Sold to Him

Getting her back is the first order of business. I won’t do anything until I have her in my arms again, safe and sound. Stumbling, I head for the kitchen, my mind still spinning with rage, shock, and anger mixed into one.

But when I get to the kitchen, the world stops turning. Literally, I jerk to a halt, unable to breathe. A jolt of amazement and happiness shakes me from the ends of my hair to my toenails.

Because a woman stands in my kitchen. Beautiful and round, her curly hair in a messy top-knot while she chats away on the phone like it’s any day of the damn week. All my plans for revenge and destruction instantly disintegrate into dust.

Because what in the world is Trina doing here? And when she sees me, she turns around and rushes into my arms, dropping the phone, that curvy body pressed against mine.

Yes. It’s her. No question. Sweet Jesus, how the hell did she get into my kitchen? Am I hallucinating?

“You’re here.” I state the obvious like a complete fool, but she smiles sweetly at me, her eyes wide and trusting, arms clasped around my torso.

“I’m here,” she confirms, still pressed against my broad chest.

I seize her mouth in a deep kiss, plundering that lush loveliness. My hands curl through her hair, hardly believing that she’s mine. What in the world? Just a few hours ago, I’d been sentenced to death while my girl was condemned to a life of service at the Club. What in the world is going on? I pull away, breaking off our kiss although the lack of contact kills me.

“Tell me what happened, baby. How are you here? How am I here? What the fuck is going on?” I’m so damn grateful that it barely matters, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that the Club isn’t forgiving. “Who do I owe for letting us go? Tell me everything.”

And she does. It turns out that after I went crazy, raving like a lunatic dog, the tribunal decided it was too much of a liability for them to keep us. They genuinely feared for their lives, as well as those of their loved ones.

“You went insane, Grayson.” Trina runs her hand through my hair, gently stroking. “It was really scary, and everyone who saw you realized that something had to be done. So after they managed to knock you out, the tribunal talked among itself. And the next thing I knew, they were throwing us both out. For good this time.”

“Great,” I rasp. “That’s what I want. I never want to see any of those bastards again. But sweetheart, they were going to put me to death. Why didn’t they just do that? Once I’m six feet under, I’d be harmless.”

Shadows fall over her eyes, and she glances at the floor for a moment before meeting my gaze again.

“Because I told them if they put you to death, then I’d kill myself as well,” she says simply. “You’re all that matters to me, Grayson Knight. If you died, then I’d have nothing, and I told the tribunal as much.”

I sit back on my heels, shocked to my core.

“Y-you did what?” I stammer. It’s unlike me to develop a stutter, but at the same time, Trina’s admission shakes the foundation that I’ve built for myself. Because for decades now, I’ve been on my own, and to know that someone loves me so much that they’d be willing to die if I died, breaks open my world view, leaving me gasping.

She takes a deep breath before nodding.

“I did, Grayson,” she says softly, clasping my hands now. “You mean so much to me, putting yourself into danger twice like that. If you died … well, I wouldn’t want to be on this Earth anymore either.”

And with that, I crush the beautiful woman to me. Because she’s my everything. We’ve walked the wilds, braved the Club, the tribunal, a death sentence, and a life of servitude. And astonishingly, Trina and I are here now, in my kitchen, safe and sound after escaping the Club’s tentacles.

“I love you,” I rasp into her hair, my heart beating so fast that it’s sure to pound right out of my chest. “You’re everything to me sweetheart. I can’t believe you’d die for me.”

But before I can seize her mouth in another devastating kiss, Trina pulls back.

“I did it because I love you,” she murmurs, looking into my eyes. “And I forgive you for that first betrayal, Grayson. You’d been a member of the Club for so long that you didn’t know what you were doing. But your actions afterwards mean everything because no one’s ever sacrificed so much for me.”

And the words are true. I’d give anything to this woman. I’d leap tall buildings, bound over bridges, and strangle every single member of the Billionaires Club in order to keep my girl.