Page 26

Chapter 26

EZEKIEL

S trong wind pushes and pulls at my tired, bleeding body, and I hold my girl a little tighter in my arms as I walk along the wharf to where Titan stands, searching the bodies for signs of familiarity. If I had known what all of this was for, how much this actually meant to him, then perhaps things would have played out a little differently than they did.

Women and children are now draped in blankets as Titan’s medics, all dressed in mafia black, tend to their wounds.

My own wounds throb incessantly, radiating ripples of pain throughout my body with each step that I take.

I push it down.

I wasn’t the one almost drained of blood.

Airlie’s eyes widen as she takes in the scene before us. “Who are all these people?” she whispers, staring upwards from my arms, wonder swimming in her captivating, blue-green eyes.

Bewitching and hypnotizing.

She has the kind of eyes a man like me could get lost in, and you know what? I just might. There are dark circles surrounding them from exhaustion, pain, and blood loss, but I’ve never seen anyone or anything more spectacular than she is. Tiny purple veins, like little lines on a map, are sketched across her nearly translucent skin, hidden beneath the deep vermillion red blood belonging to her abuser.

Despite killing the priest, Airlie isn't tainted by death like I am.

Her heart remains pure and kind, and nothing, not murder or decay, could change that about her.

I wish I could say the same.

The truth is, my soul was damned a long time ago. Blackened by death and iniquity before I ever knew what it meant to sin. I only wish that I was half as innocent as she is in all this.

It was Airlie’s unrelenting kindness that first drew me to her. Not to break her and certainly not to hurt her. But to keep her.

My guiding light. The sunshine to the dark, ominous storm that is my tortured, troubled mind.

And there is nowhere else I’d rather be than in that sacred place, our sacred place, tangled in the shadows together.

That's where we come alive.

Somewhere between night and day. Like a fire igniting across the sea, warring with the waves. Two halves, opposite to one other, yet somehow together, are beautiful.

That's how it feels to be with my siren.

This woman is stronger than anyone I’ve ever met, including myself. She saved my life twice now, and about an hour ago, she was nailed to a fucking cross by her palms and feet. I remind myself that she is safe, and that piece of shit priest and those other fucking assholes can’t hurt her anymore.

I gaze down at her, glancing back at me like I hung the moon in her darkest sky. Thousands of questions glint in her eyes, and I vow to answer every last one of them until the day that I die.

“They are being rescued, the people. They, too, were prisoners here. They were locked away in the Cathedral. The others, the ones you see wearing black, they work with me. And that man over there,” I nod toward the tall figure standing off to the side as we slowly approach where he stands, still searching for someone in the crowd.

I know who that someone is.

“That man is Titan King,” I whisper, her eyes widening, her mouth parting slightly as she turns her head and studies him, my boss, her biological father, for the first time.

Titan turns, scouring the multitude of faces until they land where I stand. I hold Airlie tightly, waiting for his green, weary eyes to meet mine. They widen, realizing that the man, covered head-to-toe in blood, is me, then redirects his attention to the woman I’m holding in my arms, my siren.

I watch as all the breath leaves him, the most ruthless, cut-throat man I know, and he falls to his knees at our feet, staring up at Airlie in disbelief.

“ Char-Charlotta?” he chokes, his voice as broken as he looks.

There are no signs of the man I came to know so well over the past eighteen years. This is a man undone, the product of a chase fueled by endless, insurmountable heartache and grief.

His notorious, tough exterior, forgotten.

Airlie stares into my eyes, voicelessly conveying that she isn't ready to speak to him yet. Titan will just have to get used to it because my girl doesn’t have to talk to anyone unless she wants to. And when she’s ready, I’ll be with her every step of the way.

“Sir, this is your daughter,” I say, and suddenly, I’m overcome with a rush of nervousness and a type of possessiveness that I’ve never felt before.

Wide, afflicted eyes lock onto mine, and I feel like a young boy again. This man raised me, and I’m not going to pretend that he’ll be remotely pleased with Airlie and me being together.

Too fucking bad for him because I'm not going anywhere.

She is mine .

His eyes fall to Airlie, then back up to me—thoughts whirling within his mind a hundred miles a minute. Instinctively, I strengthen my hold on her, and she snuggles into my blood-soaked chest in response.

I will always respect Titan, and while I am grateful to him for saving my life all those years ago, putting a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach, over my dead fucking body, will I ever give this beautiful woman up.

He must catch my protectiveness of her because his face transforms from bewilderment to something unreadable.

“My …my daughter? I—I have a daughter.” It’s a statement, not a question. His voice is trembling, taking me aback a little.

Then again, I understand.

I, too, know what it’s like to have her taken from me, and I made a right dick of myself in the overly emotional department.

“Are—are you okay? Is she okay?” he questions, his face etched with worry as he examines his daughter.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing him so rudderless and lost.

I look down at Airlie, searching her expression for signs that she may like to talk, and I smile when I see her nibbling her bottom lip.

She’s curious.

I don’t want to pressure her, so I just smile. She knows that she is safe with me and that I'll be right here by her side no matter what happens, whether she decides to speak or not.

“I’m okay,” she rasps, her voice barely above a whisper. Tears brim in her eyes, but they’re not tears of sadness. Titan is the only other person she’s spoken to, and one day, she’ll tell me why.

Or not.

She will always get a choice with me.

Tears fall unchecked from Titan’s eyes, and he buries his head in his hands and cries. I kneel before him, not wanting him to be alone in this.

This man is my family.

