Page 146 of In Love and Revenge

He turns my face, holding my chin as he crushes his lips to mine.

The desperation in his bruising kiss makes my heart bleed for him. I know what he’s really asking. Will I love him no matter what? Or will I make him feel alone like his father did? Make him feel like he isn’t ‘enough’?

‘I promise,’ I sob, my emotions spilling out into our kiss. ‘I promise you, Rafe. I’ll only ever love you like this.’

He presses his forehead to my temple, his face screwing up. ‘You have all of me, Aurora. Every part of me is yours. I’ll love you my entire life, I promise you.’

Chapter 35

Rafael

‘You look beautiful,’ I say under my breath. ‘Don’t be nervous.’

‘They’re your parents. Of course I’m nervous.’

Aurora fusses with her dress as we walk from my car to the front door of my parents’ house. I glance to the side, the rear balcony and patio calling to me like an evil spirit in an Ouija board. But this time I’m not going to walk around the corner and torment myself. I’m going to walk in the goddamn front door like a sane, normal man. And introduce my girlfriend to my parents.

Girlfriend.

The word brings a smile to my lips. We haven’t had that conversation yet. But Aurora is living under my roof, sleeping in my bed, waking up and smiling at me every morning ...telling me she loves me.

She’s my bloody girlfriend whether she realises it or not. She’s perfect. She’s incredible.She’s mine. And even though I didn’t plan this, never thought I’d ever allow myself to get to this point, I have. Realisation has slammed into me with the force of a nuclear explosion ...

I’m completely, ridiculously, obsessively in love with Aurora Thorne.

And I want the world to know.

‘Should I call them Mr and Mrs Fairfax, or ...?’

‘Call them Hillary and Stan. My mother will tell you off for making her feel old otherwise.’

‘What about your father?’ Aurora whispers.

‘Don’t worry about my father.’ My jaw tenses, but the feel of slender, soft fingers threading through mine has it relaxing.

‘I’m nervous, but I am excited to meet them,’ Aurora says.

‘Good.’ I squeeze her hand, then narrow my eyes at the smile tugging her lips. ‘What?’

She shrugs, blushing. ‘It’s just ... you’ve given me everything I could ever want. I only need my father freed and all my dreams will be coming true.’ She gazes up at me like I hung the damn moon. So open. So trusting.

Deceit burns like a wildfire in my gut.

She looks away, her attention fixing on the imposing front door of my parents’ home.

I need to give her back her father even if it kills me. She’s been working for months to free him, going as far as getting an undercover job at Dominic’s house. She’s desperate. And she’s smart. But she’d never have unravelled everything with Dominic and this Ella woman. Christ, I never even saw it coming and I thought I knew everything about Dom. The only clue was Larkhay ...

Dom and I have helped one another in the past. He helped save Fairfax Guardian after my catastrophic fuck-up. But most of all, he helped keep it a secret from my father. And then when he came to me a few months ago after the theft from his firm, asking formyhelp ... of course I agreed.

I just had no idea what doing it meant.

I’ve spent months chasing after my money when I should have been chasing the truth, the way Aurora has. And when we gethome, I’m going to give it to her. The complete, ugly truth. I’m going to confess the one last secret she needs to hear.

It’s the hardest one to tell her, but I can’t put it off any longer.

The diamond engagement ring I had Sullivan Beaufort make and courier over from New York is burning a hole in my safe at home.

I want her father out of prison.