Page 50 of Veil of Smoke

This is where people leave. Where they break down. Or beg me to change.

She does none of it.

She steps toward me.

Her feet move quiet. Steady. She stops close. Not touching. Just looking.

Her eyes don’t waver. I see it now. What I ignored before.

She’s not afraid of me. She knows me.

I hate how much I need her to stay.

“Go,” I say.

She doesn’t budge.

“I said leave.”

Nothing.

I clench my fists in my jacket. “You don’t want this. You don’t want me.”

Viviana holds my gaze.

Then she steps closer.

“Tell me why,” she says.

I stare. “Why what?”

“Why you keep pushing me away after pulling me in so far.”

“I’m dangerous.”

Her voice stays even. “So am I now.”

That cuts deep. Cold and true.

She’s not wrong. She killed a man on that dock.

I look at her. Really look.

Eyes sharp like green glass. Blood crusted under her nails.

I break.

I move fast. Not to fight. To feel. My mouth finds hers, hard and urgent.

Her hands grab my jacket, yanking me in. The kiss is jagged. Teeth clash. Need pours out, heavy and real.

“Dario,” she breathes against me.

That sound cracks me open.

I shove her jacket off. Rip her sweater over her head. No care. Just hunger.

Her skin glows warm, marked by bruises and heat. My hands roam, rough but careful, tracing her ribs, her spine.

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