A sad smile crested her face. “That’s the least surprising thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“I’m serious.” Now the emotions were cascading over me, pushing me so far into the past I could have drowned. All I could think about was all the time we’d wasted. All this fucking time apart because of Allan. As if I needed more reasons to hate the man. “I would have found a way, Cora. I swear to fucking God.”
“I don’t doubt you would have tried,” she said softly, running her hand over the ridge of my shoulder. “But we both know it wouldn’t have worked.”
I shook my head, the anger burbling fiercely beneath my skin. “It would have. Trace and Damian and I, we would have come up with something. Allan could close doors on us, sure, but—”
“Axel.” Her cool hands cupped my face, drawing my gaze into hers. “If I had told you the truth then, you would have detonated your life to make us work. And then where would you three be? Not in this penthouse. Not with all this success you’re enjoying. It was too important to me, and to you, to take that away from you.”
I clenched and unclenched my jaw. She was so right it hurt. Pain blossomed like a poison flower though my chest, its toxin sinking slowly through my veins. This just made everything worse.
“But at what cost?” I asked quietly. “You sacrificed your own happiness, for what?”
Her eyes closed for a few moments. When she opened them, a tear trickled out. “I never had a real shot at happiness, not with my family. You gave me more happiness than I ever thought possible.”
“Cora.” My voice cracked as the weight of her words settled over us. “This isn’t right.” I scooped her hand into mine, pressing her knuckles to my lips. “You deserve to be happy. You know that, right? You fucking deserve it.”
She let out a shaky breath, a few more tears trickling down her cheeks. “Maybe. But I certainly don’t deserveyou.”
I gathered her against me, the need to hold her outweighing everything else. Because the longer the truth of her sacrifice sank into me, the deeper I entered the ocean of love that had always existed between us. There was no turning back now.
And I’d lied. I’d said the truth wouldn’t change anything,
It changedeverything.
“Don’t talk like that,” I murmured into the top of her head. “You deserve me. You deserve happiness. You deserve to be treated with some fucking respect for once. To have some autonomy. This shit can’t continue, Cora. I’m not gonna let it.”
The tears were coming faster now, as she nodded and searched my face. I’d never seen her so open. So raw. So absolutely stunningly beautiful and pure.
This was Cora Margulis. The woman I’d always known. The woman I’d never stopped loving.
The woman whose happiness I’d fight for until the end of my life.
“Me and Zero are gonna protect you,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. She squeezed her arms around my waist.
“Thank you.”
“You know how many fucks he gives if Allan or Eli think otherwise?”
She shook with laughter in my arms. “Zero?”
“Exactly.” I kissed the top of her head again, my lips drifting down over her temples. Each kiss was a new chance to discover her. To remember who I’d always loved, and to learn who she’d become since we’d broken up. I planned to create a map drawn strictly from kiss tracking. If I had my way, I could create this map in no time. When my kisses drifted lower, I noticed she still wore that diamond pendant. Even in her sleep.
“Why do you still have this on?” I asked, tracing the thin chain with my fingertip. “You always wear it, but even to bed?”
“I forgot to take it off last night,” she said, her voice hoarse. “But it’s the most important thing I own. The only physical possession that matters to me.” She paused, licking her lips, searing me with a look so intense I wasn’t sure how to process it. “These are the diamonds from the engagement ring you gave me.”
The truth from this admission seeped over me, warm and intoxicating. I’d seen this diamond pendant on her from day one. And who knew how long she’d been wearing it religiously in front of Eli?
“Are you serious?” An incredulous laugh escaped me. It was the sweetest and sexiest thing I’d ever heard. “I’m not gonna lie, Cora,” I whispered, my mouth pausing at her chin. “Thinking of you wearing my diamonds in front of Eli all this time is a major turn-on. I want to fucking eat you alive.”
Her lips quirked up in a smile. Clarity had returned to her gaze. The tears had dried. And that old mischievous sparkle had returned.
“Then why don’t you dig in?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CORA