Page 81 of Desperate People

“I’m glad it’s you,” I whisper. “That I married you.”

He doesn’t smile.

Doesn’t speak.

But he cups my jaw and brushes his thumb over my cheek like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Like I’m his.

And as the music shifts and my cousins begin dragging people onto the dance floor, I find myself pulled into his arms once more.

Still spinning.

Still uncertain.

But more grounded than I’ve ever been.

Because I know who’s holding me.

And I trust him with everything I am.

Chapter Seventeen-Balor

Somewhere between my vows, dancing with my new wife, and toasting with the idiots I now get to call family, I feel a shift.

A real one.

Like someone flipping a switch in a dark room I’ve been standing in my whole life.

I’m not on the outside anymore.

I’m not lurking in the shadows, watching someone else’s world spin while I pretend not to care.

I’m smack-dab in the middle of something I’ve always wanted.

Family. Belonging. A place at the table.

And somehow, a woman who makes all of it feel real.

Lucy.

My wife.

God, the word feels surreal.

Not because it’s a lie, but because it’s starting to feel more and more like the truth I never let myself hope for.

The last three days without her? Pure fucking Hell.

She’s been holed up here with her big ass family, while I’ve been living out of Volkov Towers, giving her overbearing father access to every single inch of my life.

Every day, every hour, all the minutes between—excruciating.

But now that she’s mine? A hundred percent worth it.

I take a long sip of my drink and let the warmth settle low in my chest as Connor, Sammy, Junior, Liam, Ono, and a few other Volkov-adjacent loudmouths circle around like wolves on a roast.

They’re toasting something—I think it’s me—and Connor slaps me on the back hard enough to make me spill a drop of whiskey.

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