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“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.
“They had him on record for murder. And so...they came for him.
“When the police raided in the middle of the night, Cem tried to get me out. For all his shortcomings as a father and all his monstrosity as a person, he did love me. Or at least, he thought he did. Maybe he didn’t know the meaning of love, but...he made the biggest mistake of his life thinking I could ever love him back. He gave me a gun. A gun to use against our enemy.”
I swallowed hard. “I shot him. Point blank. Just before I was swarmed by police and arrested.”
Neri stiffened beneath my hands, but she didn’t say a word.
I kept speaking and stroking her wonderful curves. “For four weeks, I rotted in a solitary cell. They took my leg, my cane, my hope. No one told me what was going on, and no one came to help. By the time I was pulled out of prison and dragged to meet the chief of the international operation, I was half delirious.
“I just wanted to leave. I just wanted you. And if that meant dying so I could wait for you on the other side, then so be it. I wanted everything to be over so I didn’t have to keep missing you every fucking moment of every damn day. But then...things got strange.”
“Strange?” she whispered, turning around and shivering as I ran my soapy hands over her full breasts.
I didn’t look up, hypnotised by her body as I said, “The men who arrested me that night told their chief I’d been the one to pull the trigger and kill Cem Kara. They knew who I was. They knew I was his biological son, and also knew—through one of their many snitches—that only a week before, Cem had pledged me into the family business and made each of his generals swear me their allegiance. With him dead, I was the next ruler. I had all his power and commanded his men’s loyalties. With one bullet, I became their greatest asset because I’d killed my own father. I’d betrayed him for the same reasons they were trying to shut him down. And that...well, that made me valuable.”
“Oh my god,” Neri gasped.
“I expected them to throw me in chains or kill me, but...they offered me a deal.” Guiding her beneath the raining showerhead, I rinsed her hair before saying quietly, “The chief locked the door, unhooked his phone, and pulled out a top-secret file. I was in that room with him for six hours, and when I walked out...I was a free man.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“Only he, one other agent in the AFP, and I know. I was sworn to secrecy, but I could never keep a lie from you, so...I’m telling you this on the proviso that no one else can find out. No one. Do you hear me? Not a damn soul. We come up with a story for everyone else.”
I waited for her to catch my eyes and nod. The intensity of her blue gaze fisted my heart.
I sighed as I accepted her promise, then murmured, “His terms were simple: inherit everything. Every penny. Every wrong and terribly bad thing. They promised not to confiscate Cem’s wealth, if I legally accepted the name Aslan Kara, assumed my rightful place thanks to my birth right and succession, and become the next ruler of my father’s empire.”
My lips curled back. “Not to become him, but to prevent another from rising up to replace him. They wanted access to the largest crime family in Turkey. They wanted to quash uprising gangs and learn where every girl Cem had sold had ended up and with whom. They wanted to know who supplied his drugs and who bought the most. They wanted to know how trades were made, secrets were kept, laws were amended, and how many politicians—not just in Turkey, but worldwide—were on his payroll.
“When I marched back into my father’s mansion on a newly fashioned leg and a world of secrets inside me, I honestly feared I’d be shot by the very same guards that’d hurt me in the past. I stalked past men who’d helped Cem torture me. I outright ignored a guard that’d knocked me out for trying to escape and did my best not to punch the one who’d pushed me to my knees each time Cem wasn’t watching all because he could.
“I summoned Cem’s generals—my generals—to a meeting in the smoking room. The same room where I’d sworn a blood bond to my father, and he’d named me his heir. They came but not willingly. They sulked and scowled, expecting me to rip apart my father’s empire, so you can imagine their surprise when I told them that the only part of his business that I was shutting down was the Fairy House. All the girls were handed over to the people I now work for to be debriefed and sent home so they didn’t compromise my position as their double agent.
“Overnight, the trafficking side of Cem’s kingdom was dismantled and the girls safe. That gave me some peace of mind but not a lot. I-I’ve done things I’m not happy about, Neri. I’ve hurt people because Cem told me to. I’ve killed—”
I cut myself off, breathing hard. Focusing on the better parts of my story, I said, “The drugs and money laundering, the many assets and homes around the world are now mine to run as I see fit. Not because the police are corrupt and want in on such a world but because they’re using me to flush out the men and women using such things.”
I shrugged. “It’s not forever. I don’t have to play the part of a crime lord for the rest of my life. Eventually, they’ll have me shut it down, but I do have to do it until they are satisfied they’ve cleaned up as much as they can. Which means...I-I have to go back to Turkey soon.”
She gasped and went to argue, but I placed my finger over her lips and whispered, “Just to visit. I live here now. I have the visa to prove it. My visits to Turkey won’t be long, but I do need to be seen. My country isn’t evil, canim. Not like him. Turkish people are mostly good and gracious and will give the shirt off their backs to strangers. My father tried to taint that. He smeared my culture and my home with his greed. I suppose every city has good and bad. Every country has a balance of evil and goodness, but I feel as if it’s my duty to clean up the mess my father made. To restore my heritage the best way I can. To be loyal to my origins, all while ensuring my generals do what I’ve commanded them to do.”
“So that’s how you were able to come back to Australia?” she asked quietly. “By working with law enforcement?”
I shrugged. “It was my only condition. They’ve asked me to sully my name and do things I’m definitely not comfortable doing. I would prefer to shut everything down, not become its figurehead. In return, I asked for you. I demanded a passport, visa, and the promise that while I’m in Australia, I will be left alone. In return, I will keep my side of the bargain and continue feeding them information of deals and shipments. I’ll do whatever it takes to repent for what my father did.”
“That’s why you accepted the last name Kara.” She bit her bottom lip, stroking her hands over my bare chest, making me tremble. “That’s why you accepted your inheritance.”
I nodded. “Cem killed Aslan Avci. That part’s not a lie. The moment he took my leg, my tattoo, and my sanity, I lost that part of myself, and I...I became stronger for it. As much as I don’t want to admit that I’m like him, there’s an undeniable part that is. I’m not always a good person. I’m happy to do bad things if it protects those I love. The only difference between Aslan Kara and Aslan Avci is...I’m no longer afraid of that darkness inside me. I don’t need to run from it anymore because that darkness kept me alive long enough to come back to you.”
Turning her around slowly, I grabbed her hands and splayed them on the tiled wall. Her back arched as I ran my fingers down her spine and grabbed her hips. Hot water continued to rain over us. Lust caught me around the back of the throat as I dipped my fingers between her legs and found her drenched.
I choked on a snarl. “You’re so wet, askim.”
Her hips rocked back. She whimpered under her breath. “I always am around you.”
Testing her, I dipped two fingers deep inside before pressing my thumb on her clit and grabbing my cock. I fingered her while stroking myself, driving us into that dark tangle that made us reckless and wicked.
