Page 133 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

“How?”

“It’s not for you to worry about.”

She threw her hands up.

“What has gotten into you? You’ve been acting all weird since Rick took me.”

I ran a hand through my hair. Having Rick take her drove me fucking crazy. I just hadn’t realised she’d noticed. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.

“Do not tell me it’s nothing, Aiden.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

I knew better than to tell her nothing was wrong when that clearly wasn’t the case. I looked away, staring down at the bathroom mat on the floor.

“Do you know how fucking terrified I was for you? How helpless it all made me feel. I’m meant to protect you, princess. I couldn’t even do that. You were almost assaulted by Tristan and then Rick took you away. It fucking killed me. I couldn’t deal with it. Any of it.”

I dared look up at her. Her expression softened. She walked over and knelt before me, taking my hands in hers. Admitting this to her was fucking hard. Telling her how it chewed me up inside. How much it destroyed me that she was taken on my watch.

“Aiden…”

“I fucking hated it. I lost all my fucking control and did something stupid as shit and I know that. Okay? I know I messed up. All I want is for you to be safe. I dragged you into all of this. I made it dangerous for you. I did this.”

“You’re not to blame for what happened to me.”

“I am. Do you know James had a go at me over this whole thing? He told me I shouldn’t have made you get involved and that you had a target on your back because of me.”

She shifted closer, letting go of one of my hands and reaching up to hold my face instead. Her touch soothed my racing heart a little. The way she was looking at me without any judgement, just compassion, made my chest constrict.

“He shouldn’t have. You couldn’t have stopped Rick taking me. He was determined to speak to me. You need to stop beating yourself up about this. And you need to talk to me instead of bottling it up. If you’re struggling with something, then tell me. That’s what I’m here for, to listen and help you deal with it.”

Fuck. My princess. Her words tore at me.

“I know how much you struggle to let anyone in, but we’re partners, Aiden. We’re in this relationship together. You’re there for me when I need you so let me do the same for you. Don’t think I don’t know how you put aside everything to help me after Rick took me. I was a mess, but you gave me what I needed. You made it okay. Please, tell me what you need.”

I let go of her hand and crushed her to my chest, burying my face in her hair. No matter how much it pained me to show any weakness in front of anyone, Avery was different. She mattered most to me in this world. She was the one.

“I just need you,” I whispered. “Just you. The rest of the bullshit doesn’t matter.”

She wrapped her arms around my back, not complaining about how tightly I held her.

“I love you so much, princess. I’m sorry I put us in danger again. I’m so sorry.”

“Shh, it’s okay. We’ll fix it. It’ll be fine.”

She pulled away, looking up at me.

“You tell my uncle it was Rick’s friend who helped take me. That’s why you went around his and beat him up. He’ll be happy about that, trust me. He apologised to me today and told me never to marry Tristan or trust the Shaws. If he finds out who helped kidnap me, he’ll be livid. Perhaps enough that he might not notice the girls are gone. That will give us time to get them away from here.”

Chuck had apologised to Avery?

“He did what?”

“He said sorry for what he did when I was a kid. It doesn’t change how I feel about him.”

I was glad he’d apologised. Still didn’t negate what he’d done. He’d hurt other girls and that was unforgivable.

“Do you really think he’d be that pissed?”

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