“Sure you do,” muttered Julius. “You’ve spent almost every night in her city apartment till the early hours of the morning.” He looked to Asya. “What? You didn’t know your husband was fucking The Dragon Queen?” When Asya’s already pale face turned porcelain and she looked to her husband in question, Julius tossed her his phone. “Got some nice photos there for ya, princess.” He turned back to Aslan. “Oh, I’m sorry. Was that ‘need to know’ bullshit?”
Asya scrolled through the photos and her panting increased. When the phone fell from her hands to the hardwood floor with a bang, she sounded as if she were choking, and when she lifted her trembling hands to her mouth, shaking her head softly, she settled her teary eyes on her husband, now knowing the level of his betrayal.
Aslan swallowed hard. “It’s not what it looks like,” he told her, but it sounded weak to everyone in the room.
“I’m gonna tell you this once, Sadik,” I said before I offered my advice. “There is something wrong with that woman. Ling is a plague on this world. She will ruin your life in every way possible, and when you don’t give her what she wants—” I looked to Asya but spoke to her husband. “—she’ll start fucking with the things you love.” I faced him and watched his face fall. “It’s not her fault; she just doesn’t know any better.” I warned him, “You can’t fix her. What’s broken inside of her, it can’t be repaired.”
Aslan looked to his wife, wearing a sadness I’d never seen the normally confident man wear. “It wasn’t planned,” he told her, his rough voice wavering. “I’m so sorry, sultan?m.”
I could see it was starting to sink in, but I needed them to know what my position was on the fucking Turk’s relationship with The Dragon Queen.
Turning to the woman beside me, I held out my hand, and she reluctantly placed her shaking fingers into my expended palm. I spoke to her directly; fuck her husband. “I have a confession to make. I didn’t come here to hurt you, but—” As she blinked, her lashes dampened. “—I can see that’s what I’ve done here, so, I’m sorry.” I patted her cold hand and licked my lips. “Your husband has a choice to make, and I hope he makes the right one, because—” I peered into her eyes needing her to see just how serious I was. “—if I come back here and you catch me again,” I uttered somberly, “I’mma be the last thing you ever see, princess.”
She took in a shaking breath before she nodded in understanding.
I placed her hand onto her knee, covering it with my own as I focused on the broken man across the room. “What you need to understand, Aslan, is that Ling might be crazy, but...” I released his wife’s hand and stood, walking over to him, and when I spoke again, my tone was black. “But I taught her everything she knows.” I stepped in close, and muttered quietly, “You want crazy, bruh?” My hooded gaze lowered on him as my lip curled. “Fuck with my family, and I’ll show you Ling’s crazy has got nothin’ on mine.”
I looked him up and down, then whispered, “You made vows to that woman, you piece of shit. That mean nothing to you?” I watched his face crumble. “She’s sick.” The first of his tears fell. “She needs her husband, and you leave her alone to go screw a diagnosed psychopath?” He closed his eyes, and I muttered, “What’s the matter with you? Get your shit together and be the fucking man your wife needs while you still got the time.”
When he trembled with the extent of the emotion he tried to keep inside him, gun in hand, I twisted back, and asked, “Yo, Asya? You want me to off this punk for you?”
“No!” she cried, her body shaking with the force of her sobs. “No, please. Please don’t.” She reached for the man who didn’t deserve her, and wept quietly, “Please. I love him.”
Aslan cried openly then, and I saw nothing but shame in his eyes.
Good. I was done here.
I lifted my hand and poked him in the chest. “You’ve been touched by an angel.”
And with that, we left, leaving a trail of bloody broken hearts between us.
***
Aslan The Fucking Turk
We sat in silence for what seemed like hours before she spoke.
“Her?”
The level of betrayal in her voice cut me hard. But Asya deserved the truth, so I would give that to her, even though my voice shook. “Yes.”
With that single word, my wife was destroyed. I watched from across the room as she wept in complete silence, and in that moment, I felt completely unworthy of the princess turning her wheelchair away from me to cry in privacy.
Tonight, my world fell apart, and I had nobody to blame but myself.
I wanted to beat something senseless. I wanted to be alone. I needed to get away, but I couldn’t leave her.
She sniffled then took in a deep breath, attempting to steady the wavering of her voice, and what she said slayed me. “I didn’t mean to get sick on you, Az.” She spun her chair around to face me. “I know we said forever, but—” Her lips trembled. “—forever is coming sooner for us than we hoped, and—” Another set of tears fell. “—I’m so sorry for that. I’m sorry our forever was only temporary.” Her quiet sob was my undoing. “I never meant for this to happen, hayat?m.”
It didn’t hit me until she said it that I might have felt betrayed by her getting ill.
I was a bad man, yes. But I’d never been a bad husband. Until now.
And knowing that broke me.
Without a moment’s hesitance, I went to my Turkish princess and knelt in front of her. The action alone spoke volumes. To be submissive was not in my nature, but I would surrender to her, time and time again, because she was worthy.
My voice rough, I uttered, “I’ve disappointed you, kar?m.”
She looked at me with a deep sadness. “As I’ve disappointed you.”
I was a demon.
Who was I to make such a pure soul feel a disappointment when she did nothing but shine through the darkness that consumed me?
I was indeed a fiend. A villain.
When she reached out for me, I met her halfway, taking her delicate hand in mine. Those pretty doe eyes I’d always adored held mine, as she whispered, “Seni seviyorum.”
I love you.
The words choked the life out of me, and, lowering my head to her knee, I held her hand tightly like I was afraid she’d leave me and cried like a child.
I loved my wife. I loved her so much more than I loved myself. I loved her more than anything, even the woman with an ice-cold heart and cherry-red lips. And Twitch was right.
Ling wasn’t worth it, no matter what I felt for her.
My family came first.
I was stupid to have started what I had. I needed to end it.
Tomorrow, I would cease my affair.
Chapter
TwentySix
Lexi He crept into bed sometime before dawn, and when he shuffled closer and gently stroked my hair, I spoke into the darkness. “How’d it go?”
But, for the moment, he ignored me. “C’mere.”
I went willingly, needing to hear his heart beating, and when I laid my head on his chest and listened to the steady drumming of his heart, I relaxed into him, running a hand up and down his side with my eyes closed. “So?”
He hesitated a second before he spoke low. “Lost her only ally.” Good. His arms tightened around me. “Breakin’ down the stronghold, piece by piece.” Then he said through a yawn, “I don’t give a fuck how long it takes. You want her gone, baby—” His voice turned drowsy. “—she’s gone.”
It was a promise. He made a vow. Everything inside me told me he would keep us safe.
And like the idiot I was, I chose to believe that.
***
Molly The text I received made my phone feel heavier than it should have.
I had just put the little monster to bed and knew I would have to respond, one way or another.
My heart raced.
Either way, I was screwed.
If I said yes, I was back in with the person whose family destroyed me.
If I said no, he was lost to me forever.
I held the phone in my hand as I walked the hall, finding him sitting on the floor in front of Lexi as she lay down on the sofa on her stomach, watching the TV and adorably running her fingers lightly through his hair. Twitch closed his eyes, loving her attentions, and they both looked tired. I hated to interrupt, but this was important.