Page 83 of Desperate People

I want everything.

Her body. Her mind. Her heart. Her loyalty.

I want her to love me.

Not just because I’m the guy who showed up when no one else did, but because she sees me. All of me.

The man on the outside. The one with the eyes that don’t match. With a broken past who’s still trying to piece together what a future even looks like.

And I want her to believe I can belong in her world.

That I do belong.

Because her world is my world now.

Not just because I’ve built a fortress around her, but because I’m learning to live inside it, too.

So I stand here, letting Connor and the others razz me, soaking in the noise and the chaos and the belonging.

And I make a silent promise to myself—she’s not the only one who’s going to fall.

I’m already gone.

But I’m going to make damn sure she knows exactly where she landed.

Right in the arms of the man who would burn the world down to keep her safe.

Right in the arms of the only man who will ever have her.

She’s with me now, and I’m the man who will never let her go.

Chapter Eighteen-Lucy

Somehow, I get separated from Balor.

It’s not intentional. One minute, I’m with him.

Next, I’m laughing with Cora and Jade and my aunt Sabina about how I almost tripped walking down the aisle, and when I turn around, he’s gone.

I scan the tent, the crowd spinning slightly with the champagne haze and the soft string music echoing in the air like something from a fairy tale.

White lights dangle from the ceiling like stars in a man-made galaxy.

My heels are pinching, my dress feels like a second skin, and everything around me is too loud.

But then I see him.

Balor.

Standing with Connor, my cousin Sammy, Nico Jr., his pal, Remy, and a few of the guys who work with my father.

They’ve got drinks in hand and jackets slung over chairs or tossed aside, laughing the way men do when they’re teasing one of their own.

He’s likely getting a healthy dose of ribbing.

“She’s too good for you,” or “Better watch yourself with the Volkovs,” or some joke about being whipped now that he’s married.

But he doesn’t look rattled.

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