by Faye Pierce
He trails off, shifting over me and picking his head up once more. My legs bend to either side of him, that sexual pretense he started still curling inside of me, but we need to have this conversation.
“Now…” Leo swallows hard. “Now you’re my wife. You, Mrs. DePonte, are my new family, and it becomes more real with each passing second. It’s not easy to let go of that driving force that’s sustained me so long, but life isn’t the same as before.”
I soften, my hands lift to cup his face. “That means that Caspian is your family too,” I whisper. “I love him too, Leo.”
“Is that your way of telling me that you love me too?”
Of course that’s what he focuses on. If he loves me, really loves me, then this might be my chance to save my brother from Leo’s plans. It might be a shot in the dark, but maybe I can unite them and bring my family together. “This is my way of saying that outside of Caspian, I never had a family. My mother named me Midnight because that was the time I was born in the middle of our living room floor. She never bothered to give me a real name. It hurts to have a mother who doesn’t even care about you enough to think up a real name for you.” I pause; my lips press together as I try to find a way to express what I want to say clearly enough for him to understand. “I understand coming from a bad family life, Leo, I do. Caspian wanted to fold you into our family once, and he will do it again.”
Leo shakes his head, as if the idea is impossible to him.
“Don’t doubt me on this Leo, I know it seems crazy, but he would do it for me. He is going to be hurt, that’s true. I think if you love me then—” I pause, correcting myself “If you trust me then we can make this work. That’s what I want. I want my new family, whole and happy. Together.”
I don’t give him time to deliberate. I don’t want to argue. I pull his lips to mine and kiss him deeply. I allow all of the emotions swirling inside of me from the evening to filter into him. It’s been an emotional roller coaster that I don’t think I will fully process for quite some time, but it doesn’t matter. Right now, all that matters is my husband and his hands on me.
I let go of his face and push my hands between us until I push at the top of his pants, struggling with the angle to get them down over his hips. I’ve never done this before unassisted; Leo’s always done it for me. It’s graceless, but I work the fabric down his hips, and Leo waits with far more patience than I possess. He takes pity on me and rises to his knees to pull them the rest of the way off, and kicks them off the bed to the floor. The intensity in his eyes as he watches me kindles that fire in me that burns only for him.
I pull my dress from my shoulders, and he removes it from my hips, tossing it somewhere to the side of the room. We undo his shirt until I end up pulling the last few buttons free by force, and he falls back on top of me, supporting his weight with one hand. The other he twines with my own hand.
This time isn’t like the others before it. When he takes me it’s gentle, tender. It satisfies something in my heart even more than my body. The weight of emotions passed between us is heavy as they anchor us together. Whatever plan he had for himself and Caspian before didn’t involve me. Now that I’m in the middle of it, he’s going to have to course correct. He’s going to have to make new paths, because I will not allow him to leave me out, or put me in some high tower like a princess he needs to guard. Both my men know I’m not impervious to their world.
I’m still sore deep inside, and my legs are tired, but none of it matters as Leo finds my entrance, pushing inside of me slowly, his green eyes trained on me as if he wants to see me savor each delicious inch of him that sinks inside of me. “Tell me,” he whispers, and I smile.
“I’m yours, Leo.” It’s claiming of a different type. It’s not to convince me this time; it’s not my mental and physical surrender, but affirmation. He needs to hear me say that I belong to him, now and forever. “I’m your wife, and you’re my husband,” Leo’s hips start to move, a low groan of pleasure as he nods. “I belong to you, Leo. I love you.”
“Only to me,” he adds, speaking more to himself than me as he sets into a rhythm that I work to meet.
“Yes. I belong only to you.”
Leo fits inside me like he was made for only me. We move together without any further words. He claims me thoroughly, his hands intertwined with my own as we roll, and he positions me on top of him. I’m not sure what to do at first as I let his hips move in impulse and relish the way his eyes roll back into his head.
“I think you belong to me, too.” I lean over him, flattening my breasts against his chest as I kiss him, and he plants his feet on the mattress and drives into me, the angle so deep I swear I can see stars.
Leo sits upright, wrapping our joined hands behind my back. I don’t know how he moves like this, how he has the strength, but I’ll be damned if it doesn't feel incredible. I can’t take my eyes away from him. “You might be correct,” he admits, and goosebumps prickle my skin.
Leo’s teeth close over my neck, and I can’t breathe. My climax is slow and indulgent as it unfurls from my center, with warm fingers that yawn and stretch through my limbs until the tension finally crests. The muscles in my legs lock, my hands tighten around Leo’s fingers, and I fall forward against him, my head buried in his shoulder as I shudder. It seems never to end, each pulse of Leo’s hips upward into me hitting some sweet spot that drags out my pleasure.
