Page 193 of Untamed

“So do I!”

The words tear out of me before I can stop them.

Bianca’s face goes pale. Her lips part, but no sound comes out.

“Why are your feelings more valid than mine?” I go on, breath shaking. “Because you think this is some silly little crush I’ll outgrow? Ilovehim, B. And I know what he is. Iseeit.”

She shakes her head. “You don’t love him. You’re blinded. He’s not good for you?—”

“And Enzo’s good for you?” My voice sharpens. “You want to talk about blood? About monsters? Don’t stand there and act like Enzo’s a saint just because he wears a nicer suit and smiles at the right moments.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, what’s not fair is pretending one of them is clean and safe just because he’s the one you sleep next to. Ares might have blood on his hands, but that doesn’t make Enzo any less of amonster. He’s also responsible for every drop of blood that Ares has shed. You just choose not to look at it.”

The silence that follows is suffocating.

Bianca’s eyes shine, but she doesn’t say anything. And maybe that’s the worst part...because it means she knows I’m right.

I take a step back, my heart thudding like it’s trying to escape my chest.

“You’re no different from me. We’re both in love with monsters, B,” I whisper. “The only difference is mine lives in shadows and is forged from blood and violence. And yours… wears charm like armour and hides the monster behind a perfect fucking smile.” Bianca’s eyes fill with tears.

I didn’t ask for this.” I tell her. “But I’m not going to apologise for feeling it.”

“Do you honestly think this is going to end well, Jordyn?” Bianca snaps, grabbing my arm just as I turn to leave. Her grip is tight, desperate. “You’redelusionalif you believe the two of you have any kind of future together. You’re nineteen, Jordyn. He’sthirty-four.”

I rip my arm from her grasp, spinning back to face her, fire in my throat. “And you’re twenty-nine. Enzo’sforty.Want to run that argument by me again?”

Her mouth opens, then shuts. I don’t give her the chance to speak.

“You’re closer in age to hissonthan you are tohim,B. But no one questioned it when you showed up with a diamond on your finger. No one pulled you aside and told you to end it.”

“That’s not the same?—

“Why isn’t it?” My voice shakes with fury. “Why is it okay foryouto be with someone older, someone from this world, but when it’s me and Ares, suddenly it’s too dangerous, too messy, toowrong?”

Bianca says nothing. So, I go in for the kill.

“Did you listen to Mum and Dad when they told you Enzo wasn’t right for you? When they begged you not to marry into this family?No,you didn’t. You married him anyway. Youchosehim anyway. And now you’re standing here telling me not to do the same?”

Her expression falters, just for a second. And in that tiny moment, I see the guilt flicker.

“You don’t get to rewrite history just because it suits you now.”

The words reverberate between us. “You can say what you want about him, but Ares doesn’t hesitate. Not when it comes to me. He’d watch the world choke on smoke before he lets it touch me.” Bianca stiffens. I don’t look away. “Can you say the same about Enzo? Would he set fire to everything for you? Or would he just ask you to survive it?”

Bianca blinks, swallowing whatever defence she’d started to build. But I can already see it, she knows I’m right. She just doesn’t want to admit that what scares her most is that I’m following the same path she did.

Only difference is… I’m not running from the darkness.

I’m walking straight into it.

Then I turn and walk away. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this house...it’s that love doesn’t always come in the form you can explain.

Sometimes it comes like a blade.

And sometimes… it chooses the hands already covered in blood.

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