Page 55 of The Devious Husband

My husband looks down, his cheekbones flushed. “When I say always, I truly mean it. It’s always been you for me. I never dared tell you how I feel, especially not when I couldn’t tell you the truth about myself, and my past.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” I tell him, my heart aching. “It was never about knowing everything about you, Xavier. I just didn’t want to feel like an outsider. I wanted to feel closer to you, and I do now.”

He shakes his head. “Dion said something to me a while ago that stuck with me, and he’s right. He told me that if I didn’t tell you the truth, I wasn’t ever really giving you a honest chance to love me, and I’d always fear that you’d leave me when you found out that there were parts of me I’d hidden from you — and it’s true.” Xavier runs a hand through his hair and sighs, his expression sorrowful. “Those properties? I want you to have them regardless of what you think of me when I’m done telling you everything I need to say to you, but that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about today.”

I nod, my heart beating wildly, nerves rushing down my spine. “I’m listening,” I tell him, my voice soft.

Xavier’s eyes falling closed for a few moments, before he looks at me with pure resignation written all over his face. “The night I came home with blood on my clothes, I’d cut out a man’s tongue, and I’d dismembered several others.”

My stomach turns, and I take a deep breath. “Did they deserve to die?”

His eyes widen, like that isn’t at all the response he was expecting. “Yes,” he says, sounding a little confused.

“Tell me why.”

“It’s a long story,” he tells me, “but it’s one you deserve to hear.”

I nod, and he begins to tell me about his family’s criminal roots, and I listen raptly. “I wanted out,” he admits, “and I wasn’t the only one — Valeria did too. We argued about it often, because she’d actually been gathering the courage to leave, but I didn’t dare disappoint our parents. One particular night our usual argument blew over, and I told her to just leave instead of always talking about it.” He looks away, pure heartbreak in his eyes. “She walked out the door, and I watched her go. That was the same night she disappeared.”

Xavier can barely look at me as he continues to tell me about his past, and eventually the photo he received, and the way he responded to that attempt at blackmail. “I wish I could tell you that was all in the past, and that I’m a better man now, but the truth is, I don’t regret it, and I’d do it all over again if I needed to.” He clasps his hands and slowly raises his eyes. “I understand that this changes everything, Sierra. I thought of keeping this from you for the rest of our lives, but then I realized that it’d just hurt you so much more if you eventually found out we built our love on a bed of lies, and I love you too much to do that to you.”

“You’re right,” I murmur. “It changes everything.”

He looks heartbroken as I rise from my seat, only for his brows to furrow as I walk up to him. He pulls his chair back, his eyes widening when I place my knee between his legs and my hands on his shoulders.

Xavier reaches for me, only to pull his hands back as he looks into my eyes, his expression one I haven’t seen on him before. He looks uncertain, hopeful, and mesmerized — all at once. “Let’s announce our marriage,” I tell him, my voice trembling. “I love you, Xavier. I love every single part of you, including the parts you wish never saw the light of day. Every experience, every regret made you who you are, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you. I love you as you are, Xavier Kingston, and I always will.”

Forty-Eight

Sierra

I lean back on the sofa and smile to myself as I post a photo on my social media channels with one simple caption: Mrs. Kingston. It’s the same photo that Xavier put on a billboard outside my office, except this time, he hasn’t been cut out of it.

Xavier looks up at me with the sweetest smile after he posts his own photo, and I rush to take a look at it, curious what he chose. A blush spreads across my cheeks when I navigate to his account and find that he’s posted a photo of us kissing, moments after we were pronounced husband and wife. His caption is just as simple as mine, but far more romantic: Mine. Always & Forever.

Pure giddiness rushes through me as I watch everyone’s shocked reactions coming in, and I can just about imagine the countless requests for comments Ares must be getting right about now. “Oh wow,” I whisper when just minutes later, Xavier and I are both tagged in individual posts each of my siblings and sisters-in-law posted, all of them featuring wedding photos of us with them, and cute captions.

RavenWindsor: There isn’t anyone else I’d ever be willing to share my bestie with! Love you both endlessly.

ValentinaWindsor: This story has been in the making longer than anyone could possibly imagine, and I’ve loved watching it unfold. Couldn’t wish for a better ending.

FayeWindsor: These two are a perfect symphony, and I’m lucky to call them my family.

CelesteWindsor: What’s meant to be always will be, and Xavier and Sierra were definitely meant to be.

RayaWindsor: These two are amazing individually, but the way they complement each other? Magical.

AresWindsor: Congratulations, both of you. Honored to have an extra brother.

LucaWindsor: about damn time.

DionWindsor: Pleased to officially welcome you into our family, brother.

ZaneWindsor: called it.

LexingtonWindsor: Best of luck, mate. You’ll need it.

I bite down on my lip, moving from tears to laughter as I read all the captions, and Xavier wraps his arm around me as he shows me posts from Hunter and Zachary.

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