He shakes his head. “No more lessons. My hope”—he pulls me to him—“is that we’re done with lessons. All you’re going to have from now on is me, treating you like the beautiful, intelligent, and worthy woman that you are. You’re mine, Tessa Rivers, and I’m going to keep you.”
My stomach dips, but my lips tilt up. “I’ve waited my whole life to find a man I wanted to belong to. Someone who made me happy. Saw me, quirks and all, and was willing to love me. I never thought I’d find him, but then you sat down beside me and told me not to get fish at the bar. Little did I know that night I’d find something I wanted far more than food.”
I found a man I love. A man I would fight the world for. A man who has shown me just how much I mean to him. He’s here, in New York, even though I was going to be with him in just a few days. He planned an entire weekend just to be with me and give me a little more time in the city I love.
Killian and I may have had every single thing stacked against us, but somehow, we found a way to the other side, and I have never been happier.
thirty-four
Killian
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tessa asks as we stand outside of the prison.
I take her hand in mine, letting her warmth envelope me and squeeze. “I think it’s the only way I’m going to get any kind of honest answers.”
In three months, Nathaniel’s trial will begin and there’s not a single doubt he’s going to lie or manipulate the truth in order to get a lesser sentence for himself. I’m not naive enough to think I’ll get the truth today, but maybe if it’s just him and I, I’ll get some answers.
She lifts up on her toes and kisses my cheek. “Then, I’ll be right here when you’re done.”
When we first spoke about this a few weeks ago, I was completely against it. There’s really no point to it other than to say what I need to say.
I’m hoping I’ll figure out exactly what to say when I get in there because the scenarios that have played out in my head have gone a hundred ways.
No matter how many times I convinced myself that I didn’t need or want to confront Nathaniel, Tessa could see the truth.
It’s been bothering me.
It’s the one dark cloud hanging in our nearly perfect skies.
Tessa keeps it away. She brings me the sun and the cloud free days, but it’s always there, just lurking and ready to dump buckets of rain once it opens.
Instead of giving it the power, I’m going to cut it open myself and let the flood come down now that I’m prepared.
“I love you,” I tell her.
“I love you. No matter what information you do or don’t get today, just know it changes nothing in your life.”
I nod and kiss her temple, inhaling her sweet scent. “I know. I have you, the ranch, and I’m happy, I think this will just close that chapter of my life.”
“I agree.”
It’s time to put the past behind me. I was able to fold my stake in the company without any issues thanks to the legal team I hired. Now Nathaniel is the sole owner of a pile of shit. There was no managing the PR nightmare he created for the real estate company, but Tessa decided we needed to be proactive and had Ainsley’s paper cover the story. They held to the facts and kept my arrest completely out of it.
We enter the prison where he’s being held, sign in, and I kiss Tessa once more before following the guard back into the visiting area.
I sit at the metal table, the room is cold and has faint scent of rust and paint. It’s the least inviting place possible. Gray, monotone, and you can feel the despair through the doors. After about three minutes, there is a loud buzzer then a clanking noise, before the door swings open and Nathaniel enters.
He has a beard that is longer than he’s ever worn and the shackles cling as he enters. His hair is messy, not the normal slick back he always wore and his orange jumpsuit almost makes him look paler than usual.
We don’t say a word as he is brought to the table. He keeps his hands extended as they uncuff him and then move to his ankles.
“You have fifteen minutes,” the guard says.
Nathaniel nods once to him and then he sits across from me.
Looking at him, all I can think is how this isn’t the man I knew.
I remind myself that I may have never really known him because the guy I was friends with for most of my life would’ve never done the fucked up shit he did.
