Page 97 of A Heart So Savage

Crushing her against his chest for a long moment, he just held her, his breath ragged in her ears. Cupping Ava’s face in the palm of a black leather-gloved hand, he softly reminded her of his obsession, even as her eyesight finally dimmed and ebony skies swallowed her whole.

“I told you before, lamb. You are mine. No matter where you go or how far, I will always find you. I will always come for you. Do you understand?Always.”

ChapterThirty-Nine

Love isn’t a weakness.

Or a myth.

Or a curse.

Or a torment.

Love heals all.

Five days had passedsince Ava’s rescue.

She slept most of that time, coming awake for sips of water and the pain medication Neil prescribed. Sometimes, Kingston made her sit up and take deep breaths, gently explaining how it would keep her lungs clear of the fluid build-up so common with fractured ribs.

He never left her side. On the second night, when trauma and pain sent her careening into a night terror, he was there. Holding her during the worst of it. Soothing her back into a deep sleep when the nightmares sputtered out along with her heart-wrenching screams.

Apart from the moment when he learned she was her brother’s prisoner, Kingston had never felt more helpless in his life. Knowing how close he’d come to losing her to the cruelty of others broke him.

He lay beside her now in their bed, entwining locks of her hair ‘round and ‘round his finger. Watching her sleep, he counted the rise and fall of her chest and the rapid twitching of her eyelids as she dreamed of things he hoped she would never remember upon waking. He kissed the tip of her nose and stroked her soft cheeks. Several times he applied a healing salve to the cut on her bottom lip and wanted to rip apart the man who had struck her.

During the darkest hours of the night, he whispered how much he loved her. That when she recovered, he would give her anything her heart desired. He promised to protect her always. Vowed she would never have any reason to feel unsafe ever again. He said these things in preparation for saying them for the day she was better and fully recovered. He said them as a prelude to begging her forgiveness.

He had no idea how he would live without her, but he was determined to give her a choice. Be his forever. Or be set free.

The possibility Ava would choose the latter was something Kingston had prepared for. He did not deserve her, and she should have the chance to live her life the way she wanted.

That meant letting her go. No matter how devastating it would be.

Kingston’s eyes drifted shut as exhaustion seeped into his bones. The lack of sleep over the last few nights was catching up to him now. With a heavy sigh, he sank deeper into the pillows, curling his body around hers in a protective gesture. If she stirred or cried out in her sleep, he would be right there to comfort her. He concentrated on her steady breathing, matching it with his own as darkness overtook him.

It was much later when he woke to find Ava staring at him, those enchanting green eyes of hers wide and serious.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” he whispered back.

“I thought I would never see you again,” she said softly after a few minutes of silence. “But you found me. Somehow, you found me.”

“You are the other half of my soul, Ava. Did you think I wouldn’t want it back?”

“Oh, Kingston.” Ava’s chin quivered, tears filling her eyes. “How could I be so stupid, thinking I could handle Carson on my own? I wanted him to pay for what he did but all I did was make a mess of everything and place myself and you in danger.”

“But you did make him pay,” Kingston assured her, cupping her jaw in the palm of his hand. “He’s dead, Ava. He died that same night and his body was taken back to the house so he could be found with the others. It looks like a drug deal gone bad, which is an outcome no one would find particularly surprising.”

“But there were two policemen who saw me at the house. They knew me. They can place me at the scene. They’ll arrest me and—"

Kingston shushed her before her panic could spin out of control. “I’ve taken care of that, Ava. They were just as dirty as Aaron Redding, and you don’t need to worry about them, trust me. They’ll never say a word about what they saw. I made damn sure of it.” He deliberately left out the details of the officers’ deaths in a fiery crash just on the outskirts of Bitter Springs. “Carson’s death will be investigated based on what I allow.”

“Did you… Did you do it?” Ava sounded both hopeful and scared of the answer in regard to her brother’s fate. And while Kingston wished he could say differently, he was not the cause of Carson’s demise.

“No, lamb. He bled out internally. God, I wanted to string him up by his balls. Hear his screams for mercy while I made him suffer for hurting you, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m furious he cheated me of the chance to kill him myself.”

Horror flashed across Ava’s delicate features. “Then I did it. It was me. I actually killed him.” Her voice caught on a sob. “My own brother.”

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