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“Aww, sweetheart.” Christian’s voice was rough as he dragged her into his lap and held her tight.
After everything she had been through, fighting Ross off on her own and getting herself away, she didn’t want to be weak. Didn’t want to beg. But more than anything she didn’t want to be left here. “Don’t leave me, please. I won’t slow you down.”
They both knew she would, but instead of calling her on it, Christian eased her back enough that he could frame her face with his large hands. They were rough against her skin, and she felt their strength and capability. Leaning down he pressed a kiss to her forehead, then his eyes met hers, and holding her gaze like a magnet he moved lower and feathered his lips across hers.
“What did they do to you, honey?”
Not ready to tell him about being forced to perform oral sex on Ross and how close she’d come to him doing it to her, instead she said, “Ross was my fiancé. My parents weren’t happy their careers were waning.” Since he’d found her in Switzerland at Ross’ house, she had to assume he knew who she really was. “They made a deal with him. He liked young girls so they’d let him marry me on my eighteenth birthday if he wrote a movie for them that would relaunch their careers. He couldn’t wait. When I was sixteen, he raped me. I got pregnant.”
Her hand drifted to rest on her stomach, praying that the fall hadn’t hurt the baby in any way. She loved this baby, wanted it so badly, and a future with Christian. How would she survive losing this child as well?
A growl rumbled through Christian’s chest, making her smile despite everything. “I gave birth at that house. My family hid me away there so the scandal wouldn’t hurt their careers. They didn’t let me keep the baby. I know it was for the best for him, but I hated giving him away. I can’t just sit here on my own. I’m sorry, I don’t want to be weak—”
Christian growled again and then crushed his mouth to hers. This time the kiss wasn’t a delicate touch, it was hot and hungry, and it conveyed everything he felt for her without him needing to say the words.
“You are not weak. You got away. I saw the blood. You hurt someone and ran. Saved yourself. Don’t ever let me hear you call yourself weak again.”
The force behind his words startled her, and she found herself nodding gravely. He was right, she had blackmailed her parents into giving her freedom, and she had fought off Ross and escaped all on her own. If Christian and his team hadn’t already been there, she likely would have been found and brought back, but still she hadn’t given up.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you who I was. It’s just people judge you differently when they realize you were a child star. I was never really that person. I hated acting, never wanted it to be my life. It’s been thirteen years since I got away. The paparazzi aren’t interested in me anymore. I look different, people don’t recognize me, and I got my freedom. I didn’t want you to think I was some spoiled actress princess. I wanted you to like me. The real me, not the me I had to pretend I was growing up.”
It felt good to say that out loud, to have that secret cleared away. She really did want Christian to like the real her, and to do that he needed to know who she had been and how her childhood had shaped the woman she’d become.
His hands framed her face again, and when he kissed her it wasn’t with gentleness, and it wasn’t with fiery passion, this kiss was one of love. Again, it conveyed his feelings for her but in a different way. This kiss said it wasn’t just attraction, it wasn’t just sex, it wasn’t even just that they were having a baby that would always tie them together.
It said he loved her.
Her.
The real Lila Angeletti.
The one she never let anyone see.
No holding back, from here on out, she wasn’t keeping anything from Christian. She wanted to be his partner in every way that mattered, and it started with not being a burden.
They were getting out of here, eliminating the threat to him and his team, and then they were going to give this baby the very best life.
Chapter Eleven
November 18th
6:14 A.M.
Pure determination glowed in Lila’s baby blue eyes, and Surf knew she had what it took to do this.
Actually, he had never really doubted that she did.
His protective instincts wanted to tuck her away here where she would be relatively safe. He would leave her his pack. She’d have food and water, medical supplies, he’d even leave her with his backup weapon so she could protect herself. On his own, it wouldn’t take him long to scale the cliff she’d tumbled down last night and make it back to the mansion.
He needed her safe, but she needed not to be alone right now.
Her needs won out every time.
Lila was pure strength. She had more than proven she could handle anything life threw at her, and she’d been forced to deal with a lot.
Maybe that was why he’d known the second he saw her that she was strong enough to survive anything. His past, his job, and the strains it would put on a relationship, even the danger cloaking him and his team. His girl could take it all in stride.
She had been honest with him. Told him the darkest and most tragic things she’d been forced to endure, and he owed her the same. Not here, now he had to be focused on their survival, getting Lila help, and getting to his team, but later he would tell her. She didn’t know, but despite their vastly different upbringings, they had gone through something similar.
