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Her eyes twinkle. “And also…”

I kiss her head. “Also?”

“I’ve recently embraced a philosophy of harm reduction. Which means I’m planning on manipulating you for the good of humanity.”

Laughter rumbles from my chest. “Good luck with that. Although, I think if anyone could do it, it would be you.”

My hand moves over her shoulder and down her side, settling on the side of her big, beautiful ass. My cock jerks.

I need her now.

Water sloshes everywhere as I pick her up and lift her out of the tub. Her wet skin slips against mine, and her arms wind around my neck. She laughs as I carry her through the bathroom and into the bedroom.

“Again? Are you sure you have the…stamina?”

I scoff. “Have you felt my cock?”

I toss her onto the bed and lower my body on top of hers. I push inside her in one thrust, and she cries out.

I’m not in the mood for making love right now. This will be a good hard fuck.

I pound into her again and again. The feel of her slippery skin against mine is heaven, but I want to see her too. I twist onto my back, bringing her with me. After lifting her hips in the air, I spear her down on my cock. “Oh, that’s good,” she moans.

She rocks back and forth, and those big tits bounce. She’s so beautiful when she’s fucking me. Her eyes alight like wildfire—reckless, radiant, impossible to contain—and for a moment, the world feels vivid enough to deserve her.

My gut clenches and then explodes with pleasure. My come shoots into her, and I can enjoy it because she’s on birth control now.

A while later, we’re lying in each other’s arms—the damp from the bath now soaked into the blankets. Her leg is draped over mine, her fingers tracing shapes on my chest.

“I used to know a girl.” My words surprise even me. I wasn’t planning on telling her about this yet.

It’s all still too raw for her—finding out who her dad really is. I shouldn’t yet be telling her that such a dark part of her past is what saved me.

Ava lifts her head. “Yeah?”

My eyes are fixed on the ceiling. “I was six. Remember that man I told you about who read to me when I was sick?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her nod.

“He had a daughter. A little girl who used to play with me. You remind me of her.”

Her fingers still. “What was she like?”

I let out a breath. “It was so long ago, I hardly remember. But I know how I felt when I was with her. Safe. Free. Loved, even. I was too young to know anything about The Four Hundred, but I knew…that things weren’t okay. That my dad was preparing me to take care of myself because no one else would.”

“Oh, Damian.” Ava searches my face. “What happened to her?”

She’s still tracing shapes on my chest when I go quiet. I shouldn’t tell her. Not now.

But I want to.

God, I want her to know.

I stare at the ceiling for a long moment. “That island… The one you told me about. The private one in the Caribbean.”

A notch forms between her brows. “You mean where my dad took us? I’ve thought about that too recently. The rich man was obviously someone in The Four Hundred. I never actually met him.” She rolls her eyes. “He supposedly went to our church, but I never saw him, and he was never there on our summer trips. It’s all starting to make sense, and I feel so stup?—”

“No, the rich man was your father, Ava. I’m almost certain that island was the Sacred Light’s compound.”