The Devil's Web | Sequel

My Adelaine

Kingston Pov

It didn't go as planned, but I couldn't care less, I'm just happy about being so close to her, touching her and inhaling her scent after eight years of keeping my distance. I thought I was about to go insane without her,hell,I did go crazy, watching her suffer all on her own and not being able to do anything about it was killing me, seeing all the times she would sit on the porch and cry her eyes out, silently begging God to set me back on Earth, little did she know, I was always here watching.

Hurting her to the point of several hospitalizations was never something I wanted, I was willing to handle the threats I was receiving in any way but disappearance, my original plan was to go on a hunt spree, to find the pathetic piece of trash that was toying with my life, but it's hard to hunt when you don't know what you're supposed to be catching.

The day of our wedding,was the day I started received anonymous threats, notes that were filled with disgusting, graphic details on how Adelaine and my kids would be tortured if, whoever that was writing those things would get close to them. It didn't scare me when it first started,I laughed it off every single time,I thought to myself who's brave enough to mess with a Russo and think they can get away with it?

I laughed too soon, after the fifth note about raping Adelaine I sent my men to find the person behind all those threats, and nobody found anything, every end was a dead one, every hint we were given was fake and misleading, it started to piss me off and stress me out at the same time,I felt like being near my family would make them bigger targets since the person clearly wanted to hurt me by hurting everyone I loved,I wasn't going to let that happen.

I know she would have never allowed me to leave on my own,she would insist on coming with me and leaving the kids with my parents, then I would have two things to worry about. Running far away, moving, or even staying in a hotel for a few days then wasn't an option,not when someone was out there just waiting for me to make one wrong move,so I picked my least favourite option, suggested by Nasius himself, yeah,he knew.

My father knew as well, him and Nasius thought this was going to be easy, I fake my disappearance,lure the creep in, deal with him and get back to Adelaine and the kids, nobody thought it would take me years to hunt one man down, only because my main source of energy and strength was far from my reach, not anymore, now she's right here.

She'll be mad when I tell her the whole story, she won't understand how dangerous it is for me to be around her and walk around freely, and I'm sure as hell she won't understand that I had to leave to protect those I loved, not when my way of protecting has caused them nothing but pain.

But I hope she's still as big-hearted as she was when I left, I hope she's still that understanding woman that handles conflict with calmness in her voice and gentleness in her words. I missed her calmness and her patience, it was stronger than anyone elses, I missed her.

And now, she's standing here, eyes red and tired,hair soft and silky falling down her shoulders, almost reaching her lower stomach, pale skin with little beauty marks on her face that remind me of stars on the night sky, I know she's strangely insecure about them,I don't see why, they always looked beautiful,made her even more attractive in my eyes.

Just look at my woman.

"Well? I want to know everything,why are you alive? How are you alive? Hurry up."She speaks,her tone demanding,even then she sounds gentle and polite.

I let out a shallow breath before smiling"I was about to,Adelaine, but your face is so damn captivating, I missed it, give me a minute to take all this beauty in."

Her eyes widen a bit,she blinks, trying to hide the surprise in them.

"You need to stop acting this way, you just made an appearance after being for for eight years...eight, and the only thing you've been talking about is me and my face."

"Being away from you was like a form of torture, I barely kept it together–"

"Kingston, you're stalling again."She reminds me and raises her eyebrows, impatiently bitting her lower lip.

I close my eyes and begin.

"I was threatened by someone, still have no idea who but I'm going to find out now that I have the energy to, when my father and Nasius forced me to go ghost I was miserable and spent my days in Italy, depressing and thinking about how sad you must be, I spent that whole year grieving and missing you until I realized I'm wasting time. I came back here a year ago, the story about what happened in between is...not something I want to talk about yet."

I open my eyes and meet hers, she's staring back with shock on her face.

"What?! Threatened? You were threatened? In danger? But how is that possible–"

"We don't know yet, after I disappeared the threats stopped,but I was followed a couple times, shot two times, once on the shoulder and once on the abdomen, it took me awhile to recover, if I stayed here with you those bullets would have been for you, that's something I wasn't going to let that happen."

Her mouth drops open and she looks at my shoulders, then my stomach,tears sliding down her cheeks slowly.

"I don't know what to say,you were hurt and I wasn't there to help, I'm sorry."Her words hit me like an arrow and I furrow my brows.

"You're apologizing? Why are you the one apologizing when this is all my fault? You thought I was d-"She puts her hand on my mouth, shaking her head.

"I don't like that word, don't say it,show me your gun wounds."

I kiss the inside of her hand and take it in mine, squeezing it lightly"I'll show you but not here, being here with you is still a big risk, and I haven't really been careful lately,can we go inside?"

She turns around and peeks through the window, hesitation visible on her face.

"The kids."

I smile,the kids. They grew up right in front of my eyes, but without me, I don't know how I'll explain this to them, I don't know how I'm going to stand in front of them and call myself their dad when there's no difference between me and a total stranger they would pass on the street.

Adelaine notices me thinking deeply and gives my hand a squeeze"They will understand...somehow, but before I tell them I want to know everything myself, we'll sneak into the kitchen and talk there, I'm assuming you know my friend and Nasius are there."

I nod and she nods back, I can see she's hurt that Nasius and her friend knew about my plan and everything that happened to me, she's hiding it now because it's not as important as finding out the truth is, knowing her she's going to freak out tomorrow morning when all this settles in.

"Let's go to the kitchen then."

She pulls her hand away and opens the door quietly, looking left and right to make sure coast is clear.

"Okay, the kitchen is right there, hurry up."I walk in, chuckling"Adelaine,I know where the kitchen is, I've been looking at you for years,I even know what panties you have on right now."Her eyes widen and she crosses her arms defensively.

"You didn't have anything better to do than watch me change?"I shake my head.

"No."

I wink and walk towards the kitchen,my smile widening when I see two familiar faces sitting behind the counter, drowning in their sorrows.

"Hello, what's with the long faces?"They look up at me and roll their eyes.

"What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you show up here? You spent years hiding and getting everyone to believe you were gone and now you threw it all in the water?"

"I couldn't stay hidden anymore, I missed her, besides, hiding got me nowhere, we have no idea who that psycho is."He laughs sarcastically and crosses his arms, leaning back.

"You have no idea who that psycho is because you're been shot twice by him, and on top of that,he put you into jail for four years."

"WHAT?"