{Chapter: 203 Making Niki/Jessica Sanders Mine}
He grabbed her hand and moved it up and landed a kiss on her lips.
"~Mm…"
"You smell good," Aiden said, breathing in the scent of her blonde hair. Jessica looked up so that they were face to face.
"Thanks," she murmured, her voice unusually soft — quieter than the Jessica people feared. Her eyes drifted to Aiden's face, that maddeningly handsome face that looked like it belonged on a movie poster instead of in the bloodied corridors she lived and worked in. His gaze held hers for a second too long, and something twisted inside her.
Affection.
Not love, no. She wasn't that naïve. She didn't believe in fairytales or soulmates. Not anymore. Jessica Sanders had been too many things in too few years — a weapon, a survivor, a ghost in her own skin. But affection? That surprised her.
She hadn't expected to feel anything.
From the moment Linderman had handed her the assignment, she had known this wasn't just another job. The way he spoke about Aiden... it wasn't just respect. It was a caution. Fear, even.
> "He's dangerous, Jessica. In ways even I don't yet understand," Linderman had told her, fingers steepled, eyes shadowed with something close to dread. "Do what he says. No resistance. No questions. If he tells you to kneel, you kneel. If he tells you to bleed, you bleed. He won't hesitate. And he's not someone I can control."
That last part had caught her attention. Linderman, the man who pulled strings behind every curtain, who moved politicians like pawns and killers like chess pieces… was admitting there was one person in the world he couldn't bend.
And now Jessica was being handed to him.
Like bait. Like tribute.
She'd been prepared for something cruel, something brutal. A man who'd treat her like property, break her, remind her that even someone like Jessica could be used. She was no stranger to violence or manipulation — hell, she'd become Jessica to survive it. And buried Niki with her own hands.
As soon as her sister was gone, she also lost her softness to.
But Aiden hadn't been what she expected. Not exactly.
Yes, he was arrogant. Smooth. Every inch the playboy Linderman warned her about — the kind of man who collected women like trophies and never apologized for it. But beneath the charm, there was steel. There was weight in his silence, calculation in his movements. And there was sincerity in his words.
That, more than anything, shook her.
> "You do what Aiden says," Linderman had told her again, more than once. It echoed now in her head like a drumbeat. "He won't keep his hands off you. And if you try to stop him, you'll be lucky to survive it."
It wasn't a warning. It was a resignation.
Linderman had sent her knowing she'd be touched, taken, tasted. That Aiden wouldn't ask permission. That he wouldn't need to.
And still, she hadn't expected to feel anything. Not even fear.
But now, staring into Aiden's eyes, she felt something worse than fear: understanding. Connection. That slow, creeping warmth curling in her chest like a secret she didn't want to name. And him asking her was more than enough.
> You're not in control anymore.
It wasn't Niki whispering that. It was her own voice. Jessica's. Raw and honest.
She straightened her back and smiled faintly — not soft, but knowing. Her heart pounded with confusion, with tension she didn't dare show. She didn't love him. She couldn't. She wasn't built for love. But she felt something, and that was dangerous enough.
Jessica had never been anyone's property. Not truly. But Linderman had made his position clear — she was being offered, not assigned. She'd walked in expecting to resist. Maybe even kill him if it came to that.
But now?
Now she was starting to wonder who was really in control here.
Temporarily losing her mind, she leaned in and kissed him. And Aiden kissed her back. His lips were so soft and warm that she couldn't help but close her eyes and lean further in.
Aiden wasn't surprised over the kiss. It was only natural that Jessica would look to him for affection eventually, considering her life in this world being so different from what he had seen on TV.
Affection was something that Aiden was happy to provide. His hand traveled up the back of her slit dress being open from back his hands easily touched her skin and began playing with the soft skin of her bare back. As she gasped, he took things a bit further by adding his tongue into the mix. It was only a few seconds before hers was added as well.
Jessica's heart was thundering in her chest, a chaotic drumbeat that she couldn't silence, not even as Aiden's lips moved against hers—slow, devouring, unapologetically confident. His touch was firm, yet not forceful, commanding but never cruel. And still… it left her breathless.
She'd never been in this position before—not really. Not like this.
Not with someone like him.
