"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're asking. I simply gave him a choice. Leave my sister and never have anything to do with her again plus provide seventy-five percent of his current and all future income to take care of them."
"That all?"
I inhaled, drinking in her perfume, my cock pushing hard against my pants. I wasn't certain how long I'd been able to curtail my needs. "He's also giving up a significant portion of the money he's attempted to keep from my sister in offshore accounts."
"In exchange?" she asked in a coy manner.
"That's easy. Not only does he get to live, but he also is allowed to continue practicing medicine. A plastic surgeon with crushed hands is unemployable."
She laughed, her eyes sparkling. "You're serious."
"I am. Elena is very important to me. No man is allowed to beat up on a woman for any reason. Period. He's lucky I didn't take him out to the middle of the ocean and simply drop him off." I heard the anger increasing in my tone, could feel my blood racing.
Her grasp tightened, forcing me to look into her eyes. I could swear she was seeing me with an entirely different manner, her face lighting up and her lower lip quivering.
"That's... deplorable what he did and heroic what you did. Your sister will come around. Might take some time but she'll learn. If he did that to his own wife, imagine what he could do to his daughter."
"Exactly. Not acceptable."
She slid her other hand across the table, fingering my index finger. "Sylvie told me what you did for her all those years ago. As I said before, I know that you are a very good man inside. I also believe that you simply aren't certain how or when to show that side of you, but when it comes to someone you care about, you have no issue doing what's necessary. You just might be a hero."
I breathed out, wanting nothing more than to take her into my arms. "I hope so too, Valencia. I want to be able to make you happy, but I'm no hero. That much you need to accept."
She eased back, studying me intently. "I guess we'll see. Who was your one love? I know you had one."
The question caught me off guard, but I felt compelled to answer. "A bright shining star who couldn't handle my life."
"What happened?"
"I let her go," I answered. "There's no big story other than I realized that I couldn't handle a relationship doing what I do."
"Interesting. Maybe that's why you refuse to let me go," she said in such a quiet manner. "You know, it's funny about heroes. They come along when you least expect them, like a knight in shining armor."
If only I could be that knight. Sadly, my shield had been tarnished years before. I wasn't a good man, but I'd attempt to be so for the woman I loved. "Did you know that stars are truly magical?" Valencia asked.
I sat in the background, watching her as she floated around the patio. Her shoes were off, her foot no longer swollen and for the first time since I'd met her weeks before, she seemed free. Even laughing.
She tipped her head and the wind whipped through her long strands, several sticking to her luscious lips. "That is if you believe in magic. Maybe that's something you need to do." Her smile was beguiling as she took a sip of her wine, swirling the liquid in the glass then easing it onto a table.
"Maybe you're right."
"I'm always right," she breathed and gripped the railing, leaning over. The girl was fearless.
Conversation had turned light over dinner, the kind that two people would have on a first date.
What kind of food do you like?
What's your favorite color?
What's your favorite movie?
Being a normal guy for a portion of the evening meant more to me than I could admit to her.
Now we were home.
Now I would take her.
And now, she would truly become mine.
Mine to fuck.
Mine to keep.
Mine to love.
I was overwhelmed with emotions that I'd never experienced as I watched her dancing to the very CD she'd demolished earlier. She was mesmerizing in every manner, her actions reminding me of only one special moment in my life. Losing Jessie had nearly broken me, but college romances never seemed to last very along, especially given the moment she'd found out who I really was, she'd run away in fear.
I sighed and took another sip of my scotch, hungrier for a taste of her than I'd ever been. My cock and balls ached to the point I shifted my hand between my legs, stroking in a rigorous manner. I knew I'd need relief soon.
"Come here," I commanded.
She didn't respond for a few seconds then shifted to face me, running her fingers along the cool metal railing. "Why?"
"Because I told you to." I held the glass to my mouth, drinking in the liquor's essence, but I knew my thirst could never be quenched, certainly not with scotch.
Valencia twirled before heading in my direction. I knew at least some of her giddiness was fake, an attempt to push what her father told her out of her mind. I vowed to try to make her life better in every regard. Sighing, I took another sip before planting the tumbler on the side table.