Page 137 of Possession

She proved last night during my bullshit meeting with the Marino’s east coast dealer. In the process, he implicated himself and will have his own arrest warrant soon enough.

Then she sat at my side for hours and talked to my mom all night. We had one last visit before I promised the woman who gave me life that I’d be home soon.

For good.

Maybe before she gets out of the hospital.

We had two hours of sleep before we had to leave for the airport.

I’m dragging her back into the lion’s den, and she hasn’t once hesitated. She only wants to be by my side.

We’re back in first class, flying thirty-thousand feet above earth, somewhere between wheat fields and the Rocky Mountains, when Landyn turns from staring blankly out the window and focuses her blue eyes on me.

And she proves she has no problem falling into this sham of a life while still being all her. “B?”

“Yeah, baby?”

She lowers her voice for only me to hear over the hum of the jet engines. “I need to ask you something. And I need you to tell me the truth.”

I reach to claim her chin. “Not sure what more I can do to prove that I’ll always tell you the truth, chica.”

She nods but doesn’t pull away. She leans in as close as she can until her lips brush the lobe of my ear. “Did you kill Damian?”

Shit. That was not what I expected.

I push her back far enough to frame the side of her face in my hand and look into her eyes. “Yes.”

She looks like she has to force herself to swallow over a boulder in her throat, and her tone goes rough. “Was that the plan?”

I shake my head. “No, baby. That was the farthest thing from the plan. I actually fucked up all the plans that day.”

“But you did it.” She pauses and wets her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. “You did it for me.”

“I did. I’d do anything for you.”

Her eyes instantly glass over, and I swipe away a single tear with my thumb.

Then she moves—rips at her buckle and flips up the wide armrest that separates us. Before I know it, she’s in my lap, and I’m cupping her ass in my hand to steady her as she throws herself at me. She claims my face in her hands and presses her lips to mine in a searing kiss.

I bury my hand in her hair and take over, claiming what’s become mine. Her body is only the most recent addition to all the other ways I’ve claimed her—heart and soul.

She presses into me, and my thoughts go back to this morning when I pulled her panties down her legs and buried myself inside her. When I watched her come, I prayed I was doing the right thing by taking her back with me.

I feel her heart speed, and I break our kiss, because I can’t go another moment. Looking into her blue eyes, I admit what’s been on the tip of my tongue since I told her my real name. “I love you, chica.”

Tears fall faster, and she nods, like she’s known all along. “I love you too. I never thought I’d find love when my father sold me off. That’s how I know this will all be okay. We’ve come too far to fail.”

I’m about to tell her failure is never an option when it comes to her, but we’re interrupted.

“Ah-hem.” The flight attendant is standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at us.

I only hold Landyn tighter and glare right back. “We’re on our honeymoon.”

“The seatbelt sign isn’t on,” Landyn points out as she looks back at me. “And I’ll never get enough of my husband.”

The attendant shakes her head and moves on, but we stay glued together. Landyn scoots down in my lap, and I tuck her face into my neck to hold her close.

We silently take in our last moments before we walk back into the Marino estate.

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