by Ella Miles
“What’s the problem? We’ve fucked in a bed before.”
His eyes search mine.
“I’m afraid,” I whisper.
“Me too, but I already promised not to love you. Isn’t that enough?”
“No.”
“Whether I fuck you in a bed, or against the wall, on the floor, in an alleyway, a car, the moon, it makes no difference.”
“Then why do we have to fuck in a bed tonight?”
“Even though you’ll never love me, you need to trust me. Trust that I won’t ever let the fear win. The pain you’re afraid of will never come as long as you’re with me.”
Truth—his words are the truth. At least as far as he knows.
I stand up until we are once again face to face.
“Okay.”
With that, he takes my hand and leads me into the bedroom. He lays me back on the bed before hovering over me and kissing me so sweetly on my lips that it burns, already bringing on the pain. And he hasn’t even fucked me yet.
“I’ve got you, huntress. I know you better than anyone. I’ve failed you more than anyone, but I’ve also protected you more than anyone.” He kisses his way down my body, stopping to suck one of my puckered nipples before making his way down my stomach and over my C-section scar. He licks its length, before pulling my panties off my body.
He pushes his boxers off before reaching for a condom and gliding it on. We’ve fucked without a condom before, but I’m thankful he has one now. I’ve already failed as a mother; there is no reason to make me one again.
He carefully parts my legs as he settles himself between my legs until I can feel his hardness against the heat of my pussy.
“Trust me,” he whispers.
I nod.
And then he sinks inside me in one pulverizing thrust, the kind that has my head spinning with everything I’ve been missing, suddenly filling me and making me whole. I’m never going to be complete without him again.
“How have I gone so many years without you?” he growls, as always matching my thoughts.
“Miserably,” I say.
He chuckles before his eyes return to his normal dark orbs. He lowers his mouth once again to kiss me.
I accept, and then he’s rocking into my body. Taking his time. Protecting me from my demons. Caring about me when he shouldn’t.
All the time he thrusts, one word hovers between us but is never spoken. Neither of us can deny it’s there.
“Killer,” I cry out as literal tears fill my eyes. God, I’m going to cry when I come. I don’t care.
“Huntress,” he returns my cry.
And then we fall over the devastating cliff together. One that will ruin us and leave us even more broken than before.
Tears roll down my cheeks as Langston holds me to his body, us both breathing frantically as we hold onto each other with enduring need. Like another force is already at work trying to pull us apart.
“You’re mine,” he whispers into my hair.
I nod.
His words are the truth.
I hate him.
I hate him. I hate him. I hate him!
Those words are a lie. I don’t hate him.
I love him.
But I will never say the words out loud. I’ll never allow myself to even think them again. The words are toxic and lead to nothing but pain.
I pull his arms tighter around my body, knowing that we are going to spend the rest of the night fucking—no, making love. Although, neither of us will use that word to describe this.
I can love him forever, but Langston can never know. I may be the devil, but the pain my loving him would cause is something I could never inflict on him. So I’ll keep lying until our marriage eventually dissolves—that’s the only way to not hurt him.
18
Langston
I leave Liesel snoring in bed. I don’t want to leave her, but I should check on Maxwell. And there is no room service in this hotel, so I have to venture out for coffee and breakfast anyway—and new clothes since ours are ripped. I don’t care if Maxwell lived or died last night; I just need to ensure that he’s still in the basement of the church and didn’t escape to go tell Corbin where we are. My need to protect Liesel and my kids trumps my ache to stay in bed with Liesel and watch her wake up in my arms.
The sun hasn’t even risen yet as I stomp the couple blocks over to the church in nothing but my jeans. We barely slept last night, and I want to get back to Liesel as soon as I can. Hopefully, she won’t wake up until I return.
My mind races with everything that happened last night. Every position we fucked in. Every sound she made each time she came. The way her thoughts spun between fear and something else that I couldn’t figure out.
The fear is what fucked me up the most. She’s afraid, terrified her demons will return with me like I’m sure they have with every other man she’s been with. Afraid of giving up control to me. Afraid I’ll fall in love with her and hurt her. That’s the one thing she’ll never have to worry about—I won’t be falling in love with Liesel Dunn.
When I get to the small church, I run down the stairs and find Maxwell right where I left him.
He groans and looks up at me.
“Did you have a good night?” I ask, leaning against the doorframe.
“Better than you did,” he says.
I laugh. “So you spent the night fucking the most beautiful woman in the world?”
He shakes his head. “No, but I didn’t spend the night fucking a woman I’m going to destroy.” He looks at me with a snarl. “I’m going to kill you if you hurt her.”
“Liesel isn’t yours to worry about. But don’t worry your pretty little head about her. I won’t be hurting Liesel.”
“Says the man who has threatened to kill her multiple times.”
I grind my teeth to keep from exploding on this man. He’s not worth it. It’s true that I’ve threatened to kill her, but I won’t anymore. She probably still deserves it, but I’m not as much of a monster as I used to be.
