“Jasmine,” she said, her voice little more than a horrified croak. “Tell me you didn’t get engaged to this guy.”
“No, we’re not engaged,” Han answered. He finally dropped my hand.
But only to hold up his own hand and say, “We’re married.”
I’d never watched K-drama—that was my sister’s thing. But it felt like I’d fallen into one when the crowd released a collective gasp.
To my further horror, Han stepped forward into that shocked reaction to tell them, “But if it were up to her, we wouldn’t be husband and wife. I forced Jasmine to marry me a few months ago. And I’m….”
Han looked away from his rapt audience and held my eyes, “I’m sorry I did that.”
My heart caught at his unexpected apology. But before I could process it, Han turned back to the crowd to tell them, “You see, Jasmine saved me. She risked her own life to save mine. I have never been the recipient of such loyalty. But it wasn’t just her loyalty that made me want to bind her to me. She is clever, fun, beautiful, and a natural teacher—everything she is, everything about her turned me desperate to make her mine officially. So I forced the issue with marriage. But that is no way to begin a union.”
He shook his head. “I should have done it the right way, and that is why I’m here tonight.”
Han walked forward, and I had no idea what he was about to do until he stopped in front of my father at the patio dining table…and dropped to one knee.
This time my voice joined all the murmurs from the crowd.
“Han?” I asked. “Han, what are you doing? Don’t…”
But Han did.
“Sir, I am sorry you’ve never met me before,” he said to my father. “But I am very much in love with your daughter. She is awesome and doesn’t put up with my bullshit. She also fills my life with sunshine and happiness. Will you please do me the honor of giving me her hand in marriage?”
My heart vibrated in my chest like something about to explode.
But my father just looked Han up and down, taking in everything from his tailored suit to his neck tats.
Dad might be sick, but that hadn’t affected his mind. I’m sure he figured out exactly what Han was with his scan.
Nonetheless, he turned to me and asked, “Jazz, is this what you want?”
That would be the question. And everybody at the party, including Han, turned to me for the answer.
33
HAN
Everybody stared at Jasmine, waiting for her answer with bated breath. Including Han.
He knew…knew how much she would hate the position he’d placed her in with his proposal. But he’d had to try.
If there was a chance he could keep her forever, he had to forget about the past, lower his shields and take it, putting everything on the line. Because Jasmine…
She was worth it, and he did not want her or her family to go another day, not knowing how he felt about her.
But at the end of her silence, she started shaking her head.
“No…no…I can’t…” she said, breaking his heart.
She clutched at the neckline of her dress as if she were trying to stave off a panic attack. And this must have truly been love because Han found himself wanting to go to her. He wanted to comfort her and assure her everything would be all right even though she’d turned down his proposal and his confession of love.
He stood up and took a step toward her.
But she held up her hands before he could go to her.
“No,” she growled like an animal cornered. “Don’t. Just don’t—Rashid? Rashid, where are you?”
Her sister’s tech billionaire fiancé rolled forward in his wheelchair. “Yes, Jazz, do you need Faizan to throw him out? You are protected here.”
Faizan stepped forward, looking more than happy to intervene.
But then Jasmine answered her brother-in-law, “No, I don’t want you to throw him out. I want you to pay me four-thousand, three-hundred and seventy-six dollars for my Jeep. I need it in cash. Right now. Can you do that? Can you help me out?”
Han stilled. Jasmine was asking for help. For the first time since he met her. She was asking for help. To get away from him.
Everything shriveled inside of him.
And Rashid Zaman must have realized how out of character that was for her. He immediately answered, “Of course, Jazz, of course. Faizan, go grab the money from the safe.”
Han sensed but could not see Faizan go back into the house to seek out the safe. He would bring back the means for Jasmine to destroy their bond, but Han could only watch his wife as she put the pieces in place to rip them asunder.
As if to confirm his guesses, she turned her gaze back to him. The shock from when he asked her father for her hand in marriage had disappeared from her expression, and a hardened resolve rooted in its place. “I have all the money to pay you back now. I want…I need you to say you’ll give me a divorce and let me go.”
So many calculated answers ran through his head. Han’s surrogate father, Raymond “The Manchu Boy” Zhang, had raised both him and Victor to always have an extra card handy in their back pocket. “Cheating is allowed on the Table of Life, noble even—as long as you win.”
Han could tell her she must fully transfer the money into his account and then arrange to have her access to it blocked. He could claim interest, just as Kuang Jr. had. He could….
All those possibilities suddenly fizzled in his brain like wet fireworks. One word from her demand sprayed them with ocean water before they could make it to the sky.
Need.
She needed this divorce. Needed to be free. And he found himself realizing out loud… “Those weren’t just words I spouted at your father. I truly love you. But if you do not feel the same way about me, then I must let you go. You’re not my possession. You’re a gift I was given by fate for a short, important time. So, yes, I will give you your divorce.”
His words didn’t lighten the resolve in her eyes. Not one bit.
“Prove it,” she demanded. She yanked off her ring, and to Han, it felt like she ripped his heart from his chest with the action. “Take this back.”
