Page 66 of His Asset
“I don’t doubt that.The facility poisons the souls of those imprisoned there.It’s not a place where anyone would flourish.”
I swallowed hard, my vision blurring.Would my father have lived if he’d been given his freedom?Would my mother still be here if he had?
“Are you all right?”he asked gently.
I nodded, though tears threatened to spill.It was beyond time for a subject change.“Angel doesn’t wear an ankle cuff.Aren’t you afraid she’ll leave?”
His eyes softened.“Angel is free to leave whenever she wishes.I know how selfish it sounds, but I kept your cuff on so that you couldn’t escape and until I felt you were old enough to be told the truth about...everything.”
“So it wasn’t just about intimacy?”I asked.
His thumb stopped tracing my jawline, his gaze intensifying as his eyes held mine.“The trauma you went through would have crippled anyone else.I thought twelve months of peace and tranquility, of healing your body and mind while building trust and earning your respect would give you enough time before I told you everything I knew...everything I felt.”
I looked away, my cheeks heating.My instincts had told me to escape.They’d rarely been wrong...or so I’d thought.But they’d been wrong about him.Wrong about everything.I’d run from the one person who truly saw me, truly protected me.
I shook my head.“I’d always thought I couldn’t be with you because you were a big part of what went on in the labs.I wished I’d known how wrong I’d been.”
His fingertips glided along my tight jawline.“And I wish I could have told you the truth, but it wasn’t possible.I had to sacrifice my own wants for the wants of too many others.”
I nodded, my heart wrenching for him.“I understand.”
His voice went hoarse when he asked, “Do I dare believe I’m no longer the villain in your story?”
A laugh slipped out, breathless and light, as I looped my arms around his neck.You’re the hero, a little morally gray perhaps, but I wouldn’t want you any other way.”
His eyes gleamed.“I’d kill for you.”
I nodded.“Youhavekilled for me.”
I thought again of the three scientists he’d destroyed for me.Then the six bodies he’d disposed of.The evidence of how far he’d go to protect me.I brushed my hand down his chest, making him groan.I smiled.“I should probably go before Angel sends a search party.”
He clasped my hand, his expression serious.“Don’t go.Stay here with me.Share my rooms—my life.”
My stomach fluttered, along with my pulse.“You really mean that, don’t you?”
He rolled over, his momentum pushing me onto my back and him on top looking down at me.
“I do,” he said huskily.His cock prodded against my stomach, reminding me of his vitality, his powerful masculinity.His primal needs.Then he added, “One day I hope you’ll repeat those same two words back to me.”
I gaped, my pulse now hammering even as joy pierced through me.I might still be a little naïve, but I’d seen more than a few weddings in my screen time—love had always fascinated me—knew the vows spoken between people.“Marriage?”I breathed.“Y-you want to m-marry me?”
“It would make my life complete,” he said huskily.
To think I’d believed my feelings for him were doomed.We were always meant to be together, even if it’d taken me far too long to know it.
He kissed me again before I managed to answer, sweeping me up in the moment and proving yet again he was no longer my master, just a man who’d loved me all along.