Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
He wasn’t the same man who’d been deported.
He was more.
So, so much more.
He’d not only accepted the change in his appearance and ableness but had done it with grace and confidence that I found inspiring and stirring and downright erotic.
Stepping into him, I stood on my tiptoes, plastered my nakedness to his, and kissed him.
His head tipped down, his powerful arms encircled me, and with the strength I knew and loved, he picked me up and carried me into the shower.
He didn’t trip or stumble. He barely even moved with a limp, and when he put me down, spun the tap to rain us in hot water, I pulled away from his kiss and breathed, “You were beautiful to me before, but now? There are no words, Aslan. No words for how I feel about you. I’m home when I’m with you, and I know in the depth of my being that I’m not meant to exist without you.”
“I feel the same way,” he whispered. Tears glimmered in his eyes, mingling with the sparkling water. “Thank you. For accepting me as I am.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Thank you. Thank you for finding me again. For forgiving me. For loving me as much as I love you. In all shapes and sizes.”
“Always.” He kissed me. “Forever.”
I kissed him.
Steam rose around us.
Pulling away, he grabbed my favourite frangipani shampoo and spun me to wash my hair.
With his strong hands on my head, he finally told me everything.
Chapter Fifty-One
*
Aslan
*
(Heart in Chinese: Xīn)
“YOU PROBABLY HEARD HIM SHOOT ME WHEN we were on the phone together. I thought it was a bullet as the pain ripped through me, but then...sleep crushed me so damn fast, I didn’t have time to tell you goodbye. That haunted me for so long. That I’d left you so suddenly, without a single farewell.
“I woke up in his compound, sick and feverish, suffering from a reaction to the tranquiliser. For weeks, I was in and out of consciousness, and when I was finally strong enough to stay awake, I understood how close I came to death.
“Unfortunately, that was the start of a long list of illnesses. I grew strong, only for him to strap me to the chair and begin my ‘reconditioning’. My system wasn’t ready for such abuse, and I slipped again. As I passed out, I heard his doctor talking about amputation, and I’d never been so fucking scared in all my life.”
I trailed my fingers down her back, spreading suds and scent. “By the time I woke up, I was missing a piece of myself, and I confess it sent me into a pit of self-loathing. He let me heal for a few months, but mentally, I was getting worse. He gave me his ledgers and accounts to pull me out of the darkness, and...despite myself, the allure of numbers worked.
“I dragged myself back into hope and did what I could to make my body strong again. I had no intention of dying there without seeing you again and didn’t care what I had to become to make that happen.”
My heart skipped and I dropped my voice until it was barely audible above the shower. “I won’t bore you with the years of torture—you felt it all anyway. The electricity broke me, but only after he took my tattoo. It took him three years, but when I finally surrendered, I had nothing left.
“That fourth year, I behaved the way I was supposed to. I didn’t think of running, because how could I? I hobbled around on a poorly fitted prosthetic and refused his offer for a better one because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself if I felt strong enough to run.
“But by year five, even that pain wasn’t enough to keep me obedient. I dreamed of you constantly. I burned for you, missed you, and when I refused to sleep with a slave and admitted I would never be able to take a wife who wasn’t you, he turned his threats to snatching you and Ayla.
“That was the night we were raided by the police. The girl he’d commanded I sleep with—the girl I refused, and he shot in the head—was an undercover agent for an international sting on his empire. She was only meant to watch, but she was caught and sucked into the operation. Instead of letting fear stop her mission, she did what she could to bring him down, regardless of the risk. Cem’s been wanted for decades. Law enforcement have tried to nail him on so many charges, but they never quite stuck. They were never able to catch him in the act, but unfortunately for him, the day he ordered one of his guards to shoot that poor American girl, the transmitting device she’d smuggled inside herself and hooked up to the camera feed in his Fairy House recorded valuable evidence of his crime.