Page 64 of Fighting Salvation

“This can’t wait.”

He frowned, knowing what she wanted to say and it wasn’t necessary, but she seemed to want to get it out there. “Okay, say what you need to say.”

She went to speak but only a sob came out and he buried her head in his neck as he held her close. “Mo chroi, it’s okay.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not. I should have told you, and now I have the worst feeling. I don’t want you to go, but I know you have to and I don’t want any lies between us.”

“Valentina, let me make this easy for you. I know you’re the one who wrote to me.”

Her bright wet eyes lifted in surprise. Her mouth fell open and made his dick twitch in appreciation at the sight.

He closed her mouth with his knuckle under her chin. “You catching flies, baby?”

Val shook her head and gripped his biceps. “You know? How?”

He stroked her cheek, mesmerised by her soft skin and the scent which always clung to her that was like home to him. He loved her more than he’d ever loved anyone or anything, including his desire for vengeance, but this wasn’t about that anymore.

“Valentina, do you remember the night we danced to Return of The Mack?”

A smile lit her face. “Yes, of course. It was right before you started backing away from me.”

“You probably don’t remember it but I do because I memorised every single one of those letters until I could recite them word for word. In one of them, you told me how you’d discovered jelly art and that one day, you’d run a school for dogs.”

Her face brightened. “Oh, my God. Yes, I did.”

“I knew then who you were. If I’m honest, I think I knew before that. Every conversation between us felt familiar yet new. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stay away from you, because you meant something to me. You didn’t realise it but those letters saved my life. I was so disillusioned and sad and I saw no way out. Then one day I got a letter from a young woman and from that day onwards, I lived for them. You were my true north, then and now. I will always come back to you, Val, because we were fated.”

“You believe that?”

“Yes, I do and also because Rose told me.”

She laughed through her tears like he’d known she would, and her smile unknotted something inside of him.

“Rose is scary. You know she told Duchess she and Gideon would have twins?”

“I had heard that, and you’ll be glad to hear she didn’t say that to me.”

“Phew, one at a time is my limit.”

He held her tight to him, feeling her warmth and softness and would give anything to take her to bed and spend the rest of the day exploring her gorgeous curves, but he’d settle for a kiss. “Now give me that mouth, baby, and stop worrying.”

He thought she’d argue but she came up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around him, her breasts pressed against his chest, his erection against her belly. He slanted his mouth down over hers, pouring everything he felt into the kiss. His love, his passion, all of it and she let him and gave him back something precious. Her heart, her trust, and her love. Her lips were soft, pliant but the woman was fire and strength.

“I love you, Valentina.”

“I love you too.”

“Now let’s go and finish this so we can get to planning our naked vacation.”

She giggled as she held his hand as they walked back inside and the team were already waiting on them. He caught Rafe’s eyes and nodded, letting him know all was well.

“Do we have what we need?”

Duchess spread images out on the table. They were blurry but clear enough to identify the man tied in the corner of the room. He looked broken, his body filthy, and the blood and cuts all over his torso was worse than the images they’d previously found. He gritted his teeth in anger at what had been done to his friend, a man who’d done nothing bad in his life except hacking and being a genius.

“This ends now.”

They all murmured quietly because seeing photos of Watchdog in that state was hard for them all. But what Hansen had failed to take into account when he’d planned this shit was that by doing this, he was only focusing them more. He’d thought this would weaken them, but that wasn’t how a family worked. They fought for each other and the harder someone hurt them, the harder they fought back. He wondered if in some small way, he was to blame for that or if Hansen would have been different if he’d had the family he should have had.