Page 55 of Gilded

MALIA

I curl into Luka’s lap and cuddle close as he wraps me in one of his amazing hugs.

“Talk about a big day.” I sigh and lay my head on his shoulder.

“No joke.”

Silence falls between us, but this time it’s comfortable, and Luka’s joy touches me. “I feel you again. It’s so comforting.”

He kisses my head, and I stroke my hand across his arm before threading our fingers. “Is the barbed wire on your hands from the work camp?”

“Yes.”

“And the vengeance tattoo is for my father?”

“It’s for all traffickers. The ones I’ve killed and the ones I will continue to kill.” He pulls away a little. “That doesn’t bother you?”

I think about it for a second. “Are you sure you have the right person?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then the only thing that bothers me about it is the risk of you getting hurt or killed.”

“There’s never a guarantee, but we do extensive research, vet inside sources and plan for every pitfall.”

I nod and run my fingers over the ring on his thumb. The one I first saw at the dinner table. “The jewelry?”

“They’re pieces I’ve taken from traffickers and had redesigned into something new. They keep me focused when things are bleak and remind me of my mission.”

“Did you kill that Tabuni guy?”

“Yes.”

“How do you choose who to go after?”

“They mostly find us.”

“How?”

“This all started after I escaped the work camp. While I was trying to find my mother, I learned more and more about this business and its magnitude. I found more and more kids like me and freed the ones I could.

“My search for my mother gave me a rare skillset that was valuable to those looking for trafficked family members. Once we found the person we were looking for and rescued them, we went back and killed the traffickers who took and enslaved them so they couldn’t do it to someone else. My reputation grew over time.

“In Tabuni’s case, we were hired by a man whose child had been abducted by his men. When we found the kid, half my team took him back to the states and the other half brought the other twenty kids to uncorrupted authorities to get them home. We ended the night by blowing up Tabuni’s compound.”

“Wow,” I say breathlessly, impressed.

“To find the boy, we had to find the person who wanted to buy him and work backward, which led us to a wickedly sick and wealthy man with a twisted mind. Someone who is now at the top of our to-kill list. There’s no shortage of evil in this world.”

Pride and respect bloom in my chest. “You’re the complete opposite of who and what you said you were.”

He looks at me as an edge of darkness slides in. “I’m not a good guy, Malia. I may not kill innocent people, but I still kill people. My life is dark and dangerous and far less than you deserve.”

My heart drops a little. “Sounds like you’re trying to push me away, when you told me I’d always belong with you. Were you lying about that?”

“No. I do believe you belong with me, but that doesn’t mean you have to agree.

The fact is this is your life now. You belong where and with whoever you decide you belong with.

You’ve already missed out on a loving, safe childhood.

It’s time for you to really live. You should be out there making friends with people your own age.

Doing things that twenty-somethings do.”

Disappointment crowds my chest, and I lean away to look at him.

“I told you when we met that I’m nothing like people my own age.

I have no interest in shopping at expensive stores or getting my nails done every other day.

I wouldn’t mind making some friends, but so many of the people I’ve met who are my age are immature, self-absorbed, and spoiled.

And while those people may have their own struggles, none have faced a situation like mine.

Not only can’t I relate to them, I don’t want to.

“When I found out what my father did, I wanted to escape. After he killed Yari and gave me to Soren like I was nothing, I wanted revenge. And the more I learned, the more deeply I believed that I would spend the rest of my life repairing what my father broke.”

He’s rapt, his gaze never leaving mine. His focused attention makes me feel so…

valued. “So, while you believe your mission is to rid the world of traffickers, I believe mine is to help their victims piece their lives back together. So don’t tell me where I belong or what I should want.

I’ve known how I would spend the rest of my life from the moment he killed Yari.

And it’s a mission I want more than anything I could buy, any club I could go to, any alcohol I could drink, or any friend I could make. ”

He shakes his head. “You are fucking incredible .”

I smile. “That’s what I was just thinking about you.” When turbulence remains inside him, I ask, “Then why do you feel miserable?”

He strokes my cheek with a sigh. “I’m trying to decide which would hurt worse, losing you now or when you grow wings and decide you’re ready to fly away.”

I exhale in relief and turn my head to kiss his hand. “What if I grow wings and always return to you, like a homing pigeon?”

He smirks.

“I spent the night trying to figure out how to know if what I feel for you is real or just a byproduct of our situation. I don’t know enough about relationships to know if this will last long term, but what I do know for certain is that I’ll never find anyone who understands me the way you do.

“Even when you thought I was as evil as my father, you’ve protected me, and you’ve risked your mission and your life doing it.

Every time I needed you, you were there, regardless of the consequences.

After twenty-one years of having no one in my corner, I know I want to spend the next twenty-one years with someone who has my back. ”

He cups my face and kisses me. “It’s important for you to understand that even if you’re with me, you’re also completely and utterly free to live whatever life you want. And while I’ll always be protective, I will never, never keep you somewhere you don’t want to be.”

My chest is so full, it aches. I run my fingertips over the stubble on his jaw.

“I’ve been starved for love my entire life, but this is more than I ever hoped for.

The way I feel about you isn’t logical, but I’ve often heard people say the heart wants what it wants.

Something I didn’t understand until right now. ”

“I want to show you all life has to offer,” he tells me with a soft smile. “Watch you grow and change and experience all the amazing things you deserve.”

“I don’t know much about relationships,” I tell him, “and we may have a lot to learn about each other, some things to get past, but I really do love you.”

He looks at me like no one has ever looked at me before, and I find myself wondering how I lived without it all my life.

“You have no idea how many times I wished I would hear those words from you.” He takes my face in both hands and presses his forehead to mine. “I love you too, baby.” He kisses me. “So much.”