River O'riley

Frankie sets her oversized stuffed monkey down to lean over the boardwalk railing, watching the waves lapping at the piers down below.. Her pretty bubblegum hair floats in the warm afternoon breeze and her pale-pink dress catches splinters as she climbs up onto the first rung in her bright white sneakers..

"Don't ye' fall in, Frankie!" I chuckle, leaning against the post beside her, devouring her beauty and day dreaming of all the ways I could devote myself to her..

"Don't throw me in to see if I float!" She pokes out her tongue mockingly, a cheeky smirk on her soft, kissable lips..

I grin, holding my hand to my heart to swear the god's honest truth.. "Never!"

"If I did fall, would you come after me?" She turns those curious big brown eyes my way and my heart catches fire..

Fuck..

Every fibre of my being fires up, every nerve burns and every muscle aches for her..

Each passing second it becomes increasingly impossible to ignore the truth..

The way I feel about Frankie is dangerous.. It's stupid and suicidal.. But I can't help it.. I can't control it..

She owns me.. Body, mind and soul.. Im am utterly possessed by her every command, her every direction gives my life a new meaning and if the way she looks at me tells me one thing, it's that she knows it..

I nod assuredly.. "Surely.. I'd bloody have to, wouldn't I?"

"Oh?" She tips her head to one side in intrigue.. "Can you swim?"

I laugh at her ridiculously adorable question.. She is intuitive and insightful, whip smart in so many ways.. But then there are these wide gaps of missing knowledge, things she wasn't allowed to learn and never had a chance of knowing.. "I'm a Marine, Frankie.."

"So.. Yes?" She steps down from the railing to dust off her hands on the front of her sundress..

"Aye.. I can swim like a shark." I wink at her and she giggles a silky song.. "Can you?"

She shakes her head with a determined spark in her eyes.. "Not yet.. But you will teach me.."

"Sure.." I grin.. "It's easy, baby.."

"Easy.. Just like you?" She steps forward to poke me in the chest.. "Now I know what easy means.."

"Aye.." I chuckle, catching her hand in mine.. "Does it bother you that I have been so bad? That I'm not pure, like you?"

"Hmmm, no?" She wrinkles her nose..

If she is lying, it doesn't show.. "Not even a little?"

She chews at her bottom lip.. "Well.. Something does--"

I pull her closer, the scent of flowers filling my head and making me feel like a fool.. "Tell me, maybe I can fix it?"

"Amberley--" She whispers, as if saying her name too loudly might summon the devil herself..

"Aye?" I cock my head curiously..

"I just-- wonder-- why you would like her.." Frankie struggles for the right words, as though she is worried about upsetting me.. "Cherry doesn't.."

But I can't bring myself to begrudge her wanting to understand.. Nor can I blame Cherry for her honest contempt..

So instead, I smile playfully.. Unsure exactly what it is the willowy Wallflower is trying to say.. "Aye.. She isn't very likable.."

Frankie chews on her fingertips in that nervously adorable way she does.. "I don't hate her.. I just-- um--"

"Wish she didn'ae exist?" I muse..

Her beautiful brown-sugar stare widens in worry.. "No!"

I laugh now, reigning in my dark, dry humour.. "Relax, I'm kiddin'.. I'm not gonna kill her!"

"I just wish she was better." Frankie explains with a soft sigh.. "Not so sad.. And mean."

I nod, her soft-hearted sentiment shows the compassionate side of Frankie that I adore.. Such a far cry from the burning hatred I had seen in her eyes when she stood before Ronan and cursed him to tears.. "Me too.."

That version of her had scared him.. And honestly, it has me scared too..

What the fuck had she told him?

I have never seen Ronan cry.. I've never even seen him show a hint of fear or regret..

But somehow she had whispered the words that would break him..

"Do you wish I was better?" She asks, wrapping her arms protectively around herself..

I blink in surprise.. How could she possibly be any better? She's fucking perfect.. "Better how?"

"Better like-- braver.."

"You are brave."

She frowns at me in doubt.. "Not really.."

"You are." With a more forceful reply, my hands slip around her waist to feel the slinky cotton of her sundress and the warmth of her delicate body..

She giggles.. "Okay bossy!"

I grin when she taunts me for my sternness.. "I don'ae want ye' to be better, Wallflower.. .. I-- I meant it.. What I said last night--" I swallow the blackness in me and accept the undeniable truth.. It will hurt a thousand times more when I let her go, but that's nothing compared to never telling her at all.. "I love ye', Frankie.. I'm in love with ye'.. I think I have been since I first saw ye'.."

Her lips part and she takes a shaken breath, gaping up at me as her fingers tighten around my biceps.. "Because I made you?"

I chuckle.. "Ney ye' didn't make me, I just do.. How could I not? Yer' the best thing that ever happened to me.. Ye' fell from heaven to save me.. Maybe it took my dumb-drunk head to recognise it.. But I feel it, Wallflower and I don'ae wanna pretend like I dont.."

"River.. I love you too.. I will always.." There isn't a second of hesitation in her reply.. Because unlike me, she is so sure I could make her happy..

But I know better.. I know that I will never be good enough for her.. I will never be worthy of her or be able to give her all the things she deserves..

I come from nothing.. And everything I'd earned over the course of my career was spent supporting the families of those people I'd failed to recover.. That had been my life's work, until Lovey was born and all my priorities shifted overnight..

