Arthur’s nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. Then, on an exhale, he said, “I’m not scared of anything, including death.” He looked me dead in the eyes. “But I’m fucking terrified of them taking you. I fucking can’t breathe when I think of the cunts taking you, hurting you … killing you.”
Tears pricked at my eyes and my throat tightened. Arthur put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me forward, his forehead pressed to mine. “My biggest fear, my only fucking fear in this whole shitshow of a world, is you being taken away from me.” His finger ran over the bracelet, and I felt his fear down to my core. Because I feared it too. I didn’t want to live in a world where Arthur wasn’t by my side.
“I won’t ever leave you,” I whispered.
Arthur’s lip curled into a small smile. “Can I have that written in blood?”
I sat back and, repeating the move I made to him in the pits, crossed my heart with my finger. Arthur pulled me to his mouth and kissed me. He kissed me and kissed me until I was breathless.
“Come on,” I said when the tension in the room had ebbed away. “Let’s get a cup of tea.”
Arthur took my offered hand and led me to the kitchen. He leaned against the countertop as I boiled the kettle and prepared the teapot. As I grabbed two cups from the cupboard, my stomach growled.
I laughed at the sound, and Arthur’s eyebrows pulled down. “You haven’t eaten?”
The kettle boiled, and I poured the water into the teapot. “I forgot,” I said. Arthur moved straight to the fridge.
He looked at the bare shelves. “This is all there is.” He frowned at the container. “What the fuck is this?” he said, pulling a pomegranate salad from the second shelf.
I smiled, and his eyes flared at my laugh. “It’s Betsy’s, I think.”
He took the lid off the bowl and grabbed a fork from the drawer. “Well now it’s fucking yours.” I went to fix the tea, but Arthur turned me around. “Fuck the tea, princess. Eat.” He scooped pomegranate seeds onto the fork and brought them to my mouth. They burst on my tongue, and I groaned. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was.
I licked my lips. “That’s good.”
Arthur fed me another forkful, and another, until the entire bowl was gone. The infamous dark lord feeding his queen. By the time I had swallowed the last bite, Arthur was hard in his trousers and his pupils were blown.
Growling, he yanked me to his chest and placed his hand possessively on the back of my neck. “You’re never leaving me. You understand? You’re fucking staying here forever.”
I felt my thighs clench at his harsh, unyielding tone. “The tea,” I said as he started biting at my lips, unbuttoning my jeans.
“Fuck the tea,” he hissed. “You’re going to ride my cock.” Arthur picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist, and took us back to our bedroom.
The tea was completely forgotten.
Chapter Fifteen
ARTHUR
I checked my phone. Ronnie and Vera hadn’t called me. They were still with the hackers. No fucker knew apart from me. I wanted as few people as possible to know about what they were doing. Even my family. They thought the girls were at a meeting with the Scousers up north. And I was keeping it that way.
I had just got back from meeting with Old Sammy. The ex-boss still hadn’t heard anything about who’d attacked his old dock. They’d come for him too. Torched his betting shop in Millwall. The fucking Hangmen had been hit in Camden. The Irish and the Romani had been attacked too. Anyone who had ties to me. But last night they went for the Italians. There wasn’t a damn syndicate in all of London who wasn’t now after these pricks.
But I wanted at them. Me. I wanted to find them and destroy them. They had a fucking bounty on their heads, and only I was going to collect it. The rest of the families could get in fucking line.
I walked into the living room; the rest of my family had just returned from their duties. Cheska and Gene were sat together by the fire. Betsy was with Charlie and Vinnie. Eric and Freddie were talking at the bar.
I’d just opened my mouth to get them all to report when my old man’s nurse came flying into the room. “Mr Adley,” she said, breathless, and my fucking blood turned to ice at the panicked expression on her face.
“What?” I asked tightly. Every head in the room turned our way.
Cheska was immediately beside me; Freddie came closer too. “He’s woken up,” the nurse said, and she may as well have fucking slammed a crowbar into my face.
“What?”
“He’s woken up. I’ve removed some of his equipment from him—mainly his breathing tube. I’ve called for the doctor. He’s in and out of consciousness. He’s extremely weak.” She smiled, and it lit up her entire face. “But he’s awake.”