Page 86 of Legacy

This woman fucking owned me and couldn’t see it.

“I want a future with you. Children and then grandchildren. Generations to follow us as we grow old together.”

Her lips trembled, and a whirlwind of dark emotions played over her face. She lowered her chin, dropping her gaze to my chest.

I couldn’t let her hide from this. We had to fix it.

“Our future is together.” I cupped her face, lifting it back up. “I’ll accept never having a child if it means having you always with me.”

Her eyes widened in complete disbelief. “You would give up having children to pass down your name, your legacy?”

Again, she tried to glance away as though it was too hard to hear me, but I refused to let her budge.

“Each time I saw you in danger, I felt as though I was losing my mind. First, with the idiot on the street, then during the standoff with you and Pello, and then when you publicly handled Francesca. Why can’t you see that the idea of not having you with me is too unbearable to think about? Let me hear this recording that has condemned me.”

“All right, you want to hear it. Listen and then explain it back to me.” She grabbed her phone and played the recording.

My heart sank. To anyone who heard it, it sounded like I was plotting against Avra and her family. Each word, stripped of the true meaning and context of my orders, left me vulnerable to all of Avra’s accusations.

“Now tell me it’s a lie.” The pain in her green eyes pierced deeper than the earlier icy stare.

All I could do was offer her the truth.

“I was instructing my men in Ozias’s camp to prepare for a coup. My intelligence made me suspicious that Ozias was planning something against your sisters, and I wanted to act first. I don’t expect you to believe me, but I would give up everything I have, everything I am, to protect you and yours.”

“Eli, don’t say things like that. This hurts so much as it is.” She shook her head, wrenching free.

I wouldn’t give up, and I followed her as she escaped to the living room. I blocked her before she could close the door and lock me out.

She walked away from me, went to the farthest sofa near the window, and sat, covering her face with her palms.

I followed her, kneeling on the carpet before her, and tugged her hands down.

I waited until she lifted her gaze to mine. The emotions of moments earlier seemed null in her irises. An unreachable, detached void stared at me.

No. No. No.

She had to hear me. I had to get through to her.

“There’s been enough bloodshed in your family. All because ofmine. But I would never add to it. I would never want to involve myself in something designed to hurt or bring you down.”

“We are born enemies,” she stated without any inflection.

“Our family ties made us that way. Our marriage changed—” I broke off, thinking of the right words. “We are something else.”

A tinge of sadness tunneled through me as the realization hit me. If Avra walked away, would I survive this?

“I want to burn down the world for you, with you, and nothing will make me change my mind. Not even my father.”

She shook her head, tracing her fingertip on mine, the barest touch of something like affection. Her shoulders remained stiff, showing me how much this disconnect between us pulled on her physically.

“I’m…” She took a deep breath. “I’m confused by the recording. Your words felt so cold and calculating. The way you laughed while discussing me.”

“My men often joke that if I pushed you too far, you wouldn’t hesitate to slice my throat. They find every chance to mention it. They became your biggest fans after the day you told me to make it hurt following that incident with the little girl and that idiot who ran away.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to think.”

Please tell me what you feel.I refused to think it had all been a lie. It couldn’t evaporate in an instant. What we shared, the barriers we’d broken down, and the vulnerabilitywe allowed only with each other weren’t things done frivolously. They meant something to us.

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