Page 168 of Desperate Crimes
Now it’s time to claim my place beside him.
To tell the whole world that I’m his, and he’s mine.
Louder than the crashing sea.
I glance down at the blue diamond winking from my left hand.
A symbol.
A vow.
A promise.
Straightening my shoulders, I let the ocean wind catch the skirts on my gown.
Let the sun kiss my cheeks.
Let the day carry me forward.
And I know I can do this.
Because I’m not the same girl I was before he took me.
Before he stared at me across a dark room and whispered that he would burn the world to keep me safe.
Before I stared back and whispered, “Then burn it down.”
Before I rescued him.
Before I watched him bleed and still rise.
Before we chose each other, bloodied and bruised, wrapped in jungle smoke and moonlight.
Before I realized love isn’t soft.
Not for us.
It’s fire.
It’s war.
It’s everything.
Now?Now I’m Leanna Fury.
Daughter of a legacy.
Wife of a Viper.
Mother of a child made in holy chaos.
Queen of a love that will never die.
And today?Today I walk barefoot down an ivory aisle of sand and rose petals, the warm Mediterranean breeze lifting my veil like a benediction.
Today, I speak my vows out loud—no more secrets, no more stolen shadows.
In front of all of them.
