Chapter 14

Arthur

Cecilia fit against me perfectly as we pressed into the shadows between two containers, waiting for the approaching vehicle to pass.

Too perfectly. I could feel every breath she took, every slight tremor running through her body.

She's terrified, I realized. And she's still letting me hold her.

The trust implicit in that gesture made something fierce and protective roar to life in my chest.

Headlights swept past our hiding spot—a black SUV with tinted windows, moving slowly. Hunting.

I tightened my arm around Cecilia's waist, my other hand moving to the gun I kept in my shoulder holster.

Four years of living without her had honed every protective instinct to a razor edge.

Now that I had her back—now that she'd kissed me like she still wanted me despite everything—I'd be damned if I lost her again.

The SUV passed. I counted to ten, then pulled her forward. "Come on."

My Bugatti was exactly where I'd left it. I bundled Cecilia into the passenger seat, and peeled out.

"Where are we going?" she asked, breathless.

Good question. Her apartment wasn't safe—if someone was tracking her, they'd know that address. Black Peak Estate had top-tier security.

"Go back to Black Peak?" I asked tentatively.

"No." Ceci blurted out instinctively, then bowed her head in silence.

"Carter's place," I decided. The Ashford family's Hamptons compound had military-grade security and was far enough from the city to give us breathing room.

"We need somewhere secure while we figure out who's after you."

"Us," she corrected quietly.

The pronoun shift made my chest tight. "Yeah. Us."

She was quiet for a moment.

"I cracked your quantum encryption in forty-seven minutes."

I couldn't help it—I laughed. "Of course you did."

"And I've been using that Ghost phone Max gave me to coordinate with a network of hackers across three continents."

"I figured."

"I've had access to your entire company database for six weeks. I could've destroyed Winston Corp from the inside if I'd wanted to."

Each confession should've terrified me. Instead, all I felt was a savage pride mixed with arousal that was entirely inappropriate given our current situation.

"You're magnificent," I said simply.

She made a small sound—half laugh, half sob. "You're insane."

"Probably." I raised her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "But I'm yours. However you'll have me."

"Even if the files prove your father killed mine?"

The question hung between us like a blade. I thought of William Winston—the man who'd taught me to shoot, to fight, to run an empire. The man I'd spent my life trying to prove myself worthy of.

Then I looked at Cecilia—the woman I'd loved for years, the woman I'd sent away to protect, the woman who'd just let me kiss her despite every reason to hate me.

There was no contest.

"Even then," I said firmly. "If my father did something to Robert, we'll bring him down. Together."

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You mean that."

"I've never meant anything more in my life." I had to keep my eyes on the road, but I squeezed her hand.

"Your father was a good man. If someone hurt him—if my family hurt him—then we make it right. Whatever it costs."

"It might cost you everything."

"You're everything," I corrected. "The rest is just... background noise."

She was quiet for a long moment. Then: "I'm still not forgiving you completely. Not yet."

"I know."

"And I'm not moving back into Black Peak Estate."

"Okay."

"And I'm not quitting my job just because you're my boss and it makes things complicated."

"Wouldn't dream of asking you to."

"And I'm definitely not going to stop investigating, even if it gets dangerous."

I grimaced at that one but nodded. "As long as you promise not to do it alone anymore. We're partners in this."

"Partners," she repeated, testing the word. "Not guardian and ward."

"Never again." I risked another glance at her. "Unless you want me to spank you for hacking the FBI. Then I'm happy to play the disciplinarian."

She burst out laughing—a real laugh, not the brittle ones she'd been giving me all week. The sound loosened something that had been clenched tight in my chest since the moment she'd walked back into my life.

"Those things you said about missing me. About how I taste and the sounds I make..." Her voice dropped to that husky register that always made me hard. "Did you really spend four years thinking about that?"

Fuck. Wrong time for this conversation while I was driving at ninety miles per hour through Queens. "Cecilia—"

She shifted in her seat, angling toward me. "I thought about you every night. How your hands feel on me. How you say my name when you're inside me. How you look at me like you want to devour me whole."

My hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Baby, you can't—"

"Can't what?" Pure challenge now. "Can't tell you that I touched myself thinking about you? That I'd close my eyes and imagine it was your fingers, your mouth, your—"

"Cecilia." Her name came out strangled. "I'm trying very hard to get us somewhere safe. You're making that difficult."

"Good." But she settled back in her seat, a satisfied smile playing at her lips. "Consider it payback for this morning. When you almost lost control."

Almost. Right. Like I had any control left where she was concerned.

Cecilia was asleep, her head resting against the window. She looked younger in sleep, softer.

I'd sent that girl away to protect her.

The woman sleeping beside me now didn't need protection.

But she'd let me stand beside her anyway. Let me hold her hand while we ran. Let me kiss her like I'd been dying to for four years.

I'm not losing her again, I promised myself. Whatever it costs. Whoever I have to destroy. She's mine, and I'm keeping her.

Even if that meant going to war with my own father.

I reached over to brush a strand of hair from her face, and her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, she looked disoriented. Then she saw me and relaxed.

"We're here," I said softly.

She nodded, sitting up and looking around at the estate. "Carter's place?"

"Yeah. We'll be safe here while we go through those files."

"And then?"

"And then we figure out who killed your father." I cupped her cheek, thumb stroking her skin. "Together."

She turned her face into my palm, pressing a kiss there. "Together," she agreed.

Then she grabbed her laptop and headed for the door, every inch the confident.

I followed her inside, into whatever storm was coming.