I stared at Victor’s shadowed face as he pumped gas.My jaw clenched.My daughter’s face flashed before my eyes.Then Ariana’s.Then the dozens of women whose photos hung on the walls around me.
“We go there,” I said.“See if it’s him.”
“And if it is?”
“We end this.Tonight.”
ChapterThirty-Four
Ariana
I sat on the edge of Henry’s bed, my knees drawn up as I watched him pack.Not clothes.Guns.Knives.Extra magazines.Every piece checked and placed with a level of care that made my anxiety increase.
When he’d first told me Blake might have found Victor, I felt relief.Hope for a future I’d barely allowed myself to imagine.
But as I watched Henry pack for any and every situation they may encounter, all I felt was the sharp edge of something twisting low in my gut.
It was too simple.Too convenient.Why would Victor disappear without a trace for several weeks, then show up at a gas station in central Florida, allowing Blake to track him to a lakeside cabin?
“Are you sure about this?”My voice sounded small, even to me.
Henry clicked the magazine into the gun he’d been checking, then set it gently into the case before crossing the room toward me.He cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing lightly over my skin.
“It’ll be fine,” he said softly.
“I just… It seems too…easy.You’ve been searching for him for weeks, and suddenly he just…shows up?There’s been no trace of him.Phone turned off.Credit cards not being used.No hit on any of his cars.No sign of him at any of his properties.And now he miraculously turns on his phone and uses a credit card to buy gas?I don’t like it, Henry.”
“The fact that so much time has passed is probably exactly why he stopped being so diligent.He probably figured it was safe.I told you he’d eventually slip up.And he did.”Henry dipped his head, his gaze steady.“You don’t need to worry.We’re just going to check it out.See if he’s there.”
“And if he is?”
“Then you’ll finally be free.Free to go wherever you want.Live wherever you want.”
“So I won’t have to be your prisoner anymore?”I playfully waggled my brows.
His thumb traced my cheek again, slow and tender.“I don’t think you’ve ever truly been my prisoner.”He paused.“But yes.You’ll be able to leave here.”His throat worked in a hard swallow.“Leave me.”
The mere thought was like a punch to the gut.Not leaving this place, but leaving Henry.The idea of not waking up beside him, not feeling his arms around me?I hated everything about it.
“What if…,” I began, my heart pounding as I stared into his bright green eyes.“What if I don’t want to?What if I want to stay here?With you.”
He exhaled a long breath, a small smile curving on his lips.“You won’t hear any complaints from me.But only if it’s whatyouwant, Ariana.Not because you think it’s whatIwant.”His lips twitched.“I mean, itiswhat I want, but I won’t force you to stay.I want you to choose me freely.”
“Henry…”
“Yes?”It came out almost like a breath.
I touched a hand to his cheek, relishing the roughness of his unshaven jawline.“I choose you.Always.”My throat tightened with all the emotions fighting for attention.But one overpowered the rest of them.“I love you, Henry Fontaine.”
He stared.Blinked.Swallowed.Stared more.Then he crashed his mouth against mine, coaxing my lips apart, our tongues tangling in a dance they’d done hundreds of times by this point.Yet this kiss felt bigger than all the others.
Because it came from a place of love.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear you say those three words to me,” he murmured against my mouth.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say it after you told me.”
He shook his head.“I don’t want you to tell me something because you think it’s what I need.”
