“Goddamn it.” He moved to come to me, but I raised the gun at him. His men standing behind him raised theirs at me.
He didn’t even defend himself but rather turned to them and said, “You harm her in any way, I will not only kill you but your whole fucking family.”
Weapons were lowered and holstered. All but mine. “You warn them for me, but don’t warn me for yourself?”
“Darling Mia. Remember when you said you believed me. That you knew I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Franny. I believe the same foryou. You’re our darling. My darling. My daughter’s darling, baby. You didn’t kill her mother because that woman wasn’t a mother to her. You were. You are. You always have been.”
“How will you tell her …” I choked on the idea.
“Wewill figure that out together. Let them clean this up and come home. You’ve done the job you needed to do.”
The second tear fell then. “I killed her. She threatened to sell her, Jameson. She wanted more partnerships for her company, and I couldn’t … I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Sometimes doing what’s right feels like the hardest thing to do. You did what I couldn’t, love. You did what had to be done.”
“Why aren’t you screaming and turning me into the authorities?”
“Because you’re a Diamond now, Mia. We do what has to be done, and it might be behind closed doors, but we’re proud. Be proud you saved our girl.”
“I only work for—”
“You’re about to marry into that role. They won’t lock you up. You’re my Sanctum too. Completely and utterly untouchable.”
“Why would you make me that?”
“Because even if you weren’t ready to love me, I was ready to love you enough for the both of us.”
With that, he wrapped me in his arms and carried me to the SUV.
He carried me back to Paradise Grove.
He carried me home.
EPILOGUE
Mia
ADAMANTEM INFRACTUM MANET.
I knew what it meant now, because I didn’t break after he carried me home. I didn’t break when he washed the blood from me, and I didn’t break the next day when I listened to him tell Franny that her mother was gone again.
Instead, I held that little girl while she cried in my arms and knew I’d done the right thing. You did what you had to for your family, and I knew they were mine.
Jameson only had to hold me through the night and whisper sorry again and again for me to forgive him now. I knew he meant it, knew he’d kept Lex from me to protect me. “Your world is mine now. Don’t ever keep it from me again. Not if you want me to stay.”
“It’s all I fucking want. You’re staying now even if I have to cuff you to the bed again, darling. I won’t let you go.”
“You want me here past the contract then?” I chuckled in his arms the next night.
“I want you here forever and ever.”
I sighed with my head against his chest, thinking of all we’d been through. “Even knowing what I’ve done?” Because my heart wasn’t completely over the fact that I’d taken anotherwoman’s life. Not because she’d be missed, but because Franny would miss the idea of her.
“Mia Darling,especiallyafter knowing what you’ve done. Know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want a perfect person, baby, or a perfect happily ever after. That’s not what a marriage between us will ever be.”
