Page 1 of Rectify

PROLOGUE

“Don’t go.”

He probably sounded like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but Aedan couldn’t help himself. If he let Natalya leave, then he knew she wouldn’t return. Occasionally, he got these feelings he just couldn’t shake. His grandmother had called itan dara sealladh,the second sight.

He didn’t actually believe in ghosts, goblins, or fortune-tellers. Sometimes, he just knew things. And his instincts rarely failed him.

Right now, his gut was screaming that he couldn’t let Natalya go.

Natalya placed some underwear in a large suitcase. “I have to go, Aedan. She’s my nana. My brother said she doesn’t have much longer to live. Where is my blue skirt? Have you seen it?”

He calmly picked up the skirt from where she’d flung it at the chair earlier and missed. At her job, she was organized and professional. At home, she was an untameable whirlwind. Her chaotic approach to life was simply part of her charm.

“What if you have problems getting back into the States?”

She gazed up at him with a smile, but he could see how stressed she was. He felt like an asshole, adding to her worries. But he couldn’t back down. This was too important. He couldn’t lose her.

“I have a green card now, thanks to you. But if anything goes wrong, I’ll call you, and you’ll swoop in like my knight in shining armor,” she told him teasingly. She slipped her arms around his waist and pressed close. Instantly, his body tightened, his cock swelling. He cupped her hips with his hands. He adored her curves. The flare of her hips, her full, lush breasts, and an ass that took no prisoners.

God, she was beautiful. Her sparkling brown eyes were surrounded by long, sooty lashes. Her dark, glossy hair fell like a curtain around her shoulders. She always complained that her mouth was too large, her hips were too big, and her butt was too round. But he thought she was perfect.

“I’m no knight in shining armor,” he protested, like always. His armor, if he’d ever had any, had become tarnished and tainted over the years.

“You’re a good man, Aedan,” Natalya told him as she ran her hands up his arms and cupped his face. She was only a few inches shorter than his own six-one. “You take care of the people around you. You take care of me.”

“I’m only a good man because of you. I know I don’t deserve you. You’ve made me a better person, Natalya. You’re my whole world.”

He’d known convincing her to stay would be an impossible task. Natalya believed in sticking by family, even those who didn’t deserve her loyalty. But Aedan never backed down from the impossible.

“I’ll be back, Aedan,” she replied in a deep voice that was a terrible impression ofThe Terminator. For once, Aedan didn’t feel like laughing.

“Let me come with you.”

Natalya sighed, looking dejected. They’d been over this argument multiple times since she’d received a phone call from her brother last night. Her nana had been ill for months, but she’d suddenly grown worse a few days ago.

“You start shooting your new film in three days, Aedan. You can’t miss it. This could be your big break.”

“No job is more important than you.” Screw the film. He’d thought becoming an actor would give him what he wanted. Power and fame. Turns out, none of that mattered to him without her. This film could be the boost his career needed, but right now, Natalya was the focal point of his life.

She smiled at him. He adored Natalya’s smile. She could light up an entire room. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at him. When she looked at him that way, he felt about ten feet tall. Like he could conquer anything.

“I love when you say things like that,” she murmured.

“I mean it.”

“I know. That’s what makes it so special. But a lot of people are depending on you, Aedan. You can’t let them down.”

Sometimes trying to be a better person really sucked.

“Besides, my family won’t be supportive of our relationship,” she continued. “They’re quite traditional. They won’t like that we’re living together out of wedlock, and I don’t want to upset Nana right now.”

When Natalya was seven, her mother had used all of her savings to pay someone to sneak herself and her two children over the border into Texas. The scumbag had taken their money and then abandoned them.

By the time Stan Murphy found them stumbling around on his ranch, they’d been weak with hunger and exhaustion. Instead of calling the authorities, he’d brought them back to his home.

Murphy and Natalya’s mother had fallen in love. They had fifteen years of happiness together before dying in a car accident. But thankfully, Murphy had ensured that they all became legal US citizens.

“Mama would want me to do this, Aedan. You know that.”

---