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My father isn’t my father, which means Gabriella’s had more affairs in her life than I thought. But then, I look like Anaya, which drew Milton to me in the first place. It makes sense that I wouldn’t be. “Am I a Makesh?”
“I don’t know,” he says, but he’s convinced I am. I can already see it in his eyes. “The only way to find that out is complicated.”
“Do you know of anyone it could be?”
“She had brothers, four of them. They were a big family. Most of them are gone, dead, or moved away. It’s a case of tracking them down—”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t want to know.”
“Heidi—”
“I said I don’t want to know. I know you think I’m already a Makesh. How can we be together without it being fucked up? If they are my family, thenmyfamily hurt you.”
“It is fucked up,” he agrees. “But that doesn’t mean anything. How often do I have to say that you’re not her? I want you. Contract or not, threat or not, I want you. And I’ll make sure you’re going to stay by any means necessary—”
“The only way to do that is if you cement ownership, Milton,” says a voice from across the room. Milton and I turn to the source, finding Maxim casually leaning against the door frame. He’s showered and wearing a housecoat, hair darker from being wet. He’d been listening to us.
“What the fuck, Maxim?” Milton says while my eyes widen.
“When it counts,” Maxim says to him, referring to something I don’t understand—something between them. “Don’t act like you don’t want to. It’s not like you’ll let anyone else near her. And, as selfish as it sounds, I need you back to your old self. There are things to do, and it’s about time this drama ended.”
Milton laughs with bewilderment like he can’t help it. “The only one with drama is you.”
Grunting, Maxim turns and walks back out of the room. Milton’s silent for a moment, before he turns to me.
“Marry me,” he says as I whirl around to face him. What. The. Fuck?
“W-What?”
“Marry me,” he repeats, deadly serious.
“I don’t think that’s what Maxim meant.”
“Probably not. But it’s makes a whole lot of sense. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”
“Marriage doesn’t fix things. It doesn’t make our problems disappear. I don’t want to know who my real father is, though something tells me you won’t stop until you do. You’ll keep that from me. Just like you’ll keep from me when you decide to hunt Blake’s uncles down. And what about this—”
Tugging his jacket open, I dip my hand in his inner pocket. He doesn’t stop me. He lets me grab whatever it is he put in his pocket tonight. It’s a small vial of blood. Blake’s blood. He stares at me, holding it, his lips pressed together.
Slipping the vial back inside his pocket, I take a deep breath, knowing that I can’t be all he wants. “I won’t be enough, Milton. And that’s okay.”
A moment of silence passes before he suddenly grabs me and holds me tightly. “That’snotokay. Ask Maxim when I called him after finding you stolen from me what I said to him. I told him that he was right, thatyouwere enough. Thinking about you being back in Blake’s clubhouse without my protection and what he might do to you made me feel the worst fear I’ve ever felt. And I never feel fear. Not since I was a child. He could’ve taken you away from me. Thank God I got to you in time, or you might not be here right now… I don’t need Maxim to tell me what I should do—Iwantyou forever. Be it wrong, fucked up, insane. I don’t give a fuck. I will burn Anaya’s ledgers if you want me to. I won’t pursue any more death.”
“I won’t let you give that up for me,” I reply with bewilderment. “That’s wrong.”
“Nearly losing you made me not want it, and I’m tired of chasing evil. I won’t put you at risk any more than I have. I want my princess to have her happy ever after.”
“In Hell…”
He nods in agreement with a smile. “Yes. In Hell.”
Gathering me in his arms, his lips fall against mine. And I kiss him back with no more strength to stop. My life is fucked. Completely. But I also know I couldn’t imagine facing it with anybody but Milton.
Fair Haven City may be hell on earth—but it’s our hell. In the darkest of places, there is us and fire. Deep in the red tunnels of Club X, you’ll find a pet and her master reigning in our own insanity.
