The Wrong Wife (Morally Grey Billionaires #5)(116)

I swallow around the lump in my throat. "He was hacked to pieces in front of me."

She gasps.

"My best friend. My brother in every way, the one who had my back in every one of my missions, was murdered in front of my eyes, and I couldn’t do anything." I dig my fingernails into the palms of my hands and break through the skin.

"Oh, my god, that must have been so traumatic for you, Knight." She throws herself at me, straddles my lap, and wraps her arms and legs around me. Tiny walks over to plant his butt on the ground next to me. He whines, and goddamn, but the sound is as forlorn as I feel.

"He was the last to die. The bastards took out the other three in our team, one by one. Adam and I kept each other going. We promised each other that we’d make it out alive. But as the days wore on, he began to sink first. It got to him, I guess. They realized his weak spot was his wife and his daughter. They used it to break down his mind. I, of course, had no such blood ties. Not even Abby, as I knew she was safe with her husband. I was the emotionless one. The strong one. The unbreakable one. They kept at it, though. They tried everything, and when it was clear Adam was sinking, they used him against me. And when they realized our friendship was my weakness, they killed him. Slowly. His cries, his begging for mercy, his voice as he screamed for his life haunts me at night. Before he died, he made me promise I’d take care of his wife and child."

"Oh, Knight." Her tears bathe my throat as she tucks her face under my chin and weeps.

"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, Penny. There were so many times when I wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud. I knew if I did, I’d never see Adam again. But I also knew I had to tell you. It was the only way to show you how much you mean to me. It was the only way to move on."

She sits up, and moisture clings to her cheeks. "Is that why you came out today, to bid him goodbye?"

"That’s what I was doing as you walked up." I nod.

"That’s why you left me a note with details of how to find you? You knew I’d come in search of you?"

"I hoped." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn’t want any more secrets between us. I wanted to tell you everything."

"Even though it meant you’d lose your friend for good?"

The ball in my throat grows bigger, until it seems to fill my chest and twist my stomach and turn my guts into a seething mass of hurt. I nod, then swallow to dislodge it. "I need to move forward. You make me want to move forward. To move toward you. I cannot lose you again. If I did, there’d be no coming back from that. I have to let go of Adam because you are my life."

She cups my cheek. "So, all this time when you said you went running with Adam, you were—"

"Running alone, sometimes with Tiny. And Adam would join me. We’d talk, I’d reassure him I’d do everything possible to adopt his daughter and ensure his wife was cared for. Of course, he’d also give me advice about us—" I nod at the space between us.

"Wait, you told him about us?" she cries.

"Of course I did. There are no secrets between us, and now"—I place my palm over the one she has on my cheek—"there’re none between us, either."

Another tear squeezes out from the corner of her eye. I bend and lick it up because it’s too precious to be wasted. "Don’t cry for me, baby. I knew I had to deal with what I was going through. I knew I had to face up to what happened to me. I was waiting for the right time. I was waiting for now."

"I’m sorry for your loss, Sir, truly."

"All I need is you." I kiss her forehead. "Your beauty, which gentles my soul. Your love, which fills all the emptiness inside me. Your sunny nature, your joie-de-vivre, which gives me life. Your heart, which speaks to me and tells me I’m yours."

"You’re mine." She stares between my eyes. "Mine."

"Mine." I place a kiss over one eye, then the other, then on each cheek, and brush my lips over hers. "I love you, Penny. My Little Dove. My savior. My redeemer. You threw me a lifeline. And while it took me a long time to admit how much I needed it, I’m glad I latched onto it."

"I love you, Sir," she whispers against my mouth. "You were an asshole—still are an asshole—but you’re my asshole."

"I do prefer alphahole," I drawl.

She chuckles. "Promise me you’ll never change how you fuck me. Promise me you’ll never hide anything from me again. Promise me you’ll always love me."

I wrap my fingers around the nape of her neck and haul her close enough that our eyelashes entwine. "I love you. I adore you. I’m nothing without you."

Her breath hitches.

"I love you a million times over, and I’ll never apologize for it."

"Oh." Her pupils dilate.

"I will die before I let anything happen to you."

Her lips tremble. "Promise me you’ll live."

"I live to see the light in your eyes, to hear you sass me and defy me, and to drive me a little crazy with your rambling thoughts, and your chatter, and your laughter. I live… for you, only you."

She half laughs. "And I thought you didn’t have a romantic bone in your body."

"Including this one?" I lower my hands to her hips and fit her snugly over that ever-excited part of me that tends to stand up whenever she is around.