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“No, sir.”
His brow arched up.
My face burned up, and I kicked myself. This wasn’t my boss, for god’s sake! He’s my husband. He’s my Castle, only...
He wasn’t.
“I mean, no.”
He just had this aura that was making me a mumbling mess.
Before Castle could open his smart mouth again, I said, “Listen, Castle...I understand that this is not what you expected, but Devin forced this marriage on us.”
“I know.” He said.
I continued, “But I accepted it wholeheartedly,”because I love you.“This wasn’t just an obligation from my side, neither was it from yours. I’m not sure how much you remember, but it would be very unfair of me to expect you to love me the way I love you.” I had to lay it all out and be honest with him.
His whiskey eyes leveled with mine; I felt the weight of his scrutinizing stare. I sighed.
Keeping my head held high, I said. “I may not be of your social standing; I was only an employee looking after you, buttook my duty as your wife very seriously. If you want a divorce, I completely understand.”
The tears almost blinded me, filling my eyes to the brim. I swiped them quickly, embarrassed that I’d let him see them.
Castle said nothing for a few seconds and then he was walking towards me in those same confident strides. He stopped in front of me and took my hands in his. He brought them to his lips and kissed my knuckles, his fingers tracing over the small ring. “Is this all I could give you? This ring is a shame, and Devin is an asshole. For that fall you took from the speeding car, you deserve an eight-carat diamond emerald.”
My Castle had humor. I laughed as I let the tears fall freely. They weren’t lying. He was charming.
I looked up at him as he swiped the tears with the pad of his thumb.
“Do you remember everything? I don’t mean just your memories, but the time that we spent together. I mean...do you remember me?”
“It’s coming to me. Piece by piece, one memory after the other. I remembered when I first woke up in the hospital, but it wasn’t quite there. When we were in the car, it was a tsunami of memories flooding through my mind. When I looked at you, I couldn’t recall who you were until it slowly made sense.”
He brushed a few loose tendrils of my hair behind my ear. “Judging by the way you’re looking at me, and shaking like a leaf,” he said with a grin, “I’m guessing you thought I was some kind of monster like Devin. Regardless, I have two choices for you. First, you can have a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. I’ll take the blame and give you the house inBeverly Hills,which belonged to my mother. I’ll also ensure you receive a hefty divorce settlement that will let you live the rest of your life in comfort without having to work. Thisalso means you’ll be far from this mess; you wouldn’t need to worry about anything regarding me or the family.”
It was an option I would have taken happily if I hadn’t fallen in love with him.
“Castle—” I started.
He raised his hand, cutting me off. “Let me finish. My second option is for you to continue to live with me as my wife, but in doing so, you’re going to be exposed to any amount of danger my family poses in the future. While I promise to protect you from them, I know they will continue to target you to get to me.” He said, “I can’t have you become my weakness, Millie. I don’t want anyone to hold leverage against me.”
“I want to stay with you, fight with you, and I promise not to come between whatever you’re planning. This is what I want, to continue to be your wife and support you.”
He smiled, pleased with what he’d heard.
“What doyouwant, Castle?”
“I want you here with me.” He said simply, caressing my cheek.
A weight seemed to have lifted from my shoulders. All those days that I had spent thinking about how we could get out of this situation unscathed, I hadn’t been able to sleep at nights as I had been constantly worried about Devin’s next move and how I could protect Castle.
The Castle right now didn’t need any protection.
This time, he would protect me.
There were so many things I wanted to ask him, so many questions that needed answers to. His family history, the mysterious death of his parents, and if he remembered who drowned him that night during the boating accident.
He pulled me into a hug, and I buried my face in his chest, so relieved he was here. His touch was tender, and the heat of his fingers burned through my skin.