Virtue & Vengeance (Empire Sevens #2) Read online

  Shocked, I turned my attention back to Zander.

  “Are you okay, angel?” he asked.

  But I wasn’t so sure I was.

  My body began to tremble. So hard in fact that my teeth clinked together in a loud chattering noise.

  “Eden?” Zander’s brows pulled down in worry as he knelt down beside me and cupped my cheek with his large hand. “Look at me, Angel.”

  I listened, looking up into his eyes.

  “You’re okay, baby.”

  I nodded, still unable to put together what had just occurred.

  Again, I looked around the room, my eyes landing on two dead bodies before bouncing over to Jerome who stood silently in the corner. Finally, I looked up into Zander’s eyes once again. It was then the relief slowly flooded in.

  I wasn’t going to die.

  At least not yet.

  And Zander was there.

  How was Zander there?

  “You’re here,” I croaked, my voice sounding broken and harsh.

  He nodded. “I’m here.”

  “You followed me,” I said.

  I wasn’t accusing him.

  I’d never been so thankful to be followed in all my life.

  “I did.”

  Then I remembered there was a higher up than Winston and Rodger. A man they referred to as Monty who was waiting for his money and who had, had no problem having his men kill me and threaten the life of the people I loved.

  If Monty had Winston and Rodger working for him, I was sure there were others who would be more than willing to jump on the job of taking me out and retrieving his money.

  Fight or flight kicked in, and I began to move.

  “Where are you going?” Zander asked when I climbed to my feet.

  “I have to get out of here. There’s a man named Monty. He wants his money. If those guys don’t take it to him, he’ll come for me. He’ll kill me and everyone I love. I know he will.”

  Quickly, Zander moved to me and pulled me into his arms. I felt safe there. Zander had saved my life, but I couldn’t help but feel like he had done so more for Kennedy than any other reason.

  He didn’t love me.

  He had made that more than clear to me, but that didn’t mean I was going to stick around and put him in danger.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, his voice thick and stern.

  I shook my head, emotion heavy in my throat. “I have to. If I don’t, he’ll come. Zander, he’s dangerous.”

  Grabbing my face in his hands, he ran his thumbs across my cheekbones. “Look at me, Eden.”

  I looked up, my eyes getting caught in his.

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve killed, and if this man you speak of comes around here, it definitely won’t be the last. I promise you; I’m more dangerous. And if anyone even thinks about touching the woman I love, I’ll rip their heart out.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  Surely I was hearing things.

  “Excuse me?”

  The side of his mouth tilted into a grin.

  “You heard me. I said I love you, Eden Vaughn. You’re mine from this moment on, and no one fucks with what belongs to me.”

  Then he moved in and kissed me, scattering the last of my fears and soothing the aches in my body from the beatings I’d taken over the previous few days.

  I lost myself in his kiss, taking in the moment and capturing it in a new happy memory.

  Zander Hale said he loved me, and I knew him well enough to know he would never say something he didn’t mean.

  Pulling away from me, his eyes remained on mine as he said, “Jerome.”

  Jerome stepped forward, his wide shoulders blocking out the light from the window behind him. His eyes didn’t move to me at all. Instead, his full attention was on Zander.

  “Get this cleaned up. I’m taking my girl home.”

  Then he smiled down at me, his face transforming into an expression I’d never seen on him before.

  He looked satisfied.

  He looked relaxed.

  He looked happy.

  “Yes, sir, I’ll have it taken care of.”

  Then Zander took my hand, slipped it into his rough palm, and walked me out of the hotel room and into a new life I never imagined for myself.

  There would be no more running.

  There would be no more worrying.

  There was only him, and he loved me.

  EPILOGUE

  “WHAT’S THIS?” Zander asked when I dropped the newspaper articles I’d printed out at the library on top of his desk.

  “Read them,” I said, sitting across from him.

  He eyed me suspiciously before picking up the papers and starting on the first one.

  His expression shifted, letting me know the precise moment he realized what was he was reading. He peered over the article at me, the tension traveling through his body and pouring off of him in waves.

  “Where did you find these?” he asked, glancing at the second and third paper.

  “In the library. I spent some time searching through the database and found an article. From there I knew what to search to find the rest of the articles.”

  His brow furrowed as he read the rest of the piece, flipping from the second to third paper before he finally put them down.

  I waited while he took a minute to himself so he could gather his thoughts.

  “It was suicide?” he asked, looking up at me.

  A tiny hint of hope and relief filled his eyes.

  “It was suicide, Zander. You didn’t kill anyone that night.”

  And it was the truth.

  Weeks after everything that happened with Allen, Zander had opened up to me about his addiction to sex and the night he had woke up next to a dead woman covered in blood.

