by Shayne Ford
Surrounded by a group of guests he has his eyes on me. I give him another soft nod and spin away.
My heart pounds in my throat as I walk across the hallway. The door is cracked open. I run my hand over my evening gown making sure the fabric falls smoothly on my body, and then I walk in.
“Close the door,” he says and turns to me.
The scraps and cuts are barely visible, but his lips are still swollen. I take a step toward him, yet keep my distance.
“It turns out I was right,” he says, flashing an insolent smile. Clasping my hands on my hips, I push my chin up.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not just any kind of man. I know you turned your back to your family, but choosing him will surely cut you out of their lives completely.”
I tilt my head to the side, and shoot him a pointing look, guarding my eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He stretches a smile.
“Oh... But I think you do, honey. See, I’m not so surprised with your choice. After all, you’re nothing but a slut yourself and you needed a man like him to give you your fix, but they will never accept him.”
“You’ve made me a slut, Lance.”
“Mmm... I fucking did, didn’t I?”
He shakes his head, smiling darkly as he relishes the memory. “To your credit, you screamed and fought, but I knew it that very night when your untouched pussy swallowed my cock for the first time. I fucking knew that you were gonna turn out just the way I wanted. None of the women who opened their legs for me, including your sister, were anywhere close to you.”
He puts the glass of scotch on the desk and peels his tuxedo jacket off his shoulders. “I fucking picked the wrong sister, but you were too young. They wouldn’t have given you to me. I never liked Evelyne, but she was the obvious choice, and she was forced down my throat. Why do you think that up to this day I’d fuck anyone but her?”
“You didn’t love anyone, Lance.”
“That’s maybe true, but sure as hell I loved fucking you.”
He rounds the desk, and I barely suppress my impulse to flee. My hand slips to the edge of the desk. He nears me, his eyes boring into mine. Curious. Inquisitive. Questioning.
A soft chuckle lifts off his lips as his finger trails the contour of my collarbone, and then slides down inside my cleavage, stopping between my breasts.
“It doesn’t have to be rough, Senna. I can be smooth. I bet he is smooth as well. You and I can be what we once were, and nobody needs to know. You can have that husband of yours. This way everybody will be happy.”
His finger tucks under my chin and tips my face up. The other hand grabs mine and presses it on his erection.
“See... You still get me hard.”
He rolls my hand up and down, his cock twitching against my touch.
“What if I say no?”
“Your parents will find out the truth about him and you.”
I smile.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
He smiles back at me, a shred of anger flashing in his smirk.
“No, it’s not. He was nothing but a street whore.”
I start laughing.
“How would you know that?”
“Well, the funny thing is I didn’t even have to do anything to find out. The information was handed to me.”
“Really?” I ask, tilting my head back, and lifting an eyebrow while trying to move away from him.
“Uh-uh.”
He snakes his arm around me, and keeps me in place, pressing his hardness against my belly.
“Women are a bit obsessed with him, and it happens that one of Evelyne’s friends got a little fixation on him at Isabel's party. She hired someone to find out who he was. Accounts of him servicing people on the street came back to her.”
“I don’t believe a fucking thing.”
“There was a woman who left her husband because of him.”
“Had that friend showed you any proof?”
“The PI forwarded pictures of him with that woman...”
I huff.
“Doing what?”
“Leaving a motel room.”
“That’s it?”
His hand clasps my chin, and my smile falls from my lips.
“Listen... I don’t need to see his dick in her cunt to know the truth.”
My eyes pull into a tight line.
“Who is the woman who has told you all of this? And how come you just received this information?”
A dark smile creeps up his lips, giving me an instant hunch.
I look at him, grappling with disbelief.
“Oh my God... You are fucking this woman. She’s one of Evelyne’s friends. So-called friend. I bet you fucked her last night...” I say, washed with revelation.
A smile glints in his eyes. It all starts to connect in my head.
“Wait. You’ve been fucking her for a while. I know who she is. She almost overdosed because of you.”
He takes a small step back, letting out a sardonic chuckle.
“That’s because she was an idiot. She got a bit clingy for my taste, and I had to break up with her, but once she found someone else to be obsessed with, I had no problem servicing her.”
Bile rises comes to my mouth.
“You are so fucking disgusting,” I say, spilling as much hate as I could in my words.
He comes fast toward me, but my hand is already up in the air. I slap him, as hard as I can, shattering his balance. With a couple of strides, I’m at the door, his footsteps right behind me.
The door slides open without me touching it, and I slip outside just as Jaden bursts in, his hand clutching Lance’s neck.
“Not so fast buddy,” he says, shoving him back into the room. He bends Lance over the desk and presses his head against the surface.
“Got it?” he throws at me over his shoulder.
I lift my gown, snatch the small recording device, and stop the recording.
“Yup.”
“Fucking bitch,” Lance growls.
A thud follows his words as Jaden smacks Lance’s head against the table.
“She’s way past your dirty talking, motherfucker. So let’s keep it civil.”
