting the argument ready to spill from her mouth. “No, baby! I’m not going anywhere. Once you are better, I will give you what you want. But you need to recover first.”
She scowls, but I capture her hand in mine and lead her back to the bed where I pull her against me, and fall asleep with her in my arms.
