Page 105 of Obsession & Oath

Carmen crashes into me, her lips urgent and desperate, and everything inside meshatters.

For weeks, I’ve been running on fumes, suffocating under the weight of uncertainty, but now, with her pressed against me, I canbreatheagain.

My hands find her waist, pulling her closer, like I can make up for every second we’ve spent apart. She’s shaking, but she kisses me like she needs this as much as I do. Like she’s been as adrift without me as I have her.

I missed her.

God, I’ve missed her.

The way she fits against me is like she was carved from my ribs. I’ve missed the way her lips move against mine, warm and soft and full of something that neither of us dare name, but we bothknowis there.

I’ve missed the taste of her.

I tighten my grip, tilting her head, deepening the kiss, hands tangling in her curls. God, thosecurls. The feeling of her in my arms is so much better than I remembered.

The world could end around us, and I couldn’t give less of a shit.

I kiss her like I can prove something to her. Like I can tell her all the things I was too much of a coward to say before. That I never stopped thinking about her. That I never wanted to let her go. ThatI love her.

I love her.

When I finally pull away, it's not because I want to. It’s because Ihaveto. Because if I let myself give in to her, I’ll be shouting my confessions and taking her to pieces on a cramped little cell bed. And she deserves so much more than that.

She deserves more than I could ever offer her.

I rest my forehead against hers, breathing her in like she’s the only thing tethering me to this world. Her hands stay equally tethered to my shirt.

“You bastard,” she breathes against my lips. “You couldn’t have come any sooner?”

I laugh for the first time in weeks. “I’m sorry, princess. It took me a second to convince the Guild to launch a full-scale attack on this place that didn’t involve burning the entire mansion to the ground.”

“You didwhat?!”

I press a kiss on her forehead, unable to help myself. But then her breath shudders as she exhales, her fingers curling tighter into the fabric at my chest. She’s trembling.

Too little, too late. I should have stormed this place the second the exchange was over. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t—I should never?—”

She looks up at me with wild, caramel eyes. “I’m pregnant, Dante.”

“I know.”

“And you came anyway?”

“I should never have let you go in the first place,” I finally manage to get the words out. “Please let me get you out of here. Let me keep you both safe.”

I watch how her breath catches before slowly exhaling again. She nods, and I carefully take her hand in mine as I lead her out of the cell and into the hallway beyond.

She doesn’t speak again until we’re closer to the exit. The gunfire is louder here than before, and I automatically position her behind me as I reach for the door.

“How did you do it?” she asks, voice hushed. “How did you convince Leon to come for me?”

I hesitate.

There’s a truth to be told here beyond what she’s asking—one that I haven’t even had time to process myself. That I would have come for heraloneif I had to. That none of this—the Guild, the Cartel, any of it—mattered more to me than she did.

I open my mouth, but before I can answer?—

The door slams open.

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