Page 46 of Violent Delights

Then I hear the door open.

I don’t need to turn around. I know it’s him.

“Nico,” I say softly, watching his reflection behind mine.

He steps into the room like he doesn’t care what rules he was breaking. His black suit looks sharp, but it’s the expression in his eyes that really cuts—determined, furious, a little desperate. He’s seeing me in a wedding dress meant for another man. But this isn’t me, and that’s when I turn to look at him.

“You look…” He hesitates. “Not like yourself.”

I give a bitter smile. “Perfect. Just how they want me.”

He comes closer, but he doesn’t reach for me. He stops inches from me but not touching. Not yet. Just close enough that I can feel the electricity hum in the space between us.

“You won’t have to do this. There is no way I’ll allow you to walk down that aisle, and if that makes me sound like a mad man, then so be it.” He reaches for my face, his palm cupping my cheek. “A delicate flower, smells so sweet, but can be so dangerous.”

I lift my gaze slowly to look at him. “This is the end of the road for my upcoming marriage,” I inform him. “Our plan will work.”

“Yes,” he says with a confident nod and steel in his voice. “Cassio arrives shortly, and when he does, this wedding will go ahead, but before you say those fated words, we will burn this place to the ground.”

“I’ll pull the trigger myself as the vows are being read,” I inform Nico. “Do not underestimate me.”

He stares at me, stunned by the insanity of my words. Thedelicate flowerhe holds in his hands like something precious is a deadly weapon.

“I would never ask you to choose between loyalty to your family and love,” he says. “It’s your decision, for once.”

“I will always choose love,” I whisper.

Silence stretched between us, tight as a wire.

Then I say, “Nobody has ever given me a choice. Until you.” The words crack something in me wide open and I feel as if I’ve left my heart in his hands as we stand in the silence that now hangs heavy between us.

He steps closer, so close I can see the pulse in his neck. “So tell me, Lia. What do you want?”

I look up at him. At the man I wasn’t supposed to love, the one I’d spent weeks trying not to need. And I know I’m lost to him. There is no going back.

“If I die tomorrow, I will die knowing I’ve experienced true love.”

“Lia,” he murmurs my name like a prayer, and something in his voice breaks. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”

He reaches out, and when his hand brushes my face, I don’t move. I can’t.

“I’ve lied to a lot of people, Lia,” he murmurs softly. “But every time I touch you… that is the truth.”

Tears blur my vision, but I don’t let them fall. Not yet. I fight them back because I don’t want him to see me cry. “I want to escape this world, this life,” I say, my voice shaking. “But you make me want to stay.”

Nico presses his forehead against mine, a gentle connection coursing through us, and for a moment, we are the only two people in the world.

No vows. No violence. No enemies. Just us.

And then?—

A knock at the door. Loud. Final.

“It’s time, Nico,” Gillie calls from the other side.

We don’t move.

Nico pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. “Tell me. Right now. We disappear tonight, or we stay and burn it all down.”

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