So this is what it felt like to give your heart to someone…and have them hand it right back like so much trash.
Hurt, deep and wounding, shattered his chest.
But he took the ring she’d extended. Every bone, every muscle, every nerve ending in his body protested the action as he did it. But he swallowed down the lump of pain that had formed in his throat and closed his fist around the band.
“Thank you,” she said with a happy smile. Her voice was breathless, as if she couldn’t quite believe she’d finally escaped the monster.
“Is it really so terrible being married to me?”
He’d asked her that just a few hours ago. Apparently, it was.
Time to go now. He opened his mouth to bid her goodbye, to leave her behind at this party with his men still stationed outside, so that he could slither off to somewhere dark and lonely to recover from this rejection.
“Now, ask me again.”
Her command made Han blink. It had fallen from Jasmine’s mouth, but he didn’t understand it.
Not until she clarified, “Ask me to marry you again.”
Han blinked several times, unable to understand, unable to believe what was happening.
But in the end, an emotion stronger than him came through. Hope…
Hope pushed him back down on one knee, made his arm strong as he extended the ring and asked his wife, “Jasmine, will you—”
“Yes!” she answered before the question was entirely out of his mouth. “Yes! I’ll marry you!”
She tapped him urgently on his shoulders, and he rose back to his feet just in time to catch her when she threw herself into his arms.
“I love you, too,” she whispered in his ear. “I love you so much! I wish it didn’t take me this long and a really weird public speech from you to realize it.”
He
r words set off a fireworks show in his chest—better than any that were happening in Hawaii that night. And he realized how epically silly it had been to force her to marry him.
He should have realized, should have known…she hadn’t displayed such loyalty simply because she was a good person. She’d done it because just as he loved her, deep down inside, she’d secretly loved him too.
They loved each other, and now that they’d both admitted it, he declared, “I will spend the rest of my life—”
“No! Jasmine, no!” Mika Hayes, the woman who was still alive because Han had met her fierce, loyal, and loving sister before he could complete his mission, came forward. Her face was twisted and enraged. “Jazz! No! This guy is obviously a dangerous criminal! You can’t marry him!”
“Well, I am,” Jasmine answered her sister cheerfully, without taking her eyes off Han. “So either get on board or shut up, sis. Like he said, I’m stupid loyal.”
His heart…
For the first time in his life, he was grateful for the bad things that happened to him in the past. His mother’s abandonment had left him to struggle and hide feelings of powerlessness and unworthiness all of his life. But his relationship with Jasmine—it was the opposite of that, and because of his past, her love and loyalty brought him a joy like nothing he’d ever experienced before.
“I will be loyal to you too, Jasmine.” Han cupped her face in both his hands. “I will protect you until the day I die because I love you….I love you so much, too.”
Han kissed his fiancée, who was already his bride, sealing their new deal with those words.
And a collective aw filled the air, drowning out any further protests her sister might have had.
34
JAZZ
I woke up three days later in what was quickly becoming a familiar situation. Han’s fingers inside my folds, working me in the most delicious ways…and his voice in my ear, giving me all sorts of dirty commands.
“You are my wife in every way now, and you will not leave me. Nod.”
I nodded, oh so happy to submit. And he rewarded me by pressing his tip into the back of my pussy in a way that made me both moan at the added sensation and whimper because I wanted more.
“We will love each other forever. That is no longer up for discussion. Nod.”
I nodded, and he pushed in one long finger, then two, slow and deep. He chuckled low in my ear when he found me sopping wet and already clenching. “Look at how hungry she is, even though I have fed her so often over the last few days.”
“I think you’ve spoiled her,” I confessed, shameless grinding down on his hand. “She’s gotten so greedy.”
I was only half-kidding. I was so turned on by the dual stimulation, I could have come right there.
But as loving of a husband as Han had shown me he could be over the last few days, he was still a cruel bastard in bed.
“Do not come yet,” he warned. “I will feed her my cock, and you will come all over it, calling my name. Nod.”
I nodded though it was so hard to hold back my climax with his fingers doing what they were doing and the hard knob of his cock, pressed into my back entrance.
“Han…” I said, getting panicky and desperate.
“You will beg for this cock, wife. Nod.”
It wasn’t even a moral dilemma for me anymore. As good as his fingers felt. I wanted him inside of me.”
“Han, please,” I gasped out. “I want you. I need you. I love you so much. Please.”
I meant what I said, every word of it. But if I’d been looking for the key to make him give me what I wanted—everything I wanted, the L-word worked every time.
He plunged into me from behind, and I immediately started to spasm around his cock, crying out his name. Not just because he made me promise I would, but also because I was so full of wonder. That I’m married to this man now, that anything could feel so good. And make me come so fast.
So, no Dawn Patrol for me. Han had me nodding all morning. But eventually, we had to stop.
“It’s my dad’s birthday, remember?” I reminded him with a groan after the fifth climax.
