Page 123 of Misdeeds of a Billionaire
“I’m glad he’s gone,” I rasped. “I like your brothers and sister. Their spouses too.”
He smiled softly. “They are good people. Nothing like our father.” I nodded. I could see it although it was difficult to trust my instincts anymore. Not after they failed me six years ago. Or did they? “I want us to have a clean slate, Odette. For Ares. For our future children. For us.” He gently grabbed a strand of my hair and wrapped it around his fingers. But it wasn’t his gentle touch that had my heart squeezing. It was the torment in his gaze. As if he were scared of losing me. “Please, talk to me.”
I took a deep breath and looked away. It felt easier to tell him without looking into his eyes, like I was baring my soul to him.
“When I woke up after—” After that amazing night. After you fucked me and then made love to me until dawn flickered across the horizon of the French Riviera. “I woke up to your father sitting in a chair next to your bed. He said you were engaged, and I was your ‘last hurrah’ before settling down.” His sharp exhale had me turning my head to seek out his cobalt blues. Such anger simmered in those eyes, promising retribution. But it wasn’t aimed at me. I could see it now. “He said your kind and my kind didn’t mix. I didn’t know what he meant. I’d never heard of ‘Senator Ashford’ beforehand. He called me a whore and threw money at me. At first I thought he was crazy and I dismissed him, but then he started to threaten my family.” I swallowed, knowing how this would end. “By the time I got to work that day, it was already happening. Dad lost the hospital.” My voice cracked and he pulled me closer to him, his grip tight on me. “A few days later, Dad committed s—”
It hurt so fucking much to talk about it, yet with each word, the tightness in my chest slowly eased. The knots in my heart unraveled and hope started to boom.
Maybe this was what I needed all along. Him.
Chapter50
Byron
Her voice broke, and she buried her face in my neck, her little body shaking.
“Shhh.” Her tears stained my skin and seeped through my pores, making my soul ache for her. I should have been there for her. That whole goddamn time, I should have been her rock. Instead, those words I said to her—
Fuck!
I rubbed her back, murmuring soothing words. I didn’t know if I was doing it right, but it was what I remembered my mother doing. My father hadn’t comforted a single soul in his whole goddamn life.
“It was my fault, Byron.” Her voice was full of anguish. “I messed around with you and my dad paid for it. I might as well have been the one to put that gun to his head. I’m surprised Billie doesn’t hate me.”
I cupped the back of her head and locked our eyes. “Your sister will never hate you. Firstly, I forbid it.” A strangled laugh-slash-sob filled the space between us. “And more importantly, because she’d die for you. She loves you. Even threatened to murder me if I hurt you.” She sniffled, her lips trembling as she smiled. “Do you think we could start over? Put the damage my father has done behind us?” My voice was soft, but my heart thundered so hard and loud, there was no way she couldn’t hear it. “Fuck, baby. You’re all I ever wanted, from the moment you walked into that exam room to cure me of my goddamn sunburn. There was never an engagement. There was never a woman that made me want to even have a long-term relationship.” I let the words sink in, pressing a kiss to her forehead and inhaling the scent of fresh apples. “Until you. I don’t remember anyone before you, and there has been nobody after you. Just you, baby. You are it for me.”
Her sharp inhale traveled through the dark library. “Y-you haven’t been with anyone else since—”
I could lie and tell her I didn’t wait for her. That I didn’t hope her path would lead me to her. Instead, I bared it all for her.
“I couldn’t stomach another woman after you,” I admitted. Fuck macho shit. Life was too fucking short to feign indifference and pretend I wasn’t head over heels in love with my wife. “I hoped—against all odds—that we’d find a way to each other. You felt perfect. You felt likemine, unlike anyone else. And it felt like I belonged to you and only you. I fell in love with you. I couldn’t stop loving you even if I’d wanted to, and frankly… I don’t want to stop. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Her palm came to rest against my cheek, and I leaned into it. “There hasn’t been anyone else for me either.” A soft admission. But it thundered as loud as my heartbeat. “I tried. I really did, but I realized no matter where I was or who I was with, I loved you and I couldn’t forget. I will always love you. Truly. Completely. It’s always been you, Byron. But after what had happened with your father, I stopped trusting myself.”
Lights flickered, mirroring the beginning we should have had six years ago. With a snarl, I slammed my mouth against hers. I felt so hopeful about how the rest of our lives looked. Being happy. Having a house full of little girls and boys. But most of all, I couldn’t wait to spend time with my woman. The woman who should have been mine all those years ago. The woman who gave me a son.
Mine. Forever. My lover. My entire life.
Holding her jaw in both hands, I broke off and pressed my forehead to hers.
“What if your father—”
I stopped her. “He’ll only have power if we give it to him. Leave me to handle him. And trust me, he will pay for what he has done. He cannot and will not destroy us. You alone have the power to destroy me. I am nothing without you, absolutely nothing. And I will never, ever let you go.”
Her hands wrapped around my neck as she poured her soul into our kiss. I hardened beneath her, and she shifted in my lap so my cock pushed against her pussy. My hands moved down her back to her waist, loving her curves. She was softer than she’d been all those years ago, and I loved that the reason for it was our son. She’d given birth to a life we’d created.
“What else has my father done?” I questioned. I had no doubt there was more, and I didn’t trust my father to be completely honest.
She sighed, her grip on me tightening. “When I came to see you, he was there at your office and sent me away.” My teeth clenched, but I didn’t interrupt her. “He called me a gold digger. But then he showed up at the hospital, after you left.” Her neck bobbed as she swallowed. “He threatened Billie. I felt so weak and couldn’t fight him. I thought I had lost the baby and couldn’t bear losing one more thing.”
She thought she lost the baby.She’d slipped and hadn’t realized it but I wouldn’t call her on it. I’d wait for her. She’d tell me—I was certain of it—when she felt safe.
My chest burned with fury at my father and clenched with sorrow for my wife. My father would pay, in the way that hurt him the most. He cost us years. Fuckingyearswasted. He robbed my son of his father. He robbed me from having a good woman in my life.
“Trust me, I’ll make him pay.” My lips brushed against hers, the taste of her so addictive.
“Now that I have you, it’s pointless. Let him be a lonely old man.” She nipped at my bottom lip. “You, Ares, and Billie are all that matter to me.” She smiled sheepishly. “Your brothers and sisters too.”
