I fumbled for the right words, but she jumped in.
“After I had Luca, after the closed adoption and I was healed enough, the surgeon was able to reattach the hymen. It made it seem like I was a virgin on our wedding night.” Her smile was horribly sad. “Papa protected his precious image.”
Fucking hell.
The trauma this woman had been through! Not only living as she had, but in the last few months alone, she’d been stuck in a waking nightmare.
I couldn’t even imagine that level of agony. To me, it was easier having been blown up, nearly killed, and scarred permanently than carrying wounds like that in secret.
But I saw them now. How they had been etched into her heart.
Maybe, just maybe, we were each other’s second chance. Maybe we could heal from this.
I wasn’t going to screw that up for the world.
“And your ex-lover?” I asked. “I want to make sure no ghosts will haunt my future.”
Gabriella scoffed.
“I was a silly girl with stars in my eyes. When one of the boys in the family started showing me attention, I thought he could be my ticket to happiness. That I could marry someone I actually liked.”
Her voice hardened.
“It was all a bet with his friends, though. To see if he could score one of the virgin daughters. Why he didn’t boast about it afterward, I’m not sure. Maybe because I told him my father would kill him.” Her gaze burned. “So when he showed me his true colors and refused to do the right thing and marry me…protecting our son….”
She met my eyes without flinching.
“I killed him.”
Jaysus.
She had never looked so beautiful.
This was why she didn’t mind the bloodshed in the underworld. She had already experienced her fair share before coming to me. Saints above and devils below, she was perfect for me.
I slid my hand up, placing my palm against hers. “You trusted me with your darkness, Gabriella. That’s more than any vow you could ever give me.”
“And you’ve shared yours with me,” she whispered, the tears disappearing as her smile brightened. “To think I was going to try to run away.”
My fingers tightened around hers. “That was never going to happen!”
Her smile brightened. “Oh, I don’t know, I’d like to think I’m clever enough to kidnap the boy they stole, escape somewhere quiet, and evade you, Liam.”
The growl that escaped my throat was sharp enough to have Storm shooting bolt upright, looking for an animal.
“Calm down,” Gabriella hissed. When I didn’t, she reached out and ran her knuckles down my bare cheek. “When our marriage was thrown into the mix, I was still determined to leave. I told myself there wasn’t a good opportunity yet. The real reason the timing never felt right was because I fell for you. I delayed, growing more and more miserable.”
“I would have thought the choice was easy,” I said, tugging off the mask and letting the itchy, irritated skin breathe. “No one wants to be shackled to a beast.”
Gabriella tugged her fingers free and ran her knuckles down the scarred, inflamed tissue of my face.
“I know it’s going to take a while for you to believe me when I say this,” she said softly, “but I’ll say it as many times as I must. You’ve become everything to me, Liam. And the thought of losing that was just as hard as the thought of never holding my boy again.”
I grunted.
“To me, you are the most incredible man,” she continued, ignoring my grumpy outburst. “You see me. You care for me.You understand me. And that’s not something every girl can say, especially when the marriage wasn’t something I had a say in.”
As she spoke, my heart thumped heavy against my ribs. Her words were a balm, soothing and cool. They plastered over my blackened soul, seeping into the core of my being.
