Page 97 of Wicked King

“You are the only man for me. I come only for you, my husband.”

“Dio, that word is so sexy on your lips. And even more so when my cock is inside you, claiming every inch of that pussy. My pussy.”

“Yours and only yours.”

My hands wrap around his muscled ass, urging him deeper, his pulsing head nudging that elusive spot.

“Don’t stop,” I moan. “I’m almost there…”

Cupping my ass, he lifts me off the table and forces me up and down his thick shaft.

“Oh, Marco, oh fuck, I’m going to come…”

My toes curl and that raw energy courses through me, blossoming in my core and spreading like wildfire through my veins. I moan his name as his cock twitches inside me, and his warmth fills me to the brim. My breath hitches, my heart halts for a devastating instant. Everything stops but the raging pleasure. As the lingering tremors slowly subside, Marco lowers me back onto the drafting table, but we remain locked in each other’s arms for a long minute.

He feels so good, so strong. I’ve never felt so safe as when I’m surrounded by Marco. His fingers trail up my arms, tracing the patchwork of scars. His jaw tenses and that raw fury flares.

“I want that bastardo’s head for what he did to you.”

Qian used to keep it in a box, but once my brother died, I had Bà’s head buried with the rest of his body.

“Qian was a lucky man, getting to claim that pezzo di merda’s death.”

I nibble on my bottom lip as the secret I’ve carried for too long now weighs heavily on me. Maybe the dark confession would finally free me of him. And for some reason, I want to tell Marco the truth. I feel like he’d feel better about the hell I’d suffered.

“It wasn’t Qian,” I whisper.

“What?” His eyes fix to mine.

“I killed my father.”

CHAPTER 45

A CONFESSION AND A CALL

Marco

I killed my father. Jia’s words hang in the air between us for a devastatingly long moment. Just when I think my wife couldn’t possibly surprise me, she says that…

And me with my pants down, too.

The anguish in her eyes is palpable, a furious mix of pain and anger. But I don’t catch a glimpse of remorse. Not that I blame her. The man clearly tortured and abused her for years, to speak nothing of the verbal assault she must have endured.

“How?” I finally manage.

“I shot him.” Her answer is quick, her voice clear. Again, I don’t detect a hint of regret. “And after that day, I promised myself I would never live beneath the heel of a powerful man again.”

At once, everything is so much clearer. Her hatred of me stemmed from a much deeper one, that of her abusive father.

“What made you finally do it?” I pull up my pants and hand her the discarded blouse. Perhaps, it’ll be easier for her to confess the truth with clothes on.

“I guess I just snapped one day, as they say.” She shrugs, fastening the final button. “My mother was dead, Qian was the heir and he was readying to take over the Four Seas. I suddenly found myself with nothing to lose. Bà came into my room one night, angry about my chosen profession. He forbade me to pursue my fashion career, and I just lost it. He came at me with the knife he used to inflict my punishment, slow, shallow cuts to ensure I didn’t bleed out. It was a ritual of sorts to my father. He would force me to wear an apron so my clothes wouldn’t get bloody. At first, it was to hide the truth from my mother, and then after she was gone, I believe it was for him.” She heaves out a breath before continuing. “When he went to pull the apron from my drawer, I got my gun. I’d owned one for years, been trained on it as a teenager, but I’d never fired it at someone until that day.”

Her shoulders begin to tremble. I inch closer and place my hands on her thighs, steadying her.

“I’ll never forget his face when I pointed it at him. That look of surprise and betrayal will be permanently carved into my mind. Worse was the expression that came along with it, a hint of pride. Like he was happy that after all these years, I was finally standing up to him.” Her hands find mine, fingers clutching my own. “How fucked up is that?”

“Extremely.” I cradle her cheek, drawing her closer. “He was a terrible, horrible man, Jia, and he deserved to die for what he put you through.”

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