Page 94 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

He nodded, giving her a half smile.

“Aiden can fill you in. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to take you to work. Your uncle insists on you having protection.”

She looked at the floor.

“So he knows I was taken.”

“I’m afraid so. He did make some noise amongst his clients, so perhaps that’s why you’ve been returned.”

She sighed.

“I know why I was returned, but if you’ll excuse me, I really need a shower.”

She shuffled past the both of us and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it. Locking me out. What the fuck happened to her?

“I’ll be making tracks then.”

I gave him a nod, my eyes still on the bathroom door. I wanted to fucking break it down, but if Avery wanted space, I’d give it to her.

“Let me know what Chuck says.” My eyes flicked to his. “After I find out what happened to her, we need to plan our next move.”

“Of course.”

He walked to the front door and opened it. He paused, turning back to me.

“I’ll keep her safe, Aiden.”

“I know you will.”

He nodded and left. I stared at the bathroom door, listening to the sounds of the shower. All I wanted was for her to be okay. She was safely home, but that didn’t mean she’d had an easy ride. I sat up against the wall outside the door, waiting for her to come out. There wasn’t much else I could do with myself.

Having her back soothed my aching chest. Knowing she was here where I could protect her calmed me. My princess. My girl. She was home. Those twenty-four hours had felt like a lifetime. A lifetime of pure fucking hell. I couldn’t deal with it.

Staring down at my still bruised knuckles, the evidence of my despair, the feeling of helplessness threatened to overcome me all over again. I’d been powerless to stop them taking her and powerless when it came to finding her again. What good was I if I couldn’t protect the one person who mattered more to me than my own fucking life?

I dragged my hands through my hair. These dark thoughts weren’t fucking helping anyone. Especially not when it’d dragged up memories of what happened to my mother. How I couldn’t stop them hurting her. How they’d taken her away from me. All of it killed me.

Avery would never blame me for what happened. That girl was the brightest fucking star in the sky. She always understood. Always cared. Always did everything in her power to make me fucking happy.

The door to the bathroom opened. She stared down at me, her damp hair falling around her face. Falling to her knees, she crawled in between my legs and lay her head against my chest, her hand over my heart. I didn’t care that she was getting my t-shirt wet. She was right there. Her solid form against mine. I wrapped an arm around her, trailing my fingers down her bare arm.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you more than I can ever express in words.”

I looked down at her. Tears welled in her doe eyes. The sight of it crushed me.

“I don’t want to be a part of them any longer. I can’t. Not after what I saw.”

I stroked her wet hair, my heart fracturing with each word.

“What did you see, princess?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

She reached up, pulling me down so she could kiss me. It was tentative, almost sweet. The profound relief I felt slammed into me like a sack of bricks. I had her in my arms. She shifted, her hand sliding under my t-shirt and brushing across my stomach. The other curled around my neck, anchoring me to her. I could feel the wetness on her cheeks as tears ran down her face.

“Aiden, please make love to me,” she whispered against my lips.

“Princess…”

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