Billionaire's Captive Complete Trilogy - Stasia Black Page 0,105

reach out to touch her, but stop with my hand hovering in the air. I don’t want to add to her pain.

Then she turns and sees my hand, smiles, and reaches up to clasp it herself. “I did matter to my mother. But I was her donor, you know. She loved me, she did, but our time together was colored by the disease. I never met anyone who cared about me for me...until I met you.”

She looks up at me and I almost back away from her adoring smile. Her trust hits me like a blow.

“Everything’s changing,” she murmurs. “I’m changing. But I didn’t do it fast enough, did I? As soon as I walked back into Belladonna, I turned into the old Daphne. A pushover, pleasing everyone but herself.”

I start to make a noise and she goes on tiptoe to press two fingers to my lips.

“I’m not making excuses,” she says quickly. “Everything that happened, I allowed it. But please, let me say this. I never got to properly say it when you found me that day at Mom’s grave. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

I swallow hard at her apology, not sure how I feel, but she’s not done.

“Adam steamrolled over me and I let him. I was a grown woman but I let him and fear of the board make me a doormat just like I always was for my father my whole life. And that’s my fault.”

She releases me and turns away.

“Anyway, I just wanted to finally say it out loud. I’m sorry I immediately fell back in old patterns. But the old mold doesn’t fit anymore. In a way, it never did. I feel stronger now. I didn’t know the world could be this…big. That my life could be so full of color. I feel like I’m starting to become the woman I was always supposed to be.” Her voice grows stronger as she moves through the greenhouse. I catch up to her at the door. Her head’s tipped back and the moonlight bathes her face. “And that’s all because of you.” The last words come out as a whisper but I hear them all the same.

“Come on,” I wrap my arms around her. I can’t help her words affecting me. She’s saying everything I want to hear. And though there’s a part of me that still clenched in suspicion of her playing me…the rest of me?

The rest of me just wants to hold my Daphne. Hold her close forever and never let her go.

“It’s late. You need sleep for tomorrow.”

“More torture?” she asks lightly.

I want to say no, but I can’t lie. Owning Daphne’s body is the only way to exorcise my demons. And if there’s a chance, even the slightest chance that this could all be real, that there could be a future for us…

“It’s okay,” she whispers, and snuggles against me as I carry her to bed. I tuck her in, careful of her piercings. I fuss as long as I can until there’s nothing left to do. But I can’t bring myself to leave. I slide my hand over the coverlet, smoothing it over and over again, feeling her warmth underneath.

“Lie with me?” she asks sleepily. She’s so beautiful, soft and warm in the bed, inviting and tempting like nothing else. It’s a bad idea, but I can’t refuse. I’m tired of fighting. There’s nothing else I want than to hold her close for hours.

“This isn’t a precedent,” I mutter as I slip in next to her. Her smooth legs tangle with mine and my boner tents the sheet. I grit my teeth, willing it to subside. I really do just want to hold her and I’m not sure I could deal with the intensity of fucking her again right now. If I started, I’m not sure I could stop. “I’m not doing this every night,” I growl churlishly.

She doesn’t acknowledge my warning. “You were the only one who could get me to sleep,” she reminds me, sighing happily and tucking her head under my chin. Her breathing evens out immediately, leaving me wondering if I’m living my nightmare or my best dream.

Twenty

Present Day

Daphne

The sun slants across my face and I stretch. Logan is gone—I didn’t expect he’d stay. That he held me last night so I could fall sleep is enough.

Last night felt…important. Like maybe a breakthrough of some kind? Even if only for me. It was important for me to officially apologize and acknowledge my responsibility for