The truth was, for all her intimidating presence and hardened exterior, Jessica had never been allowed to explore this side of herself. Not when she was younger, and certainly not after her powers awakened. Boys had always admired her from afar, if at all—fascinated, sometimes scared, often unsure what to make of her. There was something… off about her, something they couldn't put into words but instinctively avoided. She was too quiet. Too strong. Too dangerous without ever needing to raise a hand.
And when she did try, when she dared to let someone close? Her strength betrayed her. What began as innocent kisses would end with cracked ribs, fractured wrists. One boy limped for weeks. Another couldn't look her in the eye again.
She had learned, very early, that desire was not for her. That closeness—true closeness—could cost someone else their bones… and cost her something even deeper. A sense of normalcy she never truly had. A life that never got the chance to be hers.
Jessica had awakened her powers young. Far too young. When the screaming started. When the voices twisted. When the weight of the world broke the girl she was supposed to be. That's when Niki had emerged—not as a fragment, but as something... other. A mirror, a sister, a shadow in her own body. Sometimes protector, sometimes prisoner. Two souls tangled in flesh neither fully controlled.
Their sister had died years ago. Jessica could still remember her name but not her face. Just echoes—hair, laughter, warmth. Things Niki clung to and Jessica forced herself to forget. But the guilt never faded, just buried itself under steel and instinct.
It was after that—the blood, the breakdown, the sheer uncontainable force in her limbs—that Linderman had stepped in.
He covered up the "accidents." He rewrote her records. Hid her from the world and offered her something better: structure. Control. A purpose, if not peace. She owed him nothing… but worked for him anyway. Because no one else would ever take her in. Because no one else could.
And now, Aiden—the man Linderman feared but still handed her to—was holding her like she wouldn't break. Like he wouldn't break.
Their mouths moved together again, and this time she wasn't thinking—she was just feeling. His fingers slid down her spine, sharp nails lightly dragging through the thin layer of fabric, tracing the groove between her shoulder blades, and—
She gasped into his mouth.
Her body arched, a tremble rolling through her so fast and unfamiliar it left her dizzy. Her breath hitched, and before she could process it, Aiden broke the kiss, his lips drifting lower, brushing the sensitive skin along her jaw, down the column of her neck.
Jessica shuddered.
She tilted her head without thinking, giving him full access—offering it, as if this wasn't the same body that could snap his neck with a twitch of her thigh.
A soft sound escaped her—more breath than voice—but it was real. Raw. Hers.
She didn't speak. Jessica rarely did in moments like this. Not when her body was vibrating with instinct and warning and years of buried violence.
But inside her… somewhere beneath the strength and the silence… Niki stirred.
Not in protest. Not in fear.
In quiet awe.
Because for once… they weren't fighting. For once, they weren't too strong, too fractured, too deadly to be touched.
And Aiden? He didn't flinch. He didn't falter. His touch only deepened—his hand now pressed at the small of her back, anchoring her in place, welcoming the strength she had always tried to hide.
Jessica closed her eyes, letting her breath tremble in his ear. For the first time, she wondered:
Could this man really hold her… without breaking?
And if so, what would that mean for everything she'd built to keep the world at arm's length?
A loud gasp left her swollen lips as Aiden began to suck on her neck while his hand slid around to the front of her body. His fingers gently brushed over her hard nipples as he cupped one of her breasts through the silk clothing.
He had complete access to her body as long as his hand went underneath her Slit dress. At that moment, she wasn't planning on removing it. The sensation of his fingers grazing her hard nipples was incredible.
She had played with her nipples before, but it had never felt anywhere close to what she was feeling now. When his fingers trapped the tip of her nipple between them, and he began to roll it, Jessica clamped her legs shut. She rubbed her thighs together to try and relieve some of the pressure that was building up. Things were quickly getting out of hand. She needed to reel things in a bit.
Breaking away from Aiden, she looked at him and blushed. "Umm … Aiden," she stuttered as his hand sensually played with her perky breasts.
"Yes, Jessica?" he asked, nipping at the tender skin of her neck.
"Well … I … ," Jessica couldn't force the words from her mouth. What he was doing to her body felt too good and was a great distraction.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." he guessed, pinching her nipple.
Jessica shuddered while nodding her head.
"I can juggle more than you can throw at me, so toss away your worries!" Aiden said, kissing up her neck and on her cheek before kissing her plump, red pink lips.