Page 97 of Scandalous Kingpin

“Take me back. Right now. Or I swear, I’ll unleash my brothers and my sister—who’s Sofia Volkov’s daughter, by the way—on you,” I snapped, shameless to use my brothers and newfound sister as my connection. Then, just in case he didn’t get the point, I added, “She’s super badass.”

He laughed, the sound vaguely amused at best. “Your brothers and newfound sister encouraged us to bury the hatchet and work out our problems.” I scoffed, but then immediately tensed as he leaned over. I watched his movements as he unbuckled me, noting the wedding ring on his finger.

He must have caught me staring at it because he dug into the pocket of those sinful sweatpants and took my hand into his. “It’s about time you put yours back on.”

I snorted. “I see you’re still breaking and entering.”

The last time I saw my wedding ring was when I shoved it in the drawer of my bedroom back in Ireland.

“Only when it comes to you, wife.”

My stupid heart fluttered, but instead of falling under his spell, I rolled my eyes and stood, needing to put distance between us.

“So damn cliché.”

“If that’s what it takes to win you back.” His tone was light, amused, but shadows danced in his eyes.

“Christian, I thought we decided to move on.” My chin trembled at the thought of him with another woman.

“We did not,” he stated calmly. I inhaled and exhaled heavily in a hopeless attempt to return my heartbeat to normal. “I told you I’ll kill any man who gets near you. You aremywife.Mylife. And I’ve been going fucking crazy without you. Not even therapy is helping.”

“You went to…” My voice broke before I recovered it. “You’ve been seeing a therapist?”

He nodded somberly.

“I will do fucking anything for our marriage. For us.” He took a step forward, reaching a hand to my face and cupping my cheek. “You’re my wife, we belong at each other’s side. We’ve made vows.”

My heart that had been aching for months suddenly shuddered with ideas of its own.

“There was no mention of kidnappings in our vows,” I pointed out, my teeth grinding. “And I don’t believe that my brothers and sister would allow you to take me just like that.”

Fear held me back. Juliette’s betrayal hurt, but Christian’s just about tore me apart. I didn’t want to love someone that much to give them such power.

“Divorce is perfectly acceptable.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes darkened to the deepest oceans.

“Til death do us part.” His voice lowered to a frightening edge. “Remember?”

“No,” I lied. “Shouldn’t there be an apology or some groveling buried somewhere among your words?”

“I’ll spend my life groveling, angel.” The depths of his blue eyes flickered with so many emotions, it was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. “But first, I’m taking you home.”

Christian brought me home, but not to the one I expected.

We were in an old manor located along the craggy cliffs of Ballyhack in Ireland. It was his mother’s wedding present—a home and land of our own. Unlike the Murphy estate, which was surrounded by woods and soothing sounds of forests, this manor had the view of cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean on one side and green pastures as far as the eye could see on the other.

We ended up in my homeland with an uneasy truce, if it could even be called that. He was with me from morning to night, rarely leaving my sight.

On top of that, he had gifts delivered on a daily basis. Sometimes even hourly. Chocolates. Cakes. Flowers. Jewelry. Acar.

Everything but the one thing I really wanted.

An apology.

Compromise.

Promises kept.