Page 84 of A Vow to Set the Virgin Free

She saw the world. She could dress how she liked. She went shopping with Morgan, she played with her niece and nephew. She ran barefoot through the field behind her parents house simply because she could.

She slept in her old bedroom. Her family offered to let her stay at their home forever. But they also told her she could buy her own place.

She bought a townhouse in Beacon Hill, and had it decorated exactly how she wanted. She was an heiress, and had all the resources to do whatever she wished. She lived in the city. She got up every morning and walked. Wherever she wished. However far she wished. She kept in touch with Castor and his wife, and they talked about the issue of trafficking, and how she might contribute to helping women who were brought out of situations that were similar to hers, but much uglier.

And she talked to Cameron.

But he became more and more silent. And she could imagine him, sitting there in the north tower. Doing nothing but listening.

She watched the news for any sign that he had come out again. But it was as if he had vanished.

That one appearance, and then no more.

She on the other hand had become a sensational news story. Her return to her family had resulted in her adoptive father’s arrest. And not just his, but many, many other men who were connected to him. Including Mattias.

It was like she and Rose had started an avalanche. One that she was very grateful for.

Her father had a security detail on her, and they were of course all good-looking men. She thought of what she had said to Cameron. How she had crushes on the security detail at her kidnapper’s compound.

Though they were not the ones who had kidnapped her on the beach, they had held her all those years, and she had begun thinking of them that way. Yes, in spite of the fact that she had all the freedom in the world, and those men around her, she felt not even the slightest bit of interest. She could think only of Cameron.

“I need to go back,” she said to Constantine, one night when he and Morgan were visiting her at her townhouse.

“To McKenzie?”

“Yes. Because no matter what, I’m Athena McKenzie.”

“You are not. You are ours.”

She shook her head. “I’m my own, Constantine. Or have you not realize that yet. And my heart is with Cameron. I love him.”

“You know, Stockholm syndrome...” Morgan began.

“I do not have Stockholm syndrome. I could do whatever I want, I could go wherever I want. I could have whatever man I want, and I only want him. I have experienced the freedom the world has to offer. And I love being with you. All of you. I will never abandon you. But if I didn’t love him, then my life would be complete right this moment, and it isn’t.”

Morgan’s face was filled with understanding. “I do understand that. You may not have seen it, but your brother is an absolute beast himself. And I loved him anyway. I couldn’t escape that, no matter how much I wanted to.”

“I don’t even want to,” said Athena. “I want to be with him.”

“Make use of my private jet,” said Constantine. “It will get you there the fastest.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

HEKNEWWHENshe arrived at the castle. All of his sensors went off. He had thought it strange that she had not spoken to him in twenty-four hours. And now, he knew why. She was here.

And he was... Certainly not fit for company. He knew she had noticed that he had stopped speaking to her and now she was here.

“Open the door to me, Cameron,” she shouted from outside the gate.

And he did. Because he was weak.

And then he opened the doors to her as well, because he was weak. And then he was down the stairs, and waiting in the antechamber, because he was weak.

And when she came into the chamber, it was he who crossed the space. It was he who pulled her into his arms. And it was he who lowered his head and conquered her mouth. Claimed it.

He had tried to be a good man. An honorable man. He had tried not to do this. To leave her be. And yet she had not left him.

How was he supposed to forget her when she did not let him.

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