When my legs stop quivering, Leo rolls us once more, my hands trapped behind and under me as he uses his thighs to spread my legs wide, his pace increasing. Colors explode that only I can see as I’m pushed higher, and I can feel him fill me, hear Leo’s groan, so singularly erotic I want to commit it to memory.
I want to feel like this forever.
Stretched by Leo and filled by him.
That ache in my limbs and the new high I now know my body is capable of is all I want. I’m sure it would drive me insane to feel this high all the time. Might be worth it though.
Leo kisses me. I try to respond with the same fervor he offers, but my mind is a contented hum of static. I giggle as he nips my cheek for not responding properly. He shifts to lay beside me, curling me into his arms as the last vestiges of my orgasm fades.
We get to do this forever.
We will have to pick a bedroom, likely find another one that we can make our own. I get to fall asleep in his arms, and that’s what matters. The rest of it, we will figure out. Somehow.
“Let me talk to him.” I mutter, knowing that he’s going to say no.
“No.”
I sigh. “I’m not running, Leo. I know that he’s done many terrible things to climb the ladder, and I’ve turned a blind eye to the whole situation for far too long now. I just think that if he knew your story, really gave you a chance to explain, that he would understand. You might have been pretending to be like a brother to him in many ways, but he wasn’t.”
Even if he doesn’t want to see it from my perspective, I can see that he’s considering it. Leo scrubs a hand over his face and nods reluctantly. He rolls onto his side, propping his head up on his elbow. “Mine is a road that has no return, Midnight.”
I refuse to see those unspoken words. I refuse the idea that there is a possibility that will leave me without one of my men. Not now. Not when I finally feel like there’s a bridge that I can bring them to. They will not do that to me. They might want to kill one another, but as stupid as I know it is, I will throw myself between them if I have to. “You literally shot me in the back, Leo, and now I’m your wife. You’re saying that there is only one destined outcome? It’s a one-way street, and that’s it? Just hate on and on for forever?”
Leo sighs. “I cannot promise you that it will work, but for my part, I will make an effort to be civil.”
“That’s not good enough.”
He laughs. “Baby steps here...this is a life of hate you’re wanting to unravel.”
I roll to face him. “But you’ll meet with him?” If he can do that, at
least that, then perhaps they can start on that path of healing. I know it’s a large ask. It’s an almost impossible seeming task, and I know that Caspian is going to attempt to murder Leo on sight for more than one reason. For lying to him, betraying him, kidnapping me, fucking me repeatedly, and then marrying me. Those are just the crimes that I know of that Caspian’s going to hold against him.
“Yes.” Leo drops back to the bed. He knows all of the transgressions, I don’t need to remind him. He certainly has transgressions of Caspian’s to throw into the mix as well. Neither of them are going to explain the full list to me, and their business is their own. “I will arrange a meeting with him in the morning, but I’m going to be armed. Come what may.”
He doesn’t offer any more information, so I have to be content with what I already know. I snuggle into Leo’s chest, his arms wrapping around me once more and keeping me close possessively. I try to sleep, but I can’t. Not knowing that I will say goodbye to Leo in the morning...and he might not come back.
Chapter Twelve
Leo
Caspian is insane if he thinks that I’m going to come to any meeting with him alone. Of course, we agreed that we would both arrive unarmed and alone.
A meeting of gentlemen.
As if either of us are gentlemen.
A meeting like this isn’t the way I planned it. Over the last handful of years, I have fantasized over the destruction of Caspian and his new empire over and over again. The blow to his casino isn’t going to be taken lightly. I got the report of how everything happened yesterday and had to push my wedding back three hours because I took extra time preparing for the inevitable retaliation. I assumed Caspian would be so infuriated with the affront that he might reward me with some reckless behavior. I know how impulsive he can be when he feels personally attacked.
When I sent the invitation for this get together this morning, I honestly figured he would simply send back the head of my messenger to me as a response, but Cas added a time and place in scribbled writing underneath. Not the normal neat scrawl he usually used, so I know I’ve really gotten to him.
In my ideal situation, I would have systematically destroyed the lives of each and every person who ever pledged their loyalty to them. I know them all. I know their faces, their families, and for the mistake of placing their trust and love into the Knight family, I want them all dead. They would not be given the opportunity to switch sides or see the light in my ideal world, and at the end of it all, I would find Caspian sitting alone in his destroyed home, the body of his wife in front of him. I would steal Midnight away from him, and once she’s dragged out of the room I would confront him. I would explain everything so he fully understands that there is nobody to blame for this assault but himself, and then I would take his life with my own hands.
Only in actuality, everything happened backward. Midnight had been the easiest to get, so I got her first, and now the plan might as well be thrown out of the window. I want to make myself more upset about that fact, but I can’t. It’s my ring on her finger and my last name she claims.
