Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(78)

Usually the man treated the bed like it was a hot potato he couldn’t wait to get away from fast enough after they were finished. So what gave?

Marcus slid his hand around her waist. It crept upwards until he was cupping one of her boobs. He slung a leg over hers, all but pinning her to the bed.

Did he think she’d go wandering off throughout his grand Estate and find some family secret?

But as his breathing quickly eased behind her and he began to gently snore she was hit by an even more stunning thought: he’d really meant the cease-fire. The truce.

This was what life could be like with Marcus, as his wife.

Everything she’d said this evening to him over dinner… A big part of her never thought anything like that was possible with Marcus Ubeli. She thought she’d make her big speech and he’d keep on being his normal asshole self and at least she wouldn’t feel as bad about running when the time came.

But now?

She sank her head into the pillow beside Marcus, while his arms wrapped around her, making her feel more safe, beloved, and cherished than she ever had in her life.

And what, exactly, was she supposed to do with that?





Twenty-Four





Cora was exquisite in the red velvet dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. Marcus stopped in her doorway and watched as she put on her earrings. She was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her. She smoothed down the skirt of the dress, eyeing herself in the mirror and touching her earrings, double checking they were fastened correctly.

From the slight crinkle in her brow, Marcus could tell that she wasn’t seeing what he was seeing. At first he thought it was an affectation—her pretending not to know the effect of her beauty. But he’d slowly realized she genuinely didn’t see it. She considered herself plain. Ordinary. Her mom had really done a number on her. She didn’t know how special she truly was.

Marcus wasn’t sure if he looked forward to the day she finally realized it or not. With enough time, would she be spoiled and corrupted like everything else in this city?

No, the answer came to him almost as swiftly as the question had.

Cora wasn’t like anyone else he’d ever known. She wasn’t afraid of him and she didn’t want anything from him, apart from the obvious, to be rid of him. He couldn’t help the smile quirking his lips at the thought.

And now?

Now that he’d felt her soften and go pliant underneath his touch, even knowing all she did about him? Could he ever let her go?

Again the answer came swiftly.

Never.

He cleared his throat and Cora jolted, spinning around to look his way.

“The driver is waiting with the car.”

Cora nodded. “Of course. Let me get my shawl.”

Marcus had it over his forearm and he held it out to her. It was a luxurious mink shawl and he draped it around her shoulders.

He wrapped it around her and captured her arms with it, pulling her back against his chest and dropping his nose to the back of her neck. Her hair was done up, exposing the area.

He inhaled deeply and dropped a kiss right behind her ear. “You look exquisite tonight,” he breathed.

“T-thank you,” she stuttered.

Marcus smiled against the back of her neck, held her captive another moment, and finally let her go.

“Come,” he said, finally pulling back. “We don’t want to miss the opening act.”

She nodded but Marcus didn’t miss the way her breath hitched.

She turned and he took her arm, guiding her out of the penthouse and to where the driver was waiting outside the lobby with the Bentley.

Neither of them said a word until Marcus had her tucked safely in the back of the car.

When Marcus spoke, Cora looked over at him in surprise. “Cora, I want you to know…” He was usually quiet in the car. It was one of the few places where all the noise and people wanting his time and attention stopped.

But right now, he was more interested in Cora. He wanted to make her understand.

“I wasn’t always like this.”

Cora’s eyebrows knit together and she didn’t say anything but he definitely had her attention.

“Growing up, my father always wanted the best for his family. He would’ve done anything for my mother and us kids. But he was an immigrant and powerless to stand up to the Titan family. They used to run the streets.”

Now he definitely had Cora’s attention.

“The so-called ‘protection tax’ the Titans asked for ate up almost all my father’s income. Everyone else’s too. So my father decided to do something. He hadn’t come to this land only to be poor and starving like in the old country.”

Cora hadn’t taken her eyes off him.

“And Gino Ubeli was a natural leader. He built the outfit up from nothing and within five years, he was challenging the Titans for territory. It was all out war. The Titans had held a monopoly over New Olympus for decades by that point, but their supremacy had made them lax in enforcement.”

“It was Karl, Ian, and Alexander’s father who had created the Titan Empire, they were just the heirs. They’d never fought for territory before and they were laughably bad at holding onto it.”

Cora swallowed hard but she didn’t avert her gaze, not even when he said her father’s name. Karl.