Page 138 of Prized Possession

He nods. “After your first cake class. I knew this was what you were supposed to be doing with your life, I was just waiting for you to realise.”

I throw myself at Marcus, who quickly catches me, letting me wrap my legs around his waist as I attack his mouth. I kiss him with everything I have.

When I pull back, letting him see the tears that are building, I smile for him.

“Thank you. You don’t have to give me money. Just knowing you believe in me is enough.”

He kisses me again. “This is me investing in you. Take the money and buy what you need to build your business. Consider me a silent partner. You don’t have to keep the name, it’s just the first thing I could think of,” he admits, his cheeks flushing in a way that almost makes me blurt out those three little words, but we’re not ready for that yet.

“I love the name.” It’s not quite what I wanted to say, but close enough. “You can be a partner in my business, as long as you promise to be my partner in life too.”

I don’t know where that came from. I was so busy trying not to tell him I love him, I say that instead.

We’ve been saying we belong to each other, and Marcus has said he doesn’t want this to end, but we’ve never talked about the reasons why we can’t be together. Marcus has said he thinks I’m worth the risk, but we’ve never labelled anything.

After he mentioned marriage today, I couldn’t hold back. I expect him to freak out, to put me down and walk away, but he doesn’t. He places a sweet kiss on my forehead, giving me that smile that makes my legs go weak.

“I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me,” he says, and I can’t stop my eyes from going wide.

“Really? What about the peace treaty, and the arrangement with Scott?”

He shrugs his shoulders as best he can with me wrapped around him.

“I don’t really give a fuck. I will take on anyone who tries to stop us from being together.”

“I’m yours too, for as long as you want me,” I tell him, and he captures my lips with his, walking us towards his bedroom—ourbedroom.

Although his kisses are distracting me, I allow myself a giddy moment to truly be happy. I’ve got the guy, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to be with me.

I just hope we can deal with whatever comes our way, as once people find out about us, it’s not going to be an easy road. But at least we can deal with it together.

Things with Chloe seem to be going from strength to strength, and in an effort not to sound like a love-sick teenage girl, I really couldn’t be happier.

When it’s just the two of us, in our own little bubble, everything is surprisingly easy. Gone are the days where I worried about how I’d cope sharing my space with someone else. Living with Chloe is simple, almost like we’ve been doing it forever.

The issues start whenever we’re forced to leave our bubble and confront the harshness of reality.

I’m very aware that I’ve created this little fantasy world with her where everything is great, and we can ride off into the sunset without any issues, but it’s a fucking fantasy. Reality is much harder.

Whenever we’re forced to interact with her family, and I have to pretend she means nothing to me, it drives me crazy.

To hear her family plan her wedding to another man makes my blood run cold, and the urge to murder people grows with each passingsecond.

I also hate what it does to Chloe. The whole time she’s been with me, I’ve watched her grow. I’ve chipped away at the carefully constructed facade her parents helped mould, and I’ve watched her slowly find the real Chloe.

She laughs more now than ever before, and when she smiles, there’s nothing fake about it. I love being the one to put that smile on her face, and in return, she makes me feel lighter and freer than I have in a long time.

We were both raised with heavy responsibilities on our shoulders. I’ve always known ruling would be my end game, and I spent my whole life training for it, even though it wasn’t necessarily my choice. My father raised me to follow in his footsteps, and that included believing that all his decisions were the correct ones.

Whereas, Chloe knew her role would be to strengthen her family’s connections through marriage, and her parents have raised her to be the perfect wife and mother to a person of their choosing. Her right to make her own decisions was taken from her at birth, and she didn’t think she could question it.

While I forced Chloe to think about what she wanted, in turn, it made me do the same. Maintaining the peace treaty and ruling Blackthorn to the best of my abilities has been my only goal in life, and it took me far too long to realise my father created that goal for me.

Of course, I want to keep Blackthorn safe. They’re the people that I rule, and I care about their safety and wellbeing, but I didn’t realise until I fell for Chloe how much I’ve given up to make that happen.

Since I asked her to look deeper, I did the same.

That’s when I realised I was faced with an awful dilemma. If I choose to be with Chloe, I put the people I’m duty-bound to protect at risk, as the peace treaty would be in jeopardy, and that could lead to war. But if I choose the people instead, I’d have to give up the only thing I’ve ever really chosen for myself—Chloe.

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