Page 81 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“Why would I when it’s just you and me?”

“It’s distracting. How am I meant to pay attention to what you have to say when that’s on display?”

There my blunt girl was. The one who never did anything other than give it to me straight apart from in the bedroom. I put it down to her being too turned on to form coherent sentences.

Instead of giving her a hard time over it, I did what I’d intended to do the moment I was in her presence again. Prove to her I cared. That she had me if she still wanted me.

I lowered myself to my knees by her feet. Ari’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing?”

I reached out and took one of her hands from under her knees, enfolding it in both of my own.

“I’m sorry.”

Her bottom lip trembled.

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you with my plans. I’m sorry I hurt you. And I’m especially sorry I failed you as the person who takes care of you.”

Lifting her hand, I pressed a kiss to her fingertips.

“I’ve been alone for a very long time. I don’t answer to anyone but myself, but I want to answer to you… and not because of a deal we made between us. I want you as my partner.”

She choked out a breath, understanding the significance of my words. We could talk more about that later once I’d told her why I’d had her kidnapped. I felt it was important to apologise to her first about everything. She needed to know I cared about her.

“As for what happened today, it was business. But… for you, I will explain just this once why I did it.”

I set her hand on her lap.

“I like to keep an eye on anything involving my business. I have informants, people who feed Arlo information for me. However, the one person I needed information on the most, I had nothing to go on and no time to turn one of his men. Instead, I used what I already knew… what you’d told me to get what I wanted. Derek had to be eliminated. I wasn’t going to let a man walk around the place thinking he had any right to you. I used you as bait to get to him because he was a slippery piece of shit who covered his tracks well.”

I set my hands down on my thighs. She was quiet and her expression pensive.

“You asked me to stop a war, Ari. You asked me to save Bennett. The only way to make sure it didn’t escalate further was by cutting the head off the snake. That’s how I handle most things in this world. Destroying them at the source so they can’t come back to bite me. Men like Derek McGovern are parasites. They’ll cling on if you give them an inch. He had to die. And I only had one chance to find out where the fuck he was before it was too late.”

I let out a breath. I’d never explained myself this way to anyone before. Everyone who knew about my underhanded dealings came from this world. They already understood why you had to be ruthless and uncompromising. Anything else could be exploited or seen as weakness.

“I realise now I should have told you what I intended to do, so you’d have known I was coming for you no matter what. So you knew I cared because I do care, Ari. I care about you far too fucking much.”

She sat there, watching me with no real discernible emotion on her face. Ari wore her heart on her sleeve, but right now, she was as closed off as I’d always been. I couldn’t stand it. It made me aware of how I must come across to her. Before I knew what I was truly doing, I leant closer and laid my head in her lap, my hands banding around her thighs to have something of her to hold on to. Arlo told me to allow her to leave if she wanted to, but there was no fucking way I was losing my little fairy. No way I was letting her walk out on me. I didn’t give a shit what type of a person it made me. She was mine. This smart, brave, and incredibly strong girl was mine.

“If I was a better man, I’d tell you I could let you go if you couldn’t forgive me. But I can’t do that, Tink. I can’t let you leave me. I won’t do that. You’remine.” I let out a breath. “Please stay with me. Stay with me and let me be yours too.”

For a moment, everything was utterly still and all I could hear was my own heart beating in my ears. Then Ari’s hand was on my head, stroking my hair before she leant over me, pressing her temple to mine.

“I can’t leave,” she whispered. “Nothing else in my life makes sense except you.”

Relief flooded my veins, making my body slump against hers. If she’d been anyone else, I wouldn’t have knelt at her feet, given her an explanation and told her not to leave me. I wouldn’t have allowed myself to show any sort of vulnerability. For her, I’d do anything. Show her the man behind the mask if it proved I trusted her. If it proved I cared.

“Being with me won’t be easy. Not with my family and not with the life I lead. Are you sure you want that?”

“If it means I have you, I don’t care about the rest. Don’t you understand what I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time? The only thing I want is you.”

I shifted, forcing her to lift her head away from mine. I sat up again before shoving myself between her legs and taking a hold of her face in both my hands. She blinked as if startled by my sudden movement.

“You have me.”

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