There was only Devon in the sitting room when I arrived back into the manor. He gave me a nod and pressed a button on his cell phone, no doubt to alert the cleanup team.
I said two simple words that were straight from my cold black heart.
“Thank you.”
“You need a cleanup team of your own,” he laughed, gesturing at my outfit.
“I’m sure Elaine will help me out on that front,” I laughed back. “And on that note.”
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said. “Six a.m. start?”
“I’ll be ready,” I told him, and I would be. I’d be preened and polished and ready to begin a whole new week of deals and planning and negotiations. Both business and pleasure. Pleasure of the greatest kind on earth.
Elaine was watching another round of crappy TV when I walked through the bedroom door. Her eyes shot straight over to me, and her mouth dropped open as she scrabbled to her feet, dashing over to run her hands up and down my bloodied chest, checking me over.
“Not mine,” I reassured her and took hold of her hands to kiss her knuckles.
“Then whose?” she asked. “What the hell happened?!”
I told her. Slowly.
I watched her soak in the details, breaths hitching with an obvious combination of relief and gratitude that I’d destroyed the evil cunts for her. She cried pretty, moving tears that almost choked me up to match.
We took a shower when I finished recounting the events and she soaped me down, scrubbing me with delicate fingers, watching the blood swirl away down the drain.
Then it was her turn to say the two simple words, straight from her heart. Only her heart wasn’t cold and black. Hers was warm and loving. Beautiful like the rest of her as her eyes pooled with a fresh round of tears.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t deserve a thank you,” I told her. “The pleasure was mine.”
I meant it. I’d do whatever it took to make my princess happy in life. I’d love and protect and serve. I’d hurt, and barter, and bribe. I’d raise her on a pedestal for the whole world to see, and savor every heartbeat of her in my arms.
And I’d show her that.
I’d show her that in no uncertain terms very soon, in a whole different way than killing two of the pieces of shit who emotionally killed her.
I’d show her right at the top of the London Eye, right where she belonged.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elaine
I had no idea where we were going in the limo but life was buzzing around us as we headed into London from Quentin Manor. They weren’t with us, Devon and Francesca. This wasn’t one of the premieres we’d been talking about, and this wasn’t a late-night visit to Club Explicit that Lucian and I had been planning. This was something else. Something that had Lucian in a new tailored tuxedo and me in the little black dress I’d picked out so happily with Francesca.
There were security vehicles surrounding the limo as we drove into the city, keeping our safety their priority. So far there had been no sign of attack from either my family or Lucian’s, and it was seeming to be less likely—security growing stronger and associates promising even greater protection.
Maybe, just maybe, we’d be safe in our new future. I was daring to believe it.
I shot forward in my seat when the pods of the London Eye appeared in view, and my heart leapt as I pressed my face to the window, because I knew it right there and then. I knew just where we were headed.
“Really?” I asked Lucian with a squeal. “We’re going to the London Eye?”
God, his smirk. “Wait and see.”
I couldn’t sit still. I just couldn’t. I was squirming back and forth, my attention zipping from him to the window and back again on constant loop, still flying high with the excitement.
Oh my God, we were going to do it. We were going to ride the London Eye as the sun set, lighting up the river Thames in perfection. It would be perfection!
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I gushed at Lucian as the limo pulled up at the entrance, next to the line barriers.
Except there were no line barriers. Not tonight. There was only a red carpet, lined with security guards and attendants.
They helped me from the limo and I stared up at the Eye with a lump in my throat as Lucian took my side. It was really happening. It would be a dream come true.
There wasn’t a single person around. Nobody in the line. Nobody in the pods. Not a single sign of life as Lucian guided me along the carpet, all the way up to a waiting pod.
He stepped aside, giving me a little bow as I walked in, and there I was, spinning around with that lump still in my throat, trying to comprehend the reality of truly being in this space. My dream.
Being in this space with my dream.
I let out a squeal as the pod started moving and we began the ascent, just the two of us holding each other tight, mineral waters in our hands, staring out at the incredible view.
“Thank you so much,” I said again, and the lump in my throat showed itself with the dip of my voice.
“You are more than welcome, princess,” he told me. “You are my life, this is just one tiny little testament to that.”
We pointed out landmarks with smiles, everything etching itself into my memory forever. The Shard. Westminster. The Tower of London.
I still couldn’t believe it. Lucian had taken over the whole of the London Eye, all for me.
It was when we reached the very top, and the very height of our spin, that Lucian let me go from his arms. I turned to face him, shocked at his body moving away from mine, but not as shocked as I felt when he dropped down in front of me onto his knees. Only it wasn’t onto his knees.
It was on one knee. One.
Lucian Morelli was on one knee in front of me, at the very top of the London Eye.
It was then when the fireworks lit up the Thames in front of us. Bursts of pure sparks flying high into the sunset and glistening diamonds on the water. I was blown away by the crazy emotion of it, because surely not…surely it couldn’t be…
But it was. It was.
“Will you marry me, Elaine Constantine?” Lucian asked me, and presented the ring. A full-on glittering diamond in a little black box.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have a voice. Didn’t have a breath. Didn’t have anything but a nod as the tears fell. The lump in my throat had nothing on the gushes of happy tears that ran down my cheeks as Lucian got back up to his feet and slipped my engagement ring onto my ring finger.
He held me tight and kissed me deep, then turned us both back to face the fireworks still bursting all around us. Only my eyes weren’t on the fireworks, they couldn’t be. They were too transfixed on the diamond on my finger.
I was going to marry Lucian Morelli.
Holy fuck, I was engaged to Lucian Morelli.
He held me tight as the pod descended back to the ground. It was slow and perfect, the atmosphere between us so loved up that my heart could have burst for real.
The attendants were ready and waiting for us when our descent reached its end, helping us back onto solid ground with smiles and congratulations.
The red carpet felt so long and incredible as we made our way back to the street. There were paparazzi gathered, managing to capture just a few pictures of us walking together before the security guards ushered them away.