Suddenly, I was so far behind where I should be.. No money.. No prospect of becoming anything different.. No hope..

I hold her close, leaning down to bury my face in her bubblegum hair.. "That scares the shite outta me, Frankie.."

"Why?" She mumbles with her cheek pressed to my chest..

I sigh.. "I've never been in love before.. I couldn't want somethin' I didn'ae even know existed.. I couldn't miss somethin' I never had.. But now.. I'll never be rite' again without ye'.. Ye've changed my life, Frankie.. Ye' changed me.."

"I don't want you to change.." She frowns.. "And you don't have to miss me.. I'm right here.." She pulls back to peer up at me, her cheeks flushed and eyes misty..

I smile.. "But that's just it, baby, sooner or later, people are gonna wonder why.. They're gonna wanna know who ye' are and where ye' came from.. It doesn't make sense for ye' to want to stay with me.. I have nothin'.. I am nothin'.. And I'm a dead man walkin' after what I did to Li Jun if ye' won't let me make it rite'."

"Dead?" She gasps in horror..

"Frankie, ye' know better than me that ye' Da is gonna kill me if ye' don't let me explain me'self.. He's gonna think I took ye'.."

She reaches up to rubs her eyes as if she has a headache, leaning against me.. "Fuck."

I chuckle.. It's so damb cute when she swears..

I probably shouldn't have taught her so much profanity, even if I love the sound of it in her mouth.. "If ye' give me your permission.. I'll do what is right, for both of us.. I swear on my life.."

"Okay." She breathes quietly in acceptance after a long, contemplative minute..

"O'kay?"

She nods.. "Yes.. You can talk to him.. You can tell him I am alive.."

Sweet relief rushes through me.. "I'd bet he's had a lot o'people try to claim that reward money-- scammers.. He'll want proof that I've really found ye'.."

She thinks for a minute.. "The jianzhi I made for you.. If he sees it, he will know I held the scissors.."

"Thank ye', Frankie.. I will take care of ye', just like ye' do for me.. I promise.." I take her face in my hands, leaning down to plant a soft, grateful kiss on her lips and she tastes like ice-cream..

She flushes pink in the cheeks as her arms wrap around my neck and I lift her from her feet to spin her around.. "I trust you, River.. With all my heart.."

Frankie kisses me there on the boardwalk, for the world to see.. Dragging me down beneath the lapping waves of her love, while salty sea air swirls around us..

"Frankie, baby.. I have to tell ye' somethin'.." I mumble distractedly with her mouth on mine, fighting to keep my focus..

"Tell me later.. Kiss me now.." She pulls me closer and trails her hot lips all the way up my neck.. My skin burns and my cock swells..

My hands smooth down over her back as I hold her lithe body against mine, soaking in her warmth.. "Mmhh-- it's important, Wallflower.."

She sighs dramatically, falling down from her tiptoes with an impatient huff.. "What is it?"

"I know today is s'pozed to be beautiful.. But I can'ae keep this secret.. Last night, I recovered five women.. Jun was keepin' them.. Same as you.. They're at my apartment downtown rite' now.."

"F-Five?!" Her sweet mouth drops open in shock..

I nod solemnly.. "They were in the house with ye'.. Did ye' know about them?"

She shakes her head honestly, pink strands whipping back and forth across her petite features.. "No.. I never saw another girl.. I thought it was just me.. If I had known, I would have-- I would have done something to help them, to save them.. Are they hurt?"

Guilt eats at me at the same time as terrible plans begin to formulate in my head.. There are decisions to be made.. Hard ones..

Ones I don't want to make and have no choice but to.. I can't keep Frankie to myself, and whether she wants to return home to her father or not, it is all I can think of..

I would slaughter any man who'd dare try to keep my daughter from me.. I would tear his beating heart from his chest..
And I would be justified in my actions..

I have no doubt, after all his public appeals that Fei Xiao loves his daughter.. And while she is torn between the two worlds in which she exists.. She is still the sweet young girl she had been ten years ago, afraid of causing her father's disappointment.. But she is also the brave young woman whom I have come to love.. She yearns for her freedom, curious, courageous and not made to be caged by any man..

I shrug, unable to be sure of the emotional injury or physical suffering each woman has experienced.. "No more or less hurt than you were when I found ye'.."

Frankie sinks down to sit on the weathered timber decking of the boardwalk, absorbing the insanity.. "Mercy.."

Crouching down beside her, I reach out to tuck her pastel bangs back behind her dainty ear.. "They're safe now, Frankie.. But I thought maybe ye' might wanna meet them?"

She nods eagerly.. "Yes. I have to.."

"Lijuan was askin' about ye', she doesn't know who ye' are, but she knew ye' were there.."

She blinks up at me through heartbroken, teary eyes.. "Lijuan?"

"She was taken, four years after you disappeared.. I recovered her from The Factory.. And she's agreed to help us support yer' story.. Fei will have to hear you.. Both of you.. He will have to believe.."

My heart aches as she sniffles and leans into my shoulder to wipe away her tears on the sleeve of my shirt.. "I wish I was the only one, River.. It's not fair.."

I sigh.. "I know, baby.. I wish that it were none.. But I can promise ye' this.. I'm gonna look after those girls, Frankie.. And I'm gonna take care of you."