“I’ll be back,” I say, turning to go back up the stairs. I take my time in case he decides to beg—beg me to let him go, to give him something for the pain, give him food and water. He doesn’t beg. He’s tougher than he looks, but that won’t save him in the end.
I stop by two local shops. One for clothes, the other for coffee and picarones before I head back to our hotel room. When I get to the bedroom, I find it empty. My heart skips as I see the light on under the bathroom door.
She’s still here, I breathe out.
I knock my knuckles against the door. “Liesel, I have coffee and breakfast.”
She doesn’t answer back right away. There’s a rattling sound coming from the bathroom that I can’t quite make out.
“Liesel?” I ask again.
“One sec,” she says back.
I relax and start laying out the breakfast in the small nook while I wait. A moment later, Liesel appears in a white hotel robe. Her cheeks are flush, her hair wet, and a soft, knowing smile on her lips. All my fears disappear as soon as I see her.
“Coffee?” I say, holding out a cup to her. Her eyes rake down my bare chest.
She takes it, and I pull her into a kiss before I sit her down on my lap instead of letting her sit in the chair opposite me. She doesn’t argue.
We wordlessly touch and explore each other while we eat our Peruvian donuts and drink our coffees. There’s a level of comfort with each other that shouldn’t be there so fast. Even though we’ve known each other practically our whole lives, it shouldn’t be this effortless to just sit with her.
My thumb brushes over the ring I made for her. “I’ll get you a real ring soon.”
I don’t know why I say it. This isn’t a real marriage. We don’t even love each other. I wouldn’t have proposed if it wasn’t for the stupid treasure. But it’s important to me that she has the ring of her dreams because now that we’re married, she’s truly mine. I’m not letting her go to any
other man—not without a fight.
She frowns and turns to me. “This is a real ring.”
Her words have a deeper meaning, almost as if she’s saying this is a real marriage.
I nod, but it doesn’t change the fact that I will be getting her a real ring soon enough. Before long, the flowers I made this ring out of are going to wilt and die. I need to get a real ring before that happens.
Liesel shudders in my arms.
“You okay?” I ask.
She nods. “Just cold. We should get dressed and go. We have a long day ahead of us.” She climbs off my lap before I can answer.
“Okay,” I say.
We both quickly get dressed—I in jeans and a T-shirt, her in cutoff shorts and a tank. Then we head back to the small cottage hand in hand to await our fates.
Whatever is inside the small house waiting for us doesn’t matter because it brought me Liesel. It made her mine, forever. Whatever awaits us will be worth it.
19
Liesel
The door opens to the small shack-like house. The old man with wrinkles around his brown eyes wears a stern expression as he welcomes us in wordlessly.
Langston reaches into his pocket to produce our marriage license. “Do you need this? We just got married yesterday, so I’m not sure if it will show up in the record system yet.”
The man shakes his head. “I confirmed with the priest that you two are, in fact, married.”
He turns to me. “I do need your blood, dear.”
He pulls out a knife, and I automatically stick out my hand, offering this man to take whatever he needs from me. I’ll do anything to protect my son.
Langston tenses next to me as the man pricks my finger.
I smile up at Langston, loving how protective he is over me. I didn’t use to like it, but it sets my heart aflutter when he does it now that we’re married.
“I’ll be right back,” the man says, carrying the knife with my blood on it away.
Langston hasn’t let go of my hand as we stand in the small candlelit room, waiting.
“What happens next?” I ask Langston.
“I don’t know. This is as far as Phoenix and I made it.”
My stomach rolls when he says her name. I still can’t believe how kind she is. Langston deserves a girl like her, not me.
“Don’t,” Langston says.
“Don’t what?”
“Compare yourself to her. She has made plenty of mistakes with her life, just like you have. Don’t forget she blackmailed me into marrying her.”
“She also adopted the son of her enemy. She’s a much better woman than I am.”
Langston growls and squeezes my hand, obviously disagreeing with me.
“Have you heard from Beckett or Phoenix yet? Or the kids?”
“No, not hearing from them is a good thing. They will only contact us if there is a problem. It’s safer this way.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. But after learning Atlas is alive and well, I want to know where he is every second of every day.
“Thank you for waiting, Liesel. If you will, please follow me now. Langston, if you will wait here,” the man says.
I nod and start following the man out the back door, but Langston’s grip on me tightens.
I lift his hand to mine and kiss it. “I’ll be right back.”
Slowly, his release on me loosens enough for me to pull my fingers out of his grasp. I feel every tingling nerve of anxious energy burst through him, and I want nothing more than to go back to our hotel room and spend the rest of the day getting lost under the covers to soothe him.
Instead, I do the right thing. I let go and follow the old man out of the house. The sun is shining down on us through the trees as we walk down a small winding path to a clearing by a creek.
“Sit,” he says, pointing to a small tree stump on the ground.