  He had been torturing himself ever since, thinking he had been the one to kill her. He assumed his addiction had pushed him to do the unthinkable.

  That wasn’t the case.

  According to the news articles I’d dug up, the woman in question, who I found out was named Lacey Mills, had suffered from depression. She had her own addiction to alcohol and pills.

  Since Zander had left the woman, calling the police anonymously once he was a few blocks away, there was no mention of him in the articles.

  But apparently, Lacey’s blood alcohol level had been way over the limit. Not only that, the medical examiner had found countless amounts of narcotics in her system.

  They concluded that Lacey Mills had spent the night drinking and taking drugs before finally slitting her wrists and taking her own life.

  “She must have woke up after you passed out and did it,” I said, with a grim smile.

  I was happy that Zander was being freed from his burden, but I was still sad that a woman had felt there was no other way out but death.

  Zander stared into space as if he were remembering that night. Then he said, “When I woke up, there was so much blood. I panicked. I shouldn’t have ran, but I did. I’d never been so scared in my life. I should’ve checked her. Maybe if I’d stuck around to…”

  I went around his desk, and sat in his lap, palming his cheek and pulling his face toward me.

  “You found yourself in an impossible situation, Zander. You’re human.”

  He buried his face into my chest, holding me tightly against him. I held him for a few minutes before he pulled back and looked up at me.

  “You have no idea how relieved I am. I mean, I feel bad that she took her own life. I had no idea there was something wrong with her, but you don’t know how happy I am to find out I’m not a cold-blooded murderer.”

  I ran my hand down his back, feeling his hard muscles release their tension beneath my touch.

  “You’re a good man, Zander. You’re not perfect by any means, but I didn’t fall in love with you because I expected you to be.”

  He looked into my eyes, capturing me in the moment. The rough pads of his fingertips moved over my bottom lip.


  “I was an asshole before I met you. You made me a good man, angel.”

  I lowered my head until my lips were on his, and with a firm thrust of his tongue, the kiss became something completely different.

  His hands cupped my ass, and he picked me up, setting me on the top of his desk.

  Thirty minutes later, we were both panting hard as he helped me fix my clothes.

  I slipped off his desk, smoothing my hair and trying to even my breathing. He stood, pulling up his pants and putting himself back together.

  “Dinner tonight?” I asked.

  “Depends. Are you staying over tonight?”

  My eyes narrowed at him. “Are you saying you’ll only have dinner with me if I spend the night?”

  “I’m saying; I still think you should rethink my question.”

  I sighed.

  He acted like his question had a simple answer.

  It didn’t.

  Two months after my kidnapping, Zander had asked me to marry him. It had caught me off guard, and at first, I thought he was joking.

  He wasn’t, but still, I said no.

  There was no way I was going to agree to marry him only weeks after everything happened. Not while the memories of almost being killed were so fresh, and not while Zander was wrapped up in his sins.

  When I finally agreed to spend the rest of my life with him, I wanted to know I was his and only his. I wanted us to both be healed inside and ready to take that leap.

  We needed to be sure.

  Since then, Zander had asked nearly every day, but still, my answer remained the same.

  No.

  So, I continued living with Aunt Kennedy, who was still adjusting to the idea of Zander and me. She wasn’t too pleased when I called to tell her about what happened with Allen and the entire dramatic kidnapping.

  It was even worse when she rushed home to find Zander and me in bed together. We were only sleeping, but the sight of her boss snuggled up with her niece had been quite a shock.

  Later that night, when I confessed that I was in love with Zander and I knew that he was in love with me, she gave me her blessing. I’d never been more than relieved and couldn’t hold back the happy tears when they rushed from my eyes.

  These days, she was spending much of her time in Mesa with my mom. After thirty days in rehab, Aunt Kennedy moved her into the better part of town and was helping her while she got back on her feet.

  I was planning a trip to see them in the upcoming weeks.

  Kade had also returned from New York, but unfortunately, his reasons for returning had less to do with my drama and more to do with his sick father.

  He had received a call only hours after Kennedy left New York and was told his father had fallen ill and things weren’t looking good.

  Kade and his family had a falling out because they disagreed on how he lived his life. A wealthy family like his wasn’t too happy to have a casino owner on their family tree. They were also worried about how Kade would spend the millions he would inherit once his father passed away.

  It was a big mess.

  Then again, it usually was when money was involved.

  Two days after Kade got the call, his father died. Thankfully, he made peace with his dad before he passed.

  I hadn’t seen Kade since then, but I made sure Zander passed on my condolences.

  Zander cleared his throat, and I blinked myself out of my thoughts.

