Page 80 of The Pakhan's Kidnapped Bride
My fingers are twisted in his shirt, clinging onto him as though I’m afraid this is all a dream and I’m terrified to wake up.He loves me.The words loop in my head.He loves me.I choke back more tears, sobs of happiness and relief, and disbelief.
Emmanuil’s arms are locked around me, and just as tight as I’m holding on to him, he’s holding on to me, too.
I feel his body vibrate as a low chuckle rumbles in his chest. It turns into wholehearted laughter as he pulls me away to look at me.
I squint at him, confused. He shakes his head and says, “I can’t believe—"
“I love you too,” I blurt out before he can say anything more. “I love you and I want to be with you and I never, ever want to let you go.”
His smile is wide across his lips.
“I know, kitten. I know you love me. And you never have to let me go.”
“I’m so sorry,” I mutter again, knowing I can never apologize enough.
“You don’t need to ever say sorry again. You did what you thought was right to protect me. It’s your father who has to pay. I want to tear him to shreds,” he snarls, anger pulsing in his eyes, thinking about what my father did. “The agony you must have felt watching that man you thought was me being tortured. I understand your relief and your guilt. But none of it was your fault, kitten. Your father has to pay. He has to suffer. He has to die.”
I sit back, my fingers threaded through his as I stare down at our hands entwined. He’s angry. I understand. I was angry too, for a very long time. But I had more guilt than anger.
Em lets out a deep sigh, and I know he’s thinking so many things. It’s a lot to process. The truth of everything is a lot to take in.
He smiles at me, reaching up to touch my cheek, his fingers tracing over my skin, gentle and intimate.
“I can’t believe that all these years neither of us stopped loving each other. It seems like such a waste of time…” he says.
Love is all that matters. The fact that, through all of this, we found each other again. The only thing that matters is that I don’t lose him ever again.
I bite my lip and tilt my head to the side, thoughtfully. “I don’t want to be like him, Em,” I say softly.
“You could never be like him. Why would you say that?”
“I’m older now, Em. I’m wiser, and I have so much more understanding of the world. Last time I let him scare me into not fighting for us. For our love. But this time I won’t back down. But I don’t want to hurt him. It’s not the way to fix this. That’s his method. Bullying, fear, violence. It’s not who I am, and I won’t let my anger towards him turn me into a monster.”
“I’ll be the monster for you, so you don’t have to,” he growls darkly.
I shake my head again. “No.”
“I don’t understand how you can give that man the slightest thought of kindness when he doesn’t deserve to be breathing.”
“Revenge consumes people,” I say, and his eyes soften.
“It does,” he sighs. “What do you want to do, kitten? Because I’ll do anything you ask. If it were up to me, I’d destroy him, but the choice is yours.”
My heart warms with relief. He understands, and he isn’t going to fight me on this. He understands what is important.
“I need to go and see my brother. If anyone can force my father to stand down, it’s Kristopher. I have to tell him the truth so that he helps us,” I say, a nervous smile touching my lips. I hope my brother will give me the chance to explain.
“Alright. Then that’s what we’ll do.” He strokes his thumb over the back of my hand, sending shivers through my body.
I want so badly to be with him. I can’t wait.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. The sooner I have this conversation with Kristopher, the sooner we can put this all behind us and be together,” I say with determination. “I just hope he understands.”
“Anya, you aren’t going alone. I’m not leaving your side. We’re a team now. This isn’t justyourlove, you’re fighting for. It’sours.It’sus,”he says.
My heart flips, somersaulting with pure joy, because this is all I’ve ever dreamed of. I grin, crawling into his lap. “I was hoping you would say that, because I don’t think I can bear to be away from you.”
He wraps his hands around my hips and pulls me tighter against him.