“Go to hell you fucking jerk. You deserve the slut...”
Another thick thud puts Lance’s blood on Jade’s knuckles.
“This is how it will go down, Lance,” Jaden growls. “You file for divorce within the next three business days. You take Evelyne’s friend with you. If she stays behind or if you fail to comply, this recording gets into Evelyne’s hands, her family and yours.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Lance grunts, his lip gushing blood.
Jaden hovers over Lance, his eyes darker than a winter night.
“Don’t push it, Lance. I’m really generous here. If you’re going now, you still have your medical career and a woman. If you stay, you lose everything. And if you ever come close to Senna again, I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands,” he says through clenched teeth. “It’s your choice, dickhead.”
He finally straightens and releases Lance who starts smoothing his clothes.
Jaden strides to the door, and just before he reaches me, he swivels his head back to Lance.
“And by the way, keep slandering me, and I’ll slap you with a suit. I know you have money, but I do too, so don’t fuck with me.”
He exits the room, and wraps his arm around me, pulling the door shut behind us.
Smiling as if nothing happened, he looks down at me. “Are you ready to go home, baby?”
I grin.
“Yes.”
He lowers his lips and kisses me. Soft and fragrant, warm and kind.
He’s the best man I could’ve loved.
The man who set me free.
Epilogue
SENNA
Four years or so later
Turquoise water stretches all around the island. I can see it through the open doo
rs. The draperies flutter softly in the ocean breeze as the afternoon light filters through the palms and blooming shrubs.
“They’ll be here soon, baby,” I whisper, smiling against his bare chest.
“They’re not gonna find us.”
“Yes, they will,” I say, chuckling. “We invited them.”
He rolls onto me, his eyes glinting with mischief.
“Oh, no...”
“Oh, yes...” he mutters.
He flashes a hot smile as my hands roll down his back, and then mold to his ass. Wetness drips between my legs.
“Open for me, baby...” he says quietly.
I part my legs. He slides into me, filling me up.
“This feels good,” I murmur. “It always does.”
Smiling, he crashes his lips onto mine and slips his tongue into my mouth.
“Mmm...” I moan. “You’re so fucking good,” I say between moans as he rolls his hips.
“No screaming, baby,” he mutters against my mouth.
I come in silence, my body breaking with pleasure beneath him. His eyes close for a moment, his body tensing as he stirs his cock, and pounds me till he comes undone.
“Fuck, yeah...”
He rolls to his back a few moments later.
“Who fucks at five o’clock in the afternoon?” I ask, still catching my breath.
He grins.
“People who have time and money, and like to fuck.”
He cups his cock, slides off the bed and rises to his feet. His naked body towers over me–– long muscles, covered in ink. I push up to my elbow, indulging in the view.
“You look good...”
His eyes narrow with an amused smile.
“Mmm-hmm,” he mutters and slithers to the bathroom.
“Are you coming?” he asks, cracking the door open, his eyes glinting with a wolfish smile.
“We don’t have time for that, Jaden.”
He lowers his head in a soft nod.
“I think we do if you get your ass off that bed.”
I push out of the bed and rush to the bathroom. Warm water falls on us for a few minutes before he turns the shower off, and brushes his lips against mine.
“Come on, baby. I know you want it...” he purrs, and my knees turn soft.
Drawing a path of kisses on his chest and abs, I slide down to my knees.
*
“An island, Senna?”
Harper’s eyes sparkle in the sunset’s light.
“I told you when we moved down here.”
“You didn’t say it was an island estate.”
I turn my palms up.
“Well. I probably forgot.”
“Oh my God! It’s beautiful.”
She swivels her head, taking in the glimmering water, the sky bleeding red shades of color into the ocean, and the glow spreading over the palms and sand, the pool, and the terrace.
Abel edges to us, his eyes filled with an affectionate smile.
“Oh. Is he asleep?” I ask.
He pivots so I could see the little boy’s face. Milo gives me a quick glance and a shy smile, before he hides, burying his face in his dad’s arm.
“We’re at that age,” Harper says, smiling, combing her fingers through his hair.
“He’ll come out of his shell,” I say.
As we amble to the house, a chorus of voices lifts in the air. Not much of a surprise, my daughter's voice rises above everybody else’s. As we get closer, Jaden’s voice thunders and silence fills the air.
“Sam?” I call her out.
“I didn’t do anything,” she says.
The four-year-old looks at me, her nose creasing with a smile, her blue-gray eyes twinkling with mischief.
“You’re lying.”
She turns her nose up and gives me a cheeky grin, reminding me of her father, her fair locks, and eyes making her a carbon copy of him.
“She’s definitely your daughter,” I say cutting my eyes to Jaden, who’s barely stifling his laughter.
“Daniel?” I call out my son.
Her twin brother raises dark green eyes, glistening with tears. Chocolate brown bangs fall over his brow.
“What did she do?” I ask.
He doesn’t say anything, and I know him well enough not to expect him to rat out on his sister. No matter what she does to him, he never talks.