I arrive to the building before Caspian, an industrial place—the sort of building that will someday be office spaces or similar. There’s still building materials inside, tape and thick sheets of plastic hanging from the exposed ceiling beams. At least if one of us does manage to kill the other, the cleanup will be simple. That’s why Caspian chose this building. He thinks he will kill me and save his sister from the devil he now knows I am. It will make line of sight difficult for the sharp shooters that I have in the building across the way, but we’ll make do.
I hear the service elevator ding and the whir of the doors to mark Caspian’s arrival. I’m unafraid. I don’t bother turning until I hear his steady footsteps close to me. I turn with an arrogant air, my hands casually in my pockets. “Cas,” I incline my head toward the man.
If looks could kill, I would wither where I stand.
He’s practically seething with rage, something unlike anything I’ve ever seen on him before. I’ve seen him personally murder dozens of men. I’ve killed for him. That was always business, always something that needed to happen for the cause or situation. This is personal.
“DePonte?” Caspian spits at my feet, keeping more than an arm’s length of space between us. “I have to commend you, hiding under my nose like that all of these years.” Caspian’s nose wrinkles, his teeth bared in a snarl. “I ought to kill you where you stand, but you’ve likely arranged for my sister to be murdered if you don’t walk out of here at a certain time, haven’t you? Where is she?”
“She’s fine.” I reconsider. “She’s more than fine, actually.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that she’s fine, healthy, in one piece.”
“What’s the goal here, asshole? You have my sister for ransom, so what are your demands? You simply want to betray me? Seems like a whole lot of trouble for a guttersnipe, don’t you think?”
It’s incredibly satisfying, watching him so upset. “Perhaps I just want to hurt you, Cas. Perhaps I have no other motive than wanting to wound you...to see you absolutely fucking miserable.”
Caspian blanches, his angry facade chipping for just a moment as he considers my words. “Why? The DePonte family had no named heir...and you do this for what? Some weak connection to a cousin and you thought you could claim the throne from...for what?”
“Weak connection?” Cas cannot truly be that stupid. “He was my father, Caspian! You murdered my father to walk into this world you knew nothing about, and then thought that nobody would have a problem with it? You have about the subtlety of a raging bull, bashing your way up a ladder as if nobody could come right behind you and shake you off of it. Well, that was your mistake.”
Caspian opens his mouth to speak, but I’m not done.
“I’m speaking now, you will wait your turn.” I glare at him, intently focused, and not trusting myself to move a single step forward. “You’re done. You’re finished.” Cas scoffs, but I continue. “From here on out I will make the moves. The DePonte family will have this city, ruled by me and my dear wife.”
Caspian snaps his attention back to me, and I smile, reveling in the way the dots connect for him.
“That’s right. Midnight and I were married yesterday, consummated and witnessed in all of the legal, religious, and official ways.”
Caspian lets out a feral snarl and closes the distance between us in the blink of an eye. Both of his hands wrap around my throat, and I can’t help but laugh. He tightens his grip and my hands leave my pockets, but I don’t fight back, not yet. He knows I’ve won. I’ve done it, and there’s nothing that he can do to undo it.
“You see,” I force out, oxygen thinning. “It’s because of my wife’s wishes that I’m here talking to you at all. I wanted to destroy you. I made it abundantly clear I could, but she pleaded. Begged me to see reason, and out of my respect for my new bride, I guess we have to find a way to play nice.”
Caspian snarls, and I almost move to stop him. I can feel the air in my lungs depleting, the pressure increasing on my neck, tightening…and just as suddenly it’s gone. The pressure releases, and I cough to force air back inside my body. He surrendered. I have the upper hand, yet again.
I lift a hand to rub at the tender spot, turning my head from one side to the other to crack the joint, and roll my shoulders back. “So here’s what I propose. Like I said before, this half of the city is mine now. You will not have business dealings here, you will not interfere with my trade routes, you will have nothing to do with my family business whatsoever. We will split the businesses and police based on street jurisdiction, and of course, you will leave the hospital and all the involved clinics to Midnight regardless of where they fall.”
That part, Midnight hadn’t asked for, but it’s something I’m throwing in there for her. She will want to move freely from both her brother and myself. She’s not going to want to be restricted, and she’s
made it very clear how she feels on this whole thing. I don’t have to like Caspian, but I can’t kill him. Not anymore.
“Or of course, you can surrender everything and simply work for me. I have a small street corner I can place you and your wife on. It will be lovely, and personally gratifying for me at least.” I can’t resist the jab at him, knowing that’s not even partially an option. Adjusting the way my collar sits, I force my pride low in my chest and center my weight between both feet. “I am willing to consider some negotiations, so that our names will not clash moving forward.”
Caspian says nothing for a long time. “I suppose I should be proud of my damned self for grooming you to be so ruthless.” He rolls his eyes, more at himself than me. “Leave it to your stubborn ass to grow something out of nothing, to pick and pull at starving dogs that should have scattered to the wind and force them together into some semblance of the empire they once were.”
“I think that might be a compliment.”