Page 18 of His to Destroy

"Not enough," I say.

"Then make them. Without using me."

"They’ll never see you as a civilian again, Almeria. Not after what happened. You’re a weapon now. A weakness to exploit."

She flinches.

"The only way to close that door is to make you mine in name. That puts you in my circle. No one goes against the circle."

She exhales hard. "This is insane."

"This is survival."

We stare at each other for a long time.

Then she looks at Luca. Her expression softens.

"He had nightmares last night. Couldn’t sleep without the lights on. Couldn’t even sleep with them on either. You know what he said? He asked me if you were one of the bad guys."

The words punch harder than a bullet.

"And what did you say?" I ask.

"I told him I didn’t know."

I swallow.

"You don’t have to like me," I say. "You don’t have to forgive me. But let me do this one thing right."

She says nothing for a while. Then:

"You want a deal? Fine. Here are my terms."

She ticks them off on her fingers.

"We don’t live together. Forget sharing a room. I don’t want to stay in the same building as you. Because that would mean I have to see you every sleeping and waking hour. Hear you moving around. I don’t want that for me and Luca. Secondly, you don’t interfere in my parenting. Luca never steps into your world. You don’t control me, my choices, or my time. You want me to take your name? Fine. And that’s all you get."

I nod slowly, taking in all her words. "Agreed."

"And this doesn’t mean I trust you."

"I wouldn’t expect you to."

Another pause.

"Then we have a deal," she says.

I exhale. "We’ll hold the ceremony soon. It needs to be public. Big. Loud enough that it drowns out every whisper against you. Everyone will know you’re mine, and no one will dare make another move."

“People would know I’m still...alive. As Almeria Spadafora.”

“And that’s exactly what I want. To have them know that you’re no longer in hiding and anyone who dares lay a finger on you will suffer dearly for it.”

She shakes her head. "This isn’t how I imagined my life."

Neither did I.

The next day, I brief the family and the syndicate at large.

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