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Serenity

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

"You're very quiet," I say as the driver takes us home.

He hasn't touched me since we got into the car, which is unusual. Ares can’t seem to go long without having his hands on some part of me: neck, shoulders, hair, knees. Wherever we are, he makes me feel like I belong to him.

Today, however, it seems that an invisible barrier has formed between us.

No, not today. Only now, from the time we left Eleanor’s house, because the entire time since the incident following my comeback performance, he has been nothing but passionate and protective.

Although the night was full of ups and downs, in the end, my birthday celebration was the best one yet. The girls made an album for me, with photos from my childhood—the same ones that I didn't even get to look at when Ares handed me the box that Mr. Van Lith entrusted to him. I did read the letters from my parents. They were both written in a tone of farewell, as if they knew they would die young. They made me sad, so I put the rest of the items in the box back to check later.

I feel really bad that I don't have any emotional connection to either of them. I looked at the first photo in the album that my friends put together, and it was as if they were handing me the images of a trio of strangers. Me, still a baby, in the laps of the people who gave me life.

"You didn’t like the gift?" he asks, instead of responding to my statement.

"Which one?" Ares gave me a set of jewelry—earrings and a bracelet—and now that I know he's the one who chooses them, they hold a lot more weight for me.

"Everything, but the album, mainly."

I shrug. "I'm afraid you'll judge me if I give you a sincere answer."

"Say it."

"It's like looking at photographs of strangers."

"You don’t have any memories of when they were alive?"

"No. My only memory, the only face I remember, is JeAnne's."

He puts his hand on my knee, and I shiver. Proof that I'm becoming dependent on his affection.

I look out the window, pretending not to notice the contact and that it doesn't shake me.

I want to get into his lap, to say that I love him, but I won't risk being rejected. I don't know what's changed, but perhaps he's finally starting to realize that it's been much longer than the amount of time he usually spends with his women and that he should put an end to us. If that's the case, I won't humiliate myself. I'll accept what he says and stay away. It will have to be like this, or I don't know how I will survive.

Ares

I open the door to my apartment and let her pass. "Do you want to go to bed?" I ask.

Maybe I shouldn't take her now but talk instead. However, how can I tell the woman I love that her entire life may have been a sham? If what Nashon said is true, she is not Serenity Clementine Blanchet; she is someone else.

But who?

Back at Eleanor's house, I gathered everyone in Madison's stepmother's library and told them about what Nashon concluded. I also called Odin. We have an intricate puzzle on our hands, and no one is better equipped than my cousin to solve it.

"I . . ."

"I need to have you, Serenity, so make a decision, or I'm going to fuck you right now, at the dinner table."

She swallows hard. "I am yours." She repeats what she has already told me several times, and each time, she achieves the same result: she breaks my madness.

I undress her in silence and, kneeling at her feet, pull down her jeans and panties, getting rid of her sandals halfway through.

I stand up, taking a step back. "I want the blouse off. Let me see what's mine."

I barely notice my clothes forming a pile on the floor. Shoes and socks are discarded too. In seconds, I'm naked, needing her, needing to possess my woman, to keep the chaos away from both of us.

I don't care who she is. I don't give a fuck where she came from. Serenity will always be mine.

I lay her down on the table and bring her legs to my shoulders. I kiss the inside of her thighs, feeling the satin skin with my fingertips. I lightly nibble her flesh, marking her with my teeth and tongue.

I knead her breasts with one hand. They are heavy with excitement. I lean over and take one in my mouth, licking and sucking.

I caress her sex, testing the moisture. Her clitoris is hard—my Serenity is crazy with lust.

I grab the sides of her waist and fit into her opening as I take her lips with mine. I slide the swollen head of my cock past her entrance, and she moans. No matter how many times I fuck her, Serenity is deliciously tight.

In one movement, I penetrate her in a deep thrust. She moans loudly, panting.

Her pussy is hot and wet, and I can't resist pounding into her hard. I ride her like an animal, the position allowing me to go very deep.

She is so wet that she soaks my balls every time I enter her body.

I increase the strength and rhythm of my thrusts. "Touch your pussy while I fuck you."

She obeys me, screaming with pleasure, and I thrust hard, without control, hammering into her sex.

Serenity tightens around me, and my cock pulses, swelling, wanting release.

I fuck her relentlessly for several minutes, bite and lick her nipples, and she starts to twitch.

I feel the orgasm approaching, like a powerful avalanche.

I grab her shoulders, levering her, pulling her towards me, pounding into her in an intense rhythm. "This little pussy was born to be fucked by my dick."

I rotate my hips, testing the spots inside her body that give her the most pleasure, teasing her.

I pull almost all the way out and make her welcome me over and over again.

She whimpers, begging to come; I give her what she wants, massaging her tight clit.

"Give me everything, baby."

She arches, calls my name, and swears her love.

I spill myself inside her, filling her with my semen, marking her inside and out.

I fall onto her body, kissing her mouth.

I don't care how many battles I have to fight . . . if I face Satan himself. No one will take her away from me. I will kill any son of a bitch who touches a strand of her hair.

Two hours later, I still hold her in my arms, in our bed.

I have just received a message from Odin, and as much as I don't want to leave Serenity, I know that it’s necessary to see what my cousin wants.

I carefully slide her away from my body and settle her on the bed.

I pick up the phone and leave the room.

In the message, he says that we need to do a DNA test to be sure about Nashon's suspicions. If he’s right, we'll have to find out who Serenity is and why she's taken the place of the Blanchets' real daughter.