The Accidental Marriage: Chapter 45

The next time I open my eyes, I’m in a white room with blue curtains over the windows. The air has a hint of disinfectant, and the lights above me are harshly fluorescent. An IV bag is hooked into a vein inside my elbow.

I’m also surrounded by Ares and every one of his family: Catalina, Jeremiah, Akiko, Prescott, Bryce, Josh, Huxley and a woman I haven’t met before. They all wear expressions of relief and concern.

Ares squeezes my hand. “Hey.”

“Hi.” It comes out as a croak.

“How are you feeling? Anything uncomfortable?”

I consider. My throat is raw, and my eyes are gritty. My back hurts like hell, like somebody rubbed it raw and poured salt all over it. “I’m alive, which is what matters.”

“How did that asshole get you?” Bryce asks.

“He put a cloth with something over my face, and I passed out. He blamed me for everything and wanted me to pay.” I turn to Ares. “But I don’t think he was planning to contact you for ransom or anything. How did you find me?”

His mouth parts, but nothing comes out. His family all stare at him, then look at each other.

“Perhaps we should give these two some privacy. I’m sure they have quite a lot to discuss,” Catalina announces.

“Thank you, Grandmother,” Ares says sincerely.

“If you need anything, all you have to do is push the call button.” Jeremiah gives me a meaningful look.

I smile at the blatant way she sides with me, to let me know I’m not alone.

They file out, and Bryce, who’s the slowest, probably hoping to catch something, closes the door behind them.

“Well…?” I raise an eyebrow.

Ares shifts, then looks away briefly. “Iputatrackeronyourphone.”

“Uh…what?”

His eyes dart to me before dropping to the lilies and roses in their vases. “I put a”—he clears his throat—“tracker on your phone.”

I stare at him. “That’s a blatant violation of privacy. Furthermore, it isn’t exactly respectful.”

“Nope. Or indifferent.” His chin juts out.

I search his face, but there’s nothing but inscrutable determination. He looks like he’s about to face off with the biggest antagonistic force in his life, except I’m the only one here. “Okay, I just don’t understand. You confuse me, Ares. You tell me you want one thing, but then do the opposite.”

He looks sucker-punched for a moment, then blinks a couple of times. He exhales, rakes his hair and sighs. “I didn’t mean to. Look, I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted a marriage of respectful indifference. Back then, I really believed that’s what I wanted. But being with you made me realize I was wrong. You changed me, Lareina.”

The earnest sincerity in his voice takes my breath away. It’s the sweetest thing anybody’s ever said to me, but I can’t forget him calling for another woman in sleep. “What about Queen?”

Shock cracks his composure, and sudden pain pushes into my heart like shards of glass.

I continue, “You call for her at night.”

His shoulders deflate. He knows he’s caught. Bitterness fills my mouth until I can’t help scrunching my face. Why did he have to embellish so much, trying to make me believe he cares?

The pain is like acid over my skin. I close my eyes briefly to hide the heartache.

“I suppose Soledad told you.”

I nod.

“Yes, there’s a woman I call Queen. I call her that because she never told me her actual name, and she said she preferred being a queen over a princess. Queens are in charge. Princesses aren’t.”

I frown up at him. That’s very similar to what I told Ares while running from the bad guys in Vegas.

“She was my salvation, my only anchor to sanity when my mother kidnapped me. She came by with Wonder Bread and shared her food with me so I wouldn’t have to eat the drug-laden food Mom left so she could manipulate me. You know the burn scar on my arm?”

I nod.

“I got it when she pulled me out of the fire. It started after Mom fed me some nasty stuff and left me alone in the shed. I was drugged and really out of it. If Queen hadn’t been there, I would’ve died.”

I cover my mouth and stare at him. He told me about the kidnapping before, but not the details of his rescue. I just assumed the police had found him or something. But it also makes me realize there’s no way I can overcome the attachment he has for Queen. She’s his savior—or, as he put it, his salvation.

He looks deeply into my eyes as he continues the story. “After the rescue, I looked for her. It wasn’t easy. I not only didn’t know her real name, she’d completely disappeared. The only thing I could tell the people my family and I hired was that she has one blue eye and one green eye, and a burn scar on her back, which she got while saving me. There was an ornamental wolf’s head in the cabin where I was being held, and it fell as Queen and I were making our escape. When she saw the head falling toward me, she pushed me out of the way and let it hit her instead.”

My mind works, and the pieces start to fall into place. My heart begins to hammer. Is he telling me I’m the Queen he’s been looking for? It seems so unbelievable.

“I saw the scar on your back. It’s just like the one she got—the teeth from the wolf bust and the H in the center. For the Huxleys.”

“H? It isn’t an I?”

He snorts. “Who told you that? Haven’t you seen the scar yourself?”

I shake my head. “Not really. Only Doris and a couple of sitters I had saw it clearly. They all told me it was hideous and I should hide it from everyone to avoid disgusting them.”

Fury and revulsion burn in his gaze as he curls his lip in derision. “Well now I’ve seen it, and they lied to you. It isn’t hideous. It’s a physical manifestation of your bravery and character. Even as a small child you couldn’t ignore a person who was suffering. You were willing to risk your life to save someone else. That’s not shameful, it’s admirable.” He rests his forehead on mine. “Queen.”

I let out a soft sigh. The nickname runs over me like a sweet elixir.

“Lareina, I don’t want to get divorced. I want to be in your life, always. Even before I knew you were Queen, I wanted to be with you.”

The revelation both surprises me and warms my heart. Perhaps he subconsciously knew when he saw me in Vegas that I was his Queen. After all, while he was high on Harvey’s drugs, he called me Queen and promised to be my knight.

My heart near bursting with joy and love, I smile. “Ares, I was already going to stay with you until you get promoted, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

He places a finger over my lips. “I don’t want you to stay with me for my career. Not because of some deal we made. I want you to be with me because you want to.” A rueful smile crosses his stunning face. “I lied about the firm making a mistake about my promotion. They didn’t. I told them I didn’t want it—”

“You what?”

“—because I wanted a reason to tie you down. But then while you were lying here in the hospital bed, I realize that that would make me no better than your aunt. You should never be lied to or manipulated for someone else’s gain—not even mine. I want you to choose to be with me. I want you to choose us.” Holding my hand, Ares drops to one knee. “Lareina, my Queen, will you let me stay by your side, love you, cherish you and protect you as long as I live?”

Holding the fathomless blue eyes that shine with infinite love for me, I cradle his beloved face and kiss him. “Yes.”