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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

NASH

What the hell was I thinking? Not even in a sudden storm can I hide from this.

I’m soaking wet and absolutely sure … I won’t let Vale go again.

I can’t see her suffer and not fight to fix it. I can’t listen to her murder songs in my car and not fall even deeper in love with her. I can’t feel her trembling hand on my shoulder, trusting me to protect her and not need it there for the rest of my life.

Even if it’s a short one.

The Queen was right. It is a mandate, and it’s not hers.

It’s my heart telling me I have no choice. I can’t deny it anymore. Even if I tried, there would be too many times I’d see Vale, probably with Alena, and our pain would be so overwhelming my daughter would see it. She has a big heart, just like her mom.

I’ve raised Alena with love, so she’ll want me to have it, too. She’ll accept me and Vale one day … I hope .

I call Axel with my change of plans. “We’ll stay at the marina until this system passes. And yes, I’ve found my queen.”

“Told you.”

What the fuck? This asshole barely gloats?

It’s not like him, and suddenly, I know it. “And you’ve found yours, too, you sneaky piece of shit.”

Normally, Axel would run my admission up a flag pole and let his victory whip in the wind for weeks, but he hardly blows out a candle on his victory cake about Vale.

“Who is she?” I demand an answer because this is monumental. After all Axel suffered over his first queen, I didn’t think he’d ever love again.

“Grant’s in the clear.” I hit a nerve, and he changes the subject. “No internal damage, just some wicked bruising.” Wait for the rage. “We’re going to rip the last pieces of that fucker apart when we find him.”

“We did so much damage already,” I reply, “he could’ve drowned.”

“We don’t operate on luck. Clearly. I can’t believe Grant let his guard down.”

“He feared we were losing our asset. We always check a pulse.”

I can see how it happened; Turner’s that sneaky, too. He acted like he was dying from his wounds, drawing Grant close enough to where he could go for his gun. Even with a bullet-proof vest on, firing at close range will knock any man down. It was enough time for Turner to escape. But I doubt anyone who jumps in a river in Turner’s condition could survive. The gators alone could kill him.

But Axel’s right. We run on intel, not doubts and luck.

It’s not luck that Turner doesn’t know the identities of the men who abducted and interrogated him. The numbers on Axel’s boat trace back to a bogus LLC; the same is true for mine. We wear masks. We use numbers, not names. I’m still the only one exposed—me and Vale.

If Turner is alive, we’re the bait he’ll come after.

“Alena?” Axel asks. “The other queens?”

“Secure. The Queen?”

“With Grant.” Axel seethes, “And she wants blood.”

“She’ll get it,” I promise before Axel ends our call.

Going after a man like Turner is personal for Nadine, so it’s personal for us. Not killing him immediately was a strategic risk. His intel was too valuable. She doesn’t just want the man in charge; she wants his entire network, including the buyers. The kind of men who kidnapped, sold, and bought her at fourteen.

They’re the kind of men who, if they find Vale, will rip my heart from my chest if they hurt her. They’ll?—

“What are these?”

Her voice turns my gaze to see her standing at the top of the galley steps with sunglasses in her trembling hand.

Oh, fuck. She found my trophy.

Now, they’re my judge and jury.

“Why do you have my ex-boyfriend’s sunglasses on your boat?” she presses.

“Was he your ex-boyfriend,” I ask calmly, “or your nightmare?”

“He… he,” she stammers. She’s adding it up. “I haven’t seen him in years.”

I answer with silence.

Her eyes flare, disbelieving, “Did you?—”

“What have I always told you, Vale?”

“But I…” She backs away. “I just thought you?—”

“You thought I wasn’t a beast when I told you I was?” I approach her. “Believe it when someone shows you who they are.”

She steps back, fumbling for the boat’s edge. “So that means you… You killed?—”

“He was a monster, Vale.”

She stammers, dropping his glasses in the water like any piece of him still burns her. “So… so what are you?”

“I’m worse. I’m your beast who killed him.”

The white fiberglass is slippery in the soft rain, but it doesn’t stop her. She starts climbing over. “I don’t… I don’t want to think about him. I don’t?—”

“Vale, come back.” I reach for her, but she jerks away, stumbling onto the dock.

“I… I don’t know who you are,” she huffs, turning to run.

“Yes, you do.”

I jump out of the boat and chase after her. She can’t escape me. She can’t escape this truth. Not anymore. We need to talk about this. She doesn’t make it twenty feet down the slick dock before I grab her arm and whip her around.

“You know what I’ll do for you. You know who I am,” I growl, “and I know who he was.”

Her beautiful face twists with agony, fighting the memory, but the terrifying trauma fills her grey eyes. Gentle rain mists her alabaster cheeks, flushing with pain as her giant tears fall.

They fucking kill me.

Her pain is my poison.

“I know how he hurt you, Vale,” I confess. “Alena told me years after, and god knows if I had known, I would’ve handled it the day after.” I soften my grip and tone. “It was your prom night, wasn’t it? I remember you coming to our house. I remember you crying to Alena. That’s why I made you breakfast the next morning. I knew something was wrong, but I figured you got in a fight with him and broke up. I’m sorry. I should have known and…”

More tears spill down her wet cheeks, her lips trembling, holding back her truth.

“You acted different after that night.” I’ll never forget it. It breaks my soul to remember, “Like he stole your light.”

“He stole my kiss,” she weeps before lifting her quivering chin, “but I got everything else back.”

I cup her cheeks, pressing my forehead to hers. “He was going to do it again. It was Alena’s twenty-first birthday. I was at the bar that night. I knew he was stalking you, and I watched him roofie your drink. You weren’t his only victim, we found out. But I swear to god I made sure there would be no more.”

Her eyes search mine, remembering, “But I thought I got blackout drunk that night.”

“You did. He made sure of it. But Axel made sure Alena got you home safely while I made sure Chad never hurt you or another woman again.”

She blinks, her tears still falling and mixing with the rain.

I can’t read the look in her stormy grey eyes. It frightens me, and that’s rare. That’s love. I can’t lose her. I can’t let her go.

“Do you hate me now?” I ask. “Do you really think I’m a monster, too?”

“No.” She blinks, pausing way too long before answering softly, “Give it back to me.”

“What?” I ask tenderly.

I’m confused.

“My kiss.” She lifts her lips to mine. “Give it back to me, Nash. Only you can.”