Vanquished (The Encounter #3)

by Pamela Ann

  “Let it all out, my love,” Hugo whispered as he kissed my temple, holding me close while I cried against the side of his neck, washing away all of the awful memories of my childhood.

  Slightly recovering, I sniffed, lifting my face to look at him. “So I guess, from what I understand, I’m the daughter of this guy, the same man who killed Louise and your uncle … and all of them. Is that right?”

  He made a solemn nod before rasping out, “Yes, that’s right.”

  “What does he want … from me?” The very thought of a man much worse, much more demonic than Constantin, made me want to vomit, but I must know the facts first.

  He took a lungful of air, hissing it back out through his teeth before gazing back at me. “He wants to get to know you on your terms, and I vowed to be the go-between person, like an arbitrator of some sort in case if you don’t want to directly speak to him. This was the deal we both agreed upon so he can fully let his grudge go against me and my family, and our unborn children.”

  Jesus. Get to know me? Why? Was that a fucking joke?

  “What does he want from me, Hugo? I have nothing to give him, and quite honestly, I’m done being a pawn. If he thinks I’m willing to play the game with him, he should think again.”

  “Not all men are like Constantin Callas, Isobel. It sounds odd coming from me since Benedikt has caused so much pain in my family. But when I saw and spoke to him a few days ago, I saw genuine pain in his eyes, the pain of never knowing what his daughter was like.”

  He held my hand, as if to give me his strength. “This man thought he was never going to know how it feels to have a child of his own. I know you don’t owe him anything, but I’m begging you, for the sake of our future and our children, please reconsider. And if not, I’m sure I could figure out another way to fix this.”

  It was brave of him to even say that I had the option to not follow through with meeting Benedikt. I wasn’t going to do that to him or us. But I had a lot of reservations. Most of all, I was riddled with a lot of questions.

  “I’m going to need time to figure this out, but I will eventually meet him, Hugo. I will do that.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered. “You can set the when and where after you’ve given birth and not a moment before. He understands, although I have to give him updates about your welfare. He even has his spies making sure I treat you right. So I suppose he couldn’t call it off, not all of it. In an odd sense, he cares how you are doing.”

  Why should he? He didn’t even know me. Alas, I didn’t waste my breath on asking. My life had spun out of control, and I was simply relieved it was slowing down, even though not to the extent I had envisioned it … with my real father being a vengeful murderer and a vicious breed of barbarism. What a bloody thing to behold. How did I even begin to explain my family history to my children?

  Holding my hand against my small baby bump, I promised never to hurt them the way my parents had hurt me. I would protect them until death and never fail to make it known that they were loved. At the end of the day, that was what all kids wanted from their parents, simply to know they were cherished and loved no matter what. I knew this because it was all I had prayed and wished for all my life.

  The tears commenced, and I wasn’t sure how long that went on. All I knew was that I had to let it go. I had to let go of all this hate, all this pain that held me back, rotting my heart for so long. I hadn’t forgiven Constantin for what he had done to me, but at least I now understood the motivation behind his cruelty, his indifference.

  “Cry for the past that you never had. Let it all out because there will be no tears of sadness in your future. As long as I’m with you, I promise to love you until you’re old and frail, until you get sick of me—well, even then, I’ll still be here, right next to you, holding you close, loving you until the end.”

  Yes … until the very end.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Months later…

  Hugo

  Two sets of feet. Two sets of teeny tiny hands. Heavenly cherub cheeks. We welcomed our beautiful babies, naming one after my good friend Julien and one Vivienne.

  Isobel had to go through C-section. Because of her small frame, she hadn’t been able to do natural labor.

  The past month and a half had been such a blessing. I had hired help, but Isobel was adamant she wanted to care for them by herself, so the hired nannies were simply on baby watch, making sure they were soundly sleeping and both nappies were clean. After fastidiously doing it for four weeks straight, it became apparent how much weight Isobel had lost, and I had to put my foot down and insist she take the help that was hired specifically so that she could rest. Her body had gone through so much, and then she took on much more afterwards without rest, so I knew I had to do something.

  At first, she hated me for it, but I had to plead and make her see things my way, and thank goodness she had. No money in the world would be able to cure her if she got sick, and her body would suffer. She had to take it slow.

  That same week, I went back to work. As much as I loved the experience of fatherhood, the business wouldn’t run itself, although I didn’t clock in the same hours as I had before. I made sure I was out of the office at half past five. Every night, I dined with the love of my life and resorted back to work in the library at ten in the evening once she was napping or what of it. We worked on schedule.

  Even though her focus was solely on the twins, I was happy to see how this life, this future I wasn’t supposed to have, was happening. It was all I could ask for.

  Julien and I talked on a daily basis. Earlier on today, he inquired about my marriage proposal to Isobel. There was so much that had to go into the event that I longed to be memorable. I wanted her to be in awe, to have a moment she would cherish and forever remember, so the planning took quite a bit of time. There was no definite set date yet, but it was definitely happening very soon.

  Apart from that, he also asked about Benedikt, whom I called on a bi-weekly basis. The calls had a similar routine with updates, so calling him wasn’t as hard as I had imagined at first. He was beyond overjoyed to know he had grandchildren. The Russian had actually kindly asked for the twins’ photo, and I didn’t want to overstep anything, so I had asked Isobel’s permission first. After pondering it for a few days, she finally relented and gave me the green light. Benedikt was completely overjoyed. I actually heard the bastard laugh on the other end of the phone. He inquired about Isobel’s labor and any remarkable events that had happened—from the first time Julien and Vivienne opened their eyes to cutting the umbilical cord. It was odd to have such a conversation with the man, but I had to indulge him.