He groaned too but dutifully rolled out of bed so that I could run back to the second bedroom to take a shower and get ready. And a little before noon, he drove me to my parents’ house, with Bui following close behind.
After gifting my father with a folding beach walker, Han and I sat down with Mom and Dad at the family table and had our first full conversation. He introduced himself properly to my parents and answered all of their questions as best he could.
One of his answers surprised me. When Dad asked him straight up if he was a criminal, he answered, “That is a complicated label. Just a year ago, the answer to that question would have been yes. But both my partners are engaged to be married. They, like me, would like to live a more secure and legitimate lifestyle, so we are increasing our participation in the legitimate parts of our business and delegating the criminal parts to other triad members. I put your daughter in danger once, and I never want her to suffer again for her loyalty to me.”
Funny, I’d been fighting Han for so long, I never realized what a persuasive talker he could be until I saw him with my parents. As the conversation progressed, they became more and more relaxed until they were practically eating out of his hand.
And my father thought nothing of it when we told him that we, along with Mika and Albie, had reserved a picnic table at Electric Beach Park for a birthday lunch.
On the way over, Dad told Han the story of how for my eleventh November birthday, I asked Dad to take me surfing every day from my birthday to his.
“That girl had me out on the board even on Christmas,” Dad remembered out loud with a cackle. “Letty was so mad about all the sand in the house.”
It was true back then, but Mom laughed now. “Terrance told me sand was a lot cheaper than what most girls her age would’ve asked for.”
Han laughed along with them as he pulled into the beach’s parking lot.
“Anyway, she was better than me by the time my birthday came around, and she was already asking if kids could compete in any of the competitions they have out on the North Shore,” Dad concluded. “And that’s when I realized she needed a real teacher. Luckily, my old buddy Bill was just the guy.”
Han had been laughing before, but he exchanged a look with me at the mention of Bill.
And I took a deep breath, figuring this was as good of a segue into the next subject as any.
I turned around in my seat to tell Dad, “Speaking of Bill, he’s going to be at your birthday lunch too. Along with a few of your other old army buddies who wanted to visit with you.”
In the backseat, all the laughter drained from Dad’s eyes, and they flashed defiantly. “You know I don’t want to see any of them.”
“Yes, I know what you don’t want,” I answered gently. “But Dad, it’s time. It’s time to get what you need. These guys love you like a brother. And it’s not fair to them or you if they don’t get to see you again until your funeral.”
My eyes filled with tears as I finally acknowledged out loud, “Because that’s coming, sooner than any of us imagined. And we don’t want to remember you like this. Cooped up in the house, only coming out for events if you’re sure no one you used to know will be there. You deserve more than that. Your friends and family deserve more than that. So please do this. Do this for us.”
Dad dipped his chin guiltily but shook his head. “Oh, Jazz, I don’t want to upset you, baby, but….”
He trailed off. Probably unable to come up with any good way to finish that sentence.
I understood better than most. “I hate asking for help too, of appearing weak.” I reached around my seat to take his hand. “But I’m finding out love makes me stronger than isolation and bootstrap thinking ever could.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, taking his hand back from me. However, he still didn’t reach for the beach walker he’d placed in the back
seat because he hated when any of his girls tried to help him out of the car—including my mom. “I just…I just can’t.”
“Oh, Dad…” I started to say, realizing that this might have been too much too soon for him.
Dad and I jumped when a knock sounded on the window.
We’d been so engrossed in the moment we hadn’t seen Bill approaching the car, along with Albie.
But when Han immediately rolled down Dad’s window and Dad’s window only, I got the distinct feeling that this moment might have been planned, just like our intervention disguised as a birthday party.
“Grandpa! Grandpa! Come on. Everybody’s waiting for you!” Albie wheedled.
Bill’s argument was a lot less sweet. He simply opened the door with a “C’mon, you stubborn old dog. Don’t keep us waiting any longer than you already have.”
There came a tense moment, and Dad’s brow furrowed with anger.
But then he grabbed his walker and grumbled, “You know I don’t like surprises. Or maggots. Now you’re making me deal with both—stand back so I can get out this car.”
“Do you really think I’m a maggot, Grandpa?” Albie asked as he and Bill stepped back. He sounded all kinds of hurt.
“Naw, Albie, not you. I was talking about the worm you brought with you to the car.”
Dad glared at Bill. “You probably did this because you’re still pissed at me for winning that bet about who would get to ask Letty out after we saw her at the exchange store.”
Bill winked at my mom. “You know it. Two divorces later, I’m still wondering what would have happened if I won that coin toss.”
Dad threw open his walker with a loud clack. Then he rolled over to get in Bill’s face and let him know, “Muscles ain’t all the way wasted yet, man. I can still beat you down like a new recruit.”
Mom just shook her head and said, “Grown men acting like boys, the two of you are. You should be ashamed.”
And just like that, they walked off, threatening each other and laughing as Dad used his new walker to support him on the way to his waiting beach party.
HAN: Her Ruthless Mistake: 50 Loving States, Delaware (Ruthless Triad Book 4) Page 23
