Page 74

“That wasn't fair.”

“I don't play fair. Not when it matters.”

"Vesper..." He takes a deliberate step back, putting space between us. "This isn't the time. You’re looking for a distraction, and I told you. I will not be that for you.”

"If we keep waiting for the right moment, Alex, it will never arrive. We keep hoping for a time without distractions, but we both know there will always be something. Even if we manage to bring my brother back, we'll just be bracing for the next crisis,” I declare, rallying the courage to finish. “You told me to make the decision. Well, I’m making it.”

His jaw clenches, a muscle ticking beneath the surface as he studies me. The basement feels suddenly smaller, charged with an electricity that makes the air heavy between us.

“You don't know what you're asking for. Not with me.”

“I'm not asking for anything,” I counter, stepping forward to close the distance he created. “I'm telling you what I want. There's a difference.”

Something shifts in his expression, as if he's physically restraining himself from reaching for me.

“You deserve better than what I can give you. Better than what I am.”

“That’s not for you to decide.” I place my palm against his chest, feeling his heart pounding beneath my touch. “I know exactly who you are, Alex. I’ve seen your shadows. I’ve witnessed what you’re capable of, and I’m still here.”

“No, you haven’t. Not all of it.”

“Then show me,” I challenge, tilting my chin up. “Stop hiding from me.”

Alex’s expression hardens, his eyes turning cold in a way I’ve never seen before. He moves with startling speed, gripping my wrists and pinning them above my head against the weapons cabinet.

The metal digs into my back as he leans in, his breath hot against my ear.

“You think you want this? I'm not like them, Vesper. Not like Oscar, Z, or Talon. They want to please you, worship you, give you whatever you need.” His grip tightens, not enough to hurtbut enough to make his point. “I want to break you until there's nothing left. Until you're shattered and remade in the image I choose.”

His words should repel me, but instead, they draw me closer, like a moth to a flame.

“I can't love you the way they do,” he continues. “I don't have that softness in me. It was carved out long ago.”

I stare back. “I never asked for softness.”

His laugh is low and empty. “You say that now. But when you see what I really am—what I’m capable of—you’ll run. They always do.”

“I’m not them,” I fire back. “I’m already broken, Alex. The Collector made sure of that. He took pieces of me I’ll never get back. There’s nothing left for you to shatter that hasn’t already been destroyed.”

His grip on my wrists loosens, just slightly. A flicker of something—surprise, maybe—crosses his face.

“You think I’m afraid of what you carry?” I press closer, our lips nearly touching. “I’ve lived in shadows for years. I’ve survived things that should have killed me. Whatever demons you’re hiding…they don’t scare me.”

Alex steps back, releasing my wrists. For a breath, the mask he always wears slips, and I see it—raw, unguarded vulnerability.

“You don’t understand,” he says quietly. “I’ve broken people, Vesper. Men. Women. People who thought they could love me...fix me...survive me.” He shakes his head, a bitter edge cutting through every word. “They all believed they could handle what I am. What I need. They were all wrong.”

“And what is it you need?” I ask, rubbing my wrists where his fingers had been.

“I need to possess, to dominate, to own every part of someone until there's nothing left that isn't mine. You can’t give me that when Oz, Z, and Talon have pieces of you, too.”

“That's not how it works,” I say, stepping forward to close the distance between us again. “They don't have pieces of me like I'm some puzzle being divided up. What I share with each of them, with you, is whole and complete in its own way.”

Alex's jaw tightens as he scans my face as if searching for something. Whatever he sees there makes him shake his head slightly. “You think I'm incapable of giving each of you what you need?”

“I think,” he says deliberately, “that what I need would terrify you.”

“You clearly don't know me very well.”