Page 148 of Illicit Games

“I l-love you, Kian,” she mumbles against my chest. “Don’t end us. Please. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

“Shh,” I console her. “It’s okay.”

“No! It’s not. I hurt you, even if my intentions were pure. I’m no better than Nathan.”

Inside our bedroom, I slip into the bed. Her arms loop around my shoulders, afraid to let me go.

“Don’t go,” she begs.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promise to her, tugging the blanket over us so she’s warm and protected. I pull her flush against me, kissing the top of her head. “Nor am I ever letting you go. We’ll get through this. It’s just a fight.”

She continues to shake and sniffle. Lifting her leg, I place it over my hip to hold her tighter and rub her back up and down. Until the tremors die down, her breathing turning normal.

“I love you. Tell me you believe me,” she says in a timid and broken voice.

“I do,” I answer truthfully.

“And that I trust you.”

“I know.” If she didn’t, she never would’ve moved in with me. My girl isn’t malicious. “I don’t want secrets between us, Iris. I want you to be able to come to me and talk about anything. I won’t be mad or disregard your feelings and concerns. We’ll fix whatever it is together.”

“I was waiting for it all to be over,” she explains. “They made me sign an NDA. I didn’t want to risk it. It didn’t take me long to realize they were looking for the smallest reason to pin the blame on you. I’m as protective of you as you are of me, Kian.”

Oh, how I know it.

It’s why I can’t be mad at her.

“You’re not going to keep things from me, Rainbow. Do you understand?”

She nods, tilting her head to look me in the eye as she vows, “Never again. I promise.”

“You’re nothing like Nathan,” I fiercely tell her, running my fingers through her hair and cupping her jaw. “You didn’t purposely hurt me. Don’t ever compare yourself to him or anyone else. You have the purest heart and it's mine. I’m sorry for walking away from you tonight.”

“I was terrified my mistake would break us.”

“I might ask for space, but I’ll never let you go.” Kissing her temple, I curl my arm around her waist. “I meant when I said that nothing can tear us apart.”

“I believe it now.”

“Sleep now,” I softly order, hating that I made us go to bed hurt and sad before. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Kian?” Her voice carries a hesitant note in the darkness, making my body go rigid.

“Yeah?”

“I talked to one of the detectives today.”

My grip around her tightens, sensing whatever she’s about to share will make me go on a rampage. “Tell me.”

“I have a gut feeling that it was Arjun and Vicky who hurt me and the girls.”

In a flash, I peel myself away from her lush body to stare down at her. “Start from the beginning, Iris. Tell me everything, once and for all.”

Chapter Forty

Iris

It’s around noon when I wake up the next day, alone between the rumpled sheets.