He looks up at us, now level with him, and Airlie reaches out her hand, blood still trickling from the holes where the nails were, and presses it gently to Titan’s cheek.

“I’m Airlie,” she says, and I see the similarities in their eyes.

I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. Where Titan’s hair is dark and peppered with silver, Airlie’s is red, the color of pomegranate. But they share the same eyes.

“ Airlie, she named you Airlie,” Titan says, then pauses, gathering his emotions before continuing. “Airlie was my mother’s name. She died .”

Airlie’s hand is still pressed to Titan’s face, a strange gesture, but that’s just her, and I love her for it.

“My mother—” her words cut off. As if saying the words out loud will make it seem too real, she’s already been through enough. I decide that I will help her, and Titan deserves to know.

“Charlotta’s gone, Titan. I’m sorry.”

Pain.

Disbelief.

Agony.

Those are the feelings that flash across his face. This man has spent years turning this whole globe upside down, searching for the woman he loves, only to find out that she’s dead. Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him with a woman before. He’s never taken a wife, which is unheard of in our world.

“When?” he chokes.

“When I was six,” she replies, and my eyes search her in disbelief. How she can be this strong is beyond me.

“You are eighteen?” Titan says, tear-stained eyes narrowing as he glares at me.

Okay, so he’s obviously figured out that she’s mine.

“Nineteen,” she says, removing her hand and tucking it back behind the bloodied cape still draped around her body.

A medic approaches and Titan stands, allowing them to tend to Airlie’s wounds. I lay her down on the mat that was placed on the ground for her, and as I begin to stand, her voice stops me.

“Ezekiel?” she questions, not caring that there are others around who can hear her. Smiling, I place a kiss on her lips. I don’t give a shit about the blood that marks her skin. Nothing could ever stop me from wanting her lips.

“Yeah, baby?” I reply.

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, and my eyes fall on them. They’re full, beautiful, mine . I refrain from kissing her again now that I know she’s my boss’s daughter. The last thing I need is my balls in a vice because he will do it.

I’ve seen him in action.

“My pet spiders. They’re alone, down in my cave. I love them. I can’t leave them behind,” her eyebrows furrow, and I realize just how lonely she has been.

“I’ll get them for you, baby, don’t worry. Where is your cave?” I ask, and she excitedly rattles off directions to a cave I’ve never been to, but I promise her I’ll find her spiders and bring them back to her.

I ask the medic for a plastic container or something to carry them in, and then I start walking back to the cathedral.

I’d do anything for her, and if she wants her spiders, she’ll get her fucking spiders.

I start walking across the dock, spider container in hand, when a deep voice calls for me to wait. I stop, turning to face Titan, showing his age more now since the last time I saw him four years ago.

“Ezekiel, I—” he pauses, looking up at me, emotions raw and fully displayed. I’m right there with him. It’s been a rough four years. And in my darkest hour, when I didn’t think I could make it through, it was him that I thought of.

The man who saved me.

“I don’t know the words to say that will encapsulate how grateful I am for what you’ve done for me. Your sacrifices. Your sheer determination. You saved my baby girl. I can never repay you for that.”

“You would have done it for me if the roles were reversed.”

“Yeah, I would have,” he replies. He holds out his hand, and I take it as he brings me in for a hug. He’s never hugged me before, but we’re going all out today.

“You love her?”

“With all that I am, Sir,” I reply without hesitation.

Wrong choice of fucking words, Ezekiel.

My heart feels cut open, exposed because I know that Titan is aware of all the horrible, heinous things I’ve done. Not just as his offsider all those years ago, but the disgusting things I had to do when I went undercover. He would have seen it all to keep tabs on me, and half of what I did was broadcasted across every dark, depraved corner of the internet. Because, of course, it was.

I am by no means a good man .

But it doesn’t change the fact that I love Airlie with every fiber of my fucking being, and as long as she’ll have me around, I am never letting her go.

“Good,” he says to my utter, fucking surprise. “There isn't a man on earth I could think of who would be better for my daughter.”

My chest tightens with something, and I bite back my emotions. He's never given me a compliment before. And the honor of his blessing fills me with… happiness.

Would I walk away from her without it? Not on my life. But that doesn’t take away from the warmth I feel from his words.

“Sir—”

“Now. Go and get the girl her damn spiders. Meet me back here. We've got a lot to talk about because you, my son, are taking over for me when we get back home.”

What?

Take over?

Me?

A mafia don?

Surely, this old bastard is losing it.

Pride swirls in my chest, and I feel like everything has fallen into place for the first time in my life, like pieces of a very twisted puzzle. I didn't know what it looked like until the puzzle was completed. I am at a loss for words, but I straighten even with the shock of Titan’s declaration, knowing how monumental this is in our world.

“It would be my honor, Sir,” I reply, swallowing the lump in my throat. I must look like a complete idiot because he pats me on my shoulder, turns around, and walks away.

His words replay through my mind as I head toward the Cathedral. If the little boy version of me could see himself now, he'd be overjoyed and maybe even proud.

Because he finally did it.

Failure after constant failure, I still conquered the monsters. I stared deep into their eyes until their darkness and shadows consumed me, making me a monster, too.

But in spite of that darkness, I found someone, or rather, she found me. Tangled in shadows beneath water and stone. Two helpless souls bound together by tragedy and fate, and as I walk toward my future, I realize for the first time that I have everything I have ever wanted.

I am loved, and I have a family.

I am Ezekiel King.

And I intend to make Airlie my queen.