Page 94 of Deceptive Vows
I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. It’d been a difficult choice.
“I love my family.” Lucas, Ari, Dimi, and Lex…Claire and Anna and now her little one that would arrive in nine months.
“We can make this work. We can?—”
My fingers touched his lips again, stopping him. “Would you stop interrupting me?” I couldn’t keep from smiling as I put a little more space between us. “I love you too. And New York isn’t that far from Chicago,” I teased lightly, trailing my fingers over his jaw. “If they need me... maybe Pasha will loan us his plane once in a while.”
His expression was unreadable, and for a moment, doubt flickered through me. I leaned closer, needing him to understand what I was offering.
“I choose you.” I brushed my lips across his, feeling his breath hitch. “I want you.” Another sweep of my lips against his. “I want all of you to have all of me.”
Saying those words should’ve felt like standing naked in a blizzard. Instead, it felt like coming home, warm and safe beneath a blanket.
“I accept your terms, Mrs. Volkov,” he murmured, his lips brushing the corner of my mouth. His hand slipped beneath my shirt, his palm rough and warm against my skin, sending a shiver up my spine as he pulled me flush against him. “All of me wants all of you. Forever. When your family needs you, we’ll come back… together.”
He claimed my lips again, deeper this time. A soft moan escaped me as I melted against him, careful of his injuries but hungry for this connection. When we finally parted, both breathless, he shifted and winced, a sharp breath betraying his discomfort.
“You need to get some rest.” I settled carefully against him, my head finding its place on his shoulder.
“I’d rather continue kissing my wife,” he replied, though the pain was evident in his voice.
I ran my nose along his jaw and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be here when you wake up, my love.”
As his breathing evened out, Ifelt the even rise and fall of his chest beneath my hand. For so long, I believed that love was a vulnerability I couldn’t afford—that to care was to create a weakness others could exploit. But lying here, watching over him as he slept, I realized that loving him hadn’t weakened me at all. It had given me something more to fight for.
I’d been Thea Kalantzis, then briefly Thea Volkov, out of necessity. Now I chose that name, and everything it meant. I was a part of him. My partner. My husband.
Whatever came next, we’d face it together. Gabriele wouldn’t be forgotten. And when the time came, we’d be ready.
Nazar’s arm tightened around me in his sleep, and I smiled against his shoulder.
I was home.
Epilogue
THEA
Three monthslater in New York…
The blade dancedbetween my fingers, catching the dim light of the New York penthouse as I watched the streets below. From forty floors up, the city looked almost peaceful—all its hard edges softened by the distance and darkness.
Behind me, I heard the quiet click of the door. My muscles coiled instinctively, despite knowing exactly who it was.
"How wasChicago?" Nazar's voice carried across the space, warm and familiar, wrapping around me like a caress.
While he'd traveled to Russia for business with Pasha, I'd returned to Chicago. I'd expected it to still feel like home, but it didn't. Nazar was home.
"Heartwarming." I smiled and turned to face him, drinking in the sight of my husband—still a word that tasted strange and sweet on my tongue. His dark suit was impeccable and made him all the more delicious to look at. "Lucas says hello."
Nazar's lips curved into that half-smile that still made my heart skip. "And how is your brother taking our permanent arrangement?"
"He loves me, and I love you. He's adjusting." I crossed the room to him, sliding the knife back into the sheath at my thigh. "Anna's pregnancy is a good distraction for the entire family. A beautiful new life to focus on."
"You're going to be an incredible aunt." His hands found my waist, pulling me against him. Three months of marriage hadn't dulled the electricity of his touch.
"I already love them," I said as I leaned into him. I didn't think it was possible to love a child as much as I loved Ari and Anna's.
"And Gabriele?"