  “So what will it be? Will you stay the night tonight, angel?”

  I grinned, enjoying the way he was looking at me like he was ready to devour me once more.

  “I don’t know. Let’s see if you can be extra sweet tonight.”

  “I think I can do that,” he said, pulling me into his arms and kissing the side of my neck.

  I was wrong earlier.

  Zander was damn near perfect.

  At least to me he was.

  After leaving Zander’s office, I didn’t take the elevator down. Instead, I pushed in the code to his suite.

  Inside his suite, I found myself standing in front of his safe. I almost felt as bad sneaking into it now as I did all those months ago. But I told myself this time was different.

  I typed in the code and waited for the door to pop open before peeking inside. I frowned when I didn’t see the small velvet box sitting in the front.

  I knew Zander stored the engagement ring he bought for me inside the safe. Every now and again, I would take a look at it. I liked to remind myself that I was doing the right thing by refusing it. Until Zander was ready to commit, we needed to wait.

  But now, as I looked at the empty space where the ring box used to sit, I was terrified that maybe I’d said no too many times. Perhaps the fact that the box was gone meant he was no longer going to be asking.

  I closed the safe and stomped down the sadness that reared its ugly head.

  I wasn’t going to cry.

  Things would happen for us all in good time.

  As I drove back to the condo, I tried to pretend I wasn’t devastated that the ring was gone. It was my day off from Empire, and I didn’t want to spend it depressed.

  Not that I didn’t love my job.

  I did.

  In fact, Zander had almost refused to let me continue to work at Empire Sevens, but after several arguments he caved, letting me have my way like usual.

  I took the rest of the afternoon to get ready and think about my options. I knew it was probably too late to expect Zander to propose, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ask him to marry me.

  He knew why I said no all those times. He understood my reasons and knew that even though I refused to marry him until we were ready, I still wanted him in my life.

  I made up my mind as I curled my hair in the bathroom, that tonight during dinner I would ask him to spend the rest of his life with me. I made sure to dress special for the occasion, curling my hair just so and applying the perfect amount of make-up.

  I wanted to look perfect.

  So I took my time for him.

  When I left the condo around seven, I headed straight for Empire Sevens. And when I entered Zander’s penthouse, I paused in the entryway.

  Candles lit the space around me, and pink rose petals lined the walkway leading into the living room. I followed them, my heels clicking against the marble flooring.

  “Zander?” I called out.

  Then my breath caught when I entered the main room.

  More candles and bouquets of pink roses filled every available surface. I’d never seen anything like it before in my life.

  The world outside the window bustled, everyone rushing and moving at the speed of their own lives, but inside this place … our place… everything slowed for me as I took in the gorgeous space surrounding me.

  I swiped at a tear when slipped from my eye and began to roll down my cheek.

  That’s when I saw him.

  Zander.

  He stood across the room from me, his arms tucked behind his back and a sweet grin on his face.

  “You did all this?” I asked, my arm sweeping wide as I motioned to the room around us.

  “You told me I had to be sweet.”

  I chuckled, feeling my heart swell with love.

  “I did, but this…” I lost my words as more happy tears clogged my throat.

  “Is nothing less than you deserve,” he said as he moved across the room and toward me.

  Taking my hand, he pulled me further into the room. Hundreds of rose petals were laid out in the center, forming a perfect circle. Zander pulled me into that circle before kneeling in front of me and placing a soft kiss on my hand.

  “Zander,” I whispered, feeling my heart skip a beat.

  “I’m going to ask you again,” he said. “And if you say no, I’m going to continue to ask you every day for the rest of your life.”

  He pulled out the small velvet box, and I frowned.

  “Where did you…”

  He grinned knowingly up at me. “Was this wh
at you were looking for earlier?”

  “How did you know?”

  “Come on now, angel. You didn’t think I wasn’t going to take security measures after you broke into my safe once already,” he chided.

  Then his face cleared and his emerald eyes captured me.

  The ring box cracked when he popped it open and my eyes settled on the gorgeous five-carat ring he had been hoarding.

  “Eden Vaughn, will you marry me?”

  I swallowed, losing my voice for a few seconds before I was finally able to answer.

  “Yes,” I whispered. “I would love nothing more than to marry you.”

  I was crying by the time he stood and took me into his arms. And when he slipped the ring on my finger, I swore to myself that I would never take it off again.

  “I’d thought you’d given up on me,” I said, swiping at my tears. “When I didn’t see the box inside the safe, I thought you changed your mind. I thought I’d lost you.”

  He laughed, settling his soft lips against my cheek before he softly whispered, “Never, Eden. I’m yours forever.”

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