Samantha glues her hands to her hips and smiles. Suppressing my grin, I motion to Jaden. He scoops her up, and I snatch Daniel, and we all walk into the house. Sara and Nick enter the room from the other end of the terrace.
“How’s Jacob?” I ask, laying Daniel on the sofa.
“He’s asleep. Emma’s with him.”
“She doesn’t have to. Our nanny can stay with him,” I say walking toward the kitchen.
“Mommy?”
Daniel's voice rings out in the air–– the first time I hear him talking this evening. I turn to him.
He looks at me with puppy eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”
He nods and flashes an adorable smile.
“And stay away from Sam.”
I sweep my gaze around searching for my daughter.
Oh, God. She found Milo. All I can do right now is roll my eyes as she pokes at him, while the little guy tries to hide in Abel’s arms.
A soft voice comes from behind.
Emma, a tall, slender eight-year-old, strolls into the room. She comes to me and hugs me, and then searches for Jaden. As soon as she spots him in the kitchen her face brightens with a smile.
She saunters to him.
“Hey, sweetie,” Jaden says and buries her in his arms.
Her eyes fill with gleaming light.
Nick strolls to the kitchen as well. Emma tears away from Jaden’s arms and turns to Nick. She looks up at him, smiling again. His arm curls over her shoulders and they both shift to Jaden. Emma tells them something, and they all start laughing.
Jaden and Nick start fixing drinks. Soon, Abel joins them.
I keep an eye on everything as our staff sets the dinner table.
An hour later as we all sit around the table on the patio when a whirring noise drifts through the air.
“A helicopter?” Sara asks.
Jaden and I exchange looks as we push our chairs back and walk to the helipad.
“Are you expecting someone?” I ask.
He flashes a mysterious smile as a tall man, climbs out of the helicopter.
I start laughing.
“Oh, my God! Excuse me. Is that the only way he can travel?”
“He likes to pilot that damn thing.”
I throw my hands the air.
“As long as it’s not you,” I say.
As Kane strides to us, Jaden arm tightens around me.
They shake hands and give each other a quick hug, and then Kane slides his lips to my cheek placing a feather-like kiss.
“How come you’re alone?” Jaden asks, throwing him a glance.
Kane’s lips curve into a smile.
“She didn’t make it,” he says, somewhat amused.
“And you don’t look affected at all,” Jaden says, studying his eyes.
Kane shakes his head.
“No... not really. We broke off the engagement.”
A moment of silence stretches between us.
Kane’s eyes fill with a different expression. Softer and melancholic.
“She’s not what I need. We both knew it for a while.”
His eyes slant at me as he says that, and Jaden flashes a grin.
“She’s mine. Don’t even think about it. It’s enough that my son looks like you.”
“Jaden!” I blurt out, my skin burning with a blush. “How can you even say that?”
“I’m just teasing you, baby,” he says, and they both start laughing.
“That’s not what I had in mind,” Kane says, his eyes flickering with a smile. “I think I found her... My girl, ” he says, flashing a mysterious grin.
/> “Really?” Jaden asks curiously.
“Yeah... She’s not mine... yet. She’s different than you, Senna, but she’s just as wild.”
“I’m not wild...”
The last word gets muffled as Jaden’s palm slips over my mouth. They smile at each other before he slides his hand off and kisses me.
Moments later, we all walk into the house.
Kane joins us at the dinner table.
Hours later, as noises die out, and our guests get settled in their rooms, Jaden threads his fingers through mine and motions me to follow him out of the house.
Grains of sand roll beneath our bare feet as we edge to the ocean. We sit on the beach, my back glued to his chest, his arms locked around me.
In silence, we stare at the ocean, listening to the soft waves lapping against the shore. He kisses the top of my head, and I curl my arms around his thighs.
“It’s this what you dreamed off?” he asks, a smile lining his voice.
I tilt my head to the side to capture his eyes. Soft and tender, they’re waiting for me to give him an answer. I nod a few times, pushing back a few tears.
“Is it for you?” I ask with a trembling voice.
“Yeah... This is it, baby. It can’t get better than that. ”
His lips touch mine, soft, tender and pure. Like his heart. Like mine.
November 2017
Shayne Ford
Thank you for reading the last book of the Dark Heart Series.
Also by Shayne Ford
LOVE IS WAR SERIES
A Dark Mystery Romance
FALLEN (Love is War Series #1)
BROKEN (Love is War Series #2)
TAKEN (Love is War Series #3)
OWNED (Love is War Series #4)
NIGHT OF THE KINGS SERIES
A Billionaire Romance
JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #1)
DARK JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #2)
TAMING JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #3)
ALEXANDER (Night of the Kings Series #4)
HARD LEX (Night of the Kings Series #5)
LOVING LEX (Night of the Kings Series #6)
EDWARD (Night of the Kings #7)
WILD ED (Night of the Kings #8)
TAMING ED (Night of the Kings #9)