Page 70 of Deceptive Vows
“Da.” I met his gaze directly. “More than I ever planned to.”
His eyes narrowed. “Does she know?”
I nodded. "She knows I care. I've told her. Shown her. But if she were my sister…" I let the thought hang for a beat. "I'd want the man pursuing her to come to me. Not because she needs my permission. But because respect matters. Especially in our world."
He nodded slowly. “And after Marco? After the auction? What then?”
The question hung between us, heavy with implication. What happened when the mission ended? When the threat was eliminated?
“I want her in my life,” I said. “If she’ll have me.”
“Your life… in New York.” Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “You’re asking her to leave Chicago. Her family. Everything she knows.”
It was easy to understand his position. He loved her. She was his only sister. “I’d ask her to choose me.”
He leaned back, running his hand over his face. “I’m not blind. I’ve seen how she looks at you. I also know her well enough to know she’d be torn.”
“Da, but New York is a two-hour flight.” I took a deep breath. “I’ve waited my entire life for a woman like her. Strong, capable, independent. A partner. She’s… I’ll worship her until I’m dead. I’ll kill anyone who so much as draws a tear from her.” I laced the last sentence with enough venom that it could be felt in the air.
“And if she doesn’t choose you?”
The question flayed my heart open. “Then I'll wait. Patiently, until she does."
A hint of respect flickered across his features. “You know, when this arrangement was first proposed, I thought it was a necessary evil. Using my sister as bait.” His jawtightened. “I’ve spent my life protecting her, even when she didn’t want protection.”
“She’s stronger than most men I know,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need people who care for her.”
A slight nod. “It’s always been hard for her to let anyone get close.” Lucas’s voice softened. “When she loves someone, she loves hard. The first time I ever saw her cry, really cry, was when my father was killed. She’s suffered so much loss…”
I knew the shape of that kind of grief. I’d seen it in her silences. In the way she refused comfort. In the way she kissed, like she was starving and fleeing at the same time.
Lucas fell silent, watching me with the calculating gaze of a man who’d spent his life reading people’s intentions. Finally, he spoke again.
“This wedding might be happening for the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t make the marriage itself wrong.” He leaned forward, his voice dropping. “But understand this—if you make promises you don’t intend to keep, there won’t be enough of you left to bury.”
I didn’t flinch from the threat. I’d expected it.Respected it, even. “I would sooner die than hurt her.”
Something in my tone must have convinced him because Lucas’s posture relaxed slightly. “Then we understand each other.”
“Perfectly.”
The door opened and Thea stepped back into the room, her sharp eyes immediately assessing the atmosphere. “Well, I see you’re both still alive. That’s promising.”
Lucas smiled, the protective brother transforming back into the businessman. “Just discussing some logistics.”
“Right.” Her gaze steadied on Lucas and slowly panned to me. “I guess we should be going.”
Pushing out of the chair, I moved to her side. “I need to check in with Pasha, make arrangements for him to fly in.”
“I’ll make sure the restaurant staff knows we’re hosting a rehearsal dinner the day before,” Lucas said.
“Thank you.” Thea spun on her heels. “I’ll call you later.”
As we prepared to leave, finalizing the next steps in our accelerated weddingplans, I caught Thea watching me with a question in her eyes. Later, I knew she would ask what her brother and I had discussed. And when she did, I would tell her the truth.
I had just promised to protect something far more precious than my own life—her heart.
Chapter Twenty-Five
