“She did, but she still didn’t deserve what you did. Two wrongs do not make a right, and nothing is ever as simple as you think it is. Even if I hate her, she’s still my sister. She’s still a woman who deserved to have control over her own body.”
“I won’t apologize for doing what I had to do to protect you and the men who put their faith in me. I do not separate women from men when I decide what casualties are acceptable. Just because she has a pussy doesn’t make her any less of an enemy to me, and when it comes down to it, I will always choose the people who stand beside me over my enemies,” he said, his voice dropping low in warning.
I heaved out a sigh, not because I would heed the warning, but because I knew I could expect nothing less from Rafael. Part of loving him was loving the devil, knowing that I would never be able to change him into a saint who never stepped a toe out of line.
Loving every part of him—even the parts that were hand-carved from nightmares and sin—that was the choice I made. That was my power.
Loving the unlovable.
* * *
Anna hugged me tightly, pulling back to place her hands on my shoulders and stare down at me with a sympathy-filled look. “You’ll keep in touch?” she asked. I gave her a small smile, nodding silently as I bit my lip. The odd emotion that flooded me seemed so disproportionate to how briefly I’d known her, but I didn’t even bother to try to make sense of it.
Not when she’d kept me company in the aftermath of the revelation of how much I’d torn my family apart.
I nodded to Mariano and Luca, letting Rafe guide me up the steps to the plane and taking comfort in the familiar surroundings. Even knowing thatEl Infiernomay feel differently now that I knew the truth of all that had happened there, I was resolved to not let Miguel take that away from me.
The island was my home, my sanctuary from the rest of the world and the one place on Earth where I felt safe. The place that had once been my cage became my refuge.
The doors closed at the front as we settled in the smaller back cabin, and Rafe reached into my seat to buckle my seatbelt for me. He fidgeted with it, making sure it was adjusted perfectly as I quirked a brow at him in amusement.
So far removed from the man who had carved his name into my skin, and I couldn’t help but wonder when the devil would show his face again. I suspected I would be safe until the doctor lifted the ban on sex, since he couldn’t punish me physically,orsexually as it was.
Maybe it would take time for him to believe I wouldn’t fall apart at the first sign of something dangerous. Given all that had happened and how often I’d cried over the course of the days since my mother’s death, I couldn’t even blame him.
But something about today felt different. I’d woken up feeling resolved, determined to push through the sadness that would cling to me for the rest of my life and ensure that her death wasn’t for nothing. I’d live my life to the fullest, and I’d be damned if the Kuznetsovs ever laid a hand on me, especially with the fragile life growing within me.
Rafe straightened, taking his own seat as the plane moved forward to line up on the runway. He stared at me in silence as we took off, grasping my hand from across the table between us and seeming lost in thought. I both loved and hated the consideration he’d shown me in the wake of my grief.
But I also missed the husband who didn’t hold back, as odd as it felt to say such a thing.
Once we’d reached altitude and the pilot’s voice came over the intercom, Rafe leaned forward in his seat. The hint of something dark lingered in his gaze before he shoved it away, reaching into one of the compartments tucked to the side of the table. He pulled out a chess board, setting it on the table between us and placing the white pieces in front of me.
“Shall we play a game?” he asked, the corner of his mouth tipping up in a seductive smirk that might have brought me to my knees if I’d been standing. A dark smile teased my lips in response, and he bit his bottom one as his eyes dropped to it.
Nobody could say no to the devil himself.