Page 80 of Beautiful Vengeance

“You okay?” he asked, his brown eyes searching her face in concern.

“I’m fine.”

But Trinity’s heart felt bruised, and not just because of her injuries.

She’d withheld part of herself from this incredible man out of fear and insecurity, all of which she now saw as baseless and stupid.She’dbeen stupid. She’d almost died today, and she’d been cowardly guarding her heart from the one person who meant the most to her in this world.

But no longer. However things shook out with Jane Allen and this mission, Trinity was finally clear on what she wanted. She was done with holding back. She had a life to live, and the man standing in front of her to live it with.

She set her hands on his chest, wincing as the motion pulled at her sore ribs. His heart beat slow and steady beneath her palms, those warm brown eyes delving into hers. “I’ve been holding back from you, and I’m sorry.”

His lips twitched. “Let’s talk about this later, when you’re feeling better.”

“No. Now.”

“All right. Apology accepted. Though I kinda knew what I was in for when I fell in love with you.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little at his dry assessment. He’d seen her at her worst and best. The crazy along with the good. And he still wanted to make a life with her. “From here on out, things are gonna be different.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Different how?”

Her sore heart throbbed faster, a mix of relief and gratitude washing over her. She’d almost lost the chance to say this to him. Somehow that made the moment even more perfect. “I want to marry you when we get home.”

His eyes widened, his whole face lighting up. “For real?”

“For real. And sometime in the not too distant future, I want to start looking into the adoption process.” She wanted to be a mother, and Brody would be the most incredible dad.

He laughed, that gorgeous smile warming her inside as he carefully slid his arms around her waist, avoiding her ribs. “I want to squish you so bad right now. When are we gonna get hitched?”

A hard knot of resolve tied with the joy in her gut, sending a wave of goosebumps rippling across her skin. “Right after we deal with the bitch who did all this to us.”

****

Amber finished reading the report on her screen for the second time and leaned back to rub at her tired, burning eyes. It was too much.

Jesse’s arms wrapped around her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder. “Need a break?” he murmured.

“For just a minute,” she relented.

He spun her chair around, scooped her up before she could protest, and carried her over to the hotel bed. Cradling her to his chest, he dropped kisses along the side of her face, his arms tight around her.

She sighed and leaned into him, closing her eyes. Long hours didn’t faze her. She was a workaholic and comfortable with it. But today had taken an emotional, mental and physical toll on her and now she was exhausted.

From the moment they’d walked into this hotel room hours earlier, she’d been busy remotely capturing and wiping everything from dear Aunt Jane’s electronics. Hard as it was to believe, every new thing she found out about her aunt was worse than the last. Jane had indeed been an actual architect. The evil, twisted kind.

It was so ironic. All of it. From the court documents detailing why Jane gave them up. She’d made an excuse about not being able to care for them because of her job, because it would impede her lifestyle, and that she wasn’t cut out to be a parent.

That last bit was the only truthful thing Amber had been able to uncover about her so far, and she didn’t hold out much hope that she would find more. But the captured bodyguards weren’t nearly as loyal as the Architect seemed to think.

They were talking.

Having seen the way she was prepared to sacrifice them to get what she wanted, that they meant nothing to her beyond being useful pawns in her scheme, they were both talking to Rycroft and the other interrogators.

Jesse rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back. “Want to talk about it?”

Not really, but the only other person she could tell this to right now was Megan. She needed to vent before she imploded. “She didn’t give us up because she didn’t want to raise us. She turned us into guinea pigs so she could funnel us into phase two of the Valkyrie Program—which she was the prototype for.”

Their aunt had literally been the original Valkyrie. The Program had been her idea, and she’d done everything in her power to make it happen.

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