Chapter 6 6

The Maybach descended into the subterranean garage of an ultra-exclusive residential tower on Central Park West. The concrete walls were lined with armed security personnel who stood at attention as the convoy rolled in.

Elias opened the door. Aspen stepped out, the chill of the underground air biting at her bare shoulders. Deron's wheelchair was deployed from the trunk with mechanical precision. He rolled past her toward a private, biometric elevator.

Aspen followed. The elevator doors slid shut, sealing them in a polished steel box. It shot upward at a dizzying speed, making Aspen's ears pop.

The doors opened directly into the penthouse.

It was a cavernous, split-level space made of cold marble, dark steel, and glass. The entire western wall was a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the sprawling, ink-black expanse of Central Park. There were no warm colors, no personal photographs. It looked less like a home and more like a high-altitude fortress.

Elias and the bodyguards stepped out of the elevator, deposited her luggage in the foyer, and immediately retreated back into the steel box. The doors closed.

They were completely alone.

Deron rolled his wheelchair toward the glass wall. He stopped, his back to her, staring out at the city lights. The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.

"Now that there is no audience," Deron's voice cut through the quiet, sharper and colder than the glass in front of him. "Tell me who you really are."

Aspen's heart skipped a beat. Her fingernails bit into the palms of her hands. She knew this interrogation was coming. She couldn't tell him about the Underworld. She couldn't tell him she had died and come back.

She forced her muscles to relax. She walked slowly across the marble floor, stopping a few feet behind his wheelchair.

"I am exactly who I appear to be," Aspen said, keeping her voice perfectly level. "Aspen Hogan. An adopted orphan who was about to be thrown away. A girl who just wants to survive."

Deron spun his wheelchair around with a sudden, violent jerk. The rubber tires squeaked against the marble. His dark eyes locked onto hers, blazing with a dangerous intelligence.

"A girl who just wants to survive doesn't pick the lock on my hotel suite," Deron sneered, his index finger beginning to tap a rapid, aggressive rhythm on his armrest. "She doesn't orchestrate a flawless public execution of her own family. And she certainly doesn't sit in my car with fifteen million dollars in her pocket without a drop of sweat on her brow."

He leaned forward, his massive frame radiating intimidation. "You used me to destroy the Hogans. You used me to get your money. What's the next step in your little operation? Use me to secure your status as Mrs. Fitzpatrick, and then what?"

Aspen didn't back down. She didn't flinch. She stepped closer, closing the gap between them.

"Yes," Aspen said, her voice dropping to a fierce whisper. "I used you."

Deron's tapping finger stopped. He hadn't expected the blunt confession.

"I used you because you are the only man in New York with the power to crush Vance Hogan, and the only man in your family ruthless enough to actually do it," Aspen continued, her eyes burning into his. "I had no other choice."

She took another step, her shins brushing against the metal footrests of his wheelchair.

"We are the same, Deron," Aspen said, her voice softening, lacing her words with a calculated empathy. "We are both trapped in cages built by other people. They look at you and see a broken cripple. They look at me and see a disposable pawn. I just needed a weapon. And you are the sharpest weapon I could find."

Deron stared at her. The anger in his eyes flickered, replaced by something darker, something heavier.

"Our deal is fair," Aspen added, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "You get a wife to satisfy your family. You get a shield. And I get my freedom."

Deron was silent for a long moment. His gaze dropped to her lips, then back up to her eyes.

Suddenly, his large hands shot out. He grabbed her by the hips with a grip like a steel vise.

Aspen gasped as he yanked her forward. She lost her balance and crashed down onto his lap.

Her breath hitched in her throat. Her body went completely rigid. She was sitting on his thighs, and the sheer heat and solid mass beneath her were overwhelming. It wasn't the feeling of atrophied limbs, but of something dense and unyielding, like coiled steel. The power radiating from him was a physical force, pinning her in place more effectively than any grip.

Deron's arm wrapped around her waist, crushing her against his chest. His face was inches from hers. She could feel the heat of his breath on her skin.

"You're right. It is a transaction," Deron growled, his voice a rough vibration against her collarbone. "But you seem to have forgotten that the price of my protection is more than just a signature on a marriage license."

Before Aspen could form a reply, Deron's hand tangled in her hair, pulling her head back, and he crashed his mouth down onto hers.

It wasn't a kiss of partnership. It was absolute domination. He devoured her mouth, his tongue sweeping past her teeth, tasting of dark liquor and raw, unfiltered power.

Aspen's mind spun. The sheer physical force of him was overwhelming. But the survival instincts from her past life flared. She refused to be passive. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck, her fingers digging into his hair, and kissed him back with equal ferocity.

She bit his lower lip, tasting a drop of copper. Deron groaned, a deep, guttural sound, and his grip on her waist tightened painfully.

The air in the penthouse grew scorching hot. The tension between them was a lit fuse, burning rapidly toward an explosion.

BZZZZT.

A harsh, electronic buzz from the wall intercom shattered the silence, echoing violently through the massive room.

Deron froze. He tore his mouth away from hers, his chest heaving. His eyes were dilated, pitch black with interrupted desire.

Aspen sat frozen on his lap, her lips swollen, her lungs burning for oxygen.

The intercom buzzed a second time, demanding an answer.