Page 26 of Kingston

“Three days ago, I had Charles and Veronica Johnson slaughtered like the pigs they are and then fed to a pack of alligators.All their billions were wiped from their accounts by our MC’s tech.There isn’t a single trace of them anywhere, digitally or otherwise.Those monsters who haunt your dreams can’t touch you now, Demi.”

All the color leached from her face.“Wh-what?”

I stayed quiet, letting everything I’d just confessed to her sink in, praying I didn’t lose her trust.

Begging whatever deity who would listen that I wouldn’t lose her.

“You’re joking.”She tried to laugh but ended up whimpering instead.That sound was the equivalent of having my heart sliced open with a dull razor.“There’s no way you could have…”

I wanted to lie, feed her any story that wouldn’t hurt or scare her.But this woman was my forever.She was going to get the truth, and nothing less than that.

“There were many ways I could have, babe.That was simply the option I chose to go with.If you weren’t so concerned about them causing trouble for me, I might not have told you.But I don’t want you to constantly be looking over your shoulder for them.That would have only caused tension between us.And I won’t allow that to happen.”

Seeing the gears turning in her head, I held my breath, waiting for the fear to fill her eyes.For disgust to replace the love in her heart.Long minutes passed before her shoulders drooped for a moment.

Only to tense again.“But Charlie’s still out there.He could take Iris.Even if his parents are dead, he will find us.Maybe he’s tired of hurting me physically at this point, but he could steal Iris away.Or petition for custody.A judge would take her from me and hand her over to her father with a snap of Charlie’s fingers.”

“Ah, baby, do you think I’d let that bastard still breathe after all the things he’s done to you?Every time you flinch, every little whine you try to mask, the way you try to make yourself smaller when someone bigger than you gets too close.”I laughed, the sound manic to my own ears.That beast that now roamed free in my head had enjoyed each and every session we’d had with Charlie-boy strapped to that table while he begged for his mommy.My beast would fucking purr when Charlie took his last breath.“I’ve made him pay for that shit, and I’ll keep making him pay until you tell me it’s time for the angel of death to drag him to hell.”

She grew quiet again, her chin trembled a few times, but she didn’t make a sound as minute after minute ticked away.

Her voice was barely a whisper when she asked, “You know what he did, don’t you?You said you have a tech person, that they wiped the Johnsons’ digital footprint.Does that mean they found my information from before too?Did they show you my hospital records?”

I couldn’t unsee the things Mieke had shown me.The pictures and the medical reports that had been hidden on the dark web but not erased because the Johnsons had been so confident they were untouchable.Her bruises.Her blood.Those X-rays of her many broken bones.That fucking CT scan of her internal bleeding.Those images would never be wiped from my mind.“I hope one day you will tell me about it.All of it.Not just when you nearly died, but the stuff that led up to it as well.”

She shivered, her eyes going unfocused for a moment before popping back to mine.“I don’t know if I can.I’ve never talked about it to anyone.The few times I tried to reach out for help and tell someone what was happening, they either didn’t believe me or outright laughed at me.I was seventeen, and they told me I deserved what I got because I was a dirty whore who let herself get pregnant.They said I probably did it on purpose, and they didn’t believe Charlie would hurt me.I probably did it to myself for attention or to get back at Charlie because he didn’t want me or my baby.”

I sucked in a breath, fighting the rage I felt for the people who had failed my girl.It caused an itchy, twitchy sensation in my head that I couldn’t scratch.

Demi shrugged, as if it didn’t matter.But it did.Everything about this woman mattered to me.“And then when I left, there was no one to tell because it was safer not to talk.”

“I hate that you went through all that.I’m sorry you had to face it alone.I know it’s difficult to relive the dark moments.But I’ll never let anyone touch you with violence again, baby.”

A tiny smile kicked up one side of her mouth.“I know, Kingston.Because of you, I look forward to waking up every morning.Being near you brings me a peace I never thought I would find.I’m not scared when you’re at my side.”

“That makes me so damn happy, Demi.I’m going to spend the rest of my life ensuring you are loved and protected.But I want you not to be afraid, even when I’m not with you.You deserve that freedom.”

“I’m starting to realize that.”

“Maybe it will help if you speak to the staff at Sanctuary.They’re trained professionals who specialize in survivors of domestic abuse.”She ducked her head, her cheeks filling with pink.“No, baby, don’t do that.There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.I’m so damn thankful you’re here.You escaped that monster and made a life for not only yourself, but our little one as well.You made it home to me.That should be celebrated, not hidden away like something shameful.”

She swallowed hard, blinking back tears.“It doesn’t feel like I accomplished much.Until I met you, I was barely living.I had nothing, not even a home for my baby.You saved us.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.Yousavedme,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice low so the intensity of what I was feeling didn’t spook her.“I wasn’t living before I met you and Iris.I was just existing.There’s no way of explaining, except there was life before you, which was bland and boring.I felt numb.And now, there’s life with you.It’s full of spice and color and the most precious giggles that cause my heart to sing.”

Inhaling deeply, I met her gaze, showing her every part of myself, letting her see the new wildness that lived inside me because of her.“This life is my best life.You give that to me every day.”

ChapterSixteen

Demi

I wasn’tsure what stank more, the smell of blood and urine or the decay that permeated the thick air, melding together in the heat.There was definitely something dead somewhere in the cabin, but it wasn’t the man lying on the table in front of me.

Charlie Johnson, the monster who starred in my worst nightmares, was strapped to a table.Rope was knotted around his wrists, stretching them tightly above his head.From the angle of his dislocated shoulders, he must have fought the restraints hard while he still had the energy.

He’d been a guest in this house of horrors for more than two weeks at this point.Now, he was nothing more than skin and bones, with barely enough blood in his body to keep his heart pumping.The only reason he wasn’t dead yet was the IV that was giving him fluids and the occasional dose of adrenaline whenever his heart stopped beating.Or so Kingston had told me when I’d asked one night.

Charlie’s feet were bound to the metal table with chains that were so tight they were embedded deeply into the skin and muscle.Flies buzzed around, and when I took a small step forward, I thought I saw something white moving around in the rotting flesh.A lot of those white somethings.

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