Page 111 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

He stood in front of me, staring down into my eyes with his grey ones. They were full of suppressed anger and fear. I reached up, cupping his face.

“I was so scared he’d hurt me.”

“Avery…”

“No, let me finish.”

He sighed, stepping closer and wrapping a hand around my waist.

“Ed isn’t a killer. Maybe he would’ve done it if you hadn’t been so calm about it. Not everything has to be handled with violence. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course I do. Why do you think I’m turning your uncle and cousins in rather than taking them out? I told you if we could avoid killing them, then we would.”

I didn’t think I’d ever hear Aiden say that, but he had a habit of doing the opposite of what I thought he was going to. He had gone and beaten someone up just for daring to help his father take me. Ed held a knife to my throat. All things considered, that was far worse.

“So you don’t want to kill Ed for what he did?”

“I didn’t say that. I want him dead for ever threatening your life, but I don’t want to be that man anymore. The one who kills. You told me once that side of me terrified you. I don’t want you scared of me. I want you to love every part of me because I’m deserving of it.”

Tears pricked at my eyes. Fuck. Aiden. Sometimes he really gutted me. My insides were like jagged shards of ice, cutting into my organs.

“Aiden… you’ve always deserved me. Don’t you see that? And I do love you. Every single inch of you. Even the dark parts. Even the cold parts. Every single part of your soul. I will never see anything other than the man I love when I look at you. Haven’t I told you that enough times? Shown you? Don’t you believe me?”

I needed him to believe me. Desperately. I needed him to see what I saw. The man who’d give his own life in place of mine. That man was deserving of me. That man was him.

“Princess,” he whispered, his voice sounding a little choked up and hoarse. “I’ve always believed you. I trust you… I…”

“You just don’t see yourself that way,” I finished for him.

He nodded.

“Well, you should. You don’t have to say it, but I know you. I see it in the way you look at me. You’d give up everything to make me happy, even your own life. Don’t you see that’s the most selfless thing a person could ever do?”

He stared at me for a long moment.

“I never looked at it like that.”

“Well no, you wouldn’t. You don’t see yourself as a good person, that’s why, but I do and I suppose that has to be enough for the both of us.”

That made him smile.

“You’ve got the most perfect soul, princess.”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t, but if he saw me that way, then who was I to dissuade him of it. Hell, it made me feel special. Being Aiden’s girl had always made me feel on top of the world even when he’d hurt me. I lived in the darkness with him now. The stain on my soul from my actions guaranteed that, but even before I killed Tristan, I’d already embraced the dark.

He leant down and brushed his lips against mine. Tingles shot down my spine at the briefest of touches. My hands wound into his hair, tugging him closer as our lips melded together. Relief sunk into me. This ordeal was almost at an end. We wouldn’t have to be looking over our shoulders any longer. My life wouldn’t be in danger and neither would his.

When he pulled back, he just held onto me for the longest time. Savouring each other’s warmth and touch.

“You need to call him,” I said, knowing we should get back to John and Ed.

He sighed, shifting away from me a little so he could dial Rick’s number. He put it on speakerphone and we both listened to it ringing.

“Aiden,” came his annoying voice as he answered.

“We need to talk.”

“After your wife’s little outburst, I didn’t expect to hear from you.”

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