Chapter 69 Not me
Melissa’s POV
Gavin put a spoon in his mouth and left it there. He Just stood there. Staring at me. Looking almost like a cute angelic panda. Wait, does that make sense? A mafia cute panda. I like that.
Heat crawled up my neck under his gaze. I took another bite, trying to ignore him.
“What?” I asked finally, when the silence became unbearable. “Is there something on my face, Gavin?”
He didn’t answer. Just looked at me with those dark eyes. Then he squinted slightly, like he was seeing something that hurt him.
He set down his plate. And walked around the counter.
Before I could process what was happening, his hands were on my waist and I was in the air.
“Gavin!” I grabbed his shoulders for balance. “Are you crazy? Someone could see us!”
He didn’t put me down. Just carried me through the penthouse like I weighed nothing.
“Let me down…”
He pushed open a door I’d never noticed before. Hidden in the hallway. Blending into the wall.
We stepped into a room. It was small and private with no windows. Just soft lighting and a leather couch.
“What are you doing, Gavin?” My voice came out breathless.
He kicked the door shut behind us and set me on my feet.
Then his hands cupped my face. So gently. Like I was something that could break.
“It wasn’t me.” His voice cracked. “Piccola, it wasn’t me.”
“What?” Confusion cut through everything. “I don’t understand.”
“The marks on your neck.” His thumb traced beneath my jaw, nowhere near the bruises. Like he was afraid to touch them. “Your bleeding lip. The man who hurt you. It wasn’t me.”
My breath caught.
“Gavin…”
“I would cut off my own hands before I hurt you like that.” His forehead pressed against mine. “I’d stop breathing before I made you afraid of me.”
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.
“Who was that?” I whispered, grabbing his face with both hands. “Who was it?”
Pain flickered across his features. Raw and real.“My twin. Stephan.”
My eyes went wide. “What?”
“My brother. He’s part of the life I left behind.”
“You mean your empire,” I said quietly.
“Yes.”
We stood there, foreheads touching, breathing each other’s air.
“He looked exactly like you,” I whispered. “I thought…”
“I know.” His hands slid down to my shoulders. Just holding me. Grounding both of us. “I know what you thought. And I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, Melissa.”
I searched his eyes. These eyes. Gavin’s eyes.They looked so warm and worried, so devastated.
“I believe you,” I said.
He made a sound…half relief, half pain…and pulled me closer.
Just holding me.
His arms wrapped around me and I melted into him. My face pressed against his chest. His heart thundered beneath my ear.
“I need you to know something,” he said quietly into my hair. “Can you look at me?”
I tilted my head back.
His hand came up to cup my face. So gentle. His thumb brushed my cheekbone.
“You are the most precious thing in my world.” Each word was Careful. “Do you understand that?”
I couldn’t speak. I could only stare at him.
“I’ve done terrible things in my life,” he continued. “Things I can never take back. But when I touch you…” His thumb traced my bottom lip. So softly. “It’s the only time my hands feel clean.”
Tears burned behind my eyes.
“Gavin…”
“Let me finish.” His other hand came up so he was cradling my face. “When I look at you, I see everything I could have been if I’d been born into a different life. Everything good. Everything pure. Everything worth protecting.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. He caught it with his thumb.
“You make me want to be better,” he whispered. “You make me believe I can be.”
“You are better,” I said, my voice breaking. “You’re already better.”
He shook his head. “Not yet. But I’m trying. For you, I’m trying.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. Then my temples. My cheeks. My nose.
Soft kisses. Like he was memorizing every inch of my face.
When he finally reached my mouth, he paused.
“May I?” he asked against my lips.
The question broke something in me.
“Yes.”
He kissed me so gently I could have cried. Like I was something sacred.
His hands slid into my hair, cradling my head, and he kissed me like it was the first time. Like it was the last time. Like it was everything.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
“I need you to know it’s me,” he said, his voice rough. “Every time I touch you. Every time I look at you. I need you to know.”
“I know.” I pressed my palm against his chest, feeling his heart race. “I know it’s you.”
He covered my hand with his. Pressed it harder against his heart.
“This belongs to you,” he said simply. “All of it. Everything I am. Everything I have. It’s yours.”
I looked up at him. This powerful man. This dangerous man. This man who was looking at me like I hung the moon.
“And you belong to me,” I whispered back.
Something shifted in his expression. Softened and intensified at the same time.
“Yes.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. Then my wrist. Then the inside of my elbow. “Every part of me.”
He dropped to his knees in front of me.
My breath caught.
He looked up at me from the floor, his hands on my hips, and the reverence in his eyes made my knees weak.
“Gavin, what are you…”
“Let me worship you,” he said quietly. “The way you deserve. The way I should have from the beginning.”
His hands slid under my shirt…his shirt…and just rested there. Warm. Steady.
“I’m not asking for anything,” he continued. “I just need to show you. Need you to feel how precious you are.”
Tears were streaming down my face now.
He rose slowly, his hands trailing up my sides. He didn’t even try to rush.When he reached my face again, he wiped my tears with his thumbs.
“Don’t cry, amore mio.”
“I can’t help it.” My voice was barely a whisper. “No one’s ever…”
“I know.” He pressed his forehead to mine again. “But I will. Every day. For the rest of your life, if you’ll let me.”
“Is that a promise?”
“It’s a vow.”
We stood there in that hidden room, wrapped around each other, and something fundamental shifted between us.
This wasn’t just desire. It wasn't just need.
This was a beginning.The beginning of forever.
“I’ve stayed so long without a proper home,” I whispered against his lips.
“You are home,” he whispered back. “Right here. With me. This is where you belong.”
And when he kissed me again, slow and deep and endless, I knew he was right.
I was home.
Finally, completely, irrevocably home.