  Like I had stated before, it was bizarrely odd.

  Isobel’s mother was coming in to help out next week and to be with her daughter at such a delicate time. I supposed Isobel was keen on asking her mother about what had truly happened so she could know all the facts before finally setting the date to meet Benedikt Romanov, which was coming soon.

  Life was mostly routine, and I wouldn’t have had in any other way. Who would have imagined that I would love life with one woman in my life?

  I had never known such profound happiness until Isobel. She gave me new meaning, new purpose. Each time I saw her holding one of the twins, I was overwhelmed by love for her. It was the same sentiment I had in my mind as I raced up the stairs after a lengthy day in the office.

  Stepping into the bedroom where Isobel was not in sight, I knew she was in the nursery. So I took this chance to have a quick shower, and well … take care of some necessary manly workings. It took some time getting used to it, but like everything else in life, you simply had to do what was needed.

  I was quite surprised to find my lovely waiting for me in the bedroom, leaning against the bed with a raised brow and a teasing expression on her face.

  “May I help you?” she asked in such a provocative tone I almost came in the towel.

  Fuck yes.

  “I’m okay, ma belle.�
� I tried to politely decline, but when she pulled the towel with one swift tug and saw how engorged my cock was … well, fuck politeness.

  The moment she wrapped her hand around the base of my dick, slowly knelt on the floor, and covered the mushroom head with the warm moisture of her mouth, I was a goner. I saw her look up at me with that gorgeous face and beautiful eyes.

  “Fuck! Oh, fuck.” Grunting, I gulped in air. It had had been too fucking long. I wasn’t complaining. Of course I knew what our sex life would be like after she gave birth. The last thing she should worry about was me and my ever-demanding cock. However, who was I to complain. The siren was truly unbelievable.

  When I pushed my hips forward, she took me deeper, faster, bobbing her head as she slid her mouth up and down my shaft greedily, persistently. I was trying to hold back a groan when I felt her reach for my hand and place it behind her head, signaling it was perfectly fine for me to command how much she could take my cock, that she was more than willing to deep throat my cock … all for my singular pleasure.

  All hell broke loose then. Nothing held me back. My ears were pounding as I focused on my throbbing, demanding cock. Nothing else mattered until I unloaded ropes of semen into her mouth.

  In total amazement, I watched her take it all, swallowing my cream as if she couldn’t get enough. She daringly let go of my bulbous head with a resounding “pop” before she stuck her tongue out and licked whatever residue was left, rendering me thunderstruck, captivated, and in total fucking awe of the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

  “Marry me, Isobel,” I said before I could fully comprehend what the bloody hell was going on. “Forgive me. I was going to wait and do the whole romantic proposal thing, but I simply couldn’t hold back. I fucking love you, and you just fucking drive me crazy. I can’t wait any longer. I want you so fucking much.”

  Isobel laughed as if I had truly lost my mind, giving me that teasing look before she got to her feet and kissed me like I was her sole purpose in life.

  “You don’t have to marry me. I’ll give you that kind of blowjob whenever you want. I love you. The rest doesn’t matter to me at all. I promise.”

  Fucking hell. When she spoke in such a way, it didn’t help much with my cause. My cock was still bent on being pleasured, and I hated how much it reacted to her, even when it was not supposed to. The damn thing was uncontrollable. It was infuriating.

  “We’re going to get married. I have the ring. I’ll go and fetch it once I can properly walk without hurting myself.” I was rather embarrassed not to even have the engagement ring that was in the damn safe in the library.

  Leaning against me, she kissed my cheek then brushed her lips against my ear. “We can have sex …” she seductively whispered.

  I froze, thinking she had bloody lost her marbles.

  “It’s okay,” she assured. “It’s been six weeks.”

  “I don’t know what you’re rambling on about. We were both there when the doctor emphasized no sex for eight weeks, and only after you have a checkup, so no.”

  “I know, babe, but I wasn’t referring to that specific kind …”

  She didn’t …

  Or did she?

  I was terrified. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she was begging…h How the fuck could I decline that teasing smile of hers that made my cock rock hard? Fuck.

  “Isobel …” I whispered, wanting her to see reason because I might not be able to control myself the moment I was inside of her. However, the woman persisted, and so I decided to deliver.

  Life was surely not too shabby. From here on, our lives would truly begin. It was going to be rocky, but we would enjoy the ride every step of the way.

  +++

  THE END

  +++

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  More books by Pamela Ann:

  The Torn Series Order:

  Scornfully Yours

  Scornfully Hers

  Frayed

  Blasphemous

  Undeniably Yours

  Scorned

  Fixated On You

  Christmas With You

  Unveiled

  Crushed TBA

  Damaged TBA

  The Chasing Series:

  Chasing Beautiful

  Chasing Imperfection

  Chasing Paradise

  Chasing Forever (Lucy & Toby)

  Chasing Mrs. Knightly: Epilogue

  Lily’s Mistake

  Loving Drake

  Loving Lily

  British Billionaires Series:

  Falling For My Husband (Callum & Stella)

  Falling For Ava (Reiss & Ava)

  Falling For The Enemy (Sebastian & Allie) TBA

  Formula Men Series:

  Monza Luca di Medici February 2015

  Nice Jacques Bertrand TBA

  Barcelona Andrès Franco TBA

  Pieces: A Duet:

  Pieces of You & Me

  Pieces Of Us

  Havoc (Dark Erotica)

  The Encounter Trilogy

  Bartered

  Unleashed

  Vanquished

  For more about Pamela Ann and her upcoming releases, follow her through Facebook, Twitter and her blog.

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