Page 112 of Forbidden Empire

Slow and soft, right on the lips. Let it build. Let it settle. And then I gave him the answer he’d been waiting for, the answer I’d been carrying around since the start.

The truth. The real, messy, beautiful truth.

“Hasn’t it always been about us, Aidon?” I said.

I couldn’t help smiling, even if it was a little wistful.

His eyes lit up every shadow and corner I’d tried to hide for so long.

“I don’t see anyone else here,” he said, grinning, like the cat who got the cream.

“Neither do I.” I kissed him again, this time longer, slower. “Honestly? I hope it stays that way.”

He smirked, kissed my forehead, and pulled me in like he was never letting go.

“Me, too, babe. Me too. I’m all yours.”

And just like that, I drifted off in his arms.

Safe.

Secure.

Surrendered.

Twenty-Two

AIDON

Our caravan cut through the Nevada desert, kicking up clouds of crimson dust in our wake. Five black SUVs, headlights extinguished, snaked along the back roads of Red Rock Canyon.

Even in darkness, we cast an imposing silhouette against the dusty pink hills. The stars hung overhead by the millions. It was a stark contrast to the artificial glow of the Strip I'd left behind.

Blue Diamond might only be thirty minutes from Vegas, but hugging these rugged mountain foothills under a blanket of stars, we might as well have been on another planet. Every element of our approach had been planned.

Rhea wouldn't see us coming until it was too late.

Her compound was a fortress of technological might. Her security rivaled military installations with motion sensors embedded in the perimeter, thermal imaging that could detect a coyote at five hundred yards, and guards who moved with the precision of former special forces.

We'd decimated her ranks in our last encounter, but I had no illusions. By now, she'd have recruited twice as many men, each one deadlier than the previous. This was Rhea's talent: building impenetrable walls around herself, layer upon calculated layer.

Rhea's compound rose from the desert like a fortress, all steel, silicone, and security systems that would make the Pentagon jealous. She'd escaped us once. That wouldn't happen again.

As we approached, I pictured my hands around her throat, her pulse fluttering beneath my thumbs as realization dawned in her eyes. Her empire would fall tonight, payment for the bodies she'd left scattered behind her.

But I wasn't the only one with a score to settle. We were all sharks in these waters, circling for the kill.

Zeno was a powder keg ready to detonate. The man hadn't slept in days, his eyes bloodshot and wild. Rhea was just the target he needed.

Thal saw this as his chance for glory. Taking down Rhea would cement his reputation and feed that insatiable ego of his.

Then there was Esme. The bruises on her ribs had faded, but I'd caught her wincing when she thought no one was watching.

She'd spent hours in my penthouse gym, learning to throw punches that could break bones. This wasn't her usual game.

She was a chess player, not a boxer, someone who destroyed opponents without ever throwing a punch.

Yet there she'd been in my gym, hammering the heavy bag with such precision that Ares, a man who'd killed with his bare hands, had watched her with newfound respect. The woman who once wielded only words now moved with the lethal intent of someone who'd tasted their own blood.