Aiden POV:
Even unconscious, her body still twitched faintly beneath me, raw and spent. I finally stilled, my chest heaving as I stared down at the wreckage I'd made of her.
Bruised.
Broken.
Beautiful.
I yanked the sheet over her naked form, disgusted with myself, with her, with the whole fucking world. I stormed out of her room, each step heavier than the last, my fists clenched so tightly my knuckles cracked.
Why the fuck did I have to remember? Why now?
I was finally... finally almost happy.
Finally had her looking at me not like a princess at her dog, but like a woman seeing the man in front of her.
And just when I started to believe in the fragile, stupid little thing called peace—
The past came crashing in, tearing the floor out from under me.
Maybe it was a curse. Maybe it was an abomination to love the very monster who had wrecked you once.
Maybe I was the fool.
Because the day I finally whispered that I loved her—