I sit while he walks over to a makeshift table that has a pot of tea and two cups. He pours each of us a cup and hands one to me before he sits on a log opposite me.
“I’m Diego, I knew your father well. I’m sorry he’s gone.”
“Nice to meet you, Diego. But you don’t need to be sorry for my dead father. He was never around. I didn’t know him.”
“I’m sorry that your father didn’t know how to be a father. You were better off without a father.”
I disagree, but I don’t say so.
“I bet you’re wondering why your father sent you on this crazy quest. If he had so much money, why not just give it to you?”
I nod. “It does seem strange.”
“He didn’t want it to destroy you like it did him. He wanted to ensure you’d be strong enough to wield the kind of power that goes with the kind of money you would inherit.”
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough or not; I just want to ensure that my child doesn’t grow up constantly facing danger and threats of people trying to steal from him. I just want him to be safe. I couldn’t care less about the money.”
“I think you have what it takes, Liesel. I can see it. All that’s left is to prove it.”
“And how do I do that?”
“There are three qualities your father wanted to ensure that you possess. Once you demonstrate them, you’ll have all the clues you need to find the hidden treasure.”
He sips his tea. I do the same and its warm, grassy tasting contents soothe the ache in my stomach.
“How do I prove these qualities?”
“Each of the locations you are sent to will give you a task. Completing the task on your way to the next location will be one step closer to proving your worthiness. We will be watching for proof, so no need to bring anything physical with you. But your next location is in Egypt.”
“Egypt?”
“Yes, your father had friends who like to live where there are fewer people.”
Like him.
He shows me the address of the next location, and once I’ve memorized it, he burns it in the fire crackling between us.
“What is the quality I have to show?”
“Betrayal.”
I frown, not liking the sound of this. “Betrayal to who?”
“Your husband.”
My heart thumps to a stop. “My father wanted me to get married just so I could betray him?”
He nods. “He wanted you to prove to yourself that even if you loved a man, you don’t need him. That his love isn’t enough.”
I stand up as my blood boils. I’m beyond pissed. I want to go to my father’s grave and pull him back to life just so I can kill him all over again. Everything I just went through was for nothing. I married Langston for nothing.
“What exactly do I have to do to betray him?”
“The only way that matters to Langston.”
“Which is?”
“Be claimed by another man. Make Langston believe you’re no longer his.”
“How will you know if I betray him or not?”
“Trust me, we’ll know.”
“And if I choose not to betray him?”
“Then, you won’t get the next clue, and you’ll never find the treasure.”
And my son will never be safe from greedy hunters.
I look down to the ground, knowing if there is a heaven and hell, my dad is most definitely in hell for what he’s putting me through. You couldn’t be a father for the first twenty-plus years of my life, and now that you’re dead, you decide to teach me some lessons?
I look at Diego, defeated. “What do I do now?” What if I love him?
“You betray him. You get the treasure. You protect your child. That’s what you do.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, but the tears fall anyway. I don’t know why Langston hates me. I don’t know why he wants to kill me. But after I betray him—he’s never going to forgive me.
20
Langston
I’ve worn down every inch of the dirt floor with my pacing in this one-room house while I wait for Liesel to return. Fear flood
s my head with horrible images of what could be happening to her.
Is she in pain? Is she suffering, and I’m not helping her? I could never forgive myself if so.
Finally, light streams into the house as the back door opens, and Liesel steps back into the room alone.
I run to her and wrap her possessively into my open arms. She doesn’t speak. I assume she’s going to act tough and try to pull away; instead, she sinks into my chest, letting me hold her as tight as I want.
I slow my breathing, trying to slow hers. Hers stays quick for several minutes before finally meeting my steady breath. Only then do I speak.
“What happened?” I ask.
“He just told me where the next location is.”
My hand is nestled on the back of her neck behind her hair. I tilt her head up to look at me, and rage spreads inside me at what I see—puffy, red eyes.
“What happened?” I try again, this time as softly as I can manage, so I don’t scare her with the fire I feel inside.
“We had tea, and he told me where we have to travel to next.”
I can see the truth in her eyes—but she’s also hiding something from me.
“What did you do to get that information?”
She takes a step out of my arms; she’s not going to tell me. I could beat it out of her, threaten her, but it wouldn’t work. There is no threat violent enough to get her to tell me—to trust me.
We haven’t been married but a day, and she’s already keeping things from me. The only thing I can do is earn her trust while keeping the burning disappointment that I’m not enough for her at bay.
Her long eyelashes flicker up at me—telling me to trust her. There’s a reason she can’t tell me, it’s not by choice.
I sigh and run my hand through my hair.
“Let’s go get Maxwell and then get out of here.”
“You didn’t kill him?”
I shake my head. “You didn’t want me to, so I didn’t.”
“Thank you.”
I grab her neck and pull her back into my arms, my lips kissing the top of her head. “I’ll always do my best to do right by you. I promise.”