Page 89 of Tainted Saints

“We’ll just be down the hall,mi tesoro,” he tells me as he gets up, brushing a kiss on my cheek, then going over to Forest to help him out of the chair.

Aoife sighs as we watch them disappear down the short hallway. “I guess that’s the best we’re going to get, they’ve not left your side since the wedding, have they?”

“Well, they are a little protective,” I tell her softly, and she huffs a laugh.

“Girl, they stormed your wedding, covered in blood I might add, and practically threw you over their great big shoulders!” I chuckle, then stop.

“You were there?” I ask, guilt feeling like lead in my stomach when I realise I didn’t even notice.

“Yep, though I just knew that you wouldn’t ever marry that twat if you’d had a choice.” Her gaze softens and she squeezes my hands. “What happened, Aspen? And what did you mean when you told the Ambassador that he’d never lock you in the dark again?”

I take a deep breath, then tell her my sorry tale, including stealing from the mall and getting arrested, then meeting Blaine and the others for the first time. Lan comes in halfway through, leaves the ice cream and two spoons on the coffee table, then goes into his bedroom with the others, giving us space so I can finish. She’s quiet for several moments after I’ve recounted the last of it, and it’s as if a weight has been lifted from me, like telling another soul has eased the shame I feel at the way my parents treated me.

“Jesus, Aspen, that's…feck, that’s shite,” she splutters, tears swimming in her eyes. “I’m so fecking sorry, if I’d known…”

“It’s okay, you barely knew me, and I guess I was ashamed to tell anyone. Plus, I didn’t want the Ambassador to target anyone else. Your dad’s job could have been in jeopardy.” She’s shaking her head before I’ve even finished.

“He wouldn’t have given a shite about all that. Family is the most important thing in the world to him, he would have taken you in,” she tells me, and I heave a sigh, pulling her into a hug.

“Thank you, Aoife,” I whisper as she hugs me back. “For being awesome.”

“Well, leaving Albert at the altar and running off with three gangsters is the stuff of romance novels, that’s main character energy right there!” She laughs, pulling away and then wagging her brows at me. “And I bet the sex is pretty incredible too?”

My cheeks burn, which just makes her laugh harder. We spend a bit longer catching up, and after making me promise to get back in touch when my love fest is over—and telling me that she wants all the gory details—she leaves, apparently, she had Bobby bring her over after threatening him bodily harm if he didn’t.

That girl really is something special.

* * *

That evening, Forest turns on the news and I freeze to see the Ambassador’s face all over it.

“It has been discovered that the British Ambassador has not only been running illegal dog fighting rings, but human hunts with many of his associates. It’s believed that this is how Albert Pennington the Second lost his life, a hunt gone wrong…”

My wide eyes find Forest, who is smirking and looking all too pleased with himself.

“Keep watching, sugar,” Forest tells me, using a finger to turn my head back to the screen. It’s footage of the Ambassador’s house.

“The Ambassador seems to have gone to ground, no one having set sights on him since the scandal of his daughter leaving Albert Pennington the Third jilted at the altar, though our sources tells us that she was being forced to marry the boy, though she, too, has disappeared since that day, supposedly on the arms of her three lovers.”

I turn back to Forest, my heart racing as I stare at him.

“This was you?” I ask, my mind trying to work out what all this means.

“Well, technically, Alfonso and his guys had a hand in it, but yes. We leaked the story to the press and it seems like they’re having a field day with it.” He chuckles.

“And the part about me running away with you guys?” If anything, his smile grows wider and although I want to be cross, I can’t stop my lips from twitching.

“The gossip columns had that last week, it was a sensation, darlin’,” he tells me, pulling me onto his lap while ignoring the injury in his shoulder. “But I would tell the entire world of our love if I could.”

Any ire I have disappears, and I melt into him, our lips meeting just as the apartment door opens, letting in the chill evening air.

“You’ve seen the news?” Lan asks as he strides in, and I pull back from Forest’s lips, the latter pouting at me and squeezing my arse with his hand, the other still in a sling to stop him from pulling the stitches.

“Yes,” I tell him, noting the serious look on his face.

“Good, tonight we finish this,” he tells me, not looking away as my heart thuds painfully in my chest.

“Tonight?” The word is a breath as I try to work out if I still want to cross that line. If I can watch them kill the man who tormented me my whole life.