Chapter 32 Clearing Doubts
Aiyana's P.O.V
“I’m the most notorious. The most feared. If I fall, the vacuum left behind would tear this city apart. Everyone wants my position. Everyone wants my head.” He replied simply. Too simply, one wouldn't guess his head was being targeted by everyone
I listened with my chest tight as I thought of what a horror it would be like to be in his shoes.
No wonder he was always alert, almost never being able to sleep all night.
“So when Cortez’s men saw Noah that night,they saw leverage. They thought hurting him, or using him would draw me out.” He continued, explaining with literally no emotion. I could tell that he had normalised it in his head and I honestly understand why that was so.
“And I got in the way.” I whispered.
“Yes.”
A chill ran through me. “Then everything that happened to me… was because of you.”
Jerome’s gaze sharpened.
“No. Well, in a way” He said and although his tone was sharp, I could somehow smell some guilt from his demeanor.
I flinched at the firmness in his voice.
“It happened because Cortez is a man who doesn’t accept refusal.” Jerome said coldly.
“And because you stood between his men and a child. You were punished for defiance, not for knowing me.”
I swallowed hard.
“I didn’t know who you were,” I said. “Not until later. Not until the gates. That night, I didn’t even know who Jerome Black was.”
A corner of his mouth twitched faintly. “I know.”
That surprised me.
“You didn’t know me either?” I added. “At least, not right away.”
“No, I didn’t.” He admitted. “The first day, it was just curiosity.”
“Curiosity?” I asked, raising my head up in surprise, because what exactly was so interesting about a bloodied woman in front of your gate.
“You were… different.” He said. “Most people near death beg. Cry. Bargain. You didn’t.” He said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.
A rare sight that I may not have caught if I wasn't looking at him so closely.
As he said that, I remembered that moment. The cold ground, the darkness closing in, the strange calm that had settled over me when I thought it was the end.
“You smiled.” He continued quietly. “Not because you were happy. Because you were tired.”
My throat tightened.
“That caught my attention.”
“So you saved me because I intrigued you?” The question came out sharper than I intended.
He didn’t bristle. Didn’t deny it either.
“At first,” he said honestly. “Yes.”
The truth stung which was crazy because I was feeling a lot for someone with no right to.
“And later?” I asked.
He was silent for a moment.
“I knew who you were after a few days,” He said finally. “Gerald found out first. He connected the timing. The description and the incident with Cortez.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted you to heal,” he said. “Not relive it.”
My fingers tightened around the blanket. “Did you keep me because I saved Noah?”
Jerome met my gaze steadily. “No.”
“Then why?”
He shifted, moving closer to the edge of the bed until he was level with me. “Because when you woke up, you looked at me like I wasn’t a monster. Like I was just a man who happened to be there.”
I blinked in shock because all I thought in those moments was that I was in front of a monster. I was deathly scared of himself so I wasn't sure what he meant but I didn't state that.
“And because you didn’t ask for protection.” He added. “You demanded dignity.”
My chest ached.
“I never planned for you to stay this long,” he admitted. “But you did. And somewhere along the way… it stopped being about debt or curiosity.”
I searched his face in the dark, trying to read the man who terrified a country and yet now sat in front of me, honest in a way that felt dangerous.
“I wasn’t deceived, then?” I asked quietly. “You didn’t bring me here because of Noah?”
“No,” he said immediately. “If anything, that night made me more careful. I didn’t want you to feel owned by circumstance.”
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
“I didn’t feel comfortable in the bed tonight.” I admitted. “Not because of you. Because of my thoughts. I didn’t know how to lie next to you with all of this in my head.”
Jerome reached out slowly, stopping just short of touching my hand. “You could’ve woken me.”
“I didn’t want to burden you.”
His eyes softened, just a fraction. “You don’t get to decide that. I would always prefer you talk to me if there's something wrong. I won't raise my voice at you. Never” He explained and I couldn't help the smile that rested on my lips.
How was he so perfect and dangerous at the same time?
Silence settled between us again, but this time, it wasn’t heavy.
“Come back to bed. He said gently, raising the covers to accommodate me.
I hesitated. “Only if you promise not to ask me to talk more.”
A faint huff of amusement.
“I don’t ask for things I already know you’ll do in time.” He said with another little smile.
What's going on Mr?
Two smiles in one night was slowly starting to feel a little too sweet.
He looked so handsome when he smiled and as much as I wanted to compliment him on that, I knew that he would realise and then stop, so I didn't so I could possibly get more.
I let out a shaky breath and stood, allowing him to guide me back onto the mattress. He stayed on his side, giving me space, turning slightly away like before.
As I lay there, staring into the darkness, his voice came again, very quiet and almost reluctant.
“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I don’t sleep well either.”
I smiled faintly, understanding what he didn’t say.
And for the first time since the questions began, sleep came slowly, carefully, but real.
With
the floor far behind me.
Before I could fully let it envelope me, I heard some patter of feet and heavy breathing.